May Make It Modern Island Batik Challenge–Improv Island Log Cabin Quilt

I’ll be completely honest – the “May Make it Modern” challenge for Island Batik fabrics featuring Hobbs batting was one of my favorites! I really like attempting to create modern quilts. I’m not sure if I always get there but I have a lot of fun playing around with it.

The fabric for this quilt was provided by Island Batik and the batting was provided by Hobbs Batting as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program.

I knew right away that I wanted to improv piece with the scraps I had from the first three quilts I’ve created this year for Island Batik challenges. Improv piecing is just so carefree and calming. All you do is sew a bunch of bits together, cut them up a bit and sew some more! I tried to improv them in a log cabin style … some of the logs were made of a bunch of improv scraps themselves. I did this because I wanted to double up the challenge with the log cabin challenge for Quilt Expo. If I can double up on projects I’m definitely going to do so!

Once I had enough log cabin improv “chunks” finished I sewed them together in a manner that looked pleasing to me …or at least I thought it might. Had I been happy with this layout I would have had this project finished and posted two weeks ago! But, I decided it just wasn’t where I wanted it to be. So, I cut it up some more. I actually made my cuts in a large log cabin pattern. I rotated some of the pieces around, added some bits to some of them, and re-sewed everything back together. Here is what the second version looked like. It’s better but I had envisioned more of the Island Batik grey solid in my final piece. This had a lot of prints in it and still didn’t feel quite right. I did what I always did when I don’t know what I should do. I slept on it. Sure enough, in my dreams I came up with a new plan. I sketched a courthouse log cabin that would end up in the dimensions I needed for the Quilt Expo and decided that most of the horizontal logs would be cut from the improv quilt I just made and the majority of the vertical logs would be cut from solid grey Island Batik fabric. After sewing one 1.5” log cut from the improv fabric I decided all future 1.5” strips would be cut solely from the solid fabric. I also felt that the final vertical strip should be cut from the improv piece just because I was getting bored with the solid. Finally, I had my third version of the quilt created. I was finally happy and decided it was time for quilting.

I layered Hobbs Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting between the quilt top and the checker board Island Batik fabric I chose for the back.

Once the quilt sandwich was prepped it was time for quilting. I may have went a bit crazy quilting this piece. I just have so much fun playing with different designs and different threads. This piece was quilted with a combination of Aurifil 50 wt variegated thread and 40 wt King Tut thread from Superior Threads.

I may have over-quilted this piece. I’m guessing a simple linear pattern would have the overall quilt a better effect. But it was still a ton of fun to do and I know I’ll be using some of these patterns again in future quilting. It’s definitely a piece you’ll either love or you’ll feel like it’s too much. But either way –it’s done and I enjoyed the entire process.