Ready for some fun? This month’s blog hop is called All Puffed Up as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be making puff or bubble quilts using different fabric collections from Island Batik. These quilts are so much fun to make! I know you are going to see some awesome quilts with this month’s Island Batik blog hop. Since this month is a blog hop, you can check out the Island Batik blog and enter each week to win a fat quarter bundle of some of the fabrics the Ambassadors are using in their projects. I will show the other fabric collections later in this blog along with a link to the giveaway from Island Batik and links to other ambassador’s blogs.
The February project was to make a puff quilt using an upcoming fabric line from Island Batik. I love the fabric I was given to use: Double Dutch by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of blue and white batik fabrics. I just love blue and white quilts. The Double Dutch collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. This collection should be in your local quilt shop between now and July of 2023. You may 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 quilt I made is a large lap sized quilt- 42″ x 42.” This ombre puff quilt has shades of light blue, blue, dark blue and white. This is called an ombre pattern as the fabrics in the quilt transition from light to dark to light again. The Double Dutch collection has a nice variety of shades to be able to do this. Making this quilt was a fair amount of work, but it was easy and fun. This quilt is now a favorite in my home and if you make one, it may be a favorite in yours as well. The puffy Fiber-Fil makes the quilt nice and warm and it is so much fun to pat the puffs. Humans love this quilt, but here’s a secret- pets really love it to, so you could make a much smaller version for your favorite furry friend.
Here are several closeups of the Double Dutch batik bundle I was provided. What a beautiful selection of blue and white batiks. The first photo is from one of several Tik Tok videos I made about this quilt. My username on TikTok is BlueBearQuilts.
I used my Electric Quilt 8 software to design this quilt. The first photo is a version I thought of doing which is in the genre of an Around the World Quilt. I really liked this version. I decided to go with the ombre version in the second photo. You’ll notice that I originally thought of putting a white border around the quilt, but when I was ready to put the border on, I like the look of those lovely navy blue batiks from the collection, so I made a last minute design change. You will also nice that the actual quilt is larger and has more squares in it than the original design. I decided that the quilt was not large enough, so I added a couple of extra rounds of squares around the outer edge of the quilt. This expanded the light areas of the quilt.
After deciding on the fabrics and the design, I had to figure out how I was going to make a puff quilt as I had never made one before. I checked out a couple of tutorials online and saw that it was fairly easy, so I knew I would be able to successfully make this quilt. Speaking of tutorials; below, I will provide a link to a You Tube video where I show how I made this quilt. Between this blog post and the video, I am confident that you will be able to make your own puff quilt.
A puff quilt is made by sewing puff pockets together, which are then stuffed with Fiber-Fil. You need a smaller backing square, and a larger front square, for the puff. My smaller backing squares were cut at 4-1/2″. These can be made from scrap fabric as they will not show when the quilt is finished. My front squares were cut at 5″. These are the squares made from the beautiful Double Dutch collection as they will be the front of the finished quilt. I needed 169 squares of both the front and back fabric. I got out my Creative Grids Stripology Ruler and quickly cut out all the squares I needed to make this quilt.
In the next step, you have to lay out the squares in a pleasing arrangement. This can also be done after all of the puff pockets have been sewn as you will see in the next picture. To make the puff pockets, I sewed with a scant quarter inch around three sides of the pocket. A scant quarter inch was used as then the previous stitch lines will be concealed when the puffs are sewn together with a full quarter inch seam. When sewing along each side, it is necessary to make a small pleat along the edge. This is what makes the larger square match up with the smaller bottom square and also what creates the puff in the larger top fabric.
To create the ombre effect, I started with light squares in the lower left corner, then moved into the medium blues, and finally, followed by the dark blues. Then I reverse the placement order of the values and did medium blues, followed by the light blues. If you have trouble distinguishing the values and trying to determine if you have them in the correct location, you can turn the photo into a monochromatic one on your phone and it is much easier to see the values as you can see in the next photo. In the final quilt, I did switch two rows in the upper right hand corner as the values were not in the correct place.
The next step was to sew the puff pockets together in columns. It was really important to be organized for this step and to keep all of the puffs in the proper place. It was also important to make sure that the opening of the puff pocket stayed on the right side of the column. Thus, I only did one column at a time and then brought it back to my layout to make sure everything was in the right order. I think I only had to rip a couple of seams. Once the column was sewn, I brought it back to the sewing machine and starting filling the puffs, and I started with the top one. I filled that one with a small, round handful of Fiber-Fil and then stitched the opening of that pocket closed with a scant quarter inch, and I also remembered to create a small pleat in the seam. I used Aurifil 50 Wt. cotton thread to construct, and quilt, this quilt.
Once that first column has been puffed up, you stitch the next column to the first one with a full quarter inch. The second column is not filled at this point. Then you fill the second column, just like you did the first one, and then sew the unfilled third column on with a full quarter inch seam. You repeat this process across the quilt until you have puffed up the last column.
In the photo above, I am auditioning the navy border to see if I liked it and I thought that it framed up the quilt nicely.
One way of completing the quilt is to tie it. I would have loved to try this method, but I found that with the tight weave of batik fabrics, it was a bit of a struggle to pull an embroidery needle through the layers. So I decided that I needed the strength of my machine and a Schmetz needle. The quilt was going to be warm enough without any batting due to the Fiber-Fil, so I decided to not use any batting and to stitch in the ditch, directly to the backing fabric. All I had to do was use a walking foot and push the Fiber-fil out of the way, and it worked out perfectly. I created a nice square quilting design on the backing. If you would like to see the back, you may see it in either my TikTok video or my You Tube video. Below, you can see how I rolled the quilt and was able to do the quilting on my Janome 6600. Finally, it was time to bind the quilt and I used a method of wrapping the backing fabric to the front to create the binding. This method of creating the binding is also demonstrated in the You Tube video.
Below is the image of my You Tube video for making this quilt. Here is a link to the video if you would like to watch it and see more detail of how I made the quilt: https://youtu.be/I4rz1bIDAPo
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 Double Dutch collection.
Aurifil 50 wt Thread
Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle
If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted of me with the quilt. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)
Blue Bear hopes you like this quilt. Please let him know how much you love the this quilt by writing to him in the comments!
The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their February Blog Hop Puff quilts. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.
December 5
WEEK 1
February 6
Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique
February 7
Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
December 6
February 8
Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting
Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts Thanks for stopping by!
February 9
Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts
February 10
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway
February 11
Special St Valentine’s Day Post
Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
WEEK 2
February 13
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese
Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
February 14
Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels
February 15
Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilts
Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost
February 16
Special Island Batik Designers Feature
February 17Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway
WEEK 3
February 20
Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion
February 21
Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You
Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts
February 22
Lana Russel, Lana Quilts
Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
February 23
Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
February 24
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway
February 27
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
February 28
End of Blog Hop + Final Round Up
To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.
This giveaway ends on February, 10 at 11:59 pm PST. Two random winners will be notified by email on February, 11 and announced on the Island Batik Facebook page on February, 14. Please check your spam folders! If the winners do not respond within the first two days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen and notified.
Make sure to follow Island Batik on social media to hop along with the All Puffed Up Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.
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