Friday, October 2, 2009

A Tale of a Whale

I’ve made progress on the first UFO on my list.

First, a little background: This quilt began as a fabric panel of an undersea scene, called Coral Reef. I selected various parts of the fabric to highlight and fussy cut them. Then I added narrow borders to each scene, and surrounded them with simple 2 inch squares of “ocean-ey” fabric.



I wanted the effect to be like you were looking into an aquarium. I showed what the original wall hanging looked like in my last post.









Here’s what the Coral Reef quilt top looks like now:


I added another row of checkerboard squares to the top and bottom, and expanded the navy blue sashing to contain them. Then I added an additional 3 inch border all the way around the top. I It’s not the wall-hanging size I had originally planned, but that’s how it goes. Sometimes quilts take on a life of their own. What used to be a 46 inch square top, now measures 54 X 74.

I didn’t have a piece of fabric big enough for a backing for this sea monster, so I ended up creating one by piecing what I had leftover from the front. Here’s what the back looks like:


(You didn’t really think I could go much longer without posting a picture of Toby, did you?)

I’m pretty happy to get going again on this quilt. Now it’s time to get out the big table and start basting.


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4 comments:

  1. Come to think of it, it has been a while since we've seen Toby! I love your creativity in making up this quilt. It turned out so beautifully.

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  2. That is one nice quilt, front and back. One you can be proud of. And yes, sometimes quilts take on a life of their own. They certianly can speak to us at times. Great job.

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  3. What a beautiful quilt. Blue is so calming and we were just saying last night at a restaurant that has a tropical fish tank how calming it is watching the fish. I haven't seen Toby for awhile eihter. It's great you got working on finishing it. Some quilts just need to be out and shared.

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  4. Oh,l love that. It's perfect. It is funny how projects grow all on their own isn't it? Lane

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