Welcome to August and another challenge as an Island Batik Ambassador! 😀

This month’s challenge is a little different as we already have the '“foundation”: it’s the Oliso small carry bag for the Oliso M3 Pro iron. This is such a cute and helpful travel case for this small but powerful iron that Oliso generously gave to each Island Batik Ambassador.

I love this little iron - it’s cute, colourful, and so useful. When you need to get into those small areas or want a small iron to take to a retreat, the M3 Pro iron it the one you need! It heats up quickly, has a long cord (I hate short cords!), and has a light - such a useful feature. I also like that it comes with the SoleMate, which is a silicon pad to rest the iron on when you’re not using it. It is also a way to protect the sole of the iron - get it? “SoleMate? 😅

The Island Batik Ambassador Hot Stuff Challenge for August 2025 was to decorate the small carry bag that we all received for the Oliso M3Pro iron.

Wow! Where to begin!

Since I’ve recently been diving into hand embroidery (one of my favourite techniques but one that has been on the back burner for a few years), I decided that I was going to add some hand stitching to the carry bag. I wanted to add some Island Batik fabrics, of course, and thought that some additional embellishments like buttons and/or beads would add to the fun project.

Once I’d gathered the items that I thought I’d need for this project, it was time to start!

I decided to go with a froggy design so, using a quilting stencil, I drew the frog design onto Golden Threads paper.

I then pinned it to the opening of the small carry bag with small appliqué pins (and I didn’t even get poked once during the stitching process - a first for me! 😉).

I used a chain stitch to stitch the frog outline and then gently tore off the paper.

I was really pleased with the result and no stitches were damaged in the process - and no fingers either. 😀
Once the end of the bag was embelllished, it was time to decide what to do on the rest of the carry bag.

I decided to add some appliqués: a lily flower and lily pads. I hadn’t yet picked out fabrics for the lily flowers so I chose a light, dark and then a yellow (for the flower centre) from the 5” Stash Builder strip rolls that I’d received from Island Batik of Lumin Fabrics.

I traced the pieces for the lily flowers onto fusible web and fused them to the chosen Island Batik fabrics, cut them out and then lightly fused them into one shape to be applied to the bag sides: one flower on each side.

I repeated a similar procedure with the green fabrics I’d chosen for the lily pads: two of each of these on each bag side.

Next, I had to fuse these to the bag sides, which proved a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. The fusible web didn’t want to stick very well to the felt sides so I ended up using some craft glue to keep everything in place.

It was then time to do some hand embroidery to embellish the lily pads and flowers. I used a blanket stitch around the edges of the lily pads and added some seed stitches into the larger ones. I also used a blanket stitch around part of the lily flower, deciding to leave some of the petals unfinished but glued down. I had wanted to add some hand embroidery to these petals too but going through the felt, several layers of fabric and several layers of fusible web proved too much for my hands. I think they look fine left as is.

While it’s fun to add hand embroidery embellishments, it’s even more fun to add beads! The chain stitched frog needed eyes so I added two green beads to him.

I glued an assortment of small glass beads to the lily flower centres. again, I considered stitching french knots to the lily flower centres but the layers were too thick to easily stitch through so out came the glue bottle.

The final item that needed to be added was some buttons on the top of the carry bag. I have (just a few) buttons that I thought would be perfect for this project so I glued the flowers and dragonflies to the top of the carry bag.

Here’s the finished result!

And here it is with the Oliso M3 Pro iron - the perfect combo.

Now, I can carry my Oliso M3 Pro iron in style and, when it’s resting in my studio, the carry bag will add a lovely accent.

Thanks to Oliso, and Island Batik of Lumin Fabrics for the items that they sent me that allowed me to create this month’s project. It was so fun and creative!

There will be many more projects coming from the other Island Batik Ambassadors this month. Be sure to check out their blogposts below to see what they created for the Hot Stuff Challenge.

You can find out more about the 2025 Island Batik Ambassadors and the projects that they will be working on this year on their websites below.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Tina Dillard - Quilting Affection Designs

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Kimberly Flannagan - Kimberlys Quilts

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood