October IB Challenge and Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop
Welcome all. Today I am sharing my Island Batik Top It Off monthly challenge and it’s also my stop on the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. On Halloween you can be anyone or anything you like, it’s the most creative time of the year. So thank you Carol from Just Let Me Quilt for the opportunity to join in. Her hops are always inspiring and so much fun.
The Island Batik challenge was to:
- Create a holiday runner or table topper
- Must use an applique technique ( hand or machine)
- Any size
The fabric I chose for the main project is the Islander Collection and the IB solid black. You may remember I used these in the IB September Challenge as well. You can view that post here, (tutorial coming soon for the quilt). I loved these fabrics because the spray of colors remind me of fall. They were all lovely and I did play with the blues as well.
This is going to be a long post with a lot of photos so grab your Pumpkin Spice Latte (or coffee) and stay a while.
Do you have an AccuQuilt fabric cutter? Well, I’m sharing with you how I put together the runner. The Spider Web die is versatile, I quickly discovered you can make more than a Spider Web block using the Spider Web die.
You can place up to six layers of fabric on the die. When making a project such as this you may want to cover ever either die shape to avoid overlapping your fabric. But let’s say your blocks are only 2 colors such as black and white, in that case you can just place 6 solid layers of fabric over the entire die.
Enough fabric to make five Spider Web blocks. 2 with green diamond, 3 with orange.
Lay the block pieces in front of you as shown above. The tabs all go in the same direction. This is half of the block.
Begin by piecing the center diamond and the solid black on either side.
Take to machine and stitch 1/4″ seam. Press seams open.
Add next patch, again stitching with a 1/4″ seam. Press seams open. Continue on the left side, then add patches for the other half. All seams open.
Half of block complete.
Shown above is 1 block.
Next piece the border blocks using green for the diamond. Both the 2nd and 3rd patches will be black. The 4th patch is orange. See the difference below.
Make a total of 3 whole blocks with orange diamonds and 2 whole blocks with green diamonds.
Joining halves. Line up your tabs and use a dot of glue or pin to secure. Sew using a 1/4 ” seam and press open.
Cut both green diamond blocks in half on the diagonal, see photo above. Do not cut the orange diamond blocks.
Add half blocks you just cut as shown in photos above and below using 1/4″ seam. Don’t worry about the dog ears for now.
Sew the half blocks (green) to the center blocks as shown above, then join the 3 sections. When you join the 3 sections match up the diamond top point seams.
For lack of a better word we are going to square it up. Place each end point on (for instance) the 10″ cutting mat line. Trim at the 6″ and 14″ line to make the runner 8″ wide.
If you like the shape, quilt and bind or keep going. Next using the 4″ finished half square triangle die from the Mix n Match 8″ Qube, place 2 layers of black fabric on the die and cut. These will be used on the ends to form a rectangle.
Add a 1″ border and square up your rectangle. Prepare for quilting. For my runner I chose to stitch in the ditch.
If you remember the challenge required some applique. So…I have a double sided runner.
Using the AccuQuilt Emoji die, fusible web and Island Batik scraps I cut a circle for a moon, tear drop shapes in yellow and 2 in green for eyes, hearts, the smile and 3 tongue shapes, and large circles for pumpkins (that’s it I think) Once these were all cut, I cut designs for the eyes and mouth.
Again I used the IB black solid cut to the same size as the runner, I made a quilt sandwich with scraps of Hobb’s batting. With free motion quilting I attached the pumpkins and added detail. Then I joined the pumpkins half to the Spider Web front.
Recently I’ve been reading tutorials on flanged bindings and decided that would be perfect to break up all that black. Well, it wasn’t too bad until I joined the ends. See bottom left in photo below.
It would have been the perfect finish, but a flanged binding requires more practice on my part. So I replaced it with a black solid binding.
I love Halloween and I had more Island Batik scraps. Using the scraps, fusible web and the Emoji die I cut more shapes. For the pumpkin I decided to do a little trimming from the top of his head. Cut shapes from the Emoji mouth and tear drops for the eyes and mouth
I drew a bare tree on fusible web and fused to the same green as my first project. Remember those tongues? Yea for me they are tombstones. The small circle from the Emoji die, a moon. Using the black solid I cut out a house, and from the same yellow as the mouth and eyes I cut windows. I also used the shovel from the AccuQuilt Summer Medley die to place in the graveyard.
When my son was in grade school they made posters for the fall festival and I used his idea to create this wall hanging.
Be kind, I’m still a newbie when it comes to longarm quilting. I wanted a driveway leading to the house and my pebbles require A LOT of practice lol. Still, it looks like a child’s drawing. I wish I had thought to add a spider web.
All products in this post were given to me as an Island Batik Ambassador and I thank them all. Given more time I probably would have created more projects for this post. There’s always next year.
What I learned
I definitely need more practice with pebbles if I am going to use a contrasting thread, practice practice practice.
Flange bindings are not as difficult as I thought and placed on my to-do-practice list.
That you are a dedicated reader if you made it this far into the post!!! Thank you.
October 7
Janie G. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt
October 8
October 9
Kathleen – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt
Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales
October 10
Bethni L. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt
October 11
Melva Loves Scraps
Patchouli Moon Studio
See what others are working on
View links to other Island Batik Ambassadors
That is a very cool die!! Love how you used it and how your project turned out! xx
I agree, and I’m sure there are more designs to be found.
Wonderful! So much fun with all the little details. And your two sided table runner will last all through Fall. Perfect! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday wait Loss.
Thanks Jennifer, I went all out for this Halloween. The non pumpkin runner blends so well with my decor I will make use all year. Thank you for the linky party. Hopefully I will have a new project to share in the coming weeks.
It was easy to get all the way through! Everything you did was interesting. I really like how your pieced runner came together, and would never have thought to do that. Then the appliqué on the back was so creative. I also like your Halloween graveyard scene. Very clever work!
Thank you so much.
Love your creativity. Very inspiring
Thank you
Hello Denise! I’m so glad I read your entire post so I could see both of your projects. They’re wonderful and soooo spooky! Have a fabulous day!
Thank you Jennifer, you do the same.
Those are great projects! I really like those two dies you used. I may have to invest in those! Thanks so much for sharing!
They are great, I especially love the Spider Web die. There’s a couple more things I have in mind for the Emoji just no time for them right now. Thank you for stopping by.
Spooky projects and great quilting!
Thank you Anita
Great projects! I really really like the long table runner, however the other two have an awesome whimsical charm as well. You rocked this project, you really did!
Well thank you Yvonne.
Very clever uses of both your dies – you are definitely getting plenty of mileage out of them! I hope you you have a very happy halloween season this year, it looks like it is off to a great start for you.
Thank you. Perhaps I should be, “For the love of clever geese”. Kidding.
You did a lot of cute projects–the table runner is really nice–Thanks for the blog hop and all your ideas!!
Thank you
Nice projects. Thanks for sharing them with us. And I think your pebbles are fine. 😉
Thank you for saying so and stopping by.
Very creative. I like how you cut and turned some of the blocks to make the design … 🙂 Pat
Thank you very much.
What fun projects. Love that spider web die.
Me too. I’m interested to see what others do with it.
Very cute projects. What great inspiration for the little quilt (your son’s art).
Thank you Danice
Love your pumpkins made with the emoji die, especially the heart eye! The scene inspired by artwork looks fantastic, really like the dark background, swirly stitching, and face coming out of the shadows.
Thank you. My son was very creative as a grade schooler.
Wow you made quite a few projects. Can’t decide which is my favorite.
If time had been on my side I would have made more. Thank you for stopping by.
Love the reversible aspect of your project! Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. Both side fit my decor, guess which one is showing up this month.
I just love the fabrics you chose. AND that you gave us some tips that you learned. I need all the help I can get 🙂
I will be hosting a quilt along soon. Hope you’ll check back and join in.
Great projects! I love that you used Accuquilt for so many of the pieces. Fun colors and a reversible runner, great thinking!
I love that the shapes can be used for so many different things. Thank you for stopping by, hope you are well.
Very cool ty for sharing ….happyness04431@yahoo.com
As soon as I am caught up around here I’ll be hosting a sew along. Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing! The Accu Cut dies seem like they’d be a great time-saver. Love that added applique.
Thank you, they really do.
Such lovely and unique creations!
Thank you Anita
While i really like your table runner (both sides) and I would have it on my table even with the flange issue I am in love with your version of the cemetery. Boo to you for a job well done.
Lol, thank you.
Great job and great use of the applique! I love what you did again with the spiderweb die – so creative.
Thank you Kathleen.
Great projects, thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you Karrin
Great projects! I especially liked the pumpkins and their funny faces. I don’t have an Accuquilt but your tutorial has made me think maybe I need one. Loved your wall hanging!
Thank you Charlene. There are so many creative uses for their die’s. AND, you can order a custom die if they do not have what they want on their site.
Awesome projects! You made good use of all that fabric.
Thank you Susan, I wish I had more of it. I love this collection.
It is good to learn from our projects.
When you learn the hard way you never forget. Thank you for stopping by.
Wow! Thank you you for sharing all the process as well as misteps. Love the wall hanging too!
Thank you Teri, it was more precious as an art poster . But you know, kids really don’t catch our mistakes and it’s in a loving home.
I started the blog hop with your post today, lots of cute things being made. I got out all my halloween Quilty things last week, I may need another table runner :).
Oh no! I am so pleased with this die and it’s various uses. Did you see Gene Black’s September finish using it?
I started the blog hop with your post today, lots of cute things being made. I got out all my halloween Quilty things last week, I may need another table runner :).
Hi Denise! what a fun post. I just LOVE the second side – those pumpkin faces are SO cute. One with a heart-shaped eye and the other one looks a little sinister. And your son’s wall hanging is COOL. It looks scary, and what’s this about being kind about your quilting??!! No one should say a thing, in the first place, and in the second place it looks sweet. I love the zig zag for the ground – it makes it look uneven and like you would surely trip running away from the ghouls. The swirls in the sky make you believe the wind is howling and those pumpkins looks just like are laughing at you for even entering the cemetery. LOVE it. ~smile~ Roseanne
Thank you Rosanne. I love all the quilting except for the pebbles but it gives me something I need more work on.
Don’t be so hard on yourself! Next time you see a bunch of pebbles together, look at them. Really look! They are not circular at all – not a single one of them. And, only YOU look at them that closely. The rest of us see the overall picture and know what they represent. Truth! ~smile~ Roseanne
Thank you for sharing all the steps to putting this together…it’s beautiful in the batiks! I love how you showed ways to use that die cut to create the pumpkin, headstones, etc. I use my Accuquilt dies and really like how easy they make some blocks. Thank you for joining in the Witchy Stitchy blog hop and giving us some spooky inspiration!
Thank you Carol. I’m new to AccuQuilt and so far I am a huge fan and I love the Spider Web die.
OMG you really had your thinking cap on for those pumpkins using parts of the Emoji Go Die! Good work Denise!!
Lol, what can I say except I LOVE Halloween. Thank you Vicki.
What a great design for your Witchy Stitchy project! Very creative! The jack-o-lanterns are especially fun! 🙂
Thank you.
Great projects, and your quilting looks awesome!
Thank you, that is so kind of you.