Beating the Heat under “Fiesta Stars” – August Island Batik Blog Hop

Summer is a time for vacations, picnics, state fairs, car shows, concerts, and outdoor celebrations. Living in Iowa we beat the heat enjoying a number of summertime activities. It is always fun to attend a concert under the stars, a car show with vintage automobiles brought back to life, or a stroll through a beautiful garden. “Fiesta Stars” was inspired by the bright colors of carnival rides, the vibrant paint on classic cars, and the beautiful hues of a summertime garden in full bloom. Island Batik designed the perfect brightly colored “Garden Party” fabric collection for “Fiesta Stars”.

Scroll through the slide show to see some of the fun ways we beat the heat of August in Iowa. The gardens are beautiful this time of year.

I was given the “Garden Party” collection to create a lap size quilt. The collection contains 20 fabrics. It is available in pre-cuts also. I used cut yardage for my lap size quilt but a fat-quarter bundle could be used to make “Fiesta Stars”

I designed “Fiesta Stars” as a paper pieced block pattern. In the corners of the block there are half-square triangles, so when the blocks are joined together in rows wonderful pinwheels appear. The block is a 10″ block.

The quilt is made using 13 out of the 20 fabrics in the collection. There are 20 blocks in the quilt, using 1/2 yard cuts of fabric from the collection. Below are pictures of the fabrics I used from the collection to make “Fiesta Stars”

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The bug, apple, leaf, mushroom, garden tools, and rain drops motifs are so whimsical and make this collection so fun to create with.

To speed up the cutting of the borders I used the AccuQuilt GO! Strip Cutter – 2 1/2″ (2″ Finished) GO! die to cut my border strips. The GO! makes the border strips straight and accurate. I also used the GO! Square – 2 1/2″ (2″ Finished) Multiples Die to cut the 2″ finished white and multi-colored squares. The die cuts 8 perfect 2″ finished squares at a time.

“Fiesta Stars” is quilted using 50 wt. Aurifil white thread on the top and in the bobbin. I quilted it with a whimsical butterfly, flower, dragon fly, and bumble bee motif. Hobbs Heirloom® Premium 100% Natural Cotton with Scrim batting was used.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer and beating the heat doing some fun summertime activities. When it is too hot to be outside, enjoy creating in your creative sewing space.

Remember to sign up for the free weekly fabric give ways at Island Batik’s Beat the Heat Blog Hop.

Enjoy a great summer!!!