Sewvivor Roundy 1 Entry! Nautical Challenge

Well, the big day has finally arrived: the first round of Sewvivor entries are up for viewing! (Read more about Sewvivor here). This is a sewing competition, so please CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR ME! If I make it to the next round I get to make a quilted bag, which has been on my to do list for ages! For this challenge the only parameter was "nautical," and I must say, this wasnt the easiest challenge for me, considering I've only ever lived in land-locked states (Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, and now Tennessee). I do love the ocean, but, sadly,  it has never been a big part of my life. 

Sewn into strips and contemplating my next move...

When I started thinking about this challenge, I wanted to figure out something about the idea of "nautical" that spoke to me, or that interested me. The thing I've was always fascinated by is looking out at the ocean late at night, and not being able to tell where the water was and where the sky was. In painting, you learn that to capture water, you need to capture what's reflected in it, because water is, of course, clear on its own. So I liked that idea that the sky and the water, especially at night, could look almost identical. More than most things, I am fascinated by the stars, especially when millions of them are visible. Back in the day of Columbus and old wooden sailing ships, I can only imagine how many stars you'd be able to see. So, when creating my quilt, which is a wall hanging that will probably end up in my boyfriends apartment (he, who was born at the seashore), I wanted to incorporate the night sky, the dark blue waters of the ocean at night, the stars, and their reflection, which could serve as a guide.

Closer up

I chose a big stack of all the dark blues and teals from my stash (luckily aqua has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember, so I had a lot). I supplemented what I had by ordering a few dark, dark navy fabrics and midnight blues from Hawthrorne Threads (and they came so fast!). I used the same fabrics for the sky and water, since it was essentially supposed to look the same, then made the sky get darker, with light bands of reflection on the top of the water, made out of lots of skinny strips.

Waves in the sunshine

I pieced the sky to the water in three sections, creating "waves," and then ultimately decided not to square off the piece, but leave it in kind of an irregular rhombus shape, for some more movement. The binding fades from light to dark as well and it attached with a wavy stitch from my machine. I paper pieced various triangles and then chopped and inserted them into the sky, as stars, and the water, as waves. I really like the precision and detail on how those turned out.

Pre-quilting close up

I used a simple chambray anchor print for the back, and then free-motion quilted in the prettiest color of light aqua thread (leaning, in the process, that Mettler thread + my sewing machine + free motion quilting = the worst experience ever in terms of thread tension and ease of use. Never again!  I did a pattern of  "falling" stars in the sky, just wavy lines with stars attached, and then wavy lines going horizontally through the water section.

Close up on "stars" and star quilting

The back,  quilted

I have already seen a few of the other projects and they are beyond amazing. It has been really fun getting to know the other talented people in this group and I cant wait to see the rest of what everyone else makes! Go check them out too,  AND DONT FORGET TO VOTE!! (Scroll to the bottom of the page to vote, and to see my entry!)