Storm at Sea Blog Hop

Our Island Batik Ambassador challenge this month was one of my favorite quilt blocks, Storm at Sea! The units in the block appear to make curves that look like the waves on the ocean. It’s such a beautiful block. The block units are an Economy unit and a Diamond unit. I immediately went for my Studio 180 Design Square² and my Diamond Rects tools to make this quilt.

Remember the surprise fabric I was given with my July fabrics? Now I get to share! I received this beautiful collection, “Constellations”, to use for this Blog Hop. It was perfect for a Storm at Sea Quilt. I couldn’t wait to get started!

I downloaded the fabric line into EQ8 and got working on a design. I love that I can play with the actual fabrics I’m going to sew with.

With my EQ design as my guide I proceeded to build my quilt. I used the Square² tool to piece my Economy block. Because it finished at 6″, I did not need to use the Large Square² tool.

With the Studio 180 Design tools, you make your blocks bigger than they need to be and then trim them down. It makes the blocks come together nicely when you are matching points. You don’t want your points chopped off and there is no paper to tear off, as in paper piecing.

Look at these nice points with the Diamond shape! That Diamond Rects tool makes some beautiful Diamond blocks.

I used Aurifil thread for my piecing along with Schmetz needles. I love that Aurifil thread does not build up lint in your machine, and the Schmetz Microtex needles are nice and sharp for more precise piecing.

I couldn’t wait to get this quilt to my long arm: there were so many design possibilities floating in my head.

To get some final pictures, my husband and I went down to St. Mark’s Lighthouse an hour south of Tallahassee. I think we got some nice shots and we were able to enjoy some great wildlife, too.

Disclosure: The fabrics, thread, and needles were generously supplied by the following companies:

Be sure to all see all the gorgeous Storm at Sea quilts by the Island Batik Ambassadors, and sign up for this weeks giveaway shown at the end of this post.

November 1:

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail 

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

November 2:

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

November 3:

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Megan Best, Bestquilter

November 4:

Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

November 5:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 8:

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

November 9:

Joanne Hart, Unicorn Harts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Jennifer Eubank, Archipelago Quilting

November 10:

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore

November 11:

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

November 12:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 15:

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

November 16:

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde

November 17:

Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail 

November 18:

End of Blog Hop and Total Round-Up

To celebrate the start of Storm at Sea Blog Hop, we are giving away a 2.5″ Strip Pack and a 10″ Stack of Bellingham Bay – a gorgeous premiere Original Island Batik collection, designed by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design!

To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d463e29d33/

This giveaway ends November, 5th at 11:59 pm PST. Two random winners will be notified by email on November, 6th – make sure to check your spam folder! – and announced on our Facebook page on November, 9th. If the winners do not respond within the first two days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen and notified.