Island Batik November Challenge & Blog Hop

Welcome to Day One of the Island Batik's November 2021 Blog Hop - Storm at Sea.

The November Challenge for Island Batik required that we make a Storm at Sea quilt, lap size or larger, using the Summer 2021 Fabric bundle. I received the collection Bellingham Bay - designed by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design.

Bellingham Bay

Those of you who know me know that these are not my favorite colors. I find them dark and depressing.  Guess this was an added dimension to the challenge.  

I turned to EQ8 to mock-up the color combinations to come up with a suitable design. After a few iterations, I chose this one and tried to replicate it. 

I used regular piecing to make the square in square blocks and used freezer paper piecing to make the diamonds.

Practice Blocks

Choosing Fabrics

Choosing Fabrics

Work in Progress

Coming together

Almost there

I received in my Island Batik Box a Cotton Wool blend batting measuring 60" square and it was the perfect size for this quilt.

Hobbs Batting - Cotton Wool Blend

A skinny grey border was added to protect the delicate points. A dark green binding completed the picture.

The quilt finished at 58" square and I took lots of pictures. Here are a few of them.

Finished!!!

Detail

Almost Perfect Points :-)

Challenge Met

Beautiful Day

Contrast Backdrop

Since it was a beautiful fall day, I tried to capture the bright foliage and the warmth of the autumn sun.

 

Bright Foliage Backdrop

Quilting Detail

I was surprised when Paul asked for the completed quilt.

Me: You like this?
Paul: Absolutely.
Me: Why?
Paul: It reminds me of one of my  games - The Invisible Sun.
Me: You just named the quilt.

Paul: So may I have it?

Me: Yes, you may.

I am so glad that Paul likes it.  To be honest (and humble), I like it too.  It is not my usual color palette (cheerful, playful, energizing, bright and happy) but it conveys peacefulness and an introspective vibe. 

The Invisible Sun

One thing is certain - If it wasn't for the Island Batik challenge I would not have worked with this palette and would not have discovered the potential of these colors to create an almost meditative quality.  What do you think?

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

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

The full list of Ambassadors’ names, collections they will be using in their projects, and their post dates are as follows:

November 1:

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail 

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

November 2:

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

November 3:

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Megan Best, Bestquilter

November 4:

Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

November 5:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 8:

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

November 9:

Joanne Hart, Unicorn Harts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Jennifer Eubank, Archipelago Quilting

November 10:

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore

November 11:

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

November 12:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 15:

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

November 16:

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde

November 17:

Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt 

November 18:

End of Blog Hop and Total Round-Up

To celebrate the start of Storm at Sea Blog Hop, Island Batik is giving away a 2.5″ Strip Pack and a 10″ Stack of Bellingham Bay – a gorgeous premiere Original Island Batik collection, designed by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design!

A Finish & A Giveaway

One lucky reader (commenter) will get a free pattern - All the Diagonals, from Mell Meyer.
Just leave a comment, completing this sentence.  After the Covid induced coma is over, I will...

And now, let the eye candy begin.  You heard about Quarantina earlier and saw her glimpses on Instagram.  Here she is - my Covid Child (thus named by Rebecca of Cheeky Cognoscenti).

Paul is promoted to Model

You know when you cannot decide between cake and pie?
When you want both chocolate and strawberry.
When you don't want to choose between the ocean and the mountains...hold that thought.

Speckled FQ Bundle

Cool Ones

Warm Ones

The fabric of choice is Speckled by Ruby Star Society.
The cool blues and soothing greens were an obvious choice, based on Mell's pattern.

The first four blocks

21 out of 42 

But I wanted other half of the spectrum too. Why choose, when you can have both?
I made the remaining blocks in warm colors - pinks, orange, peach and yellow.

Almost Blocks

The choice of white background with cool blocks was easy. After mulling a bit, I decided on a black
background with warm blocks.

Design Wall

The exact layout - which blocks go where - took longer.  And the sashing was a bit of an issue due to the split white and black backgrounds.

Matching Seams

Trying to match seams

Matching seams (kinda sorta) took forever. I matched the border colors with the split layout. Flimsy was finished two days before the deadline.

Deadline Met

My toes :-)

Time to quilt :-O

Backing Fabric

Most fabric is 44" wide, except the wide backing that is 104" wide. Ikea used to carry 100% cotton fabric that was about 54" wide which was perfect for backing lap/throw size quilts. Used to. Not any more. Bummer.

Recently I discovered quilting cotton that is 63" wide. BINGO!!! The above backing fabric is from fabric.com (no affiliation). Look for STOF.

The quilting was straight-ish lines using my walking foot. The binding decision was the last but not the least.

I had matched the border to the split layout and wanted to extend that design to the binding.

Should binding continue the split?

Me: I am thinking that the binding should match the borders.
Paul: How so?
Me: White binding in the top and left and black binding in the bottom and right.
Paul: Can you do that?
Me: It can be done. Whether I can match it exactly may take a few attempts.
Paul: Why not do the opposite?
Me: Like white with black and black with white?
Paul: Yes. Contrast binding.

I hadn't thought of it. Now I was battling with two difficult ideas.
In the end I chose an easy way out - striped black and white binding.

Striped Binding

I am not fond of paper-piecing. But I do recommend this pattern. It is very detailed (including coloring pages), well written and the size recommendations are generous. Even when I made a mistake, the generous size ensured that it worked.

Incorrect orientation of the corner triangle - still within the paper limits

Quarantina was delivered on April 18, 2020.  She has excellent complexion and measures 53" by 61.5" .  The baby is doing fine. The mother is neglecting her to take care of other babies.
NEXT!!!

Hello Quarantina :-)

Quarantina wanted to play in the sun. I agreed. A few more pictures.

Quilting Detail

Split White and Black

Love the Backing

Picnic with Quarantina

Isn't she lovely?

Labelled - Mine :-)

And one last look

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties.  See full list on the sidebar.

Don't forget to comment if you wish to win a free pattern.

Here is my response (to the comment question)...
After the Covid induced coma is over I will spend an entire day in the spa getting spoiled. Manicure, Pedicure, Massage, Facial, Microdermabrasion... whatever that is. Sure, you can microdermawhatever my big behind.

Your turn...

Update on May 8, 2020 - The random number generator chose #24. The winner is KiwiKid.

The giveaway is closed.