Island Batik Ambassador Challenge - March 2025 - Ambassadors Choice

So I survived the first Island Batik challenge and learned alot! This month the ambassadors were given our choice as to what we wanted to make. It could be anything. I said when this started that I was going to use this opportunity to create things both difficult and easy that are on my bucket list since being selected as an Island Batik Ambassador was on my bucket list after being introduced to their fabrics years ago. (Have you figured out I LOVE batkis?)

One of the items on my bucket list of quilts to make is the Carpenter Star. There are certain patterns that are classics in my mind. The Churn Dash, Dresden Plate, and Carpenter Star fall in that for me. I can't believe I have quilted for over 25 years and never tried the Carpenter Star! So here I go.

First things is picking out fabrics. I recently saw a quilt at a show done in blues and golds and I was drawn to it so I used that as my inspiration colors. I decided the stash busters from Island Batik were the perfect option to pull from. I wanted a variety of colors in my color family and I needed 5" squares. The stash busters were 5" strips (perfect) and they provided the perfect variety of options! If your shop doesn't carry stash busters, be sure to ask them to! I am finding them the perfect option for my applique projects as well. The variety of fabrics is amazing, and most of my applique pieces are not larger than 5" wide.

When selected as an Ambassador, I told myself I was going to use this year to try new things, and challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. Aurifil provided the perfect thread colors that I actually had multiple choices. I am really loving using the color threads for my piecing. This was also something new for me. Traditionally I have stuck to white, cream, or gray for piecing and matching my threads is now something I will continue to do.

Time to cut, mark and stitch LOTS of half square triangles. When making half square triangles my go to tool is Deb Tucker Studio 180 Design Tucker Trimmer and the Quilters Magic Wand for marking. Making the components slightly oversized to then trim down allows me to not have to stress about the piecing because the trim down is where the magic happens.

Thank you Olisio on the handy iron you provided the Ambassadors! This iron has been the perfect size to have right at my sewing and streamline the process. Not nearly as much "up and down" to get my pressing done!

Now I have LOTS of half square triangles to lay out. The only thing I am trying to pay attention to is to not have the same fabric touching itself when laying out.

I am stitching them together in top and bottom half and then putting the sections together. This has helped me to manage the "bulk" as it gets bigger. I am starting to see it come together!

Taaaa Daaaaa .... The piecing is complete! Time to get pick a border and then get this one on the longarm and pick a design.

When picking a design for my quilting I went with a very "curvy" design to soften the angles. I selected "Curvy" from My Creative Stitches to do an edge to edge design. In this piece I wanted the simplicity of the piecing and the "star" to be the focal of the piece and not the quilting so I kept it simple. The Hobbs batting is making the quilting just pop! I used a combination of 80/20 and Wool.

FINISHED! I was able to check such a basic design off of my bucket list!

Make sure to check out all the March Challenge projects by all of the Island Batik Ambassadors! This month is Ambassador's choice so it should be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Thank you Lumin Fabrics, Island Batik, Studio 180 Degisn, Hobss Batting, Schmetz Needles, and Oliso Irons for your generous contributions to this challenge!