2025 Year End Review

This ends my 12th year as an Island Batik Ambassador.  What an experience this has been! I was an Ambassador when the program started and have loved  every year since.  Island Batik is a fantastic company and makes the most beautiful batiks.  Their Ambassador program is fantastic.  It has been a joy to work with all the creative challenges and it has been great to get to know all the other talented designers in the program.

That said, this is my last year as an Ambassador.  It has been such a joy for me, but life enters in and this seems like the appropriate time to close this challenge. I wanted to end the year by showing all the projects I made this year with the monthly Ambassador Challenges.

The February Challenge was called Runner Up.  The Sponsor for this challenge was the Deb Tucker's Studio 180.  I named this table runner (14 1/2" x 34")  Sparklers.

The March Challenge was It's All Up to You.  We could make what ever we wanted this month.  I picked the pattern Fab Farm by Elizabeth Hartman 38" x 39".

The April Challenge was to make a Drunkard's Path quilt.  The one I created is 58" x 58".

The May Challenge was the Irish Chain Blog Hop.  I made two quilts for this.  A large one and a miniature to match.  The mini one is 15 1/2" x 15 1/2".

June was the Funky Friends Challenge.  We got to pick a pattern from the Funky Friend Factory and I picked the Daisy Dress Up Dolls.  The pattern is for two different dolls so of course I had to make them both!

July was the Hot Stuff Challenge with Oliso.  Oliso sent each Ambassador an Iron Carry Bag along with an Oliso M3 Pro iron.  We were instructed to decorate the iron cover.

September was the Threaded Chaos Challenge.  The sponsor for this challenge was Aurifil Thread.  My project is 42" x 53".

September was the Sew Stylish By Annie Challenge.  This year I picked the pattern called Two Big Totes.

November Challenge was Timeless Traditions.  We were instructed to pick 5 traditional patterns from a list and make a project.  My Pumpkin Patchwork is 25" x 29".

The last challenge of the year was another It's All Up to You Challenge.  We could make what ever we wanted.  I decided to make three stained glass quilts.

You can go back in my blog to see more info on each project.

Island Batik is now under the company name Lumin Fabrics.  Lumin Fabrics has 3 subdivisions - Island Batik, White Owl Textiles and Ecco Cotton.  I hope you check out each of these and see what great fabrics they are offering.

It's All Up to You Challenge

The December Island Batik Ambassadors Challenge is called It's All Up to You.  This is a fun challenge where we are able to create a project of our own choosing.  Using any of the supplies sent thru the Ambassador program opens up a lot of possible projects!

This year I decided to work on some stained glass wall quilts that I had been wanting to try.  Here are my three completed wall quilts made from free online stained glass designs (not quilt patterns).

The first quilt measures 18" x 26", the second is 15" x 26" and the third is 13" x 13".  I haven't named any of these, so any suggestions would be great!

Batik fabrics are just wonderful for doing stained glass images, and they really pop against the black background.  It is really fun to pick out the fabrics.

Here are a couple photos of the first quilt.  It was quite a process.  You can see the pattern under the fabric.  I had this over a light box.

It got more exciting to add the colors.

I planned to try a couple different things with these quilts.  All the quilts are raw edge applique, fused with Lite Steam A Seam 2.  In the first quilt and third quilt I quilted in the ditch around each shape in black Aurifil thread with a cotton Hobbs batting and Schmetz needles.  It lays very nice.  If you quilt this way, you need to be very sure your applique pieces are securely fused.

 

In the second quilt I quilted around the edge of each applique piece in coordinating Aurifil thread.  This technique secures each piece very well.  I used a thin Hobbs Thermore batting.  This quilt has a little more "poof" than using a flatter cotton batting.

As you can see, Aurifil has a color to match every fabric!

Many thanks to Island Batik/Lumin fabrics, and sponsors Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread, Schmetz Needles for supplying products for these projects thru the Island Batik Ambassador program.

Be sure and check out what the other Ambassadors are creating this month.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Tina Dillard – Quilting Affection Designs

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Kimberly Flannagan – Kimberlys Quilts

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Kim Jamieson-Hirst- Chatterbox Quilts

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Solomae Stoycoff – Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

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