It was all squeals of delight and happy dances at my house yesterday morning! My very first Island Batik Ambassador box has arrived!

Yesterday was one of those days where it felt even more like Christmas than Christmas! I have been waiting and waiting for my first of Island Batik Ambassador goodies to arrive from the US, and it just wouldn’t come….. We had tracking on our boxes, and I have been torturing myself with that little string of numbers all week, checking and re-checking to see if my box had moved yet. Nope, still in Sydney. Still in Sydney. Still in Sydney…..

So yesterday unfolded like this….. I got up and completed a blog post that was meant to go out the day before. Then I had a late breakfast and checked emails and all that jazz….. and as I was finishing up my coffee I decided to poke the postal tracker, even though it was Saturday…… “ARRIVED AT POST OFFICE”, it said! I yelped. I really yelped – an involuntary sound of joy and relief all in one! Enough sound to bring my daughter running, mildly concerned…… Her adorable response, all young naivety and optimism…. “So it will come today then”…. insert happy dance…… And I said “Sadly, no, we don’t get Saturday deliveries except near Christmas”. “Yes” she said “Today, in 5 minutes”. I just smiled wistfully and got on with my morning, getting ready to go to a 2-year old’s birthday party and looking forward to Monday when That Box would finally arrive.

But then…..

…. I heard a van door slam. Out the window I see my parcel postman (also my friendly neighbour from 3 doors down) parked across the street. But I am still in my dressing gown. Cue another yelp! Yes, I can still move FAST. I was dressed…. (ok, so it was hubby’s shirt….but they were my pants!) and at the door when the doorbell rang. Should have seen me…. Mrs Cool, Calm and Collected! hahahaha

So, no prizes for guessing that all the non-essential tasks between this point and the birthday party went out the window. I opened my box and ogled my amazing gifts for as long as I could get away with before I had to go out. And yes, I got a huge dose of “I told you so” from my daughter! 🙂 But anyway…..

Do you want to see what is in the box?!? Of course you do! Well…… here goes! 

In my very first Island Batik Ambassador Box, I found….

A surprise package…… This is the only secret I must keep from you for now, so lets get it out of the way first! The fabrics in this bundle must stay out of sight until their release date. This bundle is Big…. 30 half yards and 4 yds of coordinating fabric. My daughter wanted to know how much it weighs….. 2.6 kg (5.7 lb)! There’ll be some brainstorming going on to decide what to do with these beauties! No peeking over my back fence while I have these on the line to dry after their pre-washing!

But I can show you everything else…..

The products featured in this post were all given to me by Island Batik.

The Precuts

First, there is a package of Blue Moon 10″ squares and 3 yds of coordinating fabric! Oh JOY! I saw some other Ambassadors finding this line in their box and I hadn’t dared to hope I might too. It is just so beautiful…. and truly my favourite colours. It’s going to take some courage to cut these! If I wasn’t an Ambassador I could easily stash these for a decade! Do you ever feel like that?!

There is a package of pre-cuts in a size that I have never come across before…. 5″ strips. I think that is actually a really great idea….. wide enough to cut either blocks or strips from. I’m liking these already! 

Here they are unpacked already…. I needed to see them up close – with my fingers!

Next I found a bundle of fat eighths and 1.5 yds of coordinating fabric. This collection is called Elementz and the coordinating fabric is Carnation Paisley Dot. These are so graphic and bright. The Chameleon will be in his element with these… hee hee. Look at all this colour!

The Yardage

Deeper into the box….. I found eight half-yard stash builder fabrics, 3 yards of a neutral batik and a Galentine’s Day Fat Quarter bundle. The neutral yardage, in the foreground of this picture is called Egg White. Cute.

As you know, Galentine’s Day has been and gone, and I will probably just move on. But these colours will also be perfect for my next Island Batik project – Mini Love. So you will see several of these fabrics in action very soon!

Amazing isn’t it!? The quality and quantity in this box!

But that’s not all! All the beauties I have shown you so far are all 100% cotton. But Island Batik does rayon too. And in my box is the most lushest piece of rayon ever! 2 yards of blue, green and teal softness called Twilight Garden. 

I might need some help with this one…. I am not a garment sewist…… my daughter very helpfully said it is too nice to cut anyway and that I should just hem it into a sarong! Tempting…… but no. What would you do with 2 yards of rayon?  

In the meantime I have this rayon scarf to pet….. perfect as autumn approaches here soon. 🙂

Goodies from Island Batik industry partners

Thread

There is some much appreciated generosity in this box from Island Batik’s industry partners as well. I have received one very large (5,900 mt) cone of Aurifil 50WT cotton thread in white, 4 large spools (1000 mt) of Aurifil 40WT cotton thread and two large spools (1300 mt) of 50WT cotton thread. I have been very much looking forward to the arrival of these. Aurifil thread is touted as virtually lint-free, so I am quite motivated to try it. Let the quilting begin!

Connie at Freemotion by the River has a theory about the allocation of the colours of these threads. She may well be right, but you will have to wait and see! Aren’t they pretty?

Batting

And last but not least…. in the box were two different packages of batting. This is going to be so interesting….. One twin size piece of HOBBS Heirloom batting in 80/20 cotton/polyester and one queen size piece of Thermore polyester batting. I haven’t ever quilted with 80/20 – in the past I have tended to use unbleached 100% cotton on a scrim, and very occasionally a cotton/bamboo blend. The HOBBS batting is thinner than my usual batting, so I will be quite curious as to the final effect.

Big decisions to make on the Thermore batting….. a full queen size piece begs to be used for a full size quilt. On the other hand, my hubby refuses to sleep under polyester – that would be a test, wouldn’t it, to see if he can tell……. Or, the brochure says it was originally made for clothing and miniatures. One of my long term goals is to make a quilted jacket…….maybe it would be good for that?! Too many good options!

But for now, there ends the ride folks! Now to let it all sink in and start planning some projects! Thank you, Island Batik for sending me all of these goodies. I’ll be sharing projects each month using these in my role as an Island Batik Ambassador.

But first, a scrappy stash busting project for the Craft Room Destash Challenge blog hop tomorrow. It’s going to be a bit of a busy week here at Clever Chameleon, sorry about your inbox, please forgive me and stick with me until it quietens down again after Tuesday! xx

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