Monday, May 27, 2019

CityScape quilt in Island Batik - Make it Modern with Hobbs challenge!

This month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was to make a modern quilt larger than crib size and to feature Hobbs batting.  I must admit that I have spent the entire month of May wrestling with this challenge!  The batting part was easy - we were supplied with an abundance of different Hobb's batting types, but since I wanted to try out the Silk Blend batting from the Tuscany Collection I really wanted my quilt to be be worthy of this special fiber! I've been mulling over a variety of ideas, but none of them were just right.  Finally inspiration struck and I ran with it!

And I am very pleased with my project for sure!  I decided to make a baby size quilt (38 x 48) using my CityScape pattern  and the bundle of foundation fabrics from my Ambassador box.  I've been thinking for a while that I really need a new cover quilt, and this will be perfect.  The bold colors in the fabric are perfect for a modern quilt!
Aren't the purples and greens lovely?  This is a great combination of values and textures, so I knew it would make a great quilt.  I chose a light colored basic from my stash for the sashing, and a scrap of a pretty purple for the cornerstones and was ready to get cutting.

It didn't take long to get all the blocks sewn together and before I knew it the top was finished and was time to decide on thread.

I didn't have any green, but did come with some light and dark purple in my Aurifil stash!  The grey spool is 28 weight.  I thought it would be great for some straight line quilting with my walking foot.  Since I only had the small spool I decided to use the lighter color on the back - it looks great on the Almond Basic from Island Batik that I used on the back!

I was a bit surprised when I unwrapped the batting.  I really thought that the silk blend would be more slippery, but it was not at all slippery - in fact it felt very much like a regular cotton batting!  It was very nice to lay out, very stable and nicely firm.  The wrinkles from being in the package smoothed out easily and it was easy to pin through for the basting.  It clings nicely to the fabric and I noticed no fiber migration to the top of the quilt at all.
I started out by quilting stitch in the ditch beside all the sashings.  Then I just started quilting straight lines randomly through the blocks.  Every once in a while I would spread the quilt out and say, is that enough quilting?  Three times the quilt said, no - I need more!  The batting has a nice low loft to it, and isn't stiff at all, so it's very nice for using at a sit down machine like I have.  It didn't make the quilt feel bulky at all!
Finally, it was done and ready to add the binding.  I used the same light color for the binding as I did for the sashings.  I don't usually like light colored bindings, but this looks really nice on my quilt!



I was excited to use my new photography lighting to take pictures - wow, what a difference, especially on a gloomy day!
The colors really come through without having to do a lot of editing!  I was pleasantly surprised at how much better my pictures were with the improved lighting, definitely worth it.
I really love how my quilt came out, even though I did get one block in upside down.  I definitely enjoyed trying out the silk blend batting from Hobbs.  I am planning on making a few samples from the leftover batting to see how it washes.  This batting shouldn't be dried in a machine, so you probably wouldn't want to use it for a project that will need frequent washing, but it really is nice to work with!

My CityScape pattern is available here in my Etsy shop.

As always - a big thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs Batting and Aurifil thread for providing me the materials needed for this project!

Don't forget to visit the rest of the Island Batik Ambassadors blogs to see what they have made - some really fabulous projects have come out of this challenge!


Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen
Gene Black ~ Gene Black
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts (Me!)
Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River
Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts
Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney
Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter
Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon
Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts
Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts
Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts
Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts
Carla Henton ~ Creatin’ in the Sticks
Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting
Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter
Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter
Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff
Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke
Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog
Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing
Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs
Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created
Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk
Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts
Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde
Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting
Anita Skjellanger ~ Quilt in a not-Shell
Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland
Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts
Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts
Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts
(Debora) Anne Wiens ~ Seams like a Plan
Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter
Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Happy reading (and quilting!)

7 comments:

teachpany said...

Lovely! I like your simple quilting, as well as the colors and design, and I had the same feeling about using the Silk batting. I'm using the 80/20 cotton/wool for my challenge. It's fun to see the difference the little bit of wool makes in the quilting, just a little extra puffy. I'll share soon.

Karen said...

Nicely done! I discovered that silk batting a few years' back and I love it. It's my batting of choice for a queen sized quilt, as there is less bulk going through my domestic machine. You chose beautiful colours for your quilt!

Kathleen said...

I too have to plot to start using these battings. I love this quilt and the light binding is perfect. What light did you get? I should invest, but haven’t yet.

For the love of geese said...

This is gorgeous. Love the colors and the scrappy look.

Barb said...

Turned out wonderfully!!! Love it

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Well done. It turned out great. Love the colours.

Anita said...

Great colors, truly beautiful quilt!