Fresh Pick'ins - Back to School Island Batik Blog Hop

Despite the REAL hurricanes going on, I hope everyone and their loved ones are safe. My in-laws are in the heat of it tonight so we're praying for their safety. Had my own bit of a hurricane just getting this project progressed, but here it is! I'll post a couple more photos later on Monday, so come back if you're interested.

My guess is that if you have school age children, they are back in school already! I saw several posts of friends with the moms all jumping for joy! HA!!

I don't have school age children, but remember my own school days well. Back in middle school --one of those years when you study the countries of South America-- I chose Peru to study. This photo is from even a few years before that (I'm on the right), but I had relatives who had served as Seventh-day Adventist missionaries there and we had received llama skin art work (hanging on the wall in the photo). I was also intrigued by the discovery of Machu Pichu while doing my research for my report. When making a food dish from the region, I made Peruvian Potatoes in Cheese. Why do I remember this so well? It called for olive oil and back in the 70's this is not something that was prevalent in our food palette for cooking so it was quite the search we went on at various grocery stores in order to obtain it. How times have changed!

This last spring my husband and I made a trip of a lifetime. We made a 4 week trip to the southern hemisphere. It all started when we were looking at 'cheap' cruises for a vacation --just us, no family, no special occasion, just vacation. We found a transitioning cruise was very affordable and there was one that was going from Santiago, Chile to San Francisco, California. It sounded fantastic!! The more we looked into it, the more excited we got about the opportunities it would create for us to see some very interesting things. One of the excursions that was organized by the cruise ship was a multi-day trip up to Machu Pichu! WHAT?  (NOT CHEAP!) YES!!!! That sounded exciting and 'safe' since the cruise ship organized it all to get us back at another port several days later. In order to use miles to fly to the ship, we had to go a few days early. Hmm, so what to do with our extra time? We could explore Santiago or we could fly to Easter Island! WHAT??? (NOT CHEAP) Yes, we did just that.

So much for a cheap vacation, but we decided to take advantage of some huge opportunities that would be much more costly if we weren't going to be in the southern hemisphere in the first place.

Upon arrival to Easter Island we were greeted with these 'leaf' leis.

It is still a fairly primitive island. We stayed at a small hostel type accommodation with no air conditioning. But the sea breezes were fantastic. This was the view across the road from where we stayed.

Look at the different blues in this shot. I was amazed at the reflection of the clouds on the water.

Easter Island -- at sunrise

 

After our visit to Easter Island we flew back to Santiago and missed the earthquake as it happened before we landed. I am sure I felt an aftershock though while in our hotel that night. The next morning is when we learned that there had even been an earthquake and several aftershocks the night before. Again--reminded me of growing up in California. Yes, I've been through several earthquakes.

After boarding our ship we proceeded north along the South American coast. Before leaving the coast of Chile, we flew on a chartered plane to Cusco, Peru. Our itinerary was to stay two nights in Cusco with the trip up to Machu Pichu happening on the day in between. Through the good parts of social media I learned that a friend of mine was starting to hike the Inca Trail and was in town as well. Although I didn't get to see him, and learned later there was another gal on the trip that I also knew from another part of my life...such a small world, but in some way we're all connected. 

Our trip to Machu Pichu included a van ride, then a train ride, then a bus up to the ruins. We got to hike around for about 2 1/2 hours with our guide. I'm very grateful we had a local Inca Trail guide with us. He used to hike the trail, but now was doing the organized group tours directly to M.P.

On the train, the table covers were woven with beautiful designs. My immediate thought--these could easily be adapted as a quilt design.

Hanging in the market were many more:

Even the frame around the mirror in our hotel inspired me!

 We finally made it to Machu Pichu!!

So, today I'm sharing a design that is taking me back to my middle school years, the 'bucket' list item of seeing Machu Pichu and using some of the inspiration I took from the experience.

I recently used bosal fusible foam to do a quilt as you go project. I also have tried the placemats that Poorhouse Quilt Designs put together called "Inside Out Mats'  (right using Wilmington Prints - Poppy Celebration available in my shop). The biggest pain point for me in making placemats in a traditional way with a binding, is that I may often make quite a few and then I have to bind EVERY ONE OF THEM! The 'Inside Out Mat' design keeps it simple and fairly quick.

The center fabric of the 'front' though could be made as a special block and then the 'bordering/binding' technique employed around it. So, using Bosal fusible foam (I have available by the yard if you're interested, so you can make whatever size or shape you'd like!) and all of this inspiration seen in Peru, here is what I came up with:

A set of 8 placemats that will always remind me of our trip to Machu Pichu! and since each is unique, I could easily add more as I need.

The vibrant colors of  #islandbatik's Fresh Pick'ins collection were perfect for this.  When I received the collection back in February and knew it was slated for September's project, I set it aside and said to myself, I want to be inspired by my southern hemisphere trip before I commit to any particular design direction with these fabrics. It just seemed perfect. Below you see lots of tone on tone in the background; in the middle are several multi-color pieces and in the foreground are several blenders that go great with the collection.

 Here are the beautiful spools of #Aurifil and #SuperiorThreads we received in our first box of 2017. I'll be using the Superior green for the top stitching in the ditch of the flange and a multi-color received previously for the back stitching.

The flange is the light green dots and the border is the dark green cherries.

I used these four as the backings.




















I also added some neutrals in the background of black (Charcoal - BE24-E2) and white (Milk Shake) to give me the contrasts needed.


Cutting per placemat:
Bosal fusible foam and backing - 14" x 20" --this is a generous sized placemat, but uses the fusible foam efficiently when cutting it from the bolt.

flanges  (2) 1" x 13" and (2) 1" x 19" --yes 1" shorter

borders (2) 3" x 13" and (2) 3" x 19" --yes 1" shorter

The flanges and borders could be cut a bit shorter, just make sure they get all the way to the bottom corner that you want them to hit (notice that the borders are interlocking). It is a partial seam to start and then finish it up when you come around to it again.

I mostly design with EQ7, so worked a bit backwards from the Poorhouse placemat design to get my block size and then drew the designs so the elements weren't individually too small relative to the size of the block.

In the end I wanted the blocks to finish about 8" x 14" for the 'special center block' so went for making sure it had sufficient background that made it about 10" x 16" so I didn't cover the design but the border/flange for sure caught the block edge.

I used this crochet hook to push the points out at the corners.

I used Superior Threads Masterpiece (right spool) for the ditch work at the flange and Fantastico in the bobbin (middle spool) and Fantastico (left spool) for the top stitch at the outer edge, but kept the same (middle spool) bobbin.

These could easily be made into a runner or wall hanging, but I decided I would actually use the placemats most.

Hope you enjoyed this inspiration of Fresh Pick'ins fabric. Several online options are already offering the pre-cuts and yardage. Just google : Island Batik Fresh Pick.

G I V E A W A Y--did you say Giveaway? I've got the equivalent of  2.5" strips of the Fresh Pick'ins line to send to you.

If we get over 100 people entered, I'll put together another bundle of strips that will include most of the line, and select another random winner, so please share this and encourage others to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Comment entries include questions
  - would you like these blocks made into a pattern?
  - have you used grade school inspiration for anything?

There are several 'group' giveaways that Island Batik will also be awarding. Use this Rafflecopter to register.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! #backtoschoolwithisland

I'm posting again on September 18. Don't miss the entire hop by checking out the complete schedule.