Franken-Pumpkin - Child's Play for Island Batik
September 2019 Child’s Play Challenge
Instructions for this months Island Batik Ambassador Challenge is to let your inner child come out to play! Color, fun and playful are all for grabs this month! It’s time to design a quilt to make you smile. Let’s clear out space for magic & whimsy when creating this month!
Materials for this project have been provided to me by Island Batik and it’s industry partners, Accuquilt, Hobbs Batting, Aurafil Thread in my roll as 2019 Island Batik Ambassador.
Accuquilt provided this Cleopatra's Fan AccuQuilt Go Block on Board® Die to use for this quilt. The Cleopatra's Fan design is a bit traditional for my style so I plan to take a GIANT step out of the box. Bottom sketches show ideas beginning to form using my usual, design as I go process.
Island Batik Solid Black and White fabric create the teeth and mouth. The remainder of the block is cut from Island Batik design Large Netting BE27 C1 Nasturtium. This close up of leaf design in orange, ruby, amber, honey, and red-orange will used for the pumpkin. Cutting the block was quick and accurate using Cleopatra's Fan AccuQuilt Go Block on Board® Die.
The design always starts with a rough idea however Franken-pumpkin needs to talk to me to see where we go from here. A. The remainder of Franken-pumpkin is completed with half square triangles, squares and rectangles. Eyes look a bit too scary for a fun kids quilt so it’s time to experiment a bit. B. Auditioning background batik from Foundation Basic line and auditioning alternative eyes. C. Solid White from Basic line for background. D. Solid Black from Basic line for background and even more layers to the eyes. Followers on my FaceBook business page voted for their favorite eyes and backgrounds.
The Island Batik Basic Black really made Franken-Pumpkin pop. Half square triangles and rectangles are cut and pieced. The eyes are a work in progress and the nose is still under construction. While I was working on alternative eye and nose designs, Charlotte the spider dropped in to give a scare. The spider is paper during the design stages before I head to my Island Batik stash to find the right fabric.
Eyes are more whimsical to soften the frightful teeth created with AccuQuilt BOB Cleopatra's Fan die. Charlotte the spider and eye patterns are created on Cutterpillar Ultra light table (bottom right). A layer of solid white Island Batik was added to the back of spider and white eye section to prevent show through (bottom left). The layers were created then bonded to the quilt with my favorite fusible web material, Misty Fuse.
A) Simple waving lines quilting completed on AnnaBelle, my HandiQuilter Amara with Pro-Stitcher. Perfect texture and weight is added with Hobbs 80/20 Batting. B) Chalking lines create the structure of Charlotte's web. Wonderfil Specialty Thread Razzle are couched on to form web. All other quilt construction and quilting uses Aurifil Threads. C) Charlotte gets spooky, kid friendly eyes and D) Franken-pumpkin is looking a bit worried about Charlotte’s visit.
Here are a few detailed close ups of the finished project. Franken-Pumpkin can be a child's favorite blanket or greet kids as a wall quilt for the holiday season. Cousin Diane Skinner suggested it could be a story line for a children’s book…tough guy pumpkin is frightened by a tiny spider.
