July Island Batik Challenge

The July challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors was to make a project that had some kind of secondary pattern in it.  The first thing I did was look over the fabrics that Island Batik had sent me in the first box of fabric this year.  I decided to use the Pumpkin Patch fabric that had deep rich fall colors.  This bundle of fabric came in a Stack pack of 10" squares.

The bundle also came with some yardage in two colors.  The gold one I ended up using as background and the dark print I ended up using as backing

The next thing I did was look for a block pattern that would have a secondary pattern when the blocks were placed side by side.

I liked this simple basket pattern.  After playing around awhile, I took off the top two corner triangles so that I could place four baskets together with the handles all pointing towards the center.

Already you can see a secondary pattern.  The baskets almost disappear.

I made nine sets of the four basket blocks and laid them out in rows of three.  Here's the work in progress.

I wondered what to use for borders.  Since my fabrics came in 10" squares, I looked at the bundle of basics fabrics that Island Batik had sent.  I really liked the dark smokey brown called Walnut for the outer border and a mottled brown called Bubbles-Nutmeg for the inner border.  They worked really well.

Here is a photo of the finished quilt 37 1/2" x 37 1/2".  I'm not the best photographer and my camera doesn't seem to like this color combination.  I took several photos and this is the best one of the bunch.  As you can see in the photos above, the colors look a bit different in each one.

If you look at the quilt, you see the secondary pattern made by the four  baskets placed together into one large block.  Then you also see a secondary pattern where the basket blocks are placed together that results in the blue on point squares.

Playing around with single blocks can make some interesting secondary designs!

I used Hobbs Premium Cotton Batting that was also sent in the Ambassador Box.  It quilted up nicely.

If you have read some of my past blogs, you will know that I'm in love with the Westalee quilting foot and rulers.  I really enjoyed using them on this quilt.  Here are a few photos that show quilting with rulers and quilting in the squares and borders.  

If you like to do your own quilting on a domestic machine and you haven't looked into the Westalee rulers/Sew Steady- be sure and check them out!

 One more photo of the finished quilt.  I took this one outside in the full sun which sort of bleached the look of the colors- still not a perfect shot.  Notice the scrappy binding which I think sets it off nicely.