Island Batik Runner Up Challenge Week 3 - Iris Gone Mod

 

Welcome to the Island Batik Runner Up Blog Hop!  I hope you have been enjoying all the wonderful projects my fellow ambassadors have been posting all month long.  This week, my challenge runner is up on stage!  I call her Iris Gone Mod.  She is a fun runner that can be small, large or anything in between as it is block based. I chose to do a larger version with four blocks that finished at 24" x 72".  I just loved all the colors and the way they play together.  Here is my mock up of the design.

My inspiration came from the Japanese Iris that are in my front garden.  I used EQ8 to design my project and provide the cutting advice for the background and sashing pieces.

My challenge was to use the beautiful Island Batik Petal Poetry collection and the Deb Tucker Studio 180 Design ruler for Split Rects. This is a super easy tool to use and has many options. There are also some great variations on an additional Technique Sheet that Deb has created for us. She also has a great video tutorial on how to use the tool.

I wish I could have used every color in this collection but it was not possible. But I plan on using them all in some additional projects I have planned.

My design used all the purples and the blue greens. I also used some of the greens for my accent leaves. For my background, I used a great background called Muslin. For my iris leaves and the border and binding, I used Island Batik Green Leaf Bubble Hole.

First steps were to press all my fabric then cut strips to use with the Split Rect tool.  The ruler tells you what size strip to cut based on the desired finished size.  My units finished at 1 1/2" x 3". I cut 4" wide strips. As I needed my units to be mirrored for the right and left side iris sections, I placed my fabric folded wrong sides together and cut with the right side on top. For units all the same, as in my inner border, you would place the fabrics stacked all going the same. So for my inner border units, all my fabrics were stacked right side up.

For your first cut, use the right side of the unit aligned to a straight fabric edge. In my case, I aligned to the line that says finished size 1 1/2" x 3".

For the second cut, simply turn your ruler and line up on the cut mark.  Continue cutting from your fabrics until you have the required number of segments.

The segments were sewn into mirrored pairs based on the color combinations required for my design. The units are slightly offset when placed RST to sew using a 1/4" allowance. There is plenty of fabric to trim to perfection so don't worry about exact placement when lining them up.

Once they are sewn, press your seams open. There are a lot of seams in this piece so pressing open helps to keep everything nice and flat.  Also a pressing agent such as Best Press or Flat can be very helpful.

The final trim to size is next. There are two cuts to make,. Line up the seam to the corresponding finished size on the ruler and trim. Then simply turn, line up the seam and the trimmed sides to your finished size lines and trim to perfection!

I also needed to make some flying geese for the tip of my iris as well as the base. I used the Fast Four method which gave me the perfect amount for my four blocks. There is a great video by Deb Tucker on perfecting this method.  I used the Deb Tucker Studio 180 Design Magic Wand for my sew lines and the Wing Clipper for my trimming. 

Once all my units were made, I laid out my blocks into vertical rows with my background pieces and sewed them in order. I then joined the rows in three sections: Left, center and right. This was necessary as the small flying geese actually spanned across all 3 center rows.  Once the flying geese units were attached, I sewed the 3 sections together.

The green flying geese at the bottom of each iris were created with flying geese units sewn into a sashing strip then attached.  I used Auriful thread and a Schmetz Microtek 80/12  needle for this project. They are my favorites!  As I really wanted the design and fabrics to shine, I did my quilting with the Aurifil as well, rather than a heavier top stitch or quilting weight thread. I really like the results. For my piecing, I used Aurifil Dove Grey 2600. I use it for all my piecing as the color just fades into everything, making it perfect for many lights, most mediums and some dark colors.  Perfect blending every time.

I layered my top with Hobbs Cotton Heirloom Batting. The natural color worked versus a bleached as my background fabric was dense enough to block any color bleed through.

And the final result!

The materials used to make Iris Gone Mod were provided by Island Batik and our generous sponsors Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design, Aurifil Thread, Schmetz Needles, Hobbs Batting and Oliso. Many thanks for providing such quality tools and materials for a better finished project!

Thanks for following along.

Best,

Sue

Follow these simple instruction to be entered for our Week 3 Giveaway! Enter Here

Have you been following the Runner Up blog hop?  Here's a list of the entire hop so you can see what all of the Island Batik Ambassadors made with the new fabric collections.  So much inspiration so check them out!  Links provided below:

February 4:

• Kim Jamieson-Hirst, Chatterbox Quilts
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

February 5:

• Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany

February 6:

• Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
• Carol Stanek, Stitch With Color

WEEK 2

February 10:

• Connie Kresin Campbell, Freemotion by the River
• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

February 11:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

February 12:

• Denise Looney, Quiltery
• Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting

February 13:

• Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
• Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

February 14:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3

February 17:

• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
• Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilt Studio

February 18:

• Susan Michaels, Dragonfly Fiber Art
• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

February 19:

• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
• Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

February 20:

• Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
• Solomae Stoycoff, Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

February 21:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Final Giveaway

WEEK 4

February 24:

• Kimberly Flannagan, Kimberly’s Quilts

February 25:

• Tina Dillard, Quilting Affection Designs

Cupid's Arrow - The Finish

 Hello Everyone

We have everything made so let's put it together!  The only things we need to cut will be the outer borders. Then of course you will need to decide on backing and binding. We'll complete here with just the top but I will post mine once it is quilted and I would encourage you to do the same. 

Below is an exploded assembly diagram.

Sew the 4 rows across starting and ending with a Checkerboard square.

1st Row:  Checkerboard Block, 'L' Block, Star, Heart, Star, Checkerboard Block

2nd Row: Checkerboard Block, Sar, 'O' Block, Star. Heart, Checkerboard Block

3rd Row: Checkerboard Block, Heart, Star, 'V' Block, Star, Checkerboard Block

4th Row: Checkerboard Block, Star, Heart, Star 'E' Blcok, Checkerboard Block

Next, measure the sides of your quilt. Sew a 1 1/2" wide by your length strip to each side.  In a perfect world, this measurement is 40 1/2". 

Take the remaining 8 Checkerboard blocks and sew them into rows of (4) each. Use the diagram for reference to insure they are in the correct order.

Sew a 1 1/2" wide x 40 1/2" strip to the top of each. Sew the small heart blocks to each end.  All the hearts are facing up so be sure to sew them correctly nto the Checkerboard Borders just made.

Sew these borders to the top and bottom. To help the seams nest, it is easy to spin some of the seams on the Checkerboard Blocks so that they match the center quilt rows.

Cut (4) strips from Background 2 1/2" x WOF.  Subcut from these strips (4) 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" and (6) 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" pieces.

The Arrow side borders are:  Arrow Block 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" Background, Arrow Block, 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" Background., Arrow Block. Make the borders, then sew in place. Press away from the border.

The Arrow top and bottom borders are 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" Background, Arrow, 2 1/2" x 10 1/2", Arrow, 2 1/2" x 12 1/2". Sew in place then press away from the border.

Outside Border:

Background:    Cut (6) 2 1/2" x WOF

Sew (3) strips together on a 45 degree angle. Measure the sides of yor top and cut the border pieces from the strips et. Sew in place and press out to the border. 

Repeat for the top and bottom borders.

In a perfect world, the side borders would measure 54 1/2" and the top/bottom borders would measure 58 1/2".

You are finished! Layer, quilt and bind as desired. I am quilting mine with a swirl pattern and adding a pink and white flanged border. I will cover flanged machine binding in another blog so stay tuned.

Thanks for dsewing along!

Sue

Cupid's Arrow Part IV - The Arrow

Hello Everyone

 This was to be our finish for the quilt but I would like to take a bit of time with the Arrow Block and put the sewing rows together and finishing in a separtae post today. The arrow is amazingly cute but does have a few small parts. It was fairly easy to make you just need to take your time. For those that do not like sewing small pieces, I am including a foundation for paper piecing if that is your preference.

Download the Paper Piecing Foundation Here

For my arrow, I am using Sprig With Small Daisies Acorn Gold still in the lovely Island Batik Flower Pot collection. It is a lovely gold color with pink sprigs and daisies. How Perfect!

Cutting: I am working from 44" wide for Background and a fat quarter for my color.

Background:    (5) 1"x WOF    Split (9) the strips in half  (9) 1" x 22" approx  Subcut from the                                         remaining strip (10) 1" x 2 1/2" rectangles.
                        (1) 3 1/2" x WOF (I had a piece of 3 1/2" left over from a block) 
                        Subcut (3) 3 1/2" squares

                        (1) 2" x WOF    Subcut (20) 2" squares (I had plenty of pieces from the blocks 

                        that I used rather than a strip)

Acorn Gold:    (1) 3 1/2" x 22"    Subcut (5) 3 1/2" squares

                        (2) 2" x 22"          Subcut (12) 2" squares

                        (4) 1 1/2" x 22"    

                        (2) 1" x 22"

Flying Geese Four At A Time: 

We are going to make 2 separate sets of geese. The arrow head has a gold body and white wings.  The arrow tail has one the same but also needs one that has a white body and gold wings, so just opposite.

 

Step 1: Gather the (5) 3 1/2"Acorn Gold squares and the (20) 2" Background squares.

            We need a total of 20 flying geese (2 per block) in this combination and each square is going

            to give us 4 units.

Step 2: Place (2) 2" background squares RST on opposite corners of a 3 1/2" Acorn Gold square.

            They will overlap in the center. Nudge these in a little bit from the edge,

            roughly a 1/16" or so. It helps us with a little fudge factor space.  Draw a line diagonally

            from corner to corner crossing both background pieces. Slip a pin in to make sure they 

            don't move when your are sewing them. Sew 1/4" to each side of the line. Cut in between

            your seam lines.

Step 3: Carefully press to the triangles, away from the body. Be sure your press straight and do 

            not distort the fabric. They are small. :-)

Step 4: Next we place another Background square on the new units we have created, nudging in 

            again about that 1/16th" from the edge. Draw a line, then sew 1/4" to each side. Cut 

            between the seams then press to the Backround fabric (to the triangle). 

Step 5: Our geese need to be squared to 1 1/2" x 2 1/2".  I used the Studio 180 Wing Clipper ruler.

            You should now have (20) flying geese with white wings and Acorn Gold bodies.

Now repeat Steps 1 through 5 with the (3) 3 1/2" Background squares and the (12) Acorn Gold 2" squares. You will have 2 extra geese as we only need (10) in this combination but it is the easiest and most efficient way to make them.

Strip Sets for Arrow Body & Tip:

Step 1: Gather the (4) 1 1/2" Acorn Gold strips and (8) 1" x 22" Background strips.

            Make strip sets using the 1 colored strip and 2 background strips. Press all in to the Acorn

            Gold strip in the center. Be careful when pressing not to distort your fabric or add a bow 

            to the stripset. It should be nice and straight. It should measure 2 1/2" x 22" approximately.

Step 2: Cut 6" wide units from each strip set. You will need (10) for the arrow main body.

Step 3: Gather the (2) 1" Acorn Gold strips and (2) Background strips.  Sew the strips together

             and press to the Acorn Gold strip. It should measue 1 1/2" x 22" approx.

Step 4: Cut (10) 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" units from the strips. 

We are now ready to assemble our arrows. Sew the pieces in order as they are laid out below, starting at the tail of the arrow.  Follow the direction of the arrows on the block diagram for the pressing. Make (10) arrow blocks. These should measure 2 1/2" x 10 1/2".

Now we have all our pieces made to start assembling our quilt. I will do that in the next blog post.

Happy Sewing!

Sue

#islandbatik #oliso #studio180design #dragonflyfiberart #aurifil