Sail Away (BQF Fall 2011)

Blogger's Quilt Festival has arrived again, and it's pushed me to finally show this quilt. In the past, I've used the BQF to highlight a quilt I'd previously blogged, but this time you get something new. Made last spring and delivered about a month ago, Sail Away finally gets its chance in the limelight. This is the third quilt to make its way into the Stoil-Shimoni family, and they all have one thing in common: navy blue. When you've known someone for over 18 years, you know favorite colors, and Rebecca has always gravitated toward navy blue.

When I saw this pattern from Esch House Quilts, I knew it was the perfect option for Rebecca's pending child. It reminded me -- a bit indirectly, perhaps -- of sailing flags, and Rebecca loves water and sailing. Whether her kids will as well remains to be seen, but she's currently researching the history of the whaling industry so I suspect there will be some maritime opportunities for them.

As I planned the quilt, I realized that Navy was the perfect neutral solid for the half-yard of Amy Butler's Tumble Roses Pink (from her Love collection) that was sitting in my stash, and I pulled the other prints based on what coordinated with the Roses. This design offered a nice opportunity to use little bits of lots of prints, which was another highlight.

In the midst of piecing the quilt, I ran out of the Navy solid (major misremembering of how much I had + major miscalculation of how much I needed). The delay didn't really matter, however, as I knew Rebecca and her family would be moving from from Israel to Baltimore this summer, and I waited to hand over the quilt in person. The back used every last scrap of navy I had -- even after ordering more -- and a whole lot of other prints from the front.

Those Tumble Roses reappeared as part of the binding. I love how the pattern of flowers disappears and the green, blue, and pink rhythmically alternate. The quilt was a hit -- as quilt and as a rocket ship. Rebecca tells me this is her favorite of all the quilts I've made for her family, and I think I have to agree.

Head over to Amy's Creative Side to check out all sorts of other delightful quilts.