Falling for AccuQuilt Challenge with Island Batik

 I've been taking a little break from blogging - my Road Trip Quilt Along wore me out!  But I have been sewing, and the result is a fun quilt for my October Island Batik Ambassador Challenge (products for this challenge were provided as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program).  For this challenge Accuquilt provided the North Carolina Star BOB die and we got to make anything we wanted, hopefully inspired with fall fabrics!

Not a problem, I love fall, and there is always room for another fall quilt!  So much fun!  At first I thought I would just make a couple of blocks and make a fun tote bag with them, but you know how plans can change.  I used fabrics leftover from previous projects to make my first block:

Nice, it wasn't too hard to sew together, but I really wanted a little more contrast to show off the angles.  So, I worked on making a second block.

I kept the orange and found some other browns to go with it.  I had a couple new pieces in my foundation bundle in July.  The solid orange is the perfect fall orange, I think!  This AccuQuilt die is super easy to use, you just cut the pieces to fit on the shapes and voila - you get a whole block cut in a jiffy!  It's really fun. I don't think I would ever tackle this block without the die, these pieces would be a trial to cut any other way!

I loved my second block so much that I decided to make three more of them!  I pre-cut all the pieces, and rolled the North Carolina Star die through the GO! three more times, how fast and easy it is to cut all those pieces!  It's like eating potato chips, it's hard to stop making more, but I only had so much fabric to use! I decided to use the four new blocks I made with my original block to make an on-point quilt to put on my side table for fall.  That trial block looks really nice as the center of my project!

Now to decide what fabric to use for the setting triangles.  I tried a few, and ended up using a soft brown called Lizard.  It looked really good with the orange!  It was a bit tricky getting the pieces cut from the 1/2 yard, but with a little ingenuity I figured it out.  I used a neutral taupe color of Aurifil thread for the piecing, and a Schmetz Professional Chrome needle.  My machine loves this combination, and it always produces a great seam - the needles are nice and sharp and the 50 weight thread gives me a good accurate seam allowance (so important for the precise piecing in this quilt block).

I decided to do cross hatch stitching!  I used Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20 batting, and Aurifil thread in a nice orange with my walking foot.  This is a great batting, lightweight and soft!  After washing your quilts will have a nice crinkle and soft drape, which I love!  And since I loved the Orange solid so much, I decided to use it for the binding for a fabulous finishing touch as well!

Isn't it pretty?  I love the way it looks on my little side table, too!  It measures about 34 inches square.  I love the fall colors, and the stars are so pretty! 

Thanks to Island Batik for the fabric and the design idea!  And thanks as well to AccuQuilt for providing the die - I love it and I am sure I will be making more quilts with this stunning block!  I also want to thank Aurifil thread, Schmetz Needles and Hobbs batting for the products they provided.  I appreciate being an Island Batik Ambassador and all the great products I get to use to do what I love!