Happy Christmas Eve!

 This month has flown by, and I am happy to say that I've completed my Island Batik Ambassador challenge and  am ready to show it to you now!  Our challenge this month was an open one, we were given free choice to do what we wanted, and I had a really hard time deciding what to make!  Given the amount of time I actually had free to work on the project, I decided that a smaller project was the way to go.  

I decided that I'd make a table runner to celebrate Winter!  Here on the Oregon Coast we don't often have snow, but it's one of my favorite memories of growing up in Colorado, so I pulled out all the winter fabric's I have received from Island Batik, and got to work making some star blocks for my runner.

Along with my blocks, I cut 6 1/2 inch squares.  I had enough different fabrics to not have to use any repeats!

I used a gray Aurifil thread for the piecing and a size 14 Microtex needle from Schmetz for the piecing. I loved my Oliso iron when pressing the seams!   I had a perfect size strip of Thermore batting from Hobbs to use for the batting.  The backing is a pretty moon and star print from my Island Batik stash. I also pulled the binding from my stash!

I used my favorite swirly quilting to finish it off!  My runner measures 18 x 42, which is a nice size for my table when I take the leaf out.  I'll enjoy using this for the month of January!

Monochromatic quilts are really fun to make, especially if you want to make a scrappy quilt!  I hope to make some different table runners this year to trade out - it helps me to keep my table free of clutter if I have something pretty on it!

Oops, this picture was taken upside down!  And it shows the fabrics so nicely, too!  

I'm a little sad to tell you that I won't be rejoining the Island Batik Ambassador program for 2025.  I decided that 10 years was a great run, and that it would be nice to make room for someone else to have the opportunity to join in.  This will enable me to have a little more margin in my monthly schedule to do some other things as well, which is important to me.  I still adore Island Batik and will continue designing new quilts for their catalogs, so don't worry - you'll still be seeing plenty of projects with their beautiful fabrics here!  It was hard to choose to step back, but I'm really excited to see what happens in the coming year. 

I am so very grateful to have been a part of the Island Batik Ambassador program! I am also grateful to this year's sponsors for providing wonderful products to use!  A big thank you to Aurifil, Hobbs Batting, Oliso and Schmetz needles and of course, Island Batik for their wonderful fabric and putting it all together!

Since I have an abundance of Island Batik fabric left from my 10 years as an Ambassador, I thought it would be nice to finish this year with a giveaway - I'm going back to using rafflecopter for my giveaways as it makes it a lot easier for me to choose and contact the winner.  To enter, click on the widget and choose an option to enter!  The drawing will end on New Year's Eve at midnight Pacific time - good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway