The Final Island Batik Ambassador Challenge of 2023

Wow, we are finally here. The final Island Batik Ambassador challenge of 2023. The challenge was to make a quilt representing any holiday. Naturally, I chose Halloween, because that is my birthday! I have to say, growing up as a kid, it was not cool to have your birthday on Halloween. Now, it seems like this is a very popular holiday.

I started by playing around with different blocks and designs in Electric Quilt. Ideas started coming together when I found the Witch block. I was trying to stick to the usual Halloween colors: purple, orange, yellow, lime green, but I added some turquoise, pink, blue, green and fuchsia, when I decided to use Island Batik Foundation Solids. There are fourteen colors and I used twelve of them.

I used Aurifil for piecing and Schmetz Microtex 70/10 needles. I tallied up how many light and dark faces for each color block that I needed. For the faces, I used Island Batik Basics Mint and Celery.

I pre-cut my fabrics and paper pieced the 10" blocks. I have a printer that prints out on 11" x 17" paper and it is great for paper piecing.

I sewed the blocks together in rows and I used white and grey Island Batik Solids for the sashing and keystone blocks.

I then went to Cotton Candy Fabrics in Brookfield, CT and long armed my quilt under the watchful eyes of Erin Byrne and Kim Spinelli. Island Batik Sunset was the perfect choice for the backing. I used Hobbs Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting with Scrim Binder. The quilt finished at 56" x 56".

And, here she is. Did you know there is a list of the 100 most popular witches names? Do you remember Sabrina and Tabitha? And, Morticia Addams? Did you know a group of witches is called a coven? My peeps came up with names like Salem Studdettes, Wicked Witches of the West, Salem's Potions, Witchy Poo, and Wicked Ladies. I took my most favorite name on the list (Stella, and Salem was on the list also) to name my quilt, "Stella's Night Out in Salem".

I want to thank Island Batik for the opportunity to represent their company in 2023 as an Ambassador. The team has been very supportive and welcoming. I encourage you to head on over to the Island Batik Blog and take a look at the December projects made by all of the 2023 Ambassadors!

Happy Holidays and I wish you a healthy and happy New Year!