Island Batik Ambassador- August 2023 Project- Quilt as You Go Hexie Bed Runner- Part of the It’s All Up to You Challenge

The Island Batik Ambassadors get to make whatever they want this month, using Island Batik fabric of course. I am sure you will see many creative 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 collection of 5″ strip stash busters. 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

I love a fall palate. These stash buster rolls, from Island Batik, have an array of brown, orange, yellow, purple, blue and green. These colors are just so bright and vibrant and will really shine when paired with black.

 

 

The quilt I made, Quilt as You Go Hexie Bed Runner, is a large table or bed  runner- 21″ x 72.” The black border really sets off the beautiful fall batik colors. This process of it being quilt as you go is such an added bonus as it makes this beautiful runner go together fairly quickly.

The Hex N More ruler makes it a breeze to cut out the 4-1/2″ and 6-1/2″ hexagons that are needed to make this runner. This ruler also cuts out half hexagons, diamonds and triangles, which are not needed for this project. In this project, I needed to cut out 77, each, of three shapes:

1. 4-1/2″ hexies from Island Batik Scrap Buster rolls that are strips of 5″ batik fabric. These strips are first trimmed to 4-1/2″ strips. The top and bottom of the hexagon shape on the ruler line up with the top and bottom of the fabric strip. You trim on both sides to create the hexagons.
2. 4-1/2″ hexies from Hobbs premium cotton/poly batting. They are cut the same way as the small hexies in #1.
3. 6-1/2″ hexies from Island batik black fabric. These are cut from 6-1/2″ strips.

 

Next it is necessary to center the batting in the middle of the large black hexagon, which has been placed right side down. I do this by making sure that the edge of the batting is an inch away from the edge of the black hexie.

Then I make a hexie sandwich by laying the small hexie right side up on top of the batting. I pin all of the lays together so they don’t shift when pressing and sewing. 

 

To quilt the hexes as you go, it is necessary to fold the 1″ black border on one edge of the small hexagon in half and press, then fold this pressed edge over the small hexagon. Clip with the Clover Wonder Clip and then repeat around the small hexagon in a counter clockwise fashion. It is a good idea to prep a bunch of these and then bring them to the sewing machine. To quilt these hexes, I put a blind hem stitch foot on my machine and did a top stitch on the black fabric, with black Aurifil thread, on the edge next to the small hexagon. These units are now quilted and ready to be stitched together to make the runner. If you want to, you could also do a quilting design within the small hexie, but I did not find that this was necessary.

Then it is necessary to lay out all of the hexagons in a way that pleases you. To stitch the hexagons together, I changed the presser foot on my sewing machine to an open toe foot and set the stitch to the standard zig zag stitch. I still used black thread as it would not show where the hexagons were stitched together. I have a great tutorial on my free You/Tube Channel at “Blue Bear Quilts.” Here is a link to the YouTube video where you can watch and see more details of how I made the table runner: https://youtu.be/EuNLrvuZn7s 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.

Here is the finished Quilt as You Go Hexie Bed/Table Runner, along with some closeups of the hexies.

 

 

 

The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:

Island Batik Stash Buster Rolls batik fabrics.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread- Black

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Hobbs Batting Hobbs Premium Cotton/Poly 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 Quilt as You Go bed/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 August 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