Happy Hump Day, and welcome to my blog as part of the Island Batik blog hop for January...celebrating New Beginnings!I love the clean slate/celebration of new starts aspects of January (I'm not a winter girl!), and this gave me an opportunity to stretch my creative muscles a bit. I've known for a while that my quilter vibe was going to the more modern/contemporary side of things, and I found a great way to energize my 2017 with a new twist on an iconic design (if I do say so myself!).The fabrics collection that I am using is called Surf and Sand, and it's by Fourth and SixthDesigns. It's a very rich, watery feeling palette which I had so much fun working with, I had a hard time choosing what to do.In January, like a lot of quilters, I go through a periodic cycle of sifting through the piles of unfinished projects - and I do that just like anybody. I found my inspiration in an unfinished version of Jaybird Quilt's Night Sky pattern. I took it out and looked carefully at the pattern, which as written, uses a 3½" strip of fabric.  What would happen if I tweaked that? I played with smaller strips - and then I went in the completely opposite direction.This is my interpretation of the pattern, called Island Star, using the biggest strip that I could (instead of the Sidekick ruler, I used the Super Sidekick) The center diamonds are made using 8½" strips. My only modification to this was in the setting of the star - I used  a 4½" strip to go around the hexagon created by the star, and then used setting triangles to make the pattern float in a rectangle.  As luck would have it, it's 40" wide...and I have a 42" wide quilt rack over my cutting station - so this one has a home.  I should note that the white background is made of the Sprinkles Neutral that Island has. One of the nicest things about working with Island Batik is their selection of wonderful lights!I absolutely DID NOT quilt this - I am blessed to have a wonderful working relationship with a friend, and longarm quilting artist, in the absolutely fabulous Terry Burris of Merrimack - she's about a 10 minute drive from my house, and she's done several of my quilts.  Her website can be found at https://terryburrisquilting.wordpress.com/.I hope that you have had fun following along with our merry band of Ambassadors as we've worked through this blog hop. I'm always amazed at the talents that we possess...we always seem to complement each other...and the behind the scenes emails can be  a sure source of inspiration and creative zing.  The entire grouping of blog posts related to this hop can be found on this Island Batik blog post here.Like many of the Ambassadors, I am Giving away Fabric as part of this event.  This time, I'm using the Rafflecopter widget below...just follow the instructions - it's easy!a Rafflecopter giveawayIsland Batik is also sponsoring a giveaway as part of the blog hop...you'll want to take a look at each of the options below to maximize your chances of winning.a Rafflecopter giveaway