An update on my nautical quilt....

In my last post I gave you an update on the nautical quilt I was making using a pattern from the lovely book by Lynette Anderson called 'Nautical Quilts' and I had shown you the pieced central panel with the stitchery and appliqué that I had completed to that point.

So, what have I managed to do since then?  Well, the next stage was to add some more appliqué and stitchery to the empty sections of the central panel (across the top and to the right hand side).  These had to be added after the panel was pieced together as some of the appliqué extended over two blocks of pieced fabric.

Then a narrow border was added to the central panel, followed by a pieced border using strips of the same fabrics that had been used for the appliqués in the centre.

Next, I layered and basted the quilt into a sandwich ready for quilting.  I have to admit that since I have improved my FMQ skills the quilting now holds a great deal of excitement for me in the quilt-making process.  I love deciding how I am going to quilt the quilt top.  For this particular quilt it seemed to make sense to break it down into sections and decide how to quilt each of those sections.

I started with the middle section (I like to start in the middle and quilt out) with the sailing boat.  I quilted around the the sun and then a spiral pattern in the top half of the block like the wind in the sails.  I also outlined the boat and sails and then quilted some wavy lines like the sea in the bottom part of the block.  

Then, I was away for the weekend at my niece's wedding (which was really fabulous!) but meant I couldn't work on the quilt.  However, as I still hadn't decided how the rest was going to be quilted, I took a print of a photo I had taken of the top and doodled on it while I was flying to the UK to try out how I might quilt it.  This really, really helped and, when I returned I was ready to get back in my sewing room and get quilting.

I quilted a loopy loop pattern in the block around the bunting at the top.

I outlined the string of fish and gave them a pebbly background which extended down to where the seagull is.  To make the background around the seagull look a little different I added a spiral here and there too.

Next, I echoed around the compass and outlined the directional points.  

The lifebuoy was surrounded with pebbles and filled with straight lines.

The final block to quilt was the four fishes in the bottom, left corner.  These I quilted very simply.  Firstly, outlining the shape of each fish and then, with my walking foot around each of the squares inside and outside of the line of running stitches.

Finally, it was onto the border which I chose to quilt in a sort of chequerboard pattern.  I marked a grid and quilted densely in some which left the others free to puff up.  I transitioned from one side to another with a big spiral in each of the corner squares. 

The final step was to bind it using a binding tape which I made using a tape maker.  I then glue basted this in place one side at a time and stitched through from top to bottom in one go.

This is the first time I have tried this method of binding (which I read about in the book 'Quilts Made Modern' by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr) and, although a little fiddly, was a lot quicker than the usual method of sewing to the front, turning to the back and then stitching. 

Et voilà one finished quilt. 

Sorry if the photos are a bit fuzzy in places..... I use my phone to take them and I'm not much of a photographer!!  

Thank you for visiting 😃