Category: wall hanging

I have completed my March project as an Island Batik Ambassador and I am so excited to share it with you. This month’s challenge was to to make a wall hanging using one of the Aurifil Color Builders.  

The Aurifil Color Builders are twelve curated mini-collections inspired by (and named after) Italy’s most vibrant and colorful destinations. Each collection contains three large spools of 50wt thread — a warm, a medium, and a dark — within the location’s primary color palette. From the lemon groves of Sicily to the pink sand beaches of Sardinia to the clear teal waters of Capri to the stark city grey of Milan… each collection is crafted to evoke images of Italian landscapes. The colors were selected not only for their aesthetic appeal, but for their practicality in every day use. Click on the links at the bottom to see the other collections used by the Island Batik Ambassadors in their projects. 

I received Milan as my collection from Aurifil. Just look at this awesome collection of light, medium and dark grays. The colors included are 2600, 2610 and 5004. The blue batiks I used from Island Batik are part of their Brilliant Blues collection and I also used white, black and gray.

The wall hanging I made is a reflection on the beautiful Italian city of Milan and its size is 20″ x 20.” My inspiration for the wall hangin was the beautiful Milan Cathedral (In Italian: Duomo di Milano, which literally means Cathedral of Milan. The church is the largest church in Italy (excluding the Vatican), and 3rd largest in the world. It is the most visited tourist attraction in Milan.

Here are some interesting facts about the Milan Cathedral:

1. It took nearly six centuries to complete. The construction of the church began in 1386, and was officially completed in 1965 when the last bronze door was installed, although most parts of the building had been completed in 1813.

2. The church is based on a Latin cross form that covers 11700 square meters and can accommodate about 35000 people.

3. The building features a variety of architectural styles, such as Gothic, Neo Classic, Baroque, and Decorative Gothic, which is the main style.

4. Milan Cathedral has 135 spires on its roof, more than any other church in the world, and each spire is topped off by a sculpture of a biblical figure. The exterior of the church is decorated with 2245 statues sculpted on the facades of the church.

5. One of the nails reputedly from the Crucifixion of Christ has been placed in the cathedral. The Holy Nail is retrieved and exposed to the public every year, during a celebration known as the Rite of the Nivola.

I wanted to create the wall hanging in the graphic style of a vintage travel poster, such as this example of Florence.

I loaded the fabrics into my Electric Quilt Software and created this design.

I created the background sky and ground by stitching four of the Island Batik Brilliant Blues together and then appliquéd the white cathedral, with gray windows and black spires. Here is what it looked like with the appliqué pieces fused on and some of the decorative stitching in the windows and spires.

Then I decided to apply decorative stitches with my Bernina 770 to give the appliqué pieces some definition and texture. The light, medium and dark gray threads, from the Milan collection, worked perfectly with the white, gray and black from Island Batik. Here are some close ups of the decorative stitching.

Since the quilt is so graphic and boxy, I wanted to do some straight line quilting. I used a ruler foot for my Janome 6600 and a quilting ruler that I love from Four Paws Quilting called the Line Tamer. It has a slot down the middle that allows the ruler foot to ride in that groove and create a straight line with your quilting.

Here is the finished project.

I used the medium gray 50 wt. Aurifil thread on the front and on the back. Schmetz Needles sent the Ambassadors some of their needles and I used a 70/10 quilting needle. I used Hobbs Premium 80/20 Cotton/Poly Blend Batting. This batting is wonderful to quilt by hand or machine. It is made with a blend of  80% natural cotton and 20% fine polyester, is needle punched, and has a light resin bonding to provide exceptional strength and durability. Close quilting yields a flat, low-loft appearance, while more space between stitching lines yields a slightly higher loft.

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

Island Batik Brilliant Blues, white, gray and black.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread (Milan Color Builders box)

Hobbs Heirloom^® Premium 80/20 Cotton/Poly Blend Batting

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Thank you Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting,and Schmetz Needles.

We have two Spring quilt patterns for sale starting today and through the month of April. They are Golden Gate Park Table Runner and Spring Friends Table Runner.

Blue Bear says hi from Milan!

Please let him know how much you love this wall hanging by writing to him in the comments. The comment box is at the top left of the blog post, below Reed’s picture.

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their March Color Builder Challenge projects. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik   #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #bernina #janome