A surprise quilt for a surprise baby!
The nursery is done in a Hawaiian beach (think Lilo and Stitch) theme so we made this quilt to match. The baby's name has been blurred to protect the her privacy.
Putting It All Together
We started with this sketch, done by one of the S's who also helped create the artwork in the nursery. Once we had an idea, we hit the fabric stash and pulled out colors that would complement the walls. We needed blues for the ocean, greens for the trees and bushes, something bright for a surboard, a few brilliant colors for the tropical flowers, white for the fluffy clouds and a shiny yellow for the sun.
Challenge accepted!
The ocean looks lovely doesn't it? We paper pieced the sea together in a fit of insanity. Do not do this the way we did! It was a bad plan. The curves were too long and too tight for the fabric to lay smoothly. I'd suggest needle turn or your favorite applique instead.
The sand was created using a stack and whack technique from Browsing the Web, found in "New Cuts for New Quilts," by Karla Alexander. After the blocks were stitched into a long strip, we top stitched the ocean to the sand and hid the seam with blanket stitching. If you look closely you can see blanket stitching on some of the waves.
Another lesson learned this quilt. Letter are difficult. I'd tried to applique cut out letters in italicized cursive writing -- also a bad plan. We ended up embroidering it in bullion knot which turned out great.
The flowers were a lot easier than they look.
R quilted to match the area. The trees are filled with a meander. The ocean has waves and the sky looks as if someone drew in the wind. She left the tree stems and flowers empty for extra dimension but quilting in close to them.
Those extra inches of palm fronds? We'll get a look at them later.
Here's a close up of the sky and trees. You can almost see the wind lifting the branches.
You can see the blanket stitch holding them down. We chose a variegated green floss and used two strands.
Remember the dangling palm fronts. Look below. We continued them onto the back.
All in all we're very happy with the way this little quilt turned out.
The nursery is done in a Hawaiian beach (think Lilo and Stitch) theme so we made this quilt to match. The baby's name has been blurred to protect the her privacy.
Putting It All Together
We started with this sketch, done by one of the S's who also helped create the artwork in the nursery. Once we had an idea, we hit the fabric stash and pulled out colors that would complement the walls. We needed blues for the ocean, greens for the trees and bushes, something bright for a surboard, a few brilliant colors for the tropical flowers, white for the fluffy clouds and a shiny yellow for the sun. Challenge accepted!
The ocean looks lovely doesn't it? We paper pieced the sea together in a fit of insanity. Do not do this the way we did! It was a bad plan. The curves were too long and too tight for the fabric to lay smoothly. I'd suggest needle turn or your favorite applique instead.The sand was created using a stack and whack technique from Browsing the Web, found in "New Cuts for New Quilts," by Karla Alexander. After the blocks were stitched into a long strip, we top stitched the ocean to the sand and hid the seam with blanket stitching. If you look closely you can see blanket stitching on some of the waves.
Another lesson learned this quilt. Letter are difficult. I'd tried to applique cut out letters in italicized cursive writing -- also a bad plan. We ended up embroidering it in bullion knot which turned out great.
The flowers were a lot easier than they look. 
R quilted to match the area. The trees are filled with a meander. The ocean has waves and the sky looks as if someone drew in the wind. She left the tree stems and flowers empty for extra dimension but quilting in close to them.Those extra inches of palm fronds? We'll get a look at them later.
Here's a close up of the sky and trees. You can almost see the wind lifting the branches. You can see the blanket stitch holding them down. We chose a variegated green floss and used two strands.
Remember the dangling palm fronts. Look below. We continued them onto the back.
All in all we're very happy with the way this little quilt turned out.
