Blog Hop, Island Batik 2023
Pieced to Perfection – An Island Batik Blog Hop
Sep
It’s Week 1 of the Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop with Island Batik! You’re going to see such beautiful fabrics in the coming weeks and have a chance to win a bundle too!
We were tasked to create at least a lap size quilt or larger using paper pieced methods. I personally love to paper piece with freezer paper. I love the precision of paper piecing but hate pulling out all of the papers with traditional methods.
I received a beautiful bundle of Blushing Garden, a gorgeous summery collection created by Kathy Engle. Summer is still hot & steaming in my area, not to my liking at all :p, so I’m happy to stay inside and play with these lovelies.
I used my Electric Quilt 8 to decide on a layout with a star pattern I found online. I looked it up in my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and it was referred to as “Diamond Solitaire”. I used each of the 20 fabrics to create the star blocks that finished at 10″ and used large squares of almost all of the collection to frame the stars. I used an Island Batik Foundation neutral fabric called Doughnut for the background as well as the backing.
When I paper piece with freezer paper, I stack one copy of the printed pattern and as many pieces of freezer paper as needed (in this case, 4 sections make the star). I staple them together and then using my DSM, without thread, I stitch through the stack at one time. This gives me multiple copies without needed to print them separately.
To reduce the amount of waste, I make a template out of a piece of paper and then I can cut strips and then subcut to get a shape close to what I need. You may notice the error on one of my shapes. I didn’t notice that I hadn’t added the seam allowance to the smallest shape. I cut just a few and realised very quickly why it wasn’t fitting together like it should. After I corrected that mistake, they started coming together much easier.
Precutting these shapes means that I can chain piece each section a bit faster.
I fold back the freezer paper, trim each seam allowance before adding the next shape and then sew just next to the fold. I was able to make 4 templates out of freezer paper and reuse to create all of the star blocks.
I love using wool in my quilts and this was no exception. Wool is cool in the summer and warm in the winter so I knew it would still be great for this summery quilt. I used this wool batting provided to me by Hobbs:
With all of those fabrics meeting in the middle of the stars, it made for a bulky seam. I pressed all of the seams open but it was still a bit stiff so I opted for a more open quilting pattern. I chose a pantograph called All Wrapped Up by Barbara Becker. I love the bubble effect. 🙂 The quilt finished at 50″ x 60″.
While I was cutting, I cut some 5″ charm squares that I’m going to share with you!! There are 2 pieces of each of the 20 fabrics. All you need to do is comment below with which colour is your favourite. I’ll draw a name at the end of this week (Sunday) and ship them right out to you! 🙂
Island Batik is also going to be giving away one of these gorgeous fat quarter bundles!
Use the Rafflecopter below and enter to win!
As always, a big thank you goes to Island Batik for providing all of these gorgeous fabrics, along with their industry partners, Aurifil, Hobbs Batting, and Schmetz for providing great tools to work with.
Be sure to check out all of the other Ambassadors who will have some amazing projects this month.
Renee Atkinson @ Pink Tulip Quilting
Pamela Boatright @ Pamelaquilts
Connie Kauffman @ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman @ Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney @ For the Love of Geese
Claudia Porter @ Create with Claudia
Susan Deshensky @ Lady Blue Quilt Studio
Brittany Fisher @ Bobbin with Brittany
Victoria Johnson @ Forever Quilting for You
Sandra Starley @ Textle Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas @ Curlicue Creations
Gail Sheppard @ Quilting Gail
Preeti Harris @ Sew Preeti Quilts
Randi Jones @ Randi’s Roost
Reed Johnson @ Blue Bear Quilts
Leah Malasky @ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe @ Mary Mack Made Mine
Lisa Pickering @ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher @ Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
Suzy Webster @ Webster Quilt
Lana Russel @ Lana Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi @ Mania for Quilts
Anorina Morris @ Samelia’s Mum
Brenda Alburl @ Songbird Designs
Happy Quilting!
Your quilt is so BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for sharing your process, and thanks for offering this giveaway. My favorite color is the teal dots.
I’m always a fan of teal. The dot teal is the perfect richness. The richness of the colors make me crave all of them.
Beautiful quilt. All those fabrics are gorgeous and I lean towards the pinks, especially Berries – Pink Carnation. Your quilt really showed all of them off wonderfully.
I wish I knew about starching fabrics before cutting. At least, non batiks! I get much better results when I use heavy starch.
Oh, how to decide. I really love the lillies–yellow cornmeal or was it the peonies in pomegranate or…
It’s hard to pick, but right now I am into pink’s, so anything with pink in it would be my choice.
I love the Spring-Teal Cerulean!! They are all absolutely beautiful and I’d enjoy all of them!!! 💕
I did not know that fabric was like clothing lines. New designs, colors, etc come out every year, and styles change. Using up stash is hard when trying to blend together one era with another.
Beautiful quilt! My favorite is Dot Teal.
Thank you for explaining your use of freezer paper!
I love the Butterfly Red Cranberry.
Very nice, Elita!
I love the Butterfly Red Cranberry and the Butterfly Yellow
How much money one can/will put into it.
Beautiful quilt! I especially like the ones with pinks in them1
I love the dot-pink punch. Your quilt is so pretty. Good job.
Love the colors, Elita! What a bright and cheery quilt. I love the freezer paper method of FPP.
Beautiful fabrics and great project!🌷🌷🌷
Great quilt. Love the fabrics
I love them all, but especially Dot Teal! Thank you for your give away!
Sprig teal cerulean is my favorite
Such a pretty quilt!
I love the pinks and turquoise fabrics your quilt is gorgeous thanks for sharing
oh but this is so pretty. I love your design and your over all quilting. thanks for sharing and inspiring
Hello Elita! I love your quilt and Blushing Garden. I may need to get some of that fabric. Have a great day!
Favorite color – the rainbow!
The colors in Blushing Garden make your quilt pop! I like the dark pink and since the Barbie movie came out I have been sewing pink quilts that hopefully a little girl will like.
Love the deep rose pink! Would like to learn more about using freezer paper for paper piecing.
Love your project! I’ve not tried using a template before for paper piecing, but it makes sense!
My favorite is the dark pink!
My favorite color is the fuchsia! But I like them all!
Yay! Great design to let those BATIKS sing. I like the blue with pops of green, like the one pictured with the rotary cutter… although I think I love them ALL.
Your quilt is really awesome! I love everything about it. I never cared much for paper piecing, but I haven’t tried using freezer paper. This might be the thing to change my mind.
These fabrics are so gorgeous. They are all so very beautiful, but I really like the bottom right one. (Couldn’t find a name for individual pieces) Thank you for your giveaway.
Thanks Joyce! I’ve added a photo with the fabrics and their names. The bottom right fabric is called Sprig-Pink Pomegranate. It’s a very versatile print!