Welcome Aboard!

As many locals now know, Mrs Pugsley's Emporium recently began stocking Island Batik fabrics. For me personally, that's a big WOO HOO to be able to get these gorgeous fabrics locally!  Included in the first load of fabric the shop received, was a white and blue anchor print which took my fancy. Paired up with blue, red and yellow, these bright primaries are perfect for a baby quilt.

But what should the design be?  Clearly, with the anchors as background, it needed to be something nautical.  Hmmm..cute+ nautical = whale, to me!  My other consideration is that the anchors in the print run in a straight line, so I decided to leave that line uninterrupted, and appliqué the whale in the centre.  He looked a little lost there for a bit, so I threw him a life preserver :)

It took some playing around with sizing the whale to get him just the perfect size, but I am secure in saying he is the Right Whale...(despite being a Blue Whale.)

My mandate in designing this quilt was to make it as beginner friendly as possible, and turning the edges of the ring left me stumped for a bit. Raw edge fusible is not always the answer.  I let it sit a couple of days, and woke up one night with the solution - an ingenious one, if I may say so.  Super easy to sew and no pressing under the edges to get that perfect edge.

Borders were left purposely simple as well, with the addition of small star blocks in the corners.

I chose an arsenal of my favourite Aurifil threads for the stitching.  I used 40 weight to blanket stitch around the whale and ring, and also in the bobbin.  

Aurifil 12 weight was used to stitch his eye and his big happy smile.

The backing fabric is a cuddly yellow flannel I purchased at Mrs Pugsley's Emporium, and the batting is my favourite Hobbs wool. While quilting, I got the idea to free motion quilt something in the life preserver;  HMCS Halifax was what came to mind, so I Googled to see how it would be stitched.  

Nearly every image in my search showed this:

What a perfect sentiment for a baby quilt: welcome aboard!  

I stitched it on using blue thread so it would show up.

I think this space would also be great to personalize the quilt, and stitch the little one's name and birth date:

The outer blue border is quilted in a rope design. The quilt is 32-1/2” x 36-1/2” and suitable for a beginner quilter.

You can find the pattern for Welcome Aboard locally at Mrs Pugsley's Emporium, 50 Victoria Street East, Amherst, N.S., or purchase a kit with the exact fabrics used. The kits are exclusive to Mrs Pugsley's Emporium, and the sample quilt is on display in the shop.
Patterns are also available as a mail-out from my website. or can be downloaded instantly here.  As always, the pattern is in colour, with appliqué shapes and templates given at full size and ready to sew (no enlarging).
A sincere thank you to Cheryl Coville of Grandma CoCo Designs for her help in editing the pattern.
Welcome Aboard, little ones!