Island Batik Drunkard’s Path Ambassador Challenge for April 2025

Welcome to April and another challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors - like me! 😉

Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting, @Oliso, @aurifilthreads and Island Batik for @luminfabrics for the items that they sent me that allowed me to create this month’s project.

The challenge this month was to make a project using a traditional quilt block - the Drunkard’s Path - in an untraditional way and I was up for this challenge!

I used my Modern Curves design that I had previously created for my online membership, The Quilter’s Way. This design is square and finishes at 45”.

I used an Island Batik Stack (10” squares) from the Flutter Wings fabric collection by Kathy Engle as well as black fabric from the solids collection.

I was able to use the fabric from the Stack not only in the blocks but also in one of the borders and in the pieced binding. And I still have at least half of the Stack left for a future project. I loved the bright, summery fabrics in the Flutter Wings collection and really loved how they popped off the black background.

I used an acrylic template to cut my fabrics for 6” finished blocks and then had to do the dreaded curved piecing. I’ve tried to do this many different ways and I get the best results when I just stitch slowly with a ¼” foot and use a stiletto to feed my two fabrics under the needle. My Oliso M3 Pro Project iron worked perfectly for pressing these small curved pieces in each block.

Once the blocks were made, I had to decide how I wanted to position them for the quilt top. Thank goodness for my portable design wall! I played with different arrangements and finally decided on one that I liked. Taking photos of the various combinations really helped in making this decision!

Now that I had decided on the block arrangements, it was time to stitch them together into rows and then rows into a quilt top. I also stitched together strips to make the first border and then attached it and the second border from the black fabric.
Once I had the top completed, it was time to decide on how to quilt Modern Curves. I use Procreate (an iPad app) to sketch out my ideas for quilt motifs and I did that for this project as well but then deviated from it quite a bit. Inspiration often hits when I’m doing the quilting.

I next had to choose what colour thread to use for the quilting. I like to use one thread for the entire quilting process if I can but it’s tough to choose a thread that works for both black and bright fabrics. After much thread playing and thinking, I decided to use a dark grey thread. I sandwiched my quilt top with Hobbs 100% cotton batting and used the black solid Island Batik fabric with a bit of the Flutter Wings fabric to create the pieced backing.

Here is the final result:

And a bit of the back …

There have already been many amazing Drunkard’s Path projects shared by my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors this month and there are still more to come!

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

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Susan Michaels - Dragonfly Fibertart Pattern Company

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #hobbsbatting, #hobbsinside, #aurifil #aurifilthreads #olisoconnects #createwitholiso #drunkardspathchallenge

It’s All Up to You Island Batik Ambassador Challenge for March 2025

Welcome to March and another project that I’ve created using Island Batik fabrics. This month Island Batik Ambassadors were given free rein to create any project they wanted to using Island Batik of Lumin Fabrics fabrics. I chose a precut Stack called Bubbles, Curves and Corners to create this wall hanging that I made using the Modern Spools pattern from A Piece of Cake by Peta Peace.

Bubbles, Corners and Curves Stack (10” squares)

I’ve always wanted to make this project and the It’s All Up to You challenge gave me that opportunity.

In addition to the precut Stack, I also used some of Island Batik’s solids in white and dark grey.

This was an easy quilt to construct and really shows off the fun fabrics in the Bubbles, Curves and Corners fabric collection. I especially liked the one off-kilter spool that was in this pattern - fun!

My Oliso Pro 3 iron was very helpful in pressing everything nice and flat when stitching the project together.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the project was deciding where to place the spool blocks and I tried to ensure that there was contrast in the fabrics next to one another.

This project also gave me lots of opportunity to do some fun quilting - my favourite part! I used some cursive “l’s and e’s” in the sashing, small wishbones in the spool backgrounds, and some back and forth lines in the spools. I used one of my favourite motifs, “E’s and 3”s” in the area surrounding the off-kilter spool in the bottom right of the quilt.

I used Schmetz needles to do the quilting in this project.

When it came time to sandwich the quilt, I used some Hobbs 80/20 cotton/polyester batting to give some dimension in the quilting.

Rather than using a binding in a different colour than the background fabric, I used the same background fabric to avoid “framing” the project.

I was pleased at how this project turned out and even have fabrics left from the precut Stack that will be perfect for a future project.

You can see more details on this project, specifically on how I quilted it in my video below.

Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting, @Oliso, @schmetzneedles and Island Batik for @luminfabrics for the items that they sent me that allowed me to create this month’s project.

There will be many more projects coming from the other Island Batik Ambassadors this month and I’ll be adding the other Ambassador projects to my Pinterest board so be sure to check that out so you won’t miss out on their fabulous creations.

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

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Susan Michaels - Dragonfly Fibertart Pattern Company

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #hobbsbatting, #hobbsinside, #aurifil #aurifilthreads #olisoconnects #createwitholiso #itsalluptoyou

Island Batik Ambassador Hot Stuff Challenge for August 2025

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

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #olisohome #oliso #olisoconnects #createwitholiso #hotstuffchallenge #luminfabrics

Island Batik Ambassador Challenge - Runner Up Blog Hop!

Welcome to week 1 of the Island Batik Ambassador Runner Up blog hop! Our challenge for February 2025 is to create a table or bed runner using a new fabric collection.

I received the Botanical Dreams fabric collection by Jerry Khiev (thanks to Island Batik!) and loved working with this bright and luscious collection! Look at all those gorgeous oranges, purples and yellows - it reminds me of sunshine and tropical places! This fabric collection starts shipping to your local quilt shop this month.

Botanical Dreams by Jerry Khiev for Island Batik

There was one other requirement for this month’s challenge and that was to use a Studio 180 Design tool to create our project. I received the Corner Pop tool from Studio 180 Design and this tool makes accurate stitch and flip blocks. Thanks to Studio 180 Design for sending me this tool to use for my first 2025 project an an Island Batik Ambassador.

Corner Pop tool from Studio 180 Design

Once I had the fabric and the tool, it was time to use my brain to come up with a design. This is the most challenging but also most rewarding part of any challenge! I often look to EQ8 to design my quilts and it was a help to make this design too.

EQ8 Mock up

I decided to create 6” blocks made with 9 stitch and flip units in each of them and put 12 of these blocks together into the table runner. There was a lot of cutting required for each unit and I made sure to label the fabrics so I wouldn’t get them confused as I started to use the Corner Pop tool.

Fabrics cut, labelled and ready for the next step!

Once everything was organized, it was time to start cutting into the background square with the Corner Pop tool.

Getting ready to cut the background square for one unit.

Once the background squares were prepared (corners cut), it was time to stitch on the replacement triangles. These are oversized and would be trimmed down in the final step.

Of course it’s always helpful to have the quilt inspector in my studio as I create my Island Batik Ambassador projects. 🐈‍⬛ What actually is helpful is using my Oliso M3Pro iron to get a good press on all of these little units before they’re stitched into the final quilt top.

Units with replacement triangles stitched on and ready to be pressed - after they pass inspection 🧐

Once all of the units were nicely pressed (thanks, Oliso!), it was time to trim them with the Corner Pop tool.

Block units trimmed and ready for block construction

Here’s what one of the blocks looks like.

Block units ready for stitching

I made all 12 of the blocks and stitched them together into 2 rows and then stitched the 2 rows together to create the center of the table runner.

12 blocks stitched together to form the table runner center.

Next it was time to add the two borders with cornerstones. Here’s the final table runner top.

Table runner top completed

I used the pillowcase method to attach the batting and backing. Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting for supplying the Thermore batting that I used in this project. I thought that this 100% polyester batting would be perfect for this project as it is very thin and no one wants a bulky table runner!

Hobbs Thermore batting

After I had prepared my quilt sandwich, I had to decide how to quilt it and I had several ideas on this. I decided to use vertical wavy lines in the center of the table runner and then do some “C” shapes in the first border and some peaks/triangles with 3 loops in the outer border. I used an oval ruler template to create the designs in the outer cornerstones.

Here’s the final result!

For more information on this table runner, please click here.

My first project as an Island Batik Ambassador is done but there’s more happening this week! Because it’s a blog hop, there are prizes each week.

This week, you could win one fat quarter of either Botanical Dreams or Fall Flair.

Week 1 prize options

To enter to win one of these fat quarter bundles, enter your details below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting, @Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design, @Oliso, and @islandbatik for the items that they sent me that allowed me to create this table runner project.

There will be many more projects coming from the other Island Batik Ambassadors this month - and more giveaways too! I’ll be adding the other Ambassador projects to my Pinterest board so be sure to check that out so you won’t miss out on their fabulous creations.

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

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Susan Michaels - Dragonfly Fibertart Pattern Company

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #hobbsbatting, #hobbsinside, #studio180design #olisoconnects #createwitholiso

More Island Batik boxes have arrived!

More boxes have arrived!

This week I received two more boxes from @islandbatik as an Ambassador. I couldn’t wait to see what was inside these boxes - and neither could Salem!

They were stuffed with goodies from @Hobbs Quilt Batting and @Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design.

The first box I opened had several battings from @Hobbs Quilt Batting in it. I love using their batting and appreciate them sending different batting varieties to use in my projects.

I also received some polyester stuffing from @Hobbs Quilt Batting to use in one of the upcoming @islandbatik Ambassador challenges. So soft and squishy!

I received a new-to-me tool from @Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design: the Corner Pop tool. There are several variations on this tool but I received the original one and I’ll be using it to create my February 2025 project. Can’t wait!

I also received more fabric from @islandbatik. Check out my video below to see what this was and what else I found in my @islandbatik Ambassador boxes.

Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting, @Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design, and @islandbatik for the items that they sent me. I’m looking forward to using them in upcoming designs.

To see what other Island Batik Ambassadors received in their boxes, check my Pinterest board. I’ll be adding to it as more Ambassadors receive and open up their first…and second…and third Ambassador boxes for 2025.

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

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Susan Michaels - Dragonfly Fibertart Pattern Company

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics! My first project is coming up in February 2025.

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #hobbsbatting, #hobbsinside, #studio180design