Hobbs Batting – Blue Bear Quilts

Posted on December 6, 2023December 6, 2023 by Reed — 4 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- December 2023 Project- Winter Solstice Quilt- Part of the Celebration Challenge

The Island Batik Ambassadors are challenged this month to make any project they want that is inspired from a celebration. And they are using Island Batik fabric of course. I can’t wait to see all of their celebration inspired projects. Links to the other Ambassador’s blogs may be found at the bottom of this post.

For my fabric selection, I needed yardage and I had the Island Batik Porcelain Blue Collection which was perfect for a winter celebration theme. 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 Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and there are many Winter Solstice celebrations that occur around this time such as Christmas and Hanukkah. The Winter Solstice marks the lengthening of days, leading to its reputation as a time of rebirth. The Porcelain Blue collection with its blues, ranging from light to dark, and coordinating the collection with white was the perfect palette to signify this transition from dark to light. The Porcelain Blue collection definitely has a wintery feel to it.

The quilt I made, is a nice lap size measuring 56″ x 68.” The range of blues, paired with white, gives this quilt a cool, crisp feeling, yet it’s inviting and would be great to snuggle under next to a fire.

I designed the quilt in Electric Quilt 8. This is a rendering of the pattern in EQ8. It’s amazing how close it looks to the final quilt when you are able to download the fabric jpegs into the program and work with the actual fabrics before you ever buy or start cutting them.

To make this quilt, I first needed to cut the fabric into different size strips. It was a breeze with my heavy duty Quilter’s Select rotary cutter and the Creative Grids Quick Trim and Circle ruler.

There are 19 different fabrics in this quilt, so you end up with quite a stack of beautiful blue strips. This quilt, while it looks complicated, is really pretty easy to make if you can sew strips together and then use a specialty ruler to trim the sewn 9-patch blocks.

One of the steps is to make strip sets with a blue in the middle and white strips on either side of the blue strip. If you want your points to look sharp, it is necessary to sew with an accurate 1/4″ seam.

Next, the strip sets are sub cut into units that will be used to make a modified 9 patch block. The units for a block get laid out like the picture below.

The units are sewn together in a modified 9 patch. The block is pressed so that it lays nice and flat.

Now that the block is sewn, you used the X-Block ruler to trim it into a block that looks like an X. In order to get your seams to line up in the blocks, it is necessary to be careful in trimming the blocks and making sure that all the markings on the ruler are lined up correctly.

In order to make this quilt, mirror image blocks are used, so it is necessary to flip the ruler over so the backside is up and trim 50% of the blocks this way. This is what creates the illusion of the ribbons intertwining in the quilt.

Since you are trimming 4 corners off of the original modified 9 patch block, there can be a lot of waste. However, the instructions that come with the X-Block ruler have instructions for how to sew these waste pieces into a border that could be used in the quilt.

This quilt can be a little tricky to make sure that it is laid out correctly. To make sure that I got it right, I laid the blocks out on a bed to make sure they were forming the pattern. Then I sew the blocks together in rows, pressing the seams open. Finally, I sewed the rows together and again pressed the seams open.

This quilt is fairly easy to quilt on your domestic machine using a walking foot. I echo quilted each of the ribbons. What that means is that I stitched approximately 1/4″ next to the seams on the ribbon.

Here is a closeup to show the echo quilting on the quilt. I chose a light blue variegated Aurifil thread so that it would blend fairly well with the white and the various blues. I used Hobbs Thermore Batting and it is wonderful to use when quilting on your domestic machine as it is thin, lays flat and holds the layers together nicely. If you would like to see a video of me making this quilt, I have a video on my You/Tube Channel at “Blue Bear Quilts.” Here is a link to the YouTube video where you can watch: Making the Winter Solstice Quilt 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 I am with the finished quilt. I hope you like it. Below is a closeup of the quilt so you can see some of those luscious Island Batik fabrics.

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

Island Batik Porcelain Blue fabric collection.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread- variegated light blue

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Hobbs Batting Hobbs Thermore Batting

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

If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted with 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 festive, wintery lap quilt. 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 December 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

Posted on October 24, 2023October 24, 2023 by Reed — 4 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- October 2023 Project- Fall Table Runner- Part of the Falling For Accuquilt Challenge

The Island Batik Ambassadors are using the Accuquilt die called North Carolina Star to make their projects this month. And they are using Island Batik fabric of course. I look forward to seeing how they mix their projects up using this die. Links to the other Ambassador’s blogs may be found at the bottom of this post.

For my fabric selection, I dug into my Island Batik stash and selected some bright and fun fall colors. 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

Orange, yellow and black are definitely a fall palate, but sometimes there are dark purples. I threw in the white and teal for some accent colors. This is a very bright and cheery palette, but still says fall is in the air.

The table runner I made, is a large table runner- 20″ x 56.” The orange and yellow borders really highlight the beautiful fall batik colors. The quilting of this table runner was done by Kim Jenkins-Pein of Sunshine Quilts from Tampa, Florida. Didn’t she do a nice job?

I designed the table runner pattern in Electric Quilt 8. This is a rendering of the pattern in EQ8. You can see that the block has a large number of pieces.

The Accuquilt North Carolina Star die makes it super easy to cut out all the shapes that are needed to make one block.

This photo shows what the die looks like. You can see that it has the shapes clearly labeled. You may cut 6 layers of fabric at one time. If you carefully lay out your fabrics, you can get all the pieces needed for one block in one pass of the cutting machine.

Here are all of the pieces cut and laid out to make one black. You can see that the corners have been clipped on some of the pieces and this means that there will be no dog ears to trim after the pieces have been sewn together.

In order to sew this block together, I organize the pieces into quadrants and then sew those sections together first.

Then I laid those sewn sections out in a traditional block layout and then sew those sections together. If you would like to see me using the Accuquilt cutter and a die, I have a video on my You/Tube Channel at “Blue Bear Quilts.” Here is a link to the YouTube video where you can watch: 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 block all sewn together. Because there are so many pieces, you have to sew them carefully and press flat so that the center does not buckle.

Here I am with the finished runner. I hope you like it.

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

Island Batik Miscellaneous batik fabrics.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread- Black

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Hobbs Batting Hobbs Premium Cotton/Poly Batting

Accuquilt North Carolina Star

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

accuquilt

If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted about the table runner. (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 fall 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 October 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 #Accuquilt #AccuquiltGo

Posted on September 21, 2023September 20, 2023 by Reed — 2 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- September 2023 Project- Out of This World Quilt- Part of the Pieced To Perfection Blog Hop

This month’s blog hop is called Pieced To Perfection as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be making a quilt project using different upcoming fabric collections from Island Batik and paper piecing. I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful projects that will be created during this month’s Island Batik blog hop, as paper piecing allows such perfect points in your piecing. If you dread paper piecing because of all the paper you have to rip out, be sure to read this month’s post and watch my accompanying YouTube video to see how to do a method that uses freezer paper and then there is no paper that needs to be removed later. This is game changing! 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.

Check out the fabric I was given to use: Pin Dot Floral by Kathy Engle from Island Batik. Just look at this gorgeous pastel collection of batik fabrics with a floral theme. The Pin Dot Floral collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Boutique4quilters in Melbourne, FL and Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. This collection should be in your local quilt shop this Fall. You may find them online at https://www.boutique4quilters.com/ or call them at (321) 768-2060 or 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 57″ x 57.” It has various shades of pink, blue and green, along with black and white. The Pin Dot Floral collection has many floral elements like leaves, ferns, berries, flowers and butterflies. I named this project “Out of This World”, as it has a retro spaceship feel to it and there is an optical illusion that gives the quilt a rounded or global image. Making this quilt was easy and fun using the freezer paper piece method. I will have a pattern for the Out of This World quilt available on my website later this fall.

Here is a closeup of the Pin Dot Floral batik bundle I was provided. Aren’t these fabrics just glorious?

I used Electric Quilt 8 software to design this quilt, which is shown in the 1st photo below. The second set of 4 photos, below, are alternative versions of the quilt which I thought of making and they all use the same block. This block is so easy to work with and you can see that it created a stunning array of quilts. The 6th photo, below, is a recolored version of a Quilt of Valor I designed for Love of Quilting magazine a few years ago, which can also be made with the freezer paper piecing method.

The first thing to get started on this project is to get your supplies and tools all lined up. You of course will need some beautiful batiks like the Pin Dot Floral collection from Island Batik. Some Aurifil 50 wt. cotton thread will do a good job of piecing and quilting later on. You will also need pins, a ruler, rotary cutter, cutting mat and some snips. You will need Reynolds Freezer Paper, the plastic coated kind, and an ink jet printer. A nice firm postcard will allow you to fold the template on the line with a nice sharp crease and will provide an edge for the Add-A-Quarter ruler to butt up against. Finally, two optional tools are the Add-a-Quarter ruler and a light box so you can see the lines through the paper for the placement of your fabric. If you want to see, in detail, a demonstration of me using these supplies to make the Out of This World quilt, I will provide a link below to a YouTube video where I show how I made this quilt.

Below is a photo of a completed block. Notice the sharp, skinny, black points you are able to achieve with this method of paper piecing.

It is important that you cut pieces that are large enough to cover the shapes in the block. I measured how big the shape was for covering the first batik piece and then cut strips that size. The upcoming pattern will have the measurements for these strips that need to be cut from the colored batiks and the black and white fabrics.

Next, you press the block pattern, which has been printed onto the paper side of the freezer paper, with the plastic coated side onto the wrong side of the batik. This is what holds the fabric in place while you are sewing. The plastic on the back of the freezer paper template is easily removed later and does not leave a residue on the fabric.

It helps to pre-crease the lines on your block pattern template. You fold the freezer paper template on the first line, on the paper side, with your postcard edge on the line, and then trim the fabric that is sticking out with either an Add-A-Quarter ruler or the 1/4″ line on a regular ruler. This creates a straight edge for you to line up the next piece. The beauty of the Add-A-Quarter ruler is that it butts up nicely against the folded edge of the freezer paper and postcard.

Line up the straight edge of the next black piece with the straight edge of the green piece you just trimmed. I pin it in place so that it does not shift when sewing. The green piece is adhered to the freezer paper, but the black piece is just floating on top of it.

Flip the block upside down so the fabric is now on the bottom and the freezer paper is on top. Fold the freezer paper back so that the trimmed edge of the green is showing. You this stitch along that folded line, right next to the freezer paper template, but not sewing through the freezer paper. The closer you can get your needle to the folded edge of the freezer paper, without the needle piercing the template, the more accurate your finished block will be. Also the more accurate you are in folding the freezer paper template, on the various lines, the more accurate your finished block will be.

Now you press the black onto the plastic side of the template, which will temporarily adhere the black piece to the template.

Next you fold back the template from the paper side, over the edge of the postcard, on the next line in the pattern, which will allow you to trim the black piece so you can add the next green piece.

Repeat across the block until all the pieces are in place. This is what the block looks like before it is trimmed up.

It’s time to square up the block with your straight edge ruler.

Once the block is trimmed up, you can easily peel the template off of the back of the block and reuse the template as many times as it will stick to fabric.

Here’s the block all trimmed up. Now we just need to make 41 more blocks. You can speed up the process by printing multiple templates and then chain piece each of the various steps. These blocks will be done in no time flat.

Once all of your blocks are complete, you will want to lay them out on a bed, or the floor, in a fashion that is pleasing to you. From the alternate quilts I showed above, you can see that this is a versatile block and it can make a variety of interesting quilts.

The absolute best way to paper piece is to actually sew on the lines of the paper, which will give you those perfectly sewn blocks assuming you can sew straight on the lines and don’t mind picking out small bits of paper. This freezer paper method comes pretty close, but these is the possibility of a small margin of error as your 1/4″ may be off or the fabric may slip, etc. Since these blocks have points that need to match up, I wanted to put sashing in the quilt as that would make any slight imperfections not be as noticeable. There is black sashing between the blocks and a row of sashing with cornerstones in between the rows.

The blocks are sewn together in rows with black sashing in between them. Then the strip of sashing with the cornerstones is sewn to the top of the rows.

Then the rows are sewn together in pairs.

Finally the row pairs are sewn together and borders are added and your quilt top is done. Now it is time to quilt it. I wanted to use my walking foot on my Janome 6500. I also wanted to start and stop as little as possible, so I decided to quilt following the design of the black spike triangles with black Aurifil thread.

Next I layered the quilt top, with some Hobbs Tuscany Cotton Wool Blend batting. I love this batting as it lays so nicely and is easy to quilt on a domestic machine, especially when using a brand new Schmetz quilting needle. The Hobbs batting also gives the quilt a nice drape and doesn’t retain any fold creases.

Here are a few more images of the completed Out of This World Quilt.

Below is the image of my YouTube 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: Out of This World- Paper Piecing With Freezer Paper

If you like the video, please be sure to give it a thumbs up, 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 Pin Dot Floral collection

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Hobbs Batting Tuscany Collection Cotton Wool Blend Batting

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

Hobbs Batting

If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted about 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 September Blog Pieced To Perfection projects. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

WEEK 1

September 5

Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

September 6

Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique

Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

September 7

Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Preeti Harris,Sew Preeti Quilts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

September 8

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

WEEK 2

September 11

Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

September 12

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilts

September 13

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum

September 14

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You

September 15

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3

September 18

Lana Russel, Lana Quilts

Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

September 19

Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

September 20

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

September 21

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts Thanks for stopping by!

Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting

September 22

End of Blog Hop + Final Round Up

The final of the Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop giveaways, from Island Batik, started on Sunday, September 17th!

Two lucky winners will each receive a bundle of new collections that will be featured this week – Pin Dot Floral or Park Avenue. Don’t miss out on your chance to add these beautiful batiks to your stash. Enter now during the Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop:

To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway ends on September, 22nd at 11:59 pm PDT. Two random winners will be notified by email on September, 23rd and announced on the Island Batik Facebook page on September, 26th. If the winners do not respond within the first three days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen. 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 Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #paperpiecing #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome #tool crazebloghop #electricquilt #eq8 #HancocksofPaducah #fabricsmart #freezerpapermethod.

Posted on August 7, 2023August 7, 2023 by Reed — 10 Comments

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:

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.
4-1/2″ hexies from Hobbs premium cotton/poly batting. They are cut the same way as the small hexies in #1.
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

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

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

Posted on June 15, 2023June 15, 2023 by Reed — 4 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- June 2023 Project- Twisted Tango Table Runner- Part of the Fly Away Challenge

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

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

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

Posted on May 8, 2023May 7, 2023 by Reed — 9 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- May 2023 Project- Island Pop Quilt- Part of the Tool Craze Blog Hop

This month’s blog hop is called Tool Craze as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be making any size project using different upcoming fabric collections from Island Batik and a provided Studio 180 Design tool. I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful projects that will be created during 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.

I love the fabric I was given to use: Maple Island by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of blue and green batik fabrics with a woodland theme. The Maple Island collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Boutique4quilters in Melbourne, FL and Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. This collection should be in your local quilt shop this summer. You may find them online at https://www.boutique4quilters.com/ or call them at (321) 768-2060 or 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 table runner I made is 22″ x 46.” It has various shades of blue and green, along with white. The Maple Island collection has many natural elements like leaves, ferns, berries, pinecones and tree bark. I originally was going call this project “Into the Woods”, but ultimately decided to call it “Island Pop” to incorporate the Corner Pop tool into the name. Making this table runner was easy and fun thanks to the Studio 180 Design tools.

Here are several closeups of the Maple Island batik bundle I was provided. The first photo shows the bundle with the Corner Pop tool and the second photo is from one of my Tik Tok videos I made about this quilt. My username on TikTok is BlueBearQuilts.

I used my Electric Quilt 8 software to design this table runner. The first photo is a quilt I thought of doing which uses the Studio 180 Design Split Rects and Corner Pop tools. I decided to go with the table runner in the second photo, which was made with the V Block tool and the Corner Pop tool, as it had less pieces and I think it showcases the Maple Island Collection nicely. I also like the 3d effect that the Corner Pop tool created in the dark green background. Also, another aspect of this project was to make the blocks in various sizes using the Studio 180 Design tools. I really liked how the smaller version of the blocks looked in the border.

The first step in making this table runner is to make the V Blocks aka triangle in a square blocks. Below are the completed V blocks. Don’t they look lovely in the Maple Island Collection? If you want to see in detail a demonstration of me using the Studio 180 Design tools, I will provide a link below to a You Tube video where I show how I made this runner.

The Studio 180 Design V block tool makes it so easy to make these blocks in multiple sizes. The instructions tell you what size strip to cut for the various finished sized blocks. The triangles are cut out extremely accurately using the V block tool. Look how nice this cut out triangle looks.

Next, you cut out the side triangle pieces. they are cut from strips that are the same size as the triangle. When you have the folded strip right sides together you will get the required mirrored image pieces that you need to make the V block.

Cutting triangle sides with V Block tool

It is important to lay out the block before sewing so that you have the left and right side triangle pieces in the correct location. This is not as necessary with batiks, but it is something to be mindful of. A little known fact is that there really is a right side to batik fabrics. You can keep track out the right side of a batik fabric by being mindful of the fold as it comes off of the bolt. The fabric is always folded with the right side on the outside of the folded fabric.

The pieces are easily sewn together by matching the tips on both ends and then sewing 1/4″ along the edge. I pressed mine toward the dark green fabric.

The V blocks are oversized and are easily trimmed up with the tool. Below are pictures of the large and small V blocks all trimmed up. You wouldn’t believe how easy it was to make these blocks in several sizes using the Studio 180 Design V Block tool.

Now it is time to use the Corner Pop tool, from Studio 180 Design, to give the V Blocks some pop in the corners.

The Corner Pop tool has two sections to it. The first section is where you trim off a corner of a previously made block. In my case, the V blocks. This is similar to a stitch and flip method, but with less waste of the fabric. If you know what size square you need to do a stitch and flip, the instructions tell you which line to use to cut off the corners of the block. The instructions also tell you what size squares to cut out and then cut in half diagonally to make the oversized half square triangle corners. You cut the corners off with the ruler and then sew the oversized triangles onto the corners. It is easy to sew these corner triangles on as they are centered over the edge that you trimmed off the block.

After you have sewn the corners on, it is necessary to trim up the block as the corner triangles are oversized. This trimming up allows you to have a perfect sized block when putting the quilt together.

Here is what the block looks like after is is all trimmed up.

Once the blocks are trimmed up, they are ready to be sewn together to make the quilt top.

Next I layered the quilt top, with some Hobbs Premium wool batting. I love this batting as it gives the quilt some puffy definition and is so easy to quilt with. It also gives the quilt a nice drape and doesn’t retain any fold creases.

Here are a few more images of the completed Island Pop Table Runner.

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/x2aNL1xX5Uo

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 Maple Island collection

Studio 180 Design Corner Pop tool

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Hobbs Batting Heirloom Wool Batting

Thank you Island Batik, Studio 180 Design, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread and Schmetz Needles.

Studio 180 Design

Hobbs Batting

If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted of the table runner. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)

Blue Bear hopes you like this table runner. Please let him know how much you love the this table runner by writing to him in the comments!

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their May Blog Hop Tool Craze projects. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

WEEK 1

May 1

Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilts

Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost

May 2

Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

May 3

Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

May 4

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

May 5

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

WEEK 2

May 8

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts Thanks for stopping by!

Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

May 9

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

Lana Russel, Lana Quilts

May 10

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum

May 11

Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

May 12

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3

May 15

Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

Leah Malasky, Quilted DelightsLisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

May 16

Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique

Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting

May 17

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

May 18

End of Blog Hop + Final Round Up

The first of the Tool Craze Up Blog Hop giveaways, from Island Batik, started on Sunday, April 30th!

Two lucky winners will each receive a bundle of new collections that will be featured this week – Sorbet by Claudia Pfeil of Claudia Pfeil Design or Sea Cookies, designed Kate Colleran by Kate Colleran Designs, LLC. Don’t miss out on your chance to add these beautiful batiks to your stash. Enter now and every week during the Tool Craze Blog Hop:

To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway ends on May, 12th at 11:59 pm PDT. Two random winners will be notified by email on May, 13rd and announced on the Island Batik Facebook page on May, 16th. If the winners do not respond within the first three days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen. 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 Tool Craze Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #studio180design #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome #tool crazebloghop #electricquilt #eq8 #HancocksofPaducah #fabricsmart

Posted on April 14, 2023April 14, 2023 by Reed — 3 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- April 2023 Project- Crazy Quilt Table Runner- Part of the Crazy Quilts Challenge

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.

Aurifil Passionflower Color Builders set

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

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

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

Posted on December 12, 2022December 11, 2022 by Reed — 32 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- December Project- Reach For the Stars Quilt- Part of the Lone Star Blog Hop

Happy Holidays! This month’s blog hop is called Lone Star as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be making a lone star quilt using different fabric collections from Island Batik. I love the look of Lone Star quilts and 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 that 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.

I have always liked lone star quilts and yet I have never made one. A very special lone star quilt that I saw in South Dakota is part of the Dignity Statue. This statue is massive. The Dignity Statue is a tribute to the Lakota people of South Dakota. The image of the star quilt is a reminder of the importance of generosity in Lakota culture and is one of the most valued gifts one can receive. Also, if you are looking for some additional inspiration for Lone Star quilts, there are a lot of them featured in the 24th issue of Quiltfolk, which is about South Dakota quilters.

The December project was to make a lone star quilt using an upcoming fabric line from Island Batik. I love the fabric I was given to use: Copperfield by Claudia Pfeil. Just look at this gorgeous collection of batik fabrics. The Copperfield collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.

The quilt I made is called Reach For the Stars. It is a large lap sized quilt- 58″ x 58.” This striking quilt has shades of orange and shades of green on a white background. It’s a more modern lone star in that it has numerous white diamonds that create an open, lacy look to the main star. I live near Central Park- no, not that Central Park, and every year the whole park is lit up with holiday lights and they have a carnival with amusement rides. It was the perfect location to take pictures of this quilt.

Here is a closeup of the Copperfield batik bundle I was provided. What a beautiful selection of orange and green batiks.

These are the fabrics I chose from the collection to incorporate into my quilt along with white background fabric.

I used my Electric Quilt 8 software to design this quilt. This is what the quilt looked like in the software. This combination of fabrics, with this layout, causes the main star in the quilt to radiate outwards. I think it has this effect even more so in the actual quilt.

Now that I had the fabrics and the design, I had to figure out how I was going to make this quilt as I had never made a lone star quilt before. Thanks to my good friend, Eleanor Burns of Quilt in a Day, and her book, Radiant Star Quilts, I knew that I would be able to successfully make this quilt.

You probably know that Eleanor is a stripper and one method for making a lone star quilt involves sewing strips together. The other method is to sew lots of diamonds together. I wanted to use the strip method in the Quilt in a Day book. You need a lot of strips, so I got out my Creative Grids Stripology Ruler and quickly cut out all the strips I needed to make this quilt.

In the next step, the strips have to be sewn together in a certain order to create the diamond points of the main star. Each subsequent strip is offset downward, which creates a 45 degree angle at the end of the strip set. When sewing multiple long strips together, it is a good idea to reverse directions when sewing the subsequent strips on; i.e., start at the bottom instead of the top on every other strip. This helps to prevent bowing in your strip sets.

To create the diamonds, the strip sets are then cut at an angle. This creates biased edges on the newly cut strips and you have to be careful to not stretch them when pressing and/or sewing. You trim the end at a 45 degree angle and then make subsequent cuts that are the same size as your original strips, which in my case was 2.5.”

There were three or four different combinations of strip sets that had to be sewn together and then cut at an angle. You then have to match up the correct angled strips next to each other and sew them together. This requires a lot of organization so that you have sewn the correct strip sets together and then are sewing the correct angled strips together. The Quilt in a Day book was well written and following the detailed instructions helped with the organization.

One sign of a well made lone star quilt is that all those diamond points are nicely lined up. There are a lot of intersections to be matched up. In order to accomplish that, it is necessary to mark the quarter inch seam on the strips at the intersections and then hold them together with pins. It’s definitely more work, but you can see from the previous photo, that that extra effort results in nicely matched points.

For the smaller inset stars, I was able to cut the strips sets at an angle with the Stripology Ruler, which has 45 degree lines on it.

The corner stars were created with a unique placement of the diamonds, which created an outline of a star. In order to get the corner stars the correct size, it was necessary to add setting triangles and then cut the squares down to size to match the length of the diamonds in the main star.

One of the more challenging aspects of making the quilt was adding the setting corners and setting triangles. They are made the correct size by measuring the length of the diamonds in the main star. Then they are sewn with inset seams. This is accomplished by marking where the quarter inch intersection is located and sewing slow to not stretch the biased edges of the pieces. You are also working with a large quilt top at this point, so there is a lot of fabric to maneuver under the needle.

I like to piece the backing of my quilts with left over fabric from the quilt I am working on. Using many of the large leftover pieces quickly made a backing for the quilt.

The theme of the quilt is stars and thus I picked a quilting design with swirls and stars. When a quilt has a lot of sharp angles in it, it is good to pick a quilting design with curves in it as this will not compete with the quilt.

My long armer for this quilt was Kim from Sunshine quilts. She used a really fine white thread which allows the quilting to pop in the white background areas but does not overtake the colored fabrics in the main star design. Didn’t she do a fantastic job? Here is a link to her Facebook page if you would like to bring, or send, your quilts to her: Sunshine Quilts.

Finally, it was time to bind the quilt and I used a green from the Copperfield collection. My Betty Bobbin sure comes in handy for keeping the binding neat while I am working with it.

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

Island Batik Copperfield collection.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Prairie Spirit Alpacas alpaca wool pressing mat

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

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 December Blog Hop Lone Star quilts. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

December 5

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

December 6

Megan Best, Bestquilter

Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

December 7

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

December 8

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

December 9

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

WEEK 2
December 12

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts. Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

December 13

Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

December 14

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

December 15

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

December 16

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3
December 19

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde Gifts

December 20

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

December 21

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

December 22

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

The giveaway of the Blog Hop started on Friday, December 2nd. Each week two lucky winners will each get one Fat Quarter bundle of a complete Island Batik collection. This week, it is Heartland or Emperor’s Treasures by Kathy Engle! To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway ends on December, 16th at 11:59 pm PDT. Two random winners will be notified by email on December, 17th and announced on our Facebook page on December, 20th. If the winners do not respond within the first three days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen. Please check your spam folders!

Make sure to follow Island Batik on social media to hop along with the Lone Star Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome #lonestarbloghop #creativegrids #quiltfolkmagazine #electricquilt #eq8

Posted on September 22, 2022September 21, 2022 by Reed — 8 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador- September Project- SW 60 Quilt- Part of the Tool Talk Blog Hop

I have been waiting all year for this blog hop to get here. This month’s blog hop is called tool talk as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be using different Studio 180 Design Rulers and different fabric collections from Island Batik. I love the Studio 180 Design rulers as they create a slightly oversized unit which allows you to obtain great results in making your quilt. Also, most of the Studio 180 Design rulers allow you to make approximately 8 different sized units with one ruler. How awesome is that? I know you are going to see some fantastic 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 that 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 September project was to make a quilt using an upcoming fabric line from Island Batik and a Studio 180 Design Ruler. I was so excited when the fabric I was given to use was Simply Southwest by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of batik fabrics. The Simply Southwest collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.

The quilt I made is called SW 60. It is a large lap quilt size 70″ x 66.” This stunning quilt has dark brown stars, highlighted in off-white, and surrounded by large hexagons in gorgeous Southwestern colors. Mr. James of the Raymond James Financial company loves to collect Southwestern art in the form of bronze statues. The art displays outside their headquarters were the perfect backdrop for a photo shoot. It’s always fun to find cool locations for the photo shoot.

This is one of those quilts that looks fantastic with the sun shining through it, and in these glorious fall colors, it is a very masculine quilt.

The batik bundle I was provided was the Simply Southwest collection by Kathy Engle. Beauregard loves this glorious selection of rust, brown, green and yellow batiks. These fabrics are so yummy.

I downloaded the images of the fabric collection into my Electric Quilt 8 software, which is the software I use to design quilts. Here is what the quilt looked like in the software. It’s amazing how much it looks like the real quilt don’t you think? I love how the colors in this collection invite your eyes to dance across the quilt.

When you work with a fabric collection, such as Simply Southwest from Island Batik, it makes it so easy to create a coordinated quilt. Everything just works well together.

The tool I was given to work with was the Studio 180 Design Star 60 ruler and with this tool, you can create units from 1″ all the way up to 9″. The size unit I was working with was 8″. It is so awesome that you can create so many different sized block units with one ruler. With the results I was able to obtain with this ruler, I would love to try making a 1″ mini version of this quilt. The ruler also comes with an awesome set of instructions, which are very easy to follow. There are directions, and diagrams, for both left and right handed people. This came in handy with me being a lefty. Deb Tucker, the designer of these rulers, has also created fantastic videos on YouTube that give that visual presentation for following the written instructions. Deb has also created many technique sheets, which allow you to get even more creative with this tool, as they allow you to create pieced sections within the block unit. I choose to make my diamonds, in the block units, a four patch and I used the Checkerboard 60 technique sheet instructions. There was a video you could watch for the Checkerboard 60 technique sheet as well. It is so easy to get really great results using this tool and following the instructions. I was a little intimidated in making this quilt at first, but with the Studio 180 Design Star 60 tool and following the instructions, it really was easy. The most complicated part for me was keeping all of the pieces organized as I was using so many different colors that had to be placed next to each other.

It is easy to cut out the number of side triangle shapes you need as you first cut strips and then use the ruler to cut out the triangles. There is very little waste. If you would like to see some videos of me with the quilt and how I use the Star 60 tool to cut out the various needed shapes, please go to my Tok Tok channel and YouTube channel, they are both called-Blue Bear Quilts. Here is a link to the YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/Cl9nijmFcvI

After I had cut all of the side triangle pieces, it was time to start working on the checkerboard diamonds. They were created by sewing off-white and brown strips together and then sub cutting them into slanted rectangles. Then I sewed those slated rectangles into the pieced diamonds.

checkerboard diamond

The seams are pressed open. which will make for a flatter laying block, for which your long arm quilter will be thankful. Looks like I forgot to press one of the seams open in the picture below. Then, one end of the checkerboard diamond is trimmed so that the side triangles can be added to it.

There were so many color combinations and each block unit had a different set of side triangles. In order to be organized, I needed to lay the pieces out before sewing.

The right side triangle was added first and was pressed toward the checkerboard diamond.

The left side triangle was pressed toward the left side triangle. The pressing was done this way so that the seams would nest with each other when the units were sewn together. This method of pressing worked for the majority of the block units in this quilt.

other side pressed toward the side triangle

In order to keep this quilt organized as I was making it, it was necessary to number the block units with a label.

I made a numbered chart so that I would know where all of the block units were positioned in the quilt. This was absolutely necessary since I was working with so many different colored fabrics. As I completed the units, I colored them in with colored pencils.

Finally, it was time to trim up the block units using the Star 60 tool. First the two sides were trimmed, as shown in the picture below, and then the ruler was repositioned to trim the bottom.

As you can see, there is very little waste when trimming up the units with this tool. If you are a quilter who does not like to waste fabric, then the Studio 180 Design rulers are for you.

Once the units were trimmed up, I sewed three of them together to form a larger triangle.

Next, I sewed the larger triangles together to form a larger diamond. Doesn’t the back look so nice and pressed flat? I was able to achieve this by following the pressing directions with the tool instructions.

triangles sewn together to great larger diamonds

Finally, the larger diamonds were sewn into rows and then the rows were sewn together. I pressed all of these seams open.

Since the quilt had a Southwestern theme, I wanted a Southwestern quilting design. The brown fabric has longhorn skulls on it as you can see in the picture below. So at Urban Elements, I found this quilting design called Roundup with a longhorn skull and stars on it. Isn’t it just perfect for this quilt?

I purchased the design and loaded it onto a thumbnail drive to bring to my long armer. My long armer for this quilt was Kim from Sunshine quilts. Didn’t she do a fantastic job with this design? Here is a link to her Facebook page if you would like to bring, or send, your quilts to her: Sunshine Quilts.

White 50 wt. Aurifil thread was my selection to piece the blocks. I used a 80/12 universal needle from Schmetz Needles. For the batting, I used Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20 batting.

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

Island Batik Simply Southwest for the top.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Studio 180 Designs Star 60 Ruler

Prairie Spirit Alpacas alpaca wool pressing mat

Thank you Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Studio 180 Designs, Prairie Spirit Alpacas and Schmetz Needles.

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 September Blog Hop Tool Talk quilts. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

WEEK 1

September 6

Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde Gifts

September 7

Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

September 8

Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

September 9

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

WEEK 2

September 12

Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

September 13

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

September 14

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

September 15

Megan Best, Bestquilter

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

September 16

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3

September 19

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

September 20

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

September 21

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

September 22

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts

September 23

Blog Hop Week 3 Round Up + giveaway

WEEK 4

September 26

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

September 27

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky

September 28

End of Blog Hop + Final Round Up

The giveaway of the Blog Hop started on Friday, June 3rd. Each week two lucky winners will each get one Fat Quarter bundle of a complete Island Batik collection. This week, it is Paisley Got Mod by Kate Colleran Designs or Silverado Canyon by Kathy Engle! To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway ends on September, 23rd at 11:59 pm PDT. Two random winners will be notified by email on September, 24th and announced on our Facebook page on September, 27th. If the winners do not respond within the first two days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen. Please, check your spam folders!

Make sure to follow Island Batik on social media to hop along with the Tool Talk Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome #studio180design #tooltalkbloghop #Star60

Posted on August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 by Reed — 6 Comments

Island Batik Ambassador August Project, Star Mini Quilt for Blue Bear

This is my August 2022 project as an Island Batik Ambassador. This month’s challenge was to make a mini quilt using any technique and Island Batik fabric. The quilt could be no larger than 24″ x 24″. I designed this quilt on my computer using Electric Quilt 8 software. This size of this quilt, which is perfect for Blue Bear, is 12″ x 12″.

I chose to use fabrics from the Island Batik collection called “Jewel Carvings” and I also used their solid black. These colors are so delicious.

When designing a quilt, it is important to make sure that you have a proper mix of light, medium and dark shades in your quilt. One way to determine this is to take a monochromatic picture of your fabrics to more clearly see the shades. Notice how the values go from dark to light when looking at the fabrics from left to right. In the completed quilt, I wish there was a little more value change between the purple and blue. Those are the two fabrics farthest to the left in the monochromatic image, followed by the green and yellow.

This quilt is comprised of 1-1/2″ unfinished squares and half square triangles. I used a method of making 8 half square triangles at a time. You can find many articles for how to do this if you do a google search. I wanted 1-1/2″ unfinished half square triangles, so that meant that I needed to start with 4-1/2″ squares. For example, if I wanted to make the blue/green half square triangles, I would need to place green and blue 4-1/2″ squares right sides together. The nice thing about using Island Batik fabrics for this project is that you don’t really have to worry about right and wrong sides, even though technically there is a right side. Then I drew lines horizontally, vertically and diagonally in both directions in the middle of the square. Next, I sewed 1/4″ on either side of the drawn diagonal lines.

Next, I cut on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines I drew. You don’t cut on the sewn lines. This creates 8 half square triangle units.

Next. I needed to press the half square triangles and I chose to press toward the dark side. When the units are lined up for sewing, you may need to press some of them the other way so that they will nest and not create as much bulk in the seams.

In order to successfully sew a quilt with such small pieces, it’s important to maintain the proper squared-up size of the unfinished units, which in this case is 1-1/2″. I used the small 1-1/2″ Bloc-Loc ruler to accomplish this. This ruler has grooves on the back of it that slide along the ridge of the pressed over fabric and it allows you to trim up 2 sides of the unit at a time.

I have a YouTube video showing how to to trim up these units using the Bloc-Loc ruler. Here is a link to that video: https://youtu.be/hUHR_SmPLe8

Once the units were all squared up, I laid them out in the positions they would be in the quilt. This is where you would look at which blocks are being sewn together and determine if you need to press them the other direction so that seams will nest.

Sewing the units together, I slowed my Janome 6600 down and used a quarter inch foot so that I could obtain an accurate 1/4″ seam. This is crucial when sewing a mini quilt as if you are off by an 1/8th of an inch, that adds up quickly and your quilt will no longer be the correct size. I sewed one row at a time and pressed each row in the opposite direction. When sewing the rows together, I pressed the seams open to reduce bulk. Here is a picture of the back of the quilt and you can see that there are a lot of intersecting seams, which is why all of these measurements being accurate is so important.

Finally, I made a quilt sandwich by placing a piece of Hobbs 80/20 black batting between the quilt top and a piece of black backing. I pinned the layers together to prevent shifting when quilting the layers together. I used Aurifil 50 weight cotton thread in several different colors on the top. I loved how easy it was to find shades of thread color that matched the Island Batik fabric. I slowed my Janome 6600 down again and used the dual action walking foot to stitch in the ditch, which was a breeze. I love domestic machine quilting on a project this size. It’s so easy!

I machine stitched on the black binding. Here is a picture of the completed quilt and a close up of the stitching in the ditch.

Blue Bear’s Quilt is finished. I think he loves it! He is so thankful as he finally has a quilt that is his size. He can’t use the big people’s quilts. He will now have his own quilt to snuggle up with at night and he loves the fact that the quilt has blue stars that are the same color as him.

Be sure to follow along and subscribe to all our social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tic Tok) as I will be making a beautiful Southwestern themed 60 degree star quilt using the Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Star 60 ruler next month. You won’t want to miss it.

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

Island Batik Jewel Carvings collection for the top.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

Hobbs black 80/20 Blend Batting

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

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

The other Island Batik Ambassadors have also been busy creating Mini quilts in their August projects. If you would like to see what the other ambassadors have been up to, check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

Megan Best, Bestquilter

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde
Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #EQ8 #electricquilt #Janome #bloc-loc