Welcome to the Bellingham Bay blog hop. We have been working with Island Batik for two years to create this amazing original collection for you. We started by designing the tjaps, the stamps used to create the pattern on the fabric. Then we sent them many, many proposed colorations for the fabric. They made those into strike-offs (fabric samples) from which we selected the final collection. It was such a fun process to go through and it was amazing to see the ideas come to life.
To celebrate our first original collection with Island Batik we decided to host a blog hop that features quilts made with two types of blocks - the first made with the Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star tool, and the second made using our Fundamental Tools. Beth Sidley of Tucker University inspired me to combine the Hunter’s Star block with other units because of designs that she put on the back of her Design Sheet for the Hunter’s Star tool in the Sophomore year curriculum of Tucker University. Up until that point we looked at the Hunter’s Star block as a standalone that didn’t mix with the Fundamental Tools. Boy, were we wrong, as you will see in this blog hop! Thanks, Beth!
This week four of my Certified Instructors will share quilts with you that they have created with our Bellingham Bay collection. All these quilts use the Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star tool and one or more Fundamental Tools of their choosing. You can see and read about the amazing quilts that they have created on their blogs.
Today I would like to share with you my quilt Flashpoint. It is the first pattern we have released combining the Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star: Petite Star tool with one of our Fundamental Tools, in this case, the Tucker Trimmer I. I decided to use a three-color version of the Hunter’s Star block in this design. I used the beautifully textured background as the light, a fantastic green print for the medium, and a saturated purple for the dark. I also added two teal fabrics - one medium and one dark - to add a pop of color and interest.
One of the first things you will notice about this quilt is that it is hard to find the Hunter’s Star blocks. By using a limited color palette, the shapes that the tools create blend making it very difficult to determine where one tool's unit ends and another begins. I love the mystery of this!
The quilt looks harder than it is because of color placement. You are only working with two different blocks and some edge pieces, so something that looks like it might be complicated is actually easy to put together.
We have loved working with our Bellingham Bay collection from Island Batik and the combination of greens with purple has made some fantastic quilts. You can find the Bellingham Bay collection in Quilt Shops this Month. Here is a listing of shops associated with our Certified Instructor’s that are carrying the fabric.
We look forward to seeing what you create with the collection.
