Thursday, March 15, 2018

Baby Sea Animals - A Finished Quilt

This is a special quilt finish since it was made with the color choices and organizational helpfulness of my 10-year-old niece. Her second younger sister will be born at the end of the month, and together, we schemed to make a quilt together. It was quite the process!


My niece has already been learning how to sew, and when I showed her the "Awesome Ocean" pattern I had just bought (by Elizabeth Hartman, which I'm already using for the otter quilt), she was all in. On a weekend afternoon, my niece chose the colors and animals to make as we talked about contrasting fabrics. She loves bright, vivid colors, just like me!


As I mentioned in my last post, the animals are a LOT of piecing work. My niece helped me get all the pieces organized for the seahorse and even sewed some of them together while I continued cutting. Throughout the next few weeks, I sent her updated photos of the quilt as it developed. My goal was *just* to use the pattern for the animals and seaweed, and to piece everything together improvisationally.

 The clownfish purposefully looks like Nemo.

I quilted the whole quilt in pebbles that grew in size towards the outer edges, mimicking bubbles. This was easy and quite quick to do (other pebble-quilting projects like "Burst" have nearly incapacitated me since they required so much work). I used 50 weight Aurifil #2860 (light emerald), a shade slightly darker than the background, so the thread color would show just a bit. I'm really pleased with the final look; it crinkled so nicely in the wash.


I really love that she chose to make the ocean green instead of blue. I think it adds such a unique look to the quilt. Plus, the backing is some beautiful Anna Maria Horner flannel that I had left over from my epic AMH medallion quilt - I had just enough! My niece agreed that the backing was perfect (I think it even looks a bit like sea plants - see below).


Hopefully her new baby sister loves it. Both of us presented the quilt at the baby shower last weekend! I neglected to get a picture of us together with the quilt, but if I do, I'll update this post with it. Also, of course, babies on quilts... I can't wait to meet my new niece.

After the otter quilt, I think I'll be done with animals on quilts for quite a while! ;) On to the next challenge.

Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday, TGIFF, Crazy Mom Quilts.

14 comments:

  1. What a fun quilt! And so great that your niece and your got to work on this together - she will love it just as much as her mom. P.S. Gotta love BIG circles, lol!

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  2. What fun to make this quilt with your niece. I have done that with mine, not for the same reason, and it was so much fun. I can’t wait to dive into that pattern - I have done Forrest Friends twice and just love it. So great to have this quilt redy for the shower!

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  3. This is so darling and I absolutely love the story!

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  4. What an awesome collaboration! I love the colors she chose, and I hope she’ll continue to want to sew and quilt with you.

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  5. How cute! I love that you collaborated on the colors and even some of the sewing. What a nice memory that she'll have of preparing for her new sister. And I agree, those Elizabeth Hartman animals are no joke!

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  6. I love your joint creation. What a happy memory for both of you!

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  7. Love, love, LOVE that your niece collaborated on this special quilt with you for the impending arrival!!!

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  8. What a sweet baby quilt, made extra special by having your niece help with the design and sewing. That's such a wonderful memory for her to have, and a great story for the baby to learn as she grows up.

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  9. Awesome! I love the improv about it and the colors <3

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  10. Such a colorful quilt. So wonderful that you and your niece are working together. She will remember this forever!

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  11. Great fun quilt! Isn't it fun to work with young sewers.

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  12. It's an awesome quilt and what a great process.

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  13. Another beauty, Jess. That would be a perfect baby quilt.

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  14. OK, this quilt is super sweet to start with, but the fact that your 10yo niece helped you design a quilt for her baby sister - what a special way to let her in on the anticipation and love-making.

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