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!

Continue Reading…
(0)

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!

Continue Reading…
(29)

Say hello to our new Ambassador Renee Atkinson at Pink Tulip Quilting!

Renee is a batik believer! Her collection of batiks assists in the design of unique art quilts, fabric collages, and other quilted creations including her Gnumerous Gnome collection! Experienced sewist and designer, Renee loves collaborating with clients and other quilters!

Continue Reading…
(1)

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.

Continue Reading…
(2)

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!

Continue Reading…
(1)

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!

Continue Reading…
(4)

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.

Continue Reading…
(2)

Please, welcome a new member of Island Batik Ambassador family – Sharon Riley, who also happens to be a Certified Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design Instructor! Sharon made her first quilt about 10 years ago and got hooked. Over time, she began spreading her love of quilting with others and creating her own patterns, which you might have seen in such publications as Love of Quilting, Easy Quilts, Quilty, Quilting Quickly, Winter Festival of Quilts, and Quilting Quickly! In 2019, she formed her business, Sew Riley Designs, and continues to share her passion of quilting with her followers!

Continue Reading…
(2)

Say hello to the talented Janet Yamamoto from Hamilton, Missouri! Janet has been an Island Batik Ambassador for three and a half years, and we have enjoyed seeing all the beautiful quilts and home decor items she has created with our fabric and products from our generous industry partners, Aurifil, AccuQuilt, Hobbs and Schmetz Needles.

Continue Reading…
(1)

Please, say hello to the talented Carla Henton from Dodge City, Kansas! Carla has been lucky to be surrounded by talented women all of her life, starting with her mom and grandmother who taught her to sew, and now with the fun online sewing and crafting community. She designs sewing and quilting patterns along with tutorials and has organized blog hops and designed Blocks of the Month. You can find Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks!

Continue Reading…
(1)

Please, welcome a new member of Island Batik Ambassador family – Megan Best from Ferndale, Washington! Megan is a quilting addict who loves to spread joy through quilting every day. Her motto is “do what brings you joy”, and for her that is every part of quilting! Megan made her first quilt while in high school and continued to foster this love throughout her education, achieving degrees in Apparel Design and Merchandising/Textiles.

Continue Reading…
(3)

We are happy to introduce the talented Sally Manke, whose mission is to delight others with textile art that exemplifies her passion for joyful, creative expression through color and texture. Sally enjoys crafting traditional quilts, coiled rope baskets and all forms of fiber art, but her passion is art quilts.

Sally and her Dandy and Dejavu art quilt, made for 2019 July Island Batik Ambassador challenge. To learn about Sally’s process of creating the quilt, please visit: https://www.sallymanke.com/blog/2019/7/6/dandy-and-dejavu-art-quilt.

Continue Reading…
(0)

Please, meet Jennifer Thomas of Curlicue Creations, who has been with the Island Batik Ambassador program since 2018! Jennifer is a quilt pattern designer in love with color. Her patterns can be found in numerous quilt magazines and books including Quiltmaker, Modern Quilts, Love of Quilting, Modern Patchwork, American Quilter, McCall’s Quilting and many others! She spends her days quilting in a vintage farmhouse in the rolling countryside of North Carolina with children, cats, and nature all around.

Continue Reading…
(0)

We are very excited to introduce to you a talented quilter from Ontario, Canada, Sandra Walker of mmm! quilts! It is Sandra’s third year in the Island Batik Ambassador program and we love all the gorgeous projects she has created so far! The majority of those beautiful quilts and home décor items are Sandra’s original designs – her patterns have been published in such magazines as Modern Patchwork, McCall’s Quilting and Modern by the Yard eZine.

Continue Reading…
(0)

Carol Moellers joined the Island Batik Ambassador program in 2019 and we were incredibly happy when she applied for the 2020 season! Not only is Carol a talented quilter and pattern designer, but she also teaches piecing, machine appliqué, binding, and design classes. Her patterns have been featured in such publications, as McCall’s Quilting, Quilter’s Newsletter, Sew Iowa, and IQA Festival Newsletter.

Continue Reading…
(1)

We are happy to introduce another talented member of the 2020 Island Batik Brand Ambassador team! Please, welcome Jennifer Fulton, a quilter who is passionate about color, fabrics, and design! Jennifer loves to share what she learns with other quilters, which is why she named her blog The Inquiring Quilter.

Jennifer made her first quilt when she was 36: ” I’d taken a class to make a sampler quilt but hadn’t finished it when I got pregnant. I immediately got the urge to make a baby quilt and selected a rather complicated pattern without knowing how hard it would be to make even with a class! As a result I didn’t finish it until she was 5. I consider it my first quilt even though in those five years I did make other quilts (simpler ones) to learn the craft. The baby quilt sample was quite scrappy, so before the class I spent several hours selecting scraps for the baby quilt from a scrap barrel at my lqs. We were taught to cut our scraps using a template we were provided so the process was tedious. The quilt was basically HSTs and square in square blocks, so it didn’t take me long to discover that there was an easier way to make the blocks. But I learned over time how to piece properly and to square up my blocks and eventually I finished the top and even quilted it myself using straight line quilting. Although the result is not perfect, it’s a lovely quilt all the same and my daughter loves it.”

Continue Reading…
(1)

Please, welcome Connie Kauffman of Kauffman Designs! She is a talented quilt designer, whose patterns have been published in numerous popular books and magazines, including McCall’s Quilting, Love of Quilting, Quiltmaker, American Patchwork & Quilting and many more. Connie has been an Island Batik Ambassador since the program started back in 2014, and we are very happy to have her in the 2020 team!

Connie has been quilting for almost 39 years. She made her first “real” quilt when her son went from the baby bed to a twin bed. Guess what Connie used to make it? Blue jeans!

Continue Reading…
(3)

Please, meet Alison Vermilya, who has been creating for the Island Batik Ambassador Program since 2016! A chemist-by-day and quilter-by-night, Alison has been quilting for over 15 years.

 

Alison made her first quilt when she was 15. She is co-owner of Honey, Bunny, and Doll Quilt Designs, established in 2013, and has been sharing about her quilting adventures on her blog, Little Bunny Quilts, since 2011. She lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with her husband, Daniel, and two rabbits, Clara and Frankie.

 

Continue Reading…

(1)

This year, three new members joined the Island Batik Ambassador team. One of them is the talented long arm quilter, teacher, designer, Certified Studio 180 Design Instructor and owner of Quilt Haven Threads, Gail Renna!

Gail was only 25 when she made her first ever quilt. It was right after she got married when she thought of making a quilt for their bed, so she took a Beginning Quilting class, and brought in a queen size Dresden Plate quilt kit to make! Two ladies were teaching this class and just smiled and taught her how to do it one square at a time, hand quilting it as she went.

Continue Reading…

(3)

Please, say hi to the talented Mania Hatziioannidi from Athens, Greece, who has been an Island Batik Brand Ambassador for 2 years. Mania isn’t just a beautiful Greek name, it also says a lot about her passion for quilting!

Mania started quilting when she was 49, and it was love at first sight! Although she never liked sewing, she has been enjoying knitting and crocheting from the age of 6.  When she saw a bag made with hexagons, she was so amazed that she said to herself, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life!” Funnily enough, Mania doesn’t like hexagons now!

Continue Reading…

(2)

 
We are happy to introduce the 2020 Island Batik Ambassador from Coos Bay, Oregon – Pamela Boatright, who has been in the program since 2015! Pamela owns PamelaQuilts and has been seriously addicted to quilting for 33 years.

Pamela in her cozy studio, working on a quilt for the 2020 Willamette Valley Quilt Fest. The quilt is a smaller version of Pamela’s May Roses pattern, featured in the Spring/Summer 2019 Island Batik catalog, and uses the fabrics from Island Batik Sunny Side Up line, designed by Kathy Engle.

Continue Reading…

(1)

We are excited to introduce our 2020 Island Batik Brand Ambassador Gail Sheppard!

Owner of Quilting Gail, Gail hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is a lover of everything scrappy!  She was 17 when she made her first quilt and has been sewing on and off since 1983. In 2005, she bought a “good” sewing machine and has been making several quilts a year since then!

Continue Reading…

(3)