Blooming Petals, an Island Batik Challenge

I am so, so excited about the finish I have to show off today!  April's challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is "It's All Up To You" which makes it Ambassador's Choice.  As soon as I saw that, I knew what I wanted to make.  In my second-ever Ambassador's box back in July 2019, I was sent a fat quarter bundle of Petal Pushers by Kathy Engle. Petal Pushers has beautiful, rich pinks, purples, greens, and turquoise.  I've been saving it for something special, preferably for me to keep, for almost 2 years! 

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Schmetz, Accuquilt, and Aurifil.

Then last year I found the perfect pattern, Florabelle Blooms by Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting. Cathy of Crazy by Design made Floabelle Blooms in colors really similar to those in Petal Pushers.  I knew the moment I saw it, Florabelle Blooms was the perfect pattern for Petal Pushers!  April's challenge gave me the perfect excuse to make it.  And I've been wanting a generously-sized throw to put over myself when watching tv on the couch, so this is now my couch cuddling quilt!

On the back of my couch

Melissa's tutorial is really easy to follow.  I did substitute the Accuquilt Go! for the HSTs instead of using the trim-down method because it's so much faster.  I used the Accuquilt for most of the cutting, actually, as most of the pieces could be cut with my 8" cube.  I chose to make only 16 blocks instead of the original 20 for a quilt that finishes at 66" square.  I picked 16 of the 20 fabrics from Petal Pushers and used the neutral Sprinkles for the background.  I love Sprinkles, it's a fun dotted print.  There is a yellow in Petal Pushers but it felt flat compared to the other vibrant shades, so I used a blender in bright yellow for the squares in the sashing.  The binding is a basic called Grape.

 

Aurifil sent me color 2000/Light Sand in both 50wt and 40wt.  I used the 50wt for the piecing and the 40wt for quilting organic wavy lines.  I don't like my quilts densely quilted, so I used the 2" grid from the piecing as my registration lines for the quilting.  And I used Schmetz needles for the whole process; I never use any other needle.

Petal Pushers has some fun designs, like these strawberries

I absolutely love my new couch cuddle quilt!  Although Fire Monkey insists that it's for all of us, but it's big enough to cover 2 or 3 of us, so sharing isn't a problem.

on the couch, with bonus other Island Batik quilts behind us

I named it Blooming Petals, to incorporate part of the original pattern name and the fabric line.  And I do feel like it looks like flowers and petals blooming!