Our March Challenge was our choice – choice of one of the fabric collections Island Batik provided and also choice of project. I needed a table runner for our new sofa table, so I browsed my patterns.
I have had this book for awhile, love the table runners in it, but have never made any. I decided on the one in the middle, second from the top. I love the movement in it.
Island Batik Stash Builders
Remember those rolls of fabric from my unboxing video? Each roll has 4 5″ wide strips by width of fabric. I had a nice assortment to choose from, so I choose some of my favs and began pairing them up in pleasing sets of 3. Then I cut 2″ strips.
I made 2″ wide strip sets from each group of 3, then cut them as directed in the instructions and laid out the triangles to make partial hexies which appear to overlap. I’m glad I caught those mistakes in my layout before they were sewn!
It’s loaded on my Handi Quilter Forte ready for quilting,
I sewed leftover 2″ strips for the backing.
I chose the digital design Malachite from Urban Elements.
Island Batik is celebrating February with an Ambassador Puff Quilt Blog Hop. I hope you have been following along (by following Island Batik on FB) because there have been some really creative ones from our team! I was supplied with the gorgeous River Walk collection designed by Jean Wells of Stitchin’ Post. I absolutely love this collection! It reminds me of hiking, which gets me out in the great outdoors in the PNW where I live.
Isn’t it gorgeous??
I watched several tutorials before I began to help me decide which method I would use. I found Lo and Behold Stitchery to be the most complete and detailed. I followed it except where noted below.
These are all squares after pleating one side. The camo print is what I used from my stash for the back of the squares. It won’t show when finished. The camo squares are 4″ and the River Walk squares are 4 1/2″ before pleating. I decided to make it 18 squares wide by 18 squares tall, resulting in a quilt 62″ x 62″.
Pleating and chain piecing 324 squares!! Pleating approximately in the middle of the 4″ square to make the 4 1/2″ square fit the 4″ square. It’s nice it doesn’t have to be exact. I did this on all three sides, and then when sewing the 4th side, I stuffed the puffs with Polyfil. I used nearly all of a 40 oz bag.
Organizing stacks of same fabric squares.
I made 324 separate puffs before joining them in rows of 18. Then I sewed the rows together to make 18 columns of 18 rows. I decided on this random layout because it reminded me of pebbles in a river. This is a choice I made that differs from the Lo and Behold Stitchery tutorial.
This is the finished quilt top
This is another difference I chose to make from the Lo and Behold Stitchery tutorial. To finish, the next step was to lay the quilt top down right sides up, lay the backing (Island Batik Porcelain) on top of the quilt top, right sides together, and then I added a layer of Hobbs poly batting on top of that. After pinning all three layers together well, I then sewed through all three layers, leaving an opening for turning, turned it inside out and stitched 1/8″ along the edge instead of binding. I’ve never done that for a quilt, but I preferred the look of it better than binding for this quilt.
To quilt, I did a bar tack stitch with my machine at every intersection. If you look closely, you may find a turtle or a frog hiding on the back of the quilt.
Froggie tack on Island Batik Porcelain fabric used for the backing Turtle tack and bar tack tack on Island Batik Porcelain fabric used for the backingAlmost ran out of Aurifil thread!The finish! Not difficult at all, just a bit time consuming.I’m calling it River Rock from River Walk by Jean Wells for Island Batik.
I just love batik fabrics so this was a happy connection! I had been tuning in to a few of my friends who were Island Batik Ambassadors and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. I applied last fall when I saw the post on social media and a few weeks later received the notification that I had been selected. I couldn’t stop smiling! Ambassadors are given supplies to make monthly projects and post them on social media. Some projects are assigned as to a design or a specific fabric line and others are your choice.
In December I received 41 pounds of goodies from Island Batik, with help from Hobbs Batting, Aurifil thread, Deb Tucker’s Studio 180, and Schmetz needles to use for these monthly projects.
Here’s my unboxing video where I show everything up close. So generous of Island Batik and our sponsors for this half of the year – Hobbs Batting, Aurifil thread, Deb Tucker’s Studio 180, and Schmetz needles.
Island Batik Ambassador Unboxing video January 2023
