This is my Island Batik Ambassador project for April, Citrus Star. I took a windy clothesline pic this afternoon. Check out how the green background fabric around the edges of the star matches the green of my lawn! If I hadn't added that blue border, it would have melted right in.
The theme for the April project was It's All Up to You. Creative freedom to sew whatever project we could dream up. I knew right away I wanted to make a big block style quilt.
I paper pieced the entire top. If I made this again, I would only paper piece the corner sections and sew the rest of the quilt as half square triangles. I had a lot of kitty help again. This is Ragamuffin, helping me piece together the paper pattern.
I used the Citrus Sun collection, plus a few blenders and older fabrics from my stash to make this project. I just love the unusual color combination in Citrus Sun.
Trail Mix helped me choose the Hobbs black cotton batting for this quilt. This batting is excellent for quilts with a lot of dark fabric.
I wanted to do a lot of straight line quilting on this project, so I pin basted it to prep for quilting on my Janome Memory Craft.
This is the jar I keep my safety pins in. Isn't it the cutest?
Quilt, quilt quilt! I quilted straight lines in matching colors of Aurifil thread with a Schmetz quilting needle.
Sunrise helped with the quilting part.
This photo shows the fabric I used for binding. I cut my binding strips with my Accuquilt strip cutter. It's so fast and easy to cut them with the Accuquilt. The blue thread is one of the Aurifil colors I used for quilting.
Quilting close up.
When I was finished with the straight line quilting, I moved the quilt to my Juki and frame to pebble quilt the green background.
Then I went outside for some glamour shots. Here's Citrus Star on the front steps.
Is this for me? Thank you so much!
Citrus Star on the front porch railing with the last of the spring azaleas.
Pretty folds.
Quilting close up #2.
I used Island Batik solid gray for the backing of my quilt.
I usually match my binding to the outer border fabric. I chose to go with a darker blue for Citrus Star and I like the way it accents the rest of the quilt.
Quilty stack.
Citrus Star
Quilt Stats:
Finished Quilt Size: 50" x 50"
Block Size: 48" x 48"
Fabric: Citrus Sun by Island Batik
Batting: Hobbs Black Cotton
Thread: Aurifil
Follow my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors for maximum inspiration here:
Megan Best ~
Bestquilter
Pamela Boatright ~
Pamelaquilts
Elizabeth DeCroos ~
Epida Studio
Jennifer Eubank ~ Archipelago Quilting
Jennifer Fulton ~
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Joanne Hart ~
Mania Hatziioannidi ~
Emily Leachman ~
Denise Looney ~
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Sally Manke ~
Maryellen McAuliffe ~
Claudia Porter ~
Gail Renna ~
Brianna Roberts ~
Michelle Roberts ~
Gail Sheppard ~
Andi Stanfield ~
Jennifer Thomas ~
Janet Yamamoto ~
Be Creative ~ Sew Something Beautiful Today.
Jennifer Thomas
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