Island Batik Blog Hop + GIVEAWAY!

Well, for the first time since I became an Island Batik ambassador nearly three years ago, I didn't finish this month's quilt in time. BUT! When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade! So, I'm sharing my *finished* quilt top with you!

This month, many of the ambassadors are sharing the newest Island Batik fabrics with you in the "A Piece of... Blog Hop." Today is my day to share the Blue Sea collection with you!

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If you're new here, hello! I'm Laura! I design quilt patterns, and I'm a self-proclaimed deal hunter! Be sure to join the popular Quilting & Sewing Deals Facebook group where I post sales, deals, and coupon codes from all around the web!

The story of this quilt starts way back in February! That's when I got my first ambassador box for 2019. Inside was a half-yard bundle of the Blue Sea collection.

The collection was *PERFECT* for a quilt design I was planning to release at Quilt Market in May, so I used the fabrics to make the Hydra quilt. (Read more about that quilt here.)
     - Link to digital pattern
     - Link to paper pattern

All that was left was a small stack of scraps. (Ask your favorite quilt shop to order the Blue Sea collection!)

I knew the November challenge was to use those fabrics to make a throw sized quilt, so after Market, I began thinking about how to make that little pile go much farther than it typically would in a quilt.

That's when the idea of this quilt was born.

I decided to purchase the AccuQuilt die for cutting tiny circles. There was no way I was going to hand cut all those circles!!

Now, up to this point, the quilt had been a beautiful idea, but making the dream into a reality was going to be much harder than it seemed! I wasn't quite sure about a few of the steps, but decided the best way to figure it out would be to just start making the quilt!

I pressed Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 onto the back of all the fabric scraps.

Then I got out my AccuQuilt Go! cutter and cut out 1,000 circles! (It could be more, but I didn't count them.)

It was super easy, and speaking from experience, SO MUCH FASTER than hand cutting!!

I cut through all the leftover fabric in no time!

I kept the fabrics sorted into three piles - light, medium, and dark.

Here's a peek at the scraps - before I decided I needed more circles!

Now it was time to just dive in!

I had one 4-yard piece of Island Batik Whip Cream. So I cut that into two 72" long pieces, then sewed the two pieces together along the selvage edge to create the quilt top background piece.

I printed an octopus clip art picture and drew gridlines on it. Then I used straight pins in the top to mark where each grid line was.

To get started, I used the grid drawing and my Sewline Air Soluble marker to draw the basic outline of the octupus.

I used medium-colored dots to outline the head.

It took a couple attempsts to get the eyes just right!

Then I filled in the head with the light-colored dots.

The process made quite a mess!

I was very cautiously optimistic that it was going to work!

My favorite thing about using Lite Steam-A-Seam 2, is that the fusible is sticky. This allows pieces to be moved and rearranged while the piece is vertical on the wall. This really helped me be able to get the look I wanted!

I ran out of light and medium colored circles before I was finished, so it took some creative thinking to figure out how to make it work!

The shade of the circles really makes the effect work!

I am so pleased with how it turned out!! 

I plan to use my longarm for the quilting. I'm thinking of doing very large circles/pebbles in the background, and much smaller circles over the octopus. I'm not going to sew all those circles down, so I'll have to try hard to stitch over every circle so they won't fall off in the wash. Do you have any other ideas??

I will trim the quilt to 72" square and bind it using a blue or purple batik. I plan to finish this quilt still this week!

Now for a giveaway!!

Would you like to win a copy of my Hydra pattern and some Island Batik fabric? I'll put together a scrap bundle from my stash, and stuff a flat rate envelope full!

To enter, just comment on this post telling me about a WIP (work in progress) or UFO (unfinished object) that you want to finish! Please leave your email address in your comment if you're a no reply commenter. Otherwise I won't be able to contact you if you win! (Giveaway US only and ends November 23rd.)

**BONUS ENTRY** Follow me so that you'll be able to see this quilt when it's finished! You can follow my blog on Bloglovin' or Feedly (or via email!), or follow me on Facebook or Instagram! Just leave a second comment saying where you follow me!

**SECOND BONUS ENTRY** Join the Quilting & Sewing Deals Facebook group! There are crazy good deals posted every day!! Leave another comment saying that you joined!

Be sure to visit the Island Batik blog to start the hop (there's a giveaway there!), and visit all the stops on the blog hop to see what the other ambassadors made! (There are lots of giveaways!!)

And check out the Giveaway Party while you're here! So many great giveaways to enter!

Linking up with the Giveaway Party, Monday Making, What I Made Monday, Modern Patch Monday, and Design Wall Monday.

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If you liked this post, you may also like these:

QAL By the Sea - A Finished Quilt!

Hydra Quilt Pattern Release!

Ahoy, Mermaids!

Disclaimer: Giveaway is in no way sponsored, administered, or associated with Blogger. By entering, entrants confirm they are 18+ years of age, released Blogger of responsibility, and agree to Blogger's terms of use. No purchase necessary to win. Open to legal residents in the contiguous US only that are 18+ years of age. Giveaway starts at 12:00am CST November 5, 2019 and ends at 11:59pm CST on November 23, 2019. One winner will receive a pack of Island Batik fabric scraps with a retail value of approximately $10 and one Slice of Pi Quilts pattern with a retail value of $10. Total value of prize is approximately $20. Odds of winning determined by number of eligible entries received. How to enter: leave a comment on this blog post. One comment per person. Duplicate comments will be deleted. Winner will be chosen by random.org on November 24, 2019 from all eligible entries and notified by email. If winner can not be reached via email or prize is unclaimed after three days, a new winner will be chosen by random.org. Winner is responsible for paying any taxes related to the prize. By entering this giveaway, you release Slice of Pi Quilts from any liability whatsoever. Void where prohibited by law.

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