Wednesday I shared a bunch of my WIP and finished quilts with the kids in The Boy's class. I brought two quilt tops, one completed and one WIP. The work in progress quilt top is a quilt I'm making for The Girl.
We moved into our house when she was one month old. So, needless to say, with a nearly two year old and a newborn, The Girl's room didn't get decorated and she didn't have a completed quilt waiting for her arrival. It took a long time to even decide on a theme I liked for her room. The Boy's room is decorated in Very Hungry Caterpillar. I really liked the idea of decorating in the theme of a children's book, but I couldn't find one that I was super excited about AND there was a fabric line for. ;-) If only Frog and Toad (a childhood favorite of mine) had a fabric line! So I settled on The Rainbow Fish (though it has no fabric line) though I'm honestly not super excited about a literal interpretation of it and I've moved more toward the general theme of ocean.
In January 2013 I was buying fabrics for her quilt. The Jelly Roll Race quilts were just starting to be big them (I think), so I did a variation of a Jelly Roll Race with four batik fabrics (at the top of the photo above) that I purchased yardage of and cut myself. That was the easy part.
And my quilt top got stuck at that step... over a year ago. It's pretty. In fact, I love it. If only that was my vision. It's just not done. I want to put some life in my ocean. So those other colorful batiks... imagine that they are fish, jellies, perhaps some seaweed.
Oh, did I mention that I don't really do applique? Basically I don't have the time or patience for hand work and I've only done hand-stitched applique. Clearly I need to learn a new, fast, machine applique technique. (I think I want to use fusible something-or-other and stitch over raw edges or just be zen with raw edges on my fishies. Pointers appreciated.) So that's why I'm stuck. I'm also unsure how detailed I want these fish to be, though since learning some new free motion quilting skills with Leah Day's Building Blocks Quilt Along I'm feeling confident that I'd be happy with fish and stuff out of a single fabric and then doing free motion quilting on them for detail. I think.
I'm declaring this project to be back on the forefront of my sewing focus. It isn't my main goal for June, but I snuck it onto my Bonus Goal list. (Yeah, that's right, the Bonus Goal list seems to be a work in progress of it's own.) Perhaps if I get this quilt done it will inspire me to finally paint The Girl's room.
I'm linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Let's Bee Social on Sew Fresh Quilts.
Shauna
very pretty, I think it will look even better with the added fishes, etc.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Shauna. Wish me luck! :-)
Marie Lismore
Beautiful quilt. I would definitely use fusible webbing and stitch with blanket or zig zag. Blanket uses less thread.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Marie. I think I need to do a quick, small project using fusible to make sure I know what I'm doing. :-)
Lorna McMahon
I love your vision, Sarah. Right now your ocean background is very pretty, but those pops of colour chosen as the fish and seaweed are going to look amazing against the deep blue sea! Using fusible web and a turned edge applique is totally doable. I have done a lot of machine applique in this method. And I just know you can do it, too! Here is a sample I would love to show you.... http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/2013/05/baby-quilt-for-lucia-finished.html
sarah
Post authorThanks Lorna. Your quilt is awesome! Amazing detail with the ripples in the water. Do you have any recommendations on where I can get a little more info about this technique?
Lorna McMahon
Here are a couple of links I googled, Sarah....
http://www.connectingthreads.com/tutorials/Applique-Turned_Edge_Prep__D48.html
http://www.allaboutapplique.net/category/turned-edge-applique/
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/09/bake-shop-basics-turned-edge-machine.html
http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/cutting-corners/2012/6/10/i-love-applique-lesson-iii/
I am looking forward to seeing how your ocean fills in!
sarah
Post authorAwesome! Thanks, Lorna! Just gotta knock my A Lovely Year of Finishes June goal off my plate and I can get to this!
Mary Elizabeth Tait
The quilt had so much movement in it. It is really lovely.
sarah
Post authorThanks ME, it's the first project I've done with batik fabrics. Now to get it done! :-)
Denise
Sarah, I love the batik blues! Have you made any progress on the applique? I'm a beginner still, and I've tried a few techniques - I think each technique has pros and cons - it's about how clean and secure you want the finish to be. For a kids bed quilt, I'd suggest drawing the image on freezer paper and ironing to the Front of fabric. Use a glue stick to secure the seam allowance to the back, then either fusible interface or gluestick the image onto the quilt top. I haven't had as much luck with interfacings, but that's OK because I fmq all the bits down. I'd use a simple top stitch to secure the applique, especially with the brights you'll be using - you can do the traditional machine blanket stitch or zigzag, but I find them hard to use when not sewing in a square....
sarah
Post authorThanks for the tips, Denise! I've got a couple smaller applique projects in the queue to practice before I go for it on this one.
Bo
Oh wow!! This is really beautiful too!! Love, love, love the colors!! This will go perfectly in her room too. In fact, more so....Look forward to your finished project!! :-)
sarah
Post authorThank you. So do I. So many quilts, so little time. ;-)