The Island Batik Ambassadors are going up, up and away. This month’s challenge is called Fly Away and the Island Batik Ambassadors are making whatever project they want using flying geese with Island Batik fabric. Flying geese are a very popular quilt block unit and I am sure you will see many creative ways to use this unit in your quilts. 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 their Baroque collection of 10″ squares. 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 Baroque collection, from Island Batik, I was given, has many beautiful jewel tones and the collection was paired with a light and dark blue batik. These colors are just so bright and vibrant.
The quilt I made, Twisted Tango Table Runner, is a large table runner- 22″ x 54.” The dark blue sky pieces created twisted shapes, or dancers, that appear to be doing the tango. They are framed with the colorful jewel tones and the light blue. The light blue inner border and dark blue outer border bring it all together in perfect harmony.
I used my Electric Quilt 8 software to design this quilt.
The photos, below, are alternative versions I thought of doing. In the first one, the jewel tones would have created a solid ribbon across the runner, but I did not have enough fabric to choose that option. In the second alternative, the dark blue fabric would have become the geese and the jewel tones would have been the sky, creating more of a 3d pyramid look. I like Alternative 2, but I felt that the one I chose was a bit more modern.
The easy part about making this runner is that the tool I used to make the flying geese units allows you to make 4 perfect units at a time and since this required quite a few units, I was very happy about that. The tool I used to accomplish this is the Quilt in a Day Mini Flying Geese Ruler. A rotating mat is also very helpful for turning the units when you are trimming them.
To start out, you need a large square, which is the sky and a small square which is the goose, or center triangle.
Then you pin the two fabrics together and cut them diagonally as shown in the picture below.
Next, you sew the edges that you just cut with a quarter inch seam. This method is slightly different than the Quilt in a Day method in that it eliminates the step of having to draw a line down the middle first.
The two pieces are pressed to the dark
Those squares are then placed right sides together and the seams are not nesting, but are offset. You are lining up the outside lines of the squares and not the seam lines. The light and dark pieces are touching each other when they are placed together. The pieces are then pinned together like before and then cut down the middle diagonally. Finally, you sew with a quarter inch seam along the edges you just cut.
Press to either side. To get this unit to lay flat, it is necessary to clip to the seam line where there was an overlap between the two seams.
Finally, you take the Mini Flying Geese Ruler and place the green lines for the goose on the goose seam lines of the unit and cut the unit in half. Then you trim the other three sides of the unit by rotating the mat. The ruler stays in the same spot the whole time with the green goose seam lines on top of the goose seam lines in the unit. When you have trimmed up both of the squares, you end up with four perfectly trimmed up flying geese units.
Once all of your geese are trimmed up, they are sewn together in rows and every other row is offset by half of a block. Those are called half drop blocks. When sewing the units together, it helps to nest the seams and then clip to the seam line so the units lay flat.
Because the alternate rows were half drop blocks, it is necessary to trim up the sides of the runner so they are even.
Finally, It is necessary to measure your quilt top’s width and height in three places and make your borders the average of those three numbers so that your quilt, or table runner, top will be nice and square. One of the final things I did was to layer the top with a batik backing and a layer of Hobbs Premium 80/20 Batting and then pin basted the table runner together. I quilted it by outlining the dark blue dancers and the independent dark blue triangles. Finally the dark blue binding was machine sewn on.
Here is the finished Twisted Tango 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 table runner: Making a Making the Twisted Tango 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 Baroque collection 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 Twisted Tango 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 June flying geese 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
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