Just Beachy

I just finished quilting this quilt late last night. It has been loaded on my machine for at least a week. As is the way of things here, the quilt sat on the fame looking lonely, sad and forgotten. Rest assured it was not forgotten. Somehow I seem to work best when things are sitting out. I am very visual. Every time I passed by the quilt I'd think, "oh, I could quilt this there and that over here." etc. Until eventually I realized I had the entire quilt envisioned in my head. Once I start quilting it seems like in no time it's finished. TA-DA!

Here is a close up of one of the umbrellas. The umbrella tops are actually done in trapunto. Unfortunately for you, this picture does not do the trapunto justice. I had fun quilting the design although I'll admit it was a bit nerve racking. The number one thing I learned from this was that you must have a new and SHARP needle in your machine.

I quilted Waves around the boarder and in the sashing. I maintained the directional movement of the waves in a continuous pattern around the outside of the quilt. ( Another tip: It is a good idea to draw a "map" of what you are quilting. Trying to figure out directional patterns as they are rolled onto your machine can give you quite a headache. With a map it is easy to keep your directional patterns all going the same way! )My attempt at sand did not prove to be as pleasing as I had hoped.

Here in the lower half of the quilt I changed direction of the sand and I like it much better. I still think it looks a little more like ripples in water but it works well here.

My favorite part was the flip-flops. It was the only part I had not really planed. I initially thought I would not be quilting them because they are applique. However, after quilting the sand around the flip-flops it became obvious that they needed a little something. You cannot tell from the front but on the back the footprints make a great impression.

This is the first of two quilts done with the same blocks. I'll have to practice my freehand footprints a bit more before the next quilt.