Sailboat Quilt complete

I have to tell you – the Learning Curve is the most fun ride in the amusement park!  The online class I took at MQResource was phenomenal.  Thankfully the videos will be available for some time to come and I can review.

I decided on the last sketch that I did with just a few modifications.  I really liked the idea of the images of the west coast of BC surrounding the quilt and then keep with the boat theme throughout.  Here’s a picture of the finished quilt done in Superior Thread’s So Fine! for all the background and applique work; King Tut for the cable, seagull, piling, mountains and trees.  I used a matching So Fine! for all the bobbin work with not  single problem and virtually no lint issues because it is a polyester.  The only lint was from the batting!

 

Bailey's Boat Yard

I soaked the quilt once I had completed it to remove the chalk and pencil lines for 20 minutes in cold water and then a gentle wash in cold water with a light spin.  The un-quilted top was 48 x 60 but after I washed it it was only about 45″ x 55″!  These fabrics were pre-washed but I did not pre-wash the batting.  The batting I used was Bamboo, I believe it is 50-50 bamboo/cotton mix, and will shrink about 1-3%so that wouldn’t account for the discrepancy in size.  A great deal of the shrinkage is due to the quilting itself and is something that quilters should keep in mind if they have a specific size they need the completed top to be.  Another issue was the density of the quilting had caused a slight wave to the side and bottom borders.  In the class a few members talked about blocking the quilts and different tips on getting rid of wavy borders after quilting.  Now, I have blocked knitted items and doilies but never a quilt!

My husband helped me and it took us over an hour to square up and block the quilt.  It made an amazing difference!  We were able to get it back to 46.5″ x 59″ and it took out 99.9% of the fullness along the bottom and that is easily solved with a second sleeve and pole when it is hanging on the wall.  Personally – I think that a slight wave to a hung quilt looks normal – it is fabric after all!  I don’t know that I would ever block a bed quilt unless it was going into a juried show but I wont hesitate to block a wall quilt again.

Here’s a close-up of the seagull and top of the piling he is resting on.  Please note that I decided to use 2 layers of bamboo batting to make sure to get lots of “puff”!

 

Bailey's Boat Yard - seagull

Notice the quilting in the medium blue blocks?  Know what quilting block that is??  First person to comment on what that quilt pattern is will get a special little gift from Baileys Quilting Headquarters – just because you’re paying attention 🙂  I was able to do four rows down and then back up again in a continuous line but the crossed design was a start and stop each block!  

I decided not to do the chains in the middle border – they would have to be done free hand and I knew that I was not at the skill level to do that nor did I have any templates that would work.  I decided to free-hand a cable with interlocking ends instead.  Micro-stippling around to make it pop out.

 

Bailey's Boat Yard micro&cable

I had to admit I am remiss at making labels for my quilts these past few years.  I decided to have a bit of fun with this one.  I appliqued the post of the sign right to the quilt and then I wrapped the same woodgrain fabric around a rectangle of craft foam.  I used water soluble pencil crayons to write the sign/label.  Here’s a close-up of the label/sign stuck in the rocky shore at the trees edge.

 

Bailey's Boat yard label

This is definitely not the type of quilting that one would make money on – not unless one was world renowned!  I didn’t take note of the hours spent but I would hazard a guess it was at least 36 or more.  Of course that includes all the frogging (ripping out), starting and stopping and burying the threads!

Don’t forget the give-away, take a look at the medium blue blocks and comment as to what quilt block the actual quilting design looks like – first one wins a prize 😉