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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Guild Retreat


This weekend our guild held a retreat and I was in  just a bit of a panic as I didn't have a project to work on....remember I don't have UFO's.  So I was waiting on a fabric order from my favorite online shop Fabric Depot and to my relief it arrived Thursday so I had time that night to wash it all.  The picture above is the two batik collections I ordered, they are Islank Batiks.
Now once at the retreat I was asked who I was making this quilt for....well this one is for me but I really don't need another bed quilt or wall hanging so I decided to make it my new Beach Blanket!  You know the blanket you have in your car all summer that gets dragged out for picnics and trips to the beach.   Yes I got strange looks....."Your going to use it for WHAT?"   Yup I'm going to drag it around in the sand and let my kids run around on it with sandy wet feet!   After all the pictures I have been taking of my clients quilts on the dock I thought I would be really nice to have a quilt of my own to lay on down at the dock.  So I am treating myself.
Here is what I made with those lovely fabrics and I had enough left over so I can make a bag to put the quilt in too.  The design took forever to arrange and I almost just gave up...good thing I have very helpful and patience guild friends who came to my rescue.   I am very happy with the end result.  Think I'll experiment and dye the backing this summer...after all it is JUST a beach blanket!

9 comments:

  1. Wow, this quilt turned out amazing! You were still working on your curved squares when I left Friday afternoon. I like how you finally decided to lay out everything... especially using the cream sections to make the quilt design 3 dimensional. Hey, I have to try those templates! And to think this beautiful piece is going to be laying in sand... G

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  2. Beyond words!It looked good laid out on the table as the discussion raged behind my back!!!! It looked great as you were putting the rows together and now that I see the finished top all I can say is WOW! Can hardly wait to see the final quilted version!!! Wonderful job Kathy!! E

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  3. I see it is getting sandy even before it is quilted! It is a gorgeous beach blanket. I am sure you will get lots of compliments if you laze on it at a public beach. A

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  4. Beautiful job, Kathy! Everyone on the beach will be envious :) Can't wait to see your backing ...

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  5. As usual I love your colour choices, did you sew these blocks in the traditional way or us Sharon Schambers method??..will you add a border?...I know questions, questions...I can just see this as a beach blanket..there must be another name for a beach blanket???
    It looks great!

    Best Wishes
    Kay in Scotland
    http://borderlinequilter.blogspot.com/

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  6. Kay, I used acrylic templates to cut out the curved blocks. They are from Elisa's Backporch at www.backporchdesigns.com
    I loved using these acrylic templates, you can cut out lot of fabric at one time.
    No border as it is already 88" square. If I fold it in half it fits nicely on the dock.

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  7. It is beautiful, I am surprised at how fitting a beach blanket it turned out to be. When I looked at your fabrics I wondered if those batiks would be good for the beach, but they are awesome. I am anxious to see it quilted.

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  8. I might go with a tan/sandy color backing and then bind it in the dark blue

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  9. I think a sandy color would look great but I don't know how to dye that color yet!! I only have one brown dye but haven't been able to create the right sandy color yet. Blue I can do. :)
    Love the dark blue fabric for the binding!!

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