Thursday, May 12, 2011

Pirate Quilt

I decided to get this quilt done for a variety of reasons.  The recipient is in a "pirate phase" and I figured I should get it done before the stage passes.  He is also coming to visit in a few weeks and I wanted it ready by then.  The schedule is very full from now until July with: two graduations, a wedding (and all that goes with that), a surgery for my husband, a visit from his son and grandson and a trip with my sister.  I get tired just thinking about it.  So, I decided to finish this quilt and close up shop until this craziness is over.  Also, my sewing room becomes guest sleeping quarters, so half finished projects can't be left out strewn about.  Here it is:


I used a treasure map pattern for the back:



I had a lot of fun with this quilt.  I especially liked making the sailboat blocks and the quilting.  I started out thinking I would use the "Turning Twenty" pattern, but it didn't accommodate my center "flag" or the end size I wanted, so I have some blocks that follow that pattern and some just plain pieces.  Then I "stitched in the ditch" using a clear thread on top.  That didn't provide enough quilting for some of the blocks, so I put X's on the individual blocks.  Finally I did a diamond pattern on the flag.  That turned out to be SO much easier than I thought and in hindsight I should have just used that pattern all over the quilt in the traditional manner.  But, I'm not a traditional gal, so I have to do it my way first, I guess and then decide that the traditional way has merit.  What can I say??  I also made a bias binding for the edge...another first for me.  I didn't do so well at the corners, so I'll have to work on that next time.  I had some leftovers, so I made a pillowcase using the "inside out" pattern.  This pattern is all over the Internet, but here's a link (Is anyone really reading this blog?)  It was a lot easier than I expected and I liked the result.  In fact I'm thinking, "Pillowcases for everyone"  for Christmas!
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10 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 17, 2012 at 3:46 AM

    Just wanted to let you know that I stumbled upon your blog when doing a picture search for pirate quilts, showing them to my four-year-old on an iPad. I had been thinking along the lines of this http://www.jibberishdesigns.com/pirate-quilt/, but he found yours and liked it best of all - thought you might like to hear that ;-)

    Oh, and I absolutely adore your fractal quilt! Math is beautyful, isn't it?

    All the best from the other side of the pond,

    I.

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  2. NinaMay 17, 2012 at 9:17 AM

    Thanks so much for your kind words! You are my second comment since I started blogging. It's nice to know that someone is out there. This and the fractal quilt just might be my favorites so far.

    Glad you "stopped by". Happy quilting!

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    1. AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 11:23 AM

      You're more than welcome! I saw your comment re: lack of comments and would have written a bit more had I not been struggling with an iPad which stubbornly tried to change every word to German. Now that I’m posting from a computer I can actually handle, please let me add: Thanks for sharing your work. It's great that people like you go through all the effort and build up a huge pool of inspiration to draw from for the rest of us. In this case, I really wanted to make a quilt which my son would like, so it was great to be able to show him examples of what others had made and to see what he liked best – which turned out to be yours. Not that you haven’t put me in a somewhat difficult situation here, mind you, since I’ve never done appliqué and wasn’t planning to ever try it until my son saw your “pirate flag” and quite emphatically stated that he would like his quilt to feature one of these as well. But that’s the great thing about inspiration like this: I’ll now just go ahead, accept the challenge and try my best. Well, “my best” might still translate to “cheat by buying a printed pirate flag” at the end of the day, but my point is: Please be assured that there is somebody out here who not only reads your blog but really appreciates you sharing your work. If I actually manage to (a) finish my son’s pirate quilt, (b) finish it in a way that it’s not too embarrassing to show and (c) find a way to upload pictures, I’ll drop by again and post a picture.

      Have a nice weekend!

      I.

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    2. NinaMay 18, 2012 at 12:28 PM

      Thanks again for your kind words. Let me give you some details about the center design that might help. I got my inspiration from here: http://quiltbindings.blogspot.com/2010/07/graduation-quilt-for-son-tt3.html This quilter used an iron on stencil for the center bought from this web site:http://www.sweetdreamsquiltstudio.com/. When I was making my quilt this site was taking some sort of "vacation" so the stencil wasn't available to me. I bought a pillow sham (can't remember the vendor - I just googled "pirate pillow sham) and took it apart using the front for the center of the quilt. I had to do some piecing to make the demensions come out even with the rest of the blocks. I considered a pirate flag also but the fabric of the sham and the size turned out to be a better match. And I was more pleased with the colors. I'm sure your son will love the results!

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    3. AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 1:28 PM

      Thank you so much, this is a relief!! From the picture I had assumed the flag was appliquéd by hand, and believe me, I was intimidated by that... Pillow shams is a great idea, I'll look around, and I hope I'll be able to show you the end result in a few weeks or (let's be realistic) months from now.

      Best,

      I.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 11:00 AM

    Dear Nina,

    Well, seems I ended up taking half a year for making the quilt plus finding time to post it here, but finally, here it is:

    http://s11.postimage.org/3v3y363ur/Pirate_Quilt.jpg

    I hope the link works, or you can at least copy & paste the URL. Looking a bit closer at this picture, I realize that this is actually not the finished quilt as it still lacked the binding at the time I took the picture. However, the finished quilt looks pretty much the same since I liked the look it had with the white batting sticking out and therefore used solid white binding.

    The quilt has now been in use for a few weeks, and - most importantly - survived its first washing. My son loves it, and I still brag about having made this myself whenever we have visitors (to my excuse: this is the second quilt top I ever made and the first quilt I finished, so after having braved the dreaded quilting and even-more-dreaded binding I feel I deserve a bit of bragging…).

    As you can see, major inspiration came from your pirate quilt, although I used some elements of another quilt I saw on a blog (namely the “framed” and “double-framed” blocks) and threw in a few ideas of my own. I could not find a nice flag in the required size, and there was an astonishing shortage of pirate pillowcases , so I used a fabric with a flag motif instead. Backing is the same flag fabric, just with red-and-white stripes in the background instead of blue-and-white. I also made a matching pillowcase, and if I find the time I plan to use the leftover scraps for matching chair cushions.

    Thanks again for blogging and for providing such great inspiration. Even if I often do not have time to post comments, I drop by on your blog from time to time (where else would you find a llama quilt after all!), and I’m glad to read that you and your family have not been severely hit by the storm.

    Take care,

    I.

    (Sorry for posting as anonymous, btw, but believe or not – I do not have a blog, google account or anything of that sort).




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    1. NinaNovember 20, 2012 at 3:01 PM

      Thanks so much for sharing your quilt! I've wondered from time to time how you were getting along with the project. It looks great!! I love the colors and the flag block came great, too. Best of all, your son loves it and in the end I think that's the greatest reward of all for our efforts.

      I struggle with the binding also. I've tried many different techniques for putting it on and I don't really have a favorite yet. But the quilting part gets better with each try.

      Thanks for checking in on my blog. I don't know where I go from llamas, though.

      Happy sewing,
      Nina

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    2. NinaNovember 27, 2012 at 10:26 AM

      Would you mind if I posted about your quilt? It would be fun to show the progression of inspiration from the quilt that gave me the idea for mine and then to yours? (Hoping you'll somehow see this.)

      Nina

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    3. NinaDecember 10, 2012 at 9:06 AM

      Thanks for letting me share your quilt. If you haven't seen the post yet it's the one dated 12/8/12. http://dietingononeleg.blogspot.com/2012/12/quilters-are-quilt-themselves.html

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  4. AnonymousDecember 6, 2012 at 4:05 AM

    Hi Nina,

    Saw it with a few days delay - No, I wouldn't mind at all, I'd be honored! Plus I'd love to read it, as this is a very interesting topic, how we get inspiration from others and somehow blend it into our own designs. I'm very much like you in this regard, i.e. quilting would not be half the fun for me if I were to strictly follow instructions for an existing design, with my only creative contribution (if any) being the choice of fabrics. On the other hand, I would be at a total loss without inspiration from others. So I'd love to read that post with your thoughts!

    Happy quilting, or in this case, blogging!

    Irene

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