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The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, including batting from Hobbs.

In March I tried a technique that was new to me. I actually tried a few new (or newish) techniques and tools. I used an Accuquilt Go! for the first time. I did fusible appliqué (which I had tried, but not many times). I used a "grab bag" system for pairing fabrics. And my overall composition was a color wash. The variety of values in the Island Batik Mountain's Majesty Stack of 10" squares was perfect for this look. I shared my finished quilt top and a bit about my inspiration and process. In May I finished the quilt, and dropped it off to the San Mateo County Fair where it hung for the June fair with nearly 400 other beautiful quilts. I shared a peek of my finish in my Quilts in the San Mateo County Fair post where I also shared my kids' quilts and my judges' evaluation forms.

So, back to my quilt. Since my 1" squares were fused in place, I wanted my quilting to hold them down. (For those of you more experienced appliqué quilters, is there a fusible that will withstand washing without being stitched down?) I opted for a diagonal path to my free motion quilting. Starting at the corner I curved in to the center of the block, stitched around the perimeter of the circle, and curved down to the right to the corner of the block. I like the overall look and it achieved my goal of holding those little circles in place.

The quilt was finished with a faced binding. I really like the look of the facing on the finished quilt so the binding doesn't compete with the design of the quilt. I recently used faced binding on on i Mini and my Modern Batik Scrappy Squares.

 

I've linked up to 2018 Q2 Finish Along linkup. See my whole Q2 list.

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The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, including Aurifil thread.

This month's Island Batik challenge was to go modern. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to play with my Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares technique in a larger scale.

I settled on a scrappy palette of pink, purple, navy, and turquoise, using the light Lilac fabric for my background. The Lilac was a limiting factor as I had only half a yard. (I ended up with about 8" x 10" of Lilac leftover.) Here are some of my feature fabrics:

The Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares technique revolves around starting with squares and designing the layout before cutting background pieces.

It's a bit of a puzzle. This one was more complicated than normal and I painted myself into a bit of a corner. No worries! I was able to finish piecing it with a series of partial seams.

This was my final seam of the quilt top -- the little partial seam right in the middle!

Once it was all together I had to contemplate quilting motifs. I chose Aurifil 50wt Light Lilac (#2510) for the background and Berrylicious Variegated (#4647) for the squares.

First I did some walking foot quilting to stitch in the ditch quilting in Light Lilac along the perimeter of the sections of squares.

Then I did a jagged stipple in Light Lilac all over the background. Finally, I finished up by quilting Berrylicious spirals throughout the square sections. The hot pink, turquoise, and white was the perfect companion to my palette! I chose a curvy motif to contrast the jagged quilting in the background.

I finished the quilt with a faced binding. I love how the squares and the quilting float all the way to the edge of the quilt.

The quilt finished at approximately 40" x 40". The batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton Select.

 

Thank you for visiting to see my Island Batik Modern Batik baby quilt!

Check out some of the other modern creations this month by Island Batik Ambassadors:

Myra at Busy Hands Quilts

Connie at Freemotion by the River

Tina at Quilting Affection Designs

Steph at Steph Jacobson

Bea at BeaQuilter

Anne at Sweetgrass Designs

Alison at Little Bunny Designs

Sherry at Powered by Quilting

Vicky at Vicky's Crafts and Quilting

 

I'm linking up to TGIFF and Needle and Thread Thursday.

I've also linked up to 2018 Q2 Finish Along linkup. See my whole Q2 list.

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At Spring Quilt Market I connected with the designers at Sweet Bee Designs. This resulted in Lizzie Clark reaching out to invite me to participate in the Blog Hop for the release of her new fabric line, Wonder Full. It’s a lovely floral line with rich jewel tones and pretty pinks. I'm happy to be sharing two quilt tops with you.

The first thing I noticed when I received the bundle was how much I enjoyed the seven monochromatic pinks together. When I pulled those aside, what remained was the rich jewel tones: the navy/magenta/olive set of fabrics I used for my first quilt top.

In each project I chose a variation of my Planned Improv: All About Angles technique. This is a little more structured than my previous pieces as I altered the technique a bit to be more friendly for using one-sided fabric.

Once I created the units, I used my design wall to audition layouts. I initially planned for a straight layout, but thought a vertical shift in every other column would be interesting.

Then I tried a couple with the blocks placed in alternating directions.

In the end, I really liked the vertical shift layout and also the nine-patch design. I stuck with the vertical shift layout for this first quilt top, which finished at approximately 41" x 46".

Then I used the pinks to whip up a second quilt top. I love that these two projects show the versatility of the initial units. They original units were identically pieced. They vary in placement and the pink sections were trimmed down. This project is 35" x 35".

Thank you for visiting! I’ll update the list of participants with links to their blog posts as they are available . You can also check back on Lizzie’s kickoff post.

6/25 Sarah Goer at Sarah Goer Quilts - you are here!
6/26 Becky Vandenberg at Be So Crafty
6/27 Becca Plymale @sunflowerseams
6/28 Stephanie Jacobson at Steph Jacobson
6/29 Allison Dutton at Allison Sews
6/30 Andy Knowlton at A Bright Corner
7/1 Lissa LaGreca at Lovingly Lissa
7/2 Jennifer Strauser at Dizzy Quilter
7/3 Sherry Shish at Powered By Quilting