Welcome to week 1 of the Island Batik Ambassador Runner Up blog hop! Our challenge for February 2025 is to create a table or bed runner using a new fabric collection.

I received the Botanical Dreams fabric collection by Jerry Khiev (thanks to Island Batik!) and loved working with this bright and luscious collection! Look at all those gorgeous oranges, purples and yellows - it reminds me of sunshine and tropical places! Check your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik fabrics for this new collection.

There was one other requirement for this month’s challenge and that was to use a Studio 180 Design tool to create our project. I received the Corner Pop tool from Studio 180 Design and this tool makes accurate stitch and flip blocks. Thanks to Studio 180 Design for sending me this tool to use for my first 2025 project an an Island Batik Ambassador.

Once I had the fabric and the tool, it was time to use my brain to come up with a design. This is the most challenging but also most rewarding part of any challenge! I often look to EQ8 to design my quilts and it was a help to make this design too.

I decided to create 6” blocks made with 9 stitch and flip units in each of them and put 12 of these blocks together into the table runner. There was a lot of cutting required for each unit and I made sure to label the fabrics so I wouldn’t get them confused as I started to use the Corner Pop tool.

Once everything was organized, it was time to start cutting into the background square with the Corner Pop tool.

Once the background squares were prepared (corners cut), it was time to stitch on the replacement triangles. These are oversized and would be trimmed down in the final step.

Of course it’s always helpful to have the quilt inspector in my studio as I create my Island Batik Ambassador projects. 🐈‍⬛ What actually is helpful is using my Oliso M3Pro iron to get a good press on all of these little units before they’re stitched into the final quilt top.

Once all of the units were nicely pressed (thanks, Oliso!), it was time to trim them with the Corner Pop tool.

Here’s what one of the blocks looks like.

I made all 12 of the blocks and stitched them together into 2 rows and then stitched the 2 rows together to create the center of the table runner.

Next it was time to add the two borders with cornerstones. Here’s the final table runner top.

I used the pillowcase method to attach the batting and backing. Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting for supplying the Thermore batting that I used in this project. I thought that this 100% polyester batting would be perfect for this project as it is very thin and no one wants a bulky table runner!

After I had prepared my quilt sandwich, I had to decide how to quilt it and I had several ideas on this. I decided to use vertical wavy lines in the center of the table runner and then do some “C” shapes in the first border and some peaks/triangles with 3 loops in the outer border. I used an oval ruler template to create the designs in the outer cornerstones.

Here’s the final result!

For more information on this table runner, please click here.

My first project as an Island Batik Ambassador is done but there’s more happening this week! Because it’s a blog hop, there are prizes each week.

This week, you could win one fat quarter of either Botanical Dreams or Fall Flair.

To enter to win one of these fat quarter bundles, enter your details below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to @Hobbs Quilt Batting, @Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design, @Oliso, and @islandbatik for the items that they sent me that allowed me to create this table runner project.

There will be many more projects coming from the other Island Batik Ambassadors this month - and more giveaways too! I’ll be adding the other Ambassador projects to my Pinterest board so be sure to check that out so you won’t miss out on their fabulous creations.

You can find out more about the 2025 Island Batik Ambassadors and the projects that they will be working on this year on their websites below.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Tina Dillard - Quilting Affection Designs

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Kimberly Flannagan - Kimberlys Quilts

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood