April - Ready, Set, Go! Challenge

The April challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is called the Accuquilt Ready Set Go!  Baby Quilt Challenge.

If you follow my blog, you saw in early February that Island Batik sent a box of fabrics, batting and thread to all the Island Batik Ambassadors to use in making monthly challenges for our blogs.  We were all also sent a box from Accuquilt that contained the Ready Set Go! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System.

Just like it says on the box- it has everything you need to get started using Accuquilt Go!
Our challenge this month was to use our Accuquilt Go and the dies and materials from the box to make a baby quilt.  What a fun challenge and great way to start using everything!

The box contained a new Go! Fabric Cutter

Also in the box was a Go! Value Die (to cut 2 1/2" strips) with a 6" x 12" cutting mat, and Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day Go! Qube book.

This book is fantastic.  It shows blocks that can be made using dies for 6", 8", 9" and 12" blocks using the Accuquilt cutters.  A really impressive book.

You can tell by the tabs, that I've already found a bunch of blocks I'd like to try.

The box also contained this great Go! Qube Mix & Match 8" Block set.  They were really smart in putting this compact set together.  It contains 8 different dies that can all be mixed and matched to make 8" blocks.  How wonderful is that! 

It all comes together in a compact cube.  It also comes with a CD explaining how to use the dies if you have never worked with them before, and a cutting mat fit to the size of the dies.

I really like this 8" block set as I usually do smaller quilts.  They have a 6" block set which I think would be great too.  There are larger sets for 12", 10", and 9" blocks.  

In planning to make a baby quilt of some kind, I looked thru the Go! Qube book for inspiration.  I found several blocks that I thought would work with the Island Batik fabrics I planned to use. 

I decided on this block called Susannah Variation One.  I actually made a few tweaks to fit my layout- so maybe my quilt block is Susannah Variation One A!.

The book is extremely helpful in listing just what dies you need.  I used Dies 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8 from the boxed set.

 Here's a photo showing how you lay out the die with a cutting mat on top.  Of course you put your fabric between the die and the cutting mat.  You can cut up to 6 layers at a time.  A good time saver!

I wanted to make my baby quilt with some fabrics from the Ditty Collection from Island Batik.  I just love this collection.

These colors are soft and cool and great for a baby quilt.  I have a Twin sized quilt using these fabrics that will be in the July/August 2019 issue of McCalls Magazine- so you can look forward to seeing that soon!

Here is my baby quilt 40" x 40" that I call Twirling.  The quilting helps to give it a lot of movement!

I used White and Bubbles Custard in the background, and added a light green Chameleon from the Basics in one of the pinwheels - all from Island Batik. I used white Aurifil Thead in the piecing and some of the quilting and a Blendable thread from Sulky for the quilting in the white spaces to highlight the pastel colors in the prints.  Using Hobbs Cotton Batting made it a nice soft quilt.

What is a baby quilt without a baby or toys?  I didn't have a baby to photograph, so I grabbed a couple toys!

I hope this post showed you more about Island Batik fabrics, Accuquilt, Aurifil Thread and Hobbs Batting.  These companies are all supporting sponsors of the Island Batik Ambassador Program and sent the products to be used in this blog post.