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

by carolmoellersdesigns

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”

Garden Party Signature Collection by Kathy Engle

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”

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

Fiesta Stars – 63′ x 73″

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!!!

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

    1. Thank you Jean. It is a fun collection to create with. Remember to hop on over to the Island Batik site and register for the free fabric giveaways.

    1. Thank you Karen. There are so many beautiful fabrics in the Garden Party collection it was fun creating with them.

  6. ohh this is a gorgeous quilt. such wonderful fabrics to play with. you made them look like they were alive in the garden. thank you for sharing and inspiring. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

  7. This looks awesome!
    Love the stars and
    the fabric is so pretty.
    Carla from Utah

  12. I love that this mimics the windmill in the first picture. It is a beauty and a great quilt for a bright fabric line. I love the pinwheels in the corners – just perfect. Congrats on a stunning quilt.

    1. Thank you Kathleen. It is a joy to create and share. I am so thankful I get to create with these wonderful fabrics.

  16. What a great design! I totally get the carnival/picnic summery feel!!! Love it! Thank you for sharing! (now to hop over to your other blog entries on the cathedral window!- so intrigued!)

    1. Thank you Nancy Sue. The cathedral windows was a fun one. I want to make another one using the Freedom Batik collection. I think it would look so nice in red, white, and blue batiks.

  17. What a wonderful quilt. I love the stars and the border makes it sing. The colors are my kind of color.

  20. It really makes you think of the ferris wheel all lit up at night. I love the mushrooms too.

  21. Beautiful quilt. I love the border treatment and the way the corners of the blocks make the pinwheels.

  26. Gorgeous quilt. I kept looking at it and imagining it as a bank of pinwheels blowing wind my way. Suddenly the 100 degree heat here in Texas felt a smidgen cooler.

  30. Pingback: Monday check-in | Quilting Gail
  32. Pingback: Beat the Heat Blog Hop | Quilting Gail

Comments are closed.