The Island Batik Ambassadors who weren't part of the blog hop featuring the new fabrics were given the challenge of "Tool Time". I was pretty excited about this, because I do love my tools! I had an idea for a quilt I wanted to make, and gathered up the materials to get it going.
The stack of 10 inch squares is
Graphic Gems - don't you just love those gears? I feel very privileged to be provided these lovely fabrics to work with! I appreciate
Island Batik's generosity, as well as the beauty and quality of their fabric.
So now, I will tell you about my tools! To start off with, my cutting tools are from Olfa. The Splash cutter makes me smile, and my trusty 6 x 24 ruler has got me through cutting up fabric for many a quilt. I needed to cut a bunch of 1 inch strips from the gray for my project, so I pulled out another of my favorite tools - my June Taylor Shape Cut ruler. Love this for when I have to cut a lot of strips!
It didn't take long before I had a big pile of strips!
My next step was to sort through the squares of fabric and decide which ones I wanted to cut - some in halves, and some in quarters. I set aside my favorites to use as whole squares. Then I used the strips to sew between the sections. I wasn't sure I would like the gray solid, but I really love it!
I knew I'd have to do a lot of pressing of those narrow strips, so I thought it would be a good idea to purchase myself a couple of new tools to help with this step - a wool pressing mat and mini iron to make the job a little easier.
These were super handy, and I was very impressed at how well this little Steamfast iron and Coobe pressing mat pressed those small strips flat and smooth. I used the iron dry, and had very little heat come through the mat, so it did a great job of protecting my desktop.
I sewed all the quarters into pairs, then added a strip in between those and a half square. Right around this point I got excited about my project and forgot to take pictures. That and I was racing the daylight!
All of a sudden I had a finished top! I love the way the gray accents the beautiful colors in this line - this would be a perfect quilt for a man, with the gears and bold colors.
Isn't it just lovely? Unfortunately I ran out of time to get this quilted before the end of the month, but I'll probably be able to get this done later this week. I think I'll use the gray for the binding, and I am planning to use the rest of the Hobbe's Heirloom cotton batting in this one, I think it will give it the perfect weight and texture. I'll be sure to bog about the quilting when it's done, then it'll be time to get busy with the last challenge as and Island Batik Ambassador for 2019! It's been a great year - thanks to Island Batik for all the great fabric, Hobb's batting for their great product, and Aurifil thread - always my favorite for piecing, and for quilting as well!
