The Mermaid Quilt is Done!

A few months ago I was at Victoria's studio

to use her sizzix for my double wedding ring quilt.

While I was there, she had a few things up on the wall . . . 

Her Bright Lights, Big City pattern was calling me.

 The more I looked at it, the more I saw a mermaid tail! 

Hehe.

I went right home and started cutting out parts.

I needed to figure out how to make the rest of it look 

like a natural tail.

And of course I could use the wave sizzix die 

to make the ocean waves.

 

So I sketched out a curvy bum for my girl.

And I decided I didn't want it to totally disappear behind the water,

So I used the blue colorway of the same fabric.

See, it looks lost with the waves going right over it.

 

After I got the body and water done,

I let it percolate for a bit.

I needed to do the hair, 

but wasn't sure how I would tackle that.

I cut out paper pieces to see how it looked.

Score!  I cut out a bunch more,

and at our retreat last weekend, I raw edge appliques them down.

I'm hoping when I wash it, it gets a soft rumbled edge.

 

 Onto the quilting and binding.

I used invisible thread!

My first time trying it. 

And I loved it!  My mistakes don't jump off the quilt at you.

I fussy cut the binding to blend into the edges.

It wasn't a total win, but not a failure either.

 

I'm very pleased with the quilting on this.

 

Blustery swirls in the background,

organic waves in the water,

echo lines in the hair.

 

You can't really see it in the body and tail,

but I did clamshell cures in the body of the tail,

and echo lines in the fins.

 

I am just loving this quilt!!

And I made the Sizzix Challenge Deadline!

You have until June 30th!