Have you met Anorina Morris at Samelia’s Mum? A designer, teacher, quilt maker and Aurifil Artisan, Anorina lives near Sydney in Australia. A wife, mum of two humans and 3 fur babies, she makes time each day to play with fabric, needle and thread. You can see her patterns published in such magazines as Homespun magazine, Quilters Companion, Make Modern, Handmade, Patchwork and Stitching. When not in her sewing room, you can find Anorina hand stitching, while waiting for her children at their after school activities.

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Have you met Claudia Porter? She is a self-taught quilter of 30 years, who turned her part-time hobby into a full-time business called Create with Claudia. Her blog and YouTube channel focus on quilting projects, patterns, fabric crafts and other tips. She sells a number of her designs in her Etsy shop. In October of 2020 she was named YouTube’s Creator of the Day and in March of 2022 she was named one of YouTube’s Women Creators on the Rise celebrating International Women’s Day. Today, you can find Claudia’s patterns in such quilting magazines as Make Modern and Quiltmaker.

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Please, say hello to Leah Malasky at Quilted Delights! Leah started quilting about 25 years ago when her children were very young. She taught herself through books, online tutorials/videos, and through lots of trial and error. What started as a hobby has turned into a passion! She loves all things quilt-related and enjoys sharing her passion with others. A few years ago she started a beginner quilt class in her area hoping to help others find their quilting passion. Today she has patterns published in such magazines as McCall’s Quilting and Fons & Porter Love of Quilting and continues to share valuable quilting tips and inspiring the community!

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Are you following our Greek Ambassador, Mania Hatziioannidi from Mania for Quilts? Mania started dealing with crafts at the age of 6-7. In the beginning, it was cross stitch, embroidery, crochet, and knitting. She moved on by attending classes and got the opportunity to extend her knowledge to more advanced techniques. Mania speaks four languages beyond Greek, which helped her communicate online with many teachers and crafters from around the world and follow many blogs and sites. At the same time, she was dealing with every craft, extending her knowledge to candle making, sewing, furniture remake, mosaic, micro-weaving, felting, and she entered the magic world of quilting. Her previous professional experience and her willingness to transfer her knowledge drove her to be a quilting teacher.

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Please welcome another member of the Island Batik Ambassador family! Susan Deshensky of Lady Blue Quilt Studio is an award winning quilter and designer with patterns, published in numerous magazines including Quiltmaker, Fons and Porter Love of Quilting, Quick & Easy Quilts and McCall’s Quilting. A Certified Instructor for Quiltworx Judy Niemeyer Quilting, Susan is also a life member of the American Needlepoint Guild and Embroiderers’ Guild of America. Susan loves to teach and is available for in person or Zoom classes/lectures. She resides in the metropolitan New York City area with her husband and dog.

Susan and her award-winning quilts at the Northern Star Quilt Guild Show.

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Give a warm welcome to Pamela Boatright at PamelaQuilts! As a self-taught quilter, she takes great pleasure in motivating fellow quilting enthusiasts on their creative journeys, generously imparting practical advice along the way. Right from the beginning, Pamela has relished the art of quilt design, finding immense satisfaction and excitement in the fusion of traditional blocks and techniques to craft fresh and captivating designs. Beyond her larger projects, Pamela also finds joy in the intricacies of miniature quilting, embracing quick and efficient methods like strip piecing, all while expanding her repertoire of tools to enhance her precision and speed.

Pamela in her studio, wearing the Nanette’s Fractured Bargello Jacket she made for the Try It! Island Batik Ambassador challenge, June 2019. For more information about the jacket, please click here.

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Welcome back, fellow quilting enthusiasts!

Another incredibly enjoyable week of Island Batik Ambassador Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop has concluded! Whether you’ve been following along from the beginning or are just joining us now, we invite you to take another look at the stunning quilts we’ve shared over the past five days. And if you’re new to the world of paper-piecing, we sincerely hope that seeing these projects will inspire some of you to give this technique a try, realizing that it’s more approachable than you may have imagined!

If a particular collection featured during the Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop has captured your heart, why not pay a visit to your local quilt store next month? To discover which quilt shops in your area carry Island Batik fabrics, simply use our store locator and enter your zip code.

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Hey there, fellow quilting enthusiasts!

We’ve wrapped up the first week of Island Batik Ambassador Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop, and it’s been sew much fun! Whether you’ve been following along or just joining in, we want you to have a second look at all of the amazing quilts we’ve shared this week. Get ready for some paper-piecing magic!

If a specific collection, featured during Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop is calling your name, check your local quilt shops this month – they might already have it in stock! To see what quilt shops carry Island Batik in your area, please visit our store locator and type in your zip code.

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It’s time to introduce another wonderful member of the Island Batik Ambassador family! Brenda Alburl, the creative mind behind Songbird Designs, has been quilting and sewing most of her life. She discovered quilting and sewing as a child, being taught by her grandmother to enjoy needlework. She would watch and help her grandmother draft patterns on cardboard boxes from her grandparents’ country store and stitch up quilts using feed sack fabrics from livestock feed! When her daughter was young, Brenda took a “real” quilting class and was hooked again! She continues to try new techniques to hone her quilting skills and enjoys designing her own quilts using the Electric Quilt software.

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Have you met Suzy Webster at Websterquilt? She’s been an Island Batik Ambassador for 7 and a half years and we’ve seen lots of amazing quilts she has created in that role! Suzy has been quilting since age eight when she arranged some scrap triangles and told her mother, “You should sew it like this.” One of the things Suzy loves about quilting is that the design possibilities and fabric choices are endless. She has been entering competitions since college and has many quilt show ribbons to her credit including Road to California, Machine Quilter’s Exposition, The American Quilter’s Society Shows, and International Quilt Festival. Suzy loves to piece, appliqué, and free-motion machine quilt, design mystery quilts and patterns, as well as teach and give trunk shows of her quilts.

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Have you met Denise? She’s been with us since 2019 and we love all of the gorgeous projects she has created in her role as an Island Batik Ambassador ever since! Denise has spent more than half of her life trying to recreate the feeling she felt the first time sleeping under a quilt her grandmother made. “That quilt, along with everything around me inspires my creativity, though the finish rarely resembles the inspiration.“ She is a self taught quilter behind Quiltery-For the Love of Geese and a pattern designer who revels on pushing the boundaries of her ability and creativity. Her patterns have been published in Annie’s Catalog as well as Island Batik fabric catalogs. She and her husband of 31 years enjoy the solitude of living high above the Mississippi River in Grafton, Il.

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Hello, fellow quilters!

We’ve come to the end of another exciting week of the Island Batik Tool Craze Blog Hop, and it was truly remarkable! Our skilled Ambassadors had a great time exploring the creative possibilities with tools from Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design. They impressed us once again with their stunning quilts, each one more inventive and vibrant than the previous. Sadly, the Blog Hop is ending next week, but we still look forward to the striking creations it will bring! So, get your fabric, thread, and sewing machines ready!

If a specific collection, featured during the Tool Craze Blog Hop is calling your name, check your local quilt shops this month – they might already have it in stock! To see what quilt shops carry Island Batik in your area, please visit our store locator and type in your zip code.

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Join us for a recap of this week’s Tool Craze Blog Hop quilts! Our talented Ambassadors have truly impressed us with their magnificent creations, featuring the versatile tools from Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design and the latest Island Batik fabric collections.

We are grateful for all the positive feedback we’ve received and hope that you’re feeling inspired to grab your needle and thread and start stitching with Studio 180 Design tools!

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Say “hello” to Emily Leachman at The Darling Dogwood! Emily joined the Island Batik Ambassador family in 2019 and we’ve been swooning over all the stunning quilts she’s whipped up during her time with us. She been quilting for more than 20 years after starting during her college years. Emily enjoys a wide variety of quilting techniques and is always willing to try something new with fabric. She is active in the online quilting community and a member of the Charlotte chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. When not quilting, Emily is also a librarian!

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Please meet our new Ambassador Brittany Fisher at Bobbin with Brittany! She lives in Ashland, Ohio with her husband, Rob, and son, Benji. A data analyst by day, Brittany translates her skills into a passion for designs and fabric coordination. Her first quilt publication was released 2023, which is also when her longarm services took off! Brittany loves to teach others tips and tricks because she fully believes sewing is for everyone, and the world needs more beautiful creations that are waiting to be unlocked!

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Say “Hello” to Jennifer Thomas at Curlicue Creations! She is a quilt designer with a love of color, spending her days sewing in an old vintage farmhouse in the rolling countryside of North Carolina with her children, cats, and nature all around. The sky enchants Jennifer: its ever-changing colors and moods give her daily inspiration. Jennifer’s patterns have been published in dozens of quilting magazines including Quiltmaker, Modern Quilts, Love of Quilting, Modern Patchwork, American Quilter, McCall’s Quilting, and so many more!

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Greetings, fellow quilters!

Another week of the Island Batik All Puffed Up Blog Hop has come to an end, and what a week it was! Our talented Ambassadors yet again wowed us with their amazing puff quilts, each one more creative and colorful than the last. Next week’s hop is going to be just as wonderful, so, get your fabric, thread and your sewing machines ready!

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Gather ’round for the grand finale of this week’s Puff quilt extravaganza! We’ve been blown away (pun intended) by the magnificent creations of our talented Ambassadors, showing off the fabric from the new Island Batik collections in so many different ways! We are grateful for all the wonderful comments we’ve received, and hoping that your fingers are itching for a needle and thread to start making your own Puff quilt soon!

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Preeti at Sew Preeti Quilts has been selected to be an Island Batik Ambassador for the third year in a row! She grew up in India and came to the USA about 20 years ago as a student. Living in the Washington DC metro area, she works as a transportation planner. Preeti made her first quilt in 2013 and 200+ quilts later, she can firmly say that she is addicted to all things quilting! Her patterns have been published in numerous magazines including Make Modern, Quilter’s World and Quiltmaker. She loves bright fabrics and enjoys improvisational piecing.

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Elita Sharpe (Busy Needle Quilting) is one of our new members this year! Elita is a longarm quilter and educator, currently dividing her time between Lawrenceburg, Indiana (US) and Geneva, Switzerland. She has been quilting for over 20 years, longarm quilting on an APQS Millennium for most of that time. Elita gives classes in the cosy setting of her home studio, on a variety of techniques, including longarm rentals, and hosts patchwork retreats in the French Alps. She also services sewing machines, both domestic and longarm!

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Maryellen (Mary Mack Made Mine) has been sewing since she was young, and loves quilting and designing quilts the most. She has published a number of patterns, loves to teach, and does longarm quilting for others. This is her 10th year as an Island Batik Ambassador, and she hopes to share her love of quilting and fabric with everyone!

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This month, we’ll be giving you an inside look at the talented individuals who represent the 2023 Island Batik Ambassador team! Get to know them, their unique stories and the creative process behind their work. Get ready to be inspired!

Please say hello to Reed Johnson of Blue Bear Quilts! Reed is an award winning quilt pattern designer who has worked with Accuquilt and numerous fabric companies. His quilt designs have been published in a variety of magazines including American Quilter, Love of Quilting, McCall’s Quilting, Quiltmaker, Fons and Porter Quick and Easy Quilts. Reed creates bold designs that are a modern take on the classics. In 2016, he won the Fan Favorite in the Accuquilt Block Design Challenge and in 2017, he was the Grand Champion of the same contest.

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Another week of striking Lone Star quilts is over and it’s time to revisit them all!

As always, there is a direct link to each post for you to learn more about the designer’s process and see if there’s bonus giveaway that you can enter.

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We are happy to be sponsoring a fabulous online Sew in Your Jammies 2020 retreat, hosted by our great friend and Island Batik Designer Ebony Love of LoveBug Studios! Ebony’s retreat will bring quilters and sewists together in the most fun and interactive experience they can have at a sewing retreat without needing to leave their houses! To help her, there will be a dream team of amazing instructors and Island Batik Designers you all know and love – Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works, Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis, Kate Colleran of Seams Like A Dream Quilt Designs and Joanne Hillestad of Fat Quarter Gypsy & Swirly Girls Design.

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Thank you for following along during week one of A Piece of Blog Hop! It is so exciting to see all the creative ways the Island Batik Ambassadors have been using the Summer 2019 collections in their beautiful quilts! 

Every Friday we will be having a recap of the quilts, created by our talented Ambassadors, to make sure you do not miss anything! There will be a direct link to each post with the quilt for you to learn more about the designer’s process and try your luck in their bonus giveaways!

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