Mermaid Quilt

A few years ago I took up quilting.  My daughter went to school near a quilting shop.  After I had dropped her off or before pick up in the afternoon, I would go over there and drool over the beautiful fabrics and wonderful quilts on display.  Many many years ago I used to sew. When I lived in New Zealand I couldn't afford to buy a lot of my clothes, but I could buy the fabric and make my own clothes, not all the time, but I was capable of making some quite nice pieces.  When my daughter was born I made a lot of her baby clothes, I also knitted and crocheted many items for her.  Roll on a few years and we moved to Queensland, where it is way too hot to wear anything knitted or crocheted, even most of winter is too warm to wear handknitted items, maybe the odd cotton cardigan, but that is about it.  Also the cost of wool or cotton became prohibitive and it was much cheaper to buy something that was only going to be worn a couple of times a year than it was to make something.

Then I saw this quilt, I thought it would be perfect for my daughters room.  It was a pattern from Patchwork Angel, at Forest Glen on the Sunshine Coast.

The detail of the starfish in the corners. They were made individually, stuffed with wadding and embellished with french knots before being sewn onto the quilt.

A close up of the mermaid, this was the first time I had attempted painting or drawing onto fabric, and I was very pleased with the result at the time.

Another close up of the blanket stitch used to attach some of the applique, the tails are padded and then sewn on with invisible stitches, I also used a pearl to add interest.

I was too afraid to machine quilt it, so I hand quilted. I quilted underwater shapes such as starfish, fish etc and finished off by adding beads to try and stabilize the quilt as much as possible. It looked alright at the time but now a few years later, it shows the need for quilting properly to make sure your quilt lasts. As you can see by the above photo, the material has moved a bit and it looks a bit wrinkled.  Anyway I am still very happy with it and I think it is very good for a first attempt.