The Island Batik Ambassadors are going crazy this month. This month’s challenge is called Crazy Quilts and the Island Batik Ambassadors are making their version of a crazy quilt with Island Batik fabric and different Aurifil Color Builders thread sets. I am koo koo for Krazy Quilts and I know you are going to see some fun projects this month. Links to the other Ambassador’s blogs may be found at the bottom of this post.
Since I could use any Island Batik fabric I wanted, I selected a shaded variety of blue batiks I had in my stash. As you will see, I was given a beautiful set of blue Aurifil threads to use and I thought they would go well with these blue batiks. Island Batik fabrics may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may also find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850. Another online option for you to shop for this fabric would be Hancocks of Paducah: Hancocks of Paducah
The idea behind this challenge was to make a crazy quilt using one of the Aurifil Color Builder sets each of the ambassadors were given. I was given the Passionflower Color Builder set. It contains a light blue spool, a light blue variegated spool and a dark blue variegated spool. This 50 weight cotton Aurifil thread works beautifully with my Janome 6600 and creates fantastic stitches with little lint or thread breakage. Aurifil thread is my go-to thread of choice. These lovely blues will ignite the passion for stitching in anyone.
The quilt I made, Crazy Quilt Table Runner, is a large table runner- 20″ x 60.” This beautiful runner has shades of blue and is highlighted with navy and white. I wanted to put a modern spin on the crazy quilt, so I paper pieced it and incorporated some flying geese to give it a more modern feel.
I used my Electric Quilt 8 software to design this quilt.
The photo, below, is an alternative version I thought of doing, which would have spun the blocks in a 2 x 2 grid and made a small table topper. The actual finished quilt looks slightly different that the computer image. This is due to the fact that I did not input the actual batiks I was using into the software. I could have, but didn’t feel the need to do so as I knew I had batiks in the same shades as the colors I was using in the EQ software.
Once I had the pattern designed, the fabric and thread picked out, it was time to get started. This is what the block pattern looks like when it is printed out. It is a large block, so I had to combine 4 pages together to make the paper foundation. You will notice that the pattern is reversed and that is because you put the fabric pieces on the other side and sew on the side with the lines. This was paper pieced and you cover one section of the pattern at a time, add another piece to the back and then sew on the lines. Then you trim with an Add a Quarter ruler and add the next piece. You keep doing this until the paper is covered. This is similar to regular crazy quilting, only regular crazy quilting is usually sewn onto a fabric foundation, like muslin, and the pieces are randomly sewn on. In paper piecing, the angles are random, but they are predetermined in the pattern and normal crazy quilting doesn’t usually have something as organized as the flying geese in this pattern. Later in this blog entry, you will find a link to my YouTube video showing how I made this quilt. It is a very detailed video on paper piecing and how I added the decorative stitches.
Once I had the blocks all pieced, it was time to get out that beautiful Aurifil Color Builder set called Passionflower. In order for your decorative stitches to stand out, it is necessary to audition the threads on top of the fabric to see if they have enough contrast to stand out. You will see in the next picture that the light blue variegated thread has good contrast with the darker blue fabric.
Once the decorative stitching was applied to the top of the block, using the paper foundation as a stabilizer, it was time to remove the paper from the back of the block. Next, I added the sashing and the borders. Finally, I made a quilt sandwich with the quilt top, Hobbs Thermore batting, and a light blue batik backing fabric. Hobbs Thermore batting is an excellent choice for a table runner as it is a thin batting that lays nice and flat and is easy to quilt on. Here are a couple more closeup pictures of the decorative stitching. The Schmetz Needles I used in this project did a great job of piecing the block and stitching the decorative stitches. It is important to change your needles fairly frequently, especially after you have made a large project or are stitching through paper like I did in this project. You can see in the first photo below that I did some decorative stitching, to the quilt top only, in the middle of the block sections. In photos of the finished project below, you can see that I also applied some decorative stitches to quilt the table runner, along with some stitching in the ditch.
Here is the finished crazy quilt table runner. I did simple quilting in the border as I wanted the decorative stitching to be the focal point.
The next photo is showing what the decorative stitching looks like on the blue backing fabric. I wasn’t sure it was going to work by using decorative stitching to quilt some of the quilt, but it worked out fine.
Here are a couple more pictures of the finished table runner.
For further details, I have a YouTube video about this quilt.
Here is a link to the YouTube video where you can watch and see more details of how I made the quilt: Making a Crazy Quilt Table Runner
If you like the video, please be sure to like it, share it with your friends and subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming videos.
The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:
Island Batik Blue batik fabrics.
Aurifil 50 wt Thread- Passionflower Color Builders Set
Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle
Hobbs Batting Hobbs Thermore Batting
If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted about the quilt. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)
Also, please follow me on Instagram (Blue Bear Quilts) as that is where I occasionally have giveaways.
Blue Bear hopes you like this crazy quilted table runner. Please let him know how much you love it by writing to him in the comments!
The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their April crazy quilt projects. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.
Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique
Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting
Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts Thanks for stopping by!
Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts
Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese
Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels
Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilts
Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost
Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You
Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts
Lana Russel, Lana Quilts
Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome #electricquilt #eq8 #HancocksofPaducah #fabricsmart
Your table runner is fabulous Reed. I love the addition of the geese in there.
Hello Reed. I really like the look you got with the Flying Geese. It is fun and modern. I haven’t finished my project yet, but I took the same approach with paper piecing my blocks and then doing the decorative stitches using the paper as stabilizer. I don’t think I would do it that way again. It was difficult to remove the paper from the decorative stitching for me. Did you have that problem? Anyway, terrific project! Have a great weekend!
I really love this, Reed! Fantastic table runner and it looks so great on your table! Paper piecing is not my favorite thing but it works great with blocks like these!