March Challenge – “All up to You!”

For this Month’s Island Batik Ambassador challenge it is “All up to You!”   We get to decide what we want to do, any project, any size, any theme! We get to express our creativity!

So with this month’s challenge I worked on a new quilt technique that I have not completed a quilt using.  Apple core block using a 10″ pack of Nightshade Batik and coordinating fabric.  I have an Apple Core ruler designed for 10″ layer cakes sold by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  You can purchase a Apple Core ruler to cut the pieces easy, or you can search on the web and print the size you want to use. 

All materials are provided free to me by Island Batik and their industry partners Hobbs Batting,   Aurifil Thread,  Accuquilt and Schmetz Needles  in my role as an ambassador.

I took a class in November at the Houston Quilt Festival to learn a new technique to help work with curves.  I really don’t like curves, and I wanted to make one of these quilts. While we were cutting out the pieces, the instructor said to just cut and throw away the extra fabric, not much fabric scrap.  Ok, I hate wasting fabric, so I moved the ruler over towards the edge, so I could have as much of the “extra” fabric together.  I am glad that I did, because I was able to create an small “bonus” quilt, more info on that below.

Quilt 1 – Apple Core

When using an Apple Core ruler, you can cut several layers at a time.  Using a rotating mat helps with this, so you can rotate the fabric to cut the different side.

Using 10″ squares of fabric, there are a couple ways you can layout the ruler to get extra fabric pieces for a small bonus quilt.

If you lay the ruler in the center of the fabric, you will have a little extra on each side.

By moving the ruler over to the edge, you can keep as much fabric to one side, to use on another project.

You can see how easy it is to see the extra pieces, when you layout on the fabric square. (These are the additional pieces I cut for the bonus Quilt)

Cut out all 42 apple core pieces, setting the extra fabric aside for the bonus quilt.

Split you pieces into two stacks, and one rotate 1/4 sideways, so you have two stacks laid out like this.

Note: You need to make sure that you sew all the sections together the same way, otherwise they will not nest together correctly, and you will need to spend time with your seam ruler.

For all 42 pieces, you will need to do the following steps.

Fold 1 piece in half.

Clip a small section on both sides of the fold (make sure this stays smaller than 1/4″, to stay in your seam allowance.

Unfold the piece, and you will see the two clips.

Fold the piece in half the opposite direction.

Clip a small section on both sides of the fold (make sure this stays smaller than 1/4″, to stay in your seam allowance.

Unfold the piece, and you will see the two additional clips.  These are the center points for each side, so you will have 8 points to mark, four corners and four centers.

Repeat this for all the pieces.

Selecting two pieces, layout in this format (remember to keep all pieces sewn together the same direction).

Lay the right-sides together matching the corner seam.

Place a pin in the corner to told together.

Holding the fabric together, matching the center clips you made, and adjust the fabric as you sew along.

Since the fabric is cut on the bias, you can stretch the fabric a little to make the center marks match.

Using some tweezers, grab the ends to make sure they match and use these to help as you finish sewing the side.

Finished seam.

After sewing, lay the pieces out, and press the seam flat.

Sew all the pieces into sections of 2, then using two pieces, rotate one piece around and match.

Fold the pieces together, matching the corner, and sew along. This time you can match the corners, the clips, and the center seams.

After sewing the pieces together, you will need to clip the seam close to the center of the four pieces, this will help the fabric lay flat.

Press the block.

Sew 9 sections of four pieces together, leaving three sections of two.

To figure out the best layout, layout the four pieces, three across and three down, then add a the two pieces into a single row across the bottom.

I found the layout I like, but I decided I wanted to have a border that matched the apple core, so I used the matching coordinating fabric “Flame” and cut out some more apple core pieces, then sewed them to the outside of each section before sewing together.  Then Trimmed to be straight.

The first top was finished, and so I had decided to create a back with the scrap fabric, but quickly realized I did not have enough to make a nice back, so decided to make a small bonus quilt.

Bonus Quilt

I used my Accuquilt using the “Tree of Life” die, that I received as part of last years Island Batik Ambassador goodies. 

There are two different pieces of scrap fabric, I used the larger pieces, using them one at a time.

I folded the piece in half. (Remember which side is the right-side when folding)

Then laid the piece over the Tree of Life Die piece “A”, a 2 1/4″ square.

After cutting the first set of Piece A Squares, I used some of the smaller pieces of fabric left over and laid them over some of piece “B”, Half Square Triangles.   There are several on the die, so I laid them out in smaller layers.

After running all the pieces thru the die cutter, I had 84 – 2 1/4″ squares, and 84 – Half Square Triangles.

I cut a few extra pieces out of the coordinating Flame fabric to fill in the block as needed.

I tried to decide how I wanted the pieces to be laid out, so here is the layout I decided on.

I laid the pieces out in the layout I was looking at, to find the flow I wanted.  Each corner is 20 pieces, one of each of the 20 pieces of the fabric layout.

Sew all the pieces together, making sure to keep in the layout you want (and that the triangles went in the direction I wanted).

I then decided to add a 2″ border around the quilt with the other coordinating fabric “Cornsilk”. 

Then a 4″ border of the “Flame” fabric.

The second quilt top was completed. 

Before quilting, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the quilts. 

I am a big dog lover, and if you saw my house, you would understand.  We are back to 7 dogs, well 6 dogs and a puppy, and I love to share my quilts with my dogs. If there is one on the bed, one of the dogs are under it, or asking to crawl under it.  They are family, so we share.

With this in mind, we had just adopted our most recent puppy for the Athens Animal Rescue Shelter, Athens, Texas during their Valentine’s Adoption event, and they had a raffle for some goods from local businesses. 

I decided that I wanted to donate the quilts to the Shelter for a raffle.  The Apple Core quilt for the Pet Parents and the bonus quilt for their dog, or cat.  While the layouts are different, the fabrics match in both quilts.  What better way to share with your furry-family member than their own quilt.   I guess it could be used for a small child.

The Shelter will raffle the quilts at a later date.  You can follow them on Facebook Athens Animal Rescue.

I decided to quilt the Apple core quilt with “Paw prints” for the pet parent, as their dog (or cat) put their paw prints on their hearts.  This design is from Quilting Pantographs.

I used Aurifil Color Builder Set, Tuscany Orange for the quilting.  The set has three colors of orange, and matched the Nightshade fabric so well. 

I used some Hobbs Batting 80/20 Cotton for the quilts.  I used a Queen size, and was able to get both quilts out of the batting. The batting makes a nice quilt, to lay under and keep warm, or to be laid on the ground to sit on.

For the Bonus quilt, I quilted with Hearts, as the dog/cat has their owners heart.

Here is the finished Apple Core Quilt

Here is the Bonus Quilt.

Both of the quilts.

If you enjoyed seeing my March Challenge, check out the other Ambassador’s projects. There are lots of different options.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You
Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine
Anorina Morris ~ sameliasmum.com

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia
Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

#islandbatikambassador, #islandbatik, #iloveislandbatik, #hobbsbatting, #aurifil, #aurifilthread, #schmetzneedles, #juki, #accuquilt, #accuquiltgo

Advertisement