Drunkards Path Variation with Island Batik

Island Batik (Lumin Fabric) April Challenge.

This months Island Batik challenge is a Drunkards Path quilt, yikes!

Guidelines:

• Project Type: Quilt
• Size: Lap or large
• Technique: Curved Piecing (not appliqué!)
• Post any day in April

When the challenge was announced I had flashbacks to the late 90’s when I attempted my first Dunkards Patch quilt. At the time I did not own a sewing machine, nor had I ever made a quilt with curved piecing. I think I’ve suffered from PTSD over this block since, and I swore to never make another one, or anything with curved piecing. For the most part I stood by my word but the “(not appliqué!)” added to the Guidelines set by Island Batik seriously forced me out of my comfort zone.

Anyway, that first DP was a mess and I ended up making some kind of deal with my mom to finish it for me. Here is that first quilt that I stressed so much over, it took another 20 years before I pulled it out of the chest and quilted it.

“If at first you don’t succeed try again”.

Earthy Enchantment

Included in the first Island Batik Ambassador box I received a 10″ Stack of Earthy Enchantment along with 2 coordinating fabrics. I really like the range of colors in the collection and planned on a scrappy finish full of circles for this challenge. The Stack includes at least 2 of each fabric from the collection for a total of 42 squares.

Shops you can find Earthy Enchantment

Drunkards Path blocks

I cut 20 of the 10″ squares into a large circle and then quartered it. An old school compass came in handy to draw the circle and I basically just rounded the corners. Using paper templates printed from EQ8 , the background fabric (Round Petal Floral) was cut large enough to allow for squaring up. Let me say, STARCH STARCH STARCH until the fabric is flimsy like a manila folder. I think this made all the difference in the world when piecing the blocks. Start with a full bobbin, you don’t want to run out of thread in the middle of sewing the curved seams.

Layout

After turning the finished blocks every way imaginable I really liked the look of the layout below, before adding the rectangles.To make the block layout I wanted it required adding a rectangle (Burgundy) to each DP block and leaving an open square in the center that I had to cover. I’d just beaten my arch nemesis Drunkards Path, I didn’t want to play with inset seams too, lol. .

The layout could be used for a flower or pinwheel.

To cover the square hole in the center I cut 3″ circles with an AccuQuilt circle die after fusing Hotfix Adhesive to the back of my fabric. The first block almost became part of my ironing board when I fused the circle into place, luckily I caught it before it had completely cooled and it pealed off. After that mistake, I used the paper backing to cover the square hole on the back of each block before pressing the circles down.

The Oliso TG1600 Pro+ and Faultless Heavy Finish Starch made piecing these blocks so much easier than I remember. I am so happy Island Batik included the Drunkards Path block into one of its monthly challenges.

Quilting my finish was much simpler than the piecing of the quilt. The batting I used was Hobbs Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting (far left in photo below).

Aurifil 50wt thread in Muslin and Schmetz MicroTex Needles for piecing, and Aurifil Muslin Forty3 for quilting.

Freemotion 4 petal flowers for quilting.

And finally, it is finished! There will be no commitment from me to make another Drunkards Path quilt anytime soon but I must admit, it wasn’t the nightmare I remember it to be.

May IBA Challenge

The next monthly Island Batik challenge will be a blog hop. The Ambassadors will feature the new Irish Chain die from AccuQuilt, so stay tuned.