Island Batik Try a Technique

The June challenge for the Island Batik ambassadors is "Try a Technique."  I like to try different quilting techniques and despite making an effort to try different things, I still have a loooong list of things I'd like to try! Reverse Applique made it to the top of the list and I decided to make it a two-fer and try a flange binding.

Materials used in this project were generously provided to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs.

Once I decided on reverse applique, I needed a subject.  I've been making a series of small quilts to hang on the front door.  I've done most of the major holidays but I wanted something seasonal that isn't holiday specific.  With spring comes Mother's Day and that gave me my inspiration: Gerbera Daisies, also called Gerber Daisies.

Gerbera Daisies on our front door

Our Mother's Day tradition is that instead of buying me cut flowers, Husband takes Fire Monkey to Lowe's and they pick out a Gerbera Daisy and we plant it in front of the house. I love all the bright colors of Gerberas, which makes it the perfect flower for Island Batik fabrics!

After I chose daisies as my subject, I needed a drawing.  I attempted to draw a daisy myself.  It was *terrible.*  Have I mentioned that I am terrible at drawing?  Really.  My high school friends wouldn't play Pictionary with me.  So then I went through my books of iron-on transfer designs.  These are great for tracing!  I found a great picture in a book with a really dated cover:

I found a great picture of three daisies.  I photocopied it and played with the size and I added an extra petal to take the place of the stem.  It may look like my daisies are all alike, but there are actually three different daisies that I used as templates.

I used a video tutorial by Margaret Willingham of Eye of the Beholder Designs as my basic instructions.  Essentially, in reverse applique you are cutting the shapes out of what you would normally consider the background fabric.  So you cut the top layer and the bottom layer shows through. I used Heat 'n Bond Lite as my fusible.

The background fabric is Bluebird, the sashing is Navy and the setting squares and flange in the binding is Iris, all from the Island Batik basics collection.  For the flowers, I used a combination of scraps from other projects and the stash builder strips; I picked an assortment of bright colors that could be Gerbera Daisies. 

First I quilted straight lines in the sashing to stabilize the quilt using Auriful 50 weight in color 2780, Dark Delft Blue.  Then I outlined the petals in color 1128 (can't find a name), also 50 weight.  The thread blends beautifully with the Island Batik bluebird, which is good because that means the Quilt Police can't see my stitches☺

Back in January, I visited Quilt Patch Fabrics for local quilt shop day and bought three pink Island Batik fabrics for my March challenge, Oklahoma Dogwood.  Well, I didn't use one of the fabrics in that project because next to all the pinks, it looked too lavender.  So I used it for the back of this project.  I only bought 1/2 a yard so I used a fantastic bird print that was in one of my Stash Builder rolls to make the back big enough.  For the flange binding, I followed a tutorial by fellow Ambassador Sandra of mmmquilts.  Her tutorial is particularly great because it is for a binding of 2 1/4" wide, my preferred width. 

I used Hobbs Thermore for the batting.  It's great for small projects!  This measures 21" square.

Since it's Friday and I finished today,  I am going to link up (for the first time!) with Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, hosted today by Kathleen of Kathleen McMusing.  My June project was #6 on  on my list of Q2 finish along goals.

I really love all the colorful daisies!  And the flange binding is great for a pop of color; I will definitely do that again.  Thanks, Island Batik, for letting me try something new!