Falling for Accuquilt Oct Challenge

                                                                        12" x 27"

The October Island Batik Ambassador Challenge is sponsored by Accuquilt.  

This year Accuquilt sent each Ambassador a North Carolina Star cutting die to use in the challenge.

This die is very large.  It's a BOB or Block on Board die- meaning all the pieces you need to make the design are all on this one die.

The original North Carolina Star block has 33 blocks.  There are many Y seams in the block that can be challenging- so Accuquilt decided to simplify the block by making it with no Y seams.  That's great and much simpler to sew.  HOWEVER - now the block has 53 pieces instead of 33!  Wow- that's a lot of pieces!  It also creates a challenge in pressing where many of the seams come together.

So- it's an interesting block to make.  It's a very lovely block, but I personally wasn't excited about all the pieces created with the die.  Our challenge also encourages us to use the die in alternate ways, so I decided to design something a bit different.

I made a table runner that is 12" x 27".  It will fit great on top of a quilt display cabinet I have.  I made both of the side units as shown on the diagram above.  The top and bottom sections I took off the corner A piece.

Where I changed things is with the center units.  I created 9 of these units, but I pieced them in a different way.  I eliminated some seams in the C and E blocks and I sewed the blocks together as horizontal rows 

Here is the layout of all the pieces.

Here are some photos of putting the rows together.  The center row is just squares.  The next row is squares made by eliminating an E seam.  Triangles are sewn to two sides and sewn together into a row.

The next row is where I combined the C blocks eliminating a center seam on all but the end blocks.

This was very easy and I loved that I was able to eliminate many seams.

I got so busy telling you about the block, I forgot to mention the fabrics I used!  I used Island Batik Foundation fabrics in red, white is Almond, the light blue is Bluebird Wavy Dots and the dark blue is Blueberry.  The mixed print in the center squares and triangles is Blue Marine Dot from the Red, White and Blooms collection.  They all went together so nicely and make a great 4th of July runner.

I used Hobbs Heirloom Natural Batting with Scrim and Schmetz  Microtex Needles.  Three coordinating spools of Aurifil thread blended nicely with the fabrics.

This runner will be nice to use next July!

Many thanks to Island Batik, Accuquilt Go! , Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread and Schmetx Needles for providing product to make this project.