I have a new finish to share today that was one of those secret projects that I didn't get to show anything of until now ;) And I just so happens to align perfectly with
Bloggers Quilt Festival so I am adding it to the
Large Quilt Category!!! Yippee!!! So if you are popping over from BQF and visiting for the first time, Welcome!!! So glad you stopped by :)
This quilt is called Smooth Sailing and I made it to hang in the United Notions booth at Fall Quilt Market. The fabric is
Daysail by Bonnie and Camille for Moda and the pattern is by
Bonnie Olaveson of that amazing duo ;) Isn't it just so fun!!!
This is a big quilt finishing at 83" x 91" :) And oh my goodness, was it a fun one to put together!!! It was like creating 16 little mini's and then putting all of those mini's into boats :) It was so much fun picking the placement and colors of each boat and then making sure they were all facing the right direction, I had to double check a few times ;) But really, oh so much fun to make, and it is all just traditionally pieced, no foundation or paper ;) What an amazing design!!
When it came time to quilt this I really wanted to go all out ;) For the background I went with a mixture of designs. I wanted to create a lot of movement that just flowed so I quilted swirls, echoed paisleys, pebbles, and curls all interchangeably. I used my favorite
402 Pearl So Fine Superior Thread so it blends just beautifully while still showing the quilting ;) And can I just say I LOVE it!!!
For the boats, I quilted wavy lines in the sails, woodgrain in the boat, scallops in the water, and 1/4" straight outline on the block, flag, and mast ;) I switched colors to match and blend with the color of the sail. It took a minute more but was so worth it ;) I don't consider myself a professional long-arm quilter by any means, but I have to say, I was pretty proud of this one ;)
Back to a little bit of the piecing . . . I just love how each of these little boats turned out ;) I played with a lot of different color layouts and in the end I just loved the matching color sails look :) All of the water and masts have the same colors in all the boats to tie them all together ;) And It is probably hard to tell from the big picture but I matched the little flag to each of the block, just a fun little detail that makes me smile ;)
The backing is one of my favorite prints from the collection :) These adorable sail boats which I was so happy to use as I stuck to basically the tone on tone prints on the front to give the overall look I was going for ;) It's fun to see all of the quilting on it as well ;)
This really was such a fun quilt to make, and I am so glad to be able to share it now with all of you ;) I also got to share it with one other special person . . .
Bonnie Olaveson!!! Wow, what a special moment ;) She loved it and was super impressed with the quilting, yup, perma-grin all day ;)
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Thanks so much for stopping in today ;) I hope you love the quilt as much as I do ;) Be sure to pop back to the
Blogger's Quilt Festival to see all of the other amazing quilting goodness!! There are over 400 Quilts!!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day!!
Linking this finish to
Sarah's and
Amanda's ;)