The March Island Batik challenge is One Die Wonder, sponsored by
AccuQuilt. AccuQuilt sent each of us one of the BOB dies--Block on
Board. Our mission is to create a quilt with the block as the
spotlight.
 |
| Wildflowers |
I
was sent the Hattie's Choice die. Of the four dies chosen for this
challenge, Hattie's Choice was my favorite and the one I hoped for! I
fully intended to create my own layout/design with the block. But when I
went to
AccuQuilt's webpage to check out the die
and get some ideas, one of their patterns jumped out and me and I knew I
HAD to make it--I loved the design, I loved the name, I loved
everything about it and I knew I couldn't come up with anything that
would make me happier. The pattern is
Wildflower and it adds a
flying geese unit to the point of the Hattie's Choice fan for a stunning
floral look. And I could use my Go! Cube to cut the pieces for the
geese units--bonus!
 |
| Hattie's Choice |
|
The
BOB dies are designed so that you cut all your pieces for a block in
one run through the machine. My favorite feature is that your dog ears
are already cut off--no trimming! The newest dies also have the pieces
marked on the foam so you can follow along with your pattern and cutting
instructions.
I
was dying to use the new Island Batik solids and this seemed like a
great pattern to showcase the deeply saturated colors. I chose the
Fuchsia, Amethyst, and Cobalt and looked for a basic or blender in the
same color family to coordinate with each. I used Petal, a soft pink,
to go with Fuchsia and Dots in Sky to go with the Cobalt. I didn't have
a light purple among my Foundations fabrics but there were some great
purples in my Stash Builder roll and I chose one of those to pair with
Amethyst. The background is the solid black.
I made a total of thirteen blocks--slightly less than the original pattern. Mine finishes at 49" x 56". I chose to name mine W
ildflowers, using the plural instead of the original singular title.
I
did a large continuous spiral for the quilting, one of my favorite
motifs. And of course I marked the start using my bobbin holder as the
template--it's a great size and it usually nearby! I used Aurifil
monofilament in smoke for the quilting--I have really come to love their
monofilament; it's great for quilts with both light and dark fabrics.
All piecing and quilting was done with a Schmetz microtex chrome needle,
80/20.
I had enough
Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 black batting left from last year's
Modern Turtle Race
to use for Wildflowers. The black batting is so perfect for a quilt
with a dark background, and there is no dulling or darkening of the
lighter fabrics at all!
 |
| Not a great angle, but you can see the quilted spiral really well in this photo |
I
wanted to use one of the solids for binding but didn't have enough of
any one color left and I didn't want a scrappy binding for this--I
thought it would look odd with the contrast between the binding and the
background. I had Aubergine from the basics collection and thought it
blended nicely with the colors in the top.
Island
Batik asked the Ambassadors for pictures in our studios and I happened
to be working on this one at the time, so here's a little peak of me
sewing in my "studio" aka the guest room.
The materials used to make this quilt were provided to me by Island Batik, AccuQuilt, Hobbs, Aurifil, & Schmetz.
This is my 4th finish towards my quest to complete 52 projects in 2020.
(Projects may not appear in the order in which they were completed.)
I've actually had this done for a bit but wanted to wait to get
photographs with some spring blooms. After all, it's named after
flowers!
