This month’s Island Batik challenge said, “Our partners from AccuQuilt are asking you to create a throw quilt as a gift of comfort! This can include anything from baby to memory quilts, but should be inspired by spreading love through quilting. The challenge for you is to use the 8” or 12” finished BOB dies from your Ambassador box, the GO! Qube 8″ Mix & Match Block and create a whole new pattern by combining the two!”

I received the Maple Leaf die in my January box this year and the Go! Qube 8″ dies in the January 2019 box. Sew … what to do?

EQ to the rescue …

My original intent was to make a Canadian Quilt of Valour! So, obviously red maple leaves would be perfect.

The top left was too busy. The top right had too much black. The bottom left had the blocks too close. So, I decided on the bottom right. Maple leafs with double pinwheels (without the 2nd colour), separated by a sashing and cornerstones.

I used the Accuquilt dies to cut all of the pieces for the blocks. So very quick. And very accurate!!! Each block went together with ease.

I made all the blocks …

The maple leaves were all made with Island Batik’s “Wavy dots – Cherry BE” and white solid. The double pinwheels were made with all sorts of scraps with Custard as the background.

It looked OK on EQ, but in real life … Not so much. I really, really disliked the two together! The white with red maple leaves were crisp and fresh looking and the double pinwheel blocks, although pretty, were just not a good match.

SEW … I changed directions. I really liked the blocks together, but not the fabrics.

I made 17 more double pinwheels using only the solid white and fabrics from the “Mystery” collection. Oh yes!!! I was MUCH happier!!! Much much happier!!!

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of me cutting all of the pieces for the maple leaves and the double pinwheels, but I did take one of cutting the binding! The width of fabric fits perfect on the 2 1/2″ die. I placed 2 pieces of WOF on the die (total of 4 layers) and in less than 20 seconds, I had 6 perfectly cut binding strips. SEW easy, SEW quick, and perfect strips! (I pulled up the middle strips so that you could see them on the die.)

Here’s a picture of the finished quilt. All ready to go to the guild’s Quilt of Valour coordinator.

And here’s a closeup of the quilting …

Quilt Stats:

• 57″ x 72″
• Island Batik fabrics: Solid white, solid grey, assorted fabrics from the mystery collection and for the cornerstones and binding, I used “Pinecone Dark Teal” from the Napa Valley collection.
• Hobbs 80/20 batting
• Aurifil Thread # 2000 (Light Stand) for piecing, # 2600 (Dove) for quilting
• Schmetz Needles

But wait … there’s more …

What to do with all the double pinwheel blocks with the custard background? I made some super scrappy maple leaf blocks and made a 2nd quilt. This is going to a young couple that just got married.

This one is quilted in a similar manner, but different!

Quilt Stats

• Island Batik fabrics: Assorted scraps
• 52″ x 72″
• Hobbs 80/20 batting
• Aurifil Thread #2000 (Light Stand) for both piecing and quilting.
• Schmetz Needles

Disclosure:

The fabrics, thread, batting and needles were generously supplied by the following companies:

• Island Batik
• Hobbs Batting
• Aurifil Thread
• Schmetz Needles
• Accuquilt

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

I received “Ohana” fabric collection to use for this blog hop. Aren’t the fabrics awesome?

They made me think of flowers … Well, there are pretty flowers in some of the fabrics. H I thought of the Accuquilt die that I have, “Cleopatra’s Fan.” To me, this die never made me think of a fan, but it did make me think of flowers …

SEW … off to EQ and I played around with the design and the fabrics and came up with this …

Below is some of the pieces on the Accuquilt die. I wasn’t able to lay all of the fabric out at once because I wanted specific fabrics in specific places. So each fabric was cut and placed into the sections where they were destined to go.

I did need to have reverse pieces of each fabric for this block. However, working with Island Batik fabrics, it is seldom that I can decipher the wrong side from the right side. That made it super easy! I just needed 8 pieces of each cut and I didn’t have to worry about right or wrong sides! Island Batik fabrics are pretty cool that way!

Here are all of the blocks on the design board before being sewn together and borders added.

Here’s a close up of the quilting from the front. I outlined all the shapes and quilted little 3 or 4 petal flowers in the grey neutral portions. Wavy leaves formed the border.

And from the back showing more of the border’s wavy leaves.

Once the borders were added and the quilt quilted, … I only had 2 fabrics that I had not used in the quilt … and neither of them was good as a binding. A scrappy binding just didn’t feel right for this quilt. I was given “Marble-Purple-BE” as a coordinating fabric and it is perfect for the binding. Just a hint of the dark purple frames the quilt.

Stats:

• 54″ x 54″
• Quilted with Aurifil #2600, light grey.
• Binding attached with Aurifil #2581, dark purple.
• Hobbs 80/20 batting
• Pieced and Quilted on my Janome Continental M7 sewing machine.

Be sure to visit my Blog Hop Partner, Mania and see the quilt she made with the same fabric collection! Ohana!

Ohana should be arriving in stores soon!

Opportunity to Win

There are 3 opportunities to win some fabric! One from me and 2 from Island Batik.

From Me:

You could win scraps from 5″ x 10″ to 12″ squares of 12 Ohana fabrics. If you live in Canada, in the comment section, tell me how nature inspires (or could inspire) your quilting.

From Island Batik:

Click on the link below to have an opportunity to win Fat Quarter bundles of wonderful fabric: either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses

Click HERE

Disclaimer: All of the fabric and supplies (other than my sewing machine and iron) were given to me by Island Batik and the industry partners!  Thank you! 

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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