Friday, January 25, 2019

Seahorse Sanctuary

Elizabeth Hartman's Neighborhood quilt in her book Modern Patchwork is one of the earliest quilts on my queue. I added it a few years ago, determined to work on it some day, but my biggest challenge? I didn't know what fabric to choose.

My favorite part of the pattern is that each little house has a window where Elizabeth placed some fussy cut birds. That was adorable, and I knew I wanted to do something similar. Yet I could not find the right fabric in the right scale that also had coordinating fabrics to go with it. That is, until I got the idea of using her Reef collection.

Reef has a cute seahorses print that felt like they could be the residents in the houses! And so, my Neighborhood quilt moved underwater and became Seahorse Sanctuary. I chose a solid blue for the background to represent the ocean, and after choosing my fabrics (which is the hardest part) everything else fell into place. This was incredibly fun to piece too, as it's a log cabin, albeit in a funky way.

The blue represents water, of course, so I wanted to go with some watery motifs. Naturally, the first things I thought of were swirls, wavy lines, and pebbles. (But this could be a sky quilt and I'm sure I'll find an excuse to use these exact 3 designs.)

But the most fun part of this quilt are the houses. I decided to make each house slightly different, because of course the seahorses have their own decor choices. I used a variety of designs to represent texture on the houses, but I think the clamshells are my favorite. And I don't think I've ever used them before ... I never saw a good opportunity, but they totally work for houses, especially underwater houses!

Here's another house, with an underwater fern decoration:

I like how this quilt is really cute but it doesn't scream kid quilt. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep this quilt for myself or give it to one of my kids. Maybe we'll just share.

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Busy Hands Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Cooking Up Quilts, Sew Can She, and Powered by Quilting

14 comments:

  1. I have used that pattern too, it is so cute. But your quilting is what really makes the quilt. Totally amazing and gorgeous!

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  2. Gorgeous as always! I love the background filler motifs you've chosen -- they make me think of different ways that water flows!

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  3. This is so whimsical, cute and fun. The detail in your quilting is so cool. I'd selfishly keep it, so I could snuggle under it with a good book. :-)

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  4. Your quilting is jaw-dropping!!!!!

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  5. Great choice to use the seahorses in the houses and for the quilting inspiration. Good luck with sharing; I'm guessing it will be popular with everyone!

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  6. Great use of this pattern! And of course you had to quilt each little sanctuary cottage differently. How else could it possibly be realistic? :)

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  7. love the quilting!! It is just really awesome!

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  8. Kathy R.
    Lovely quilt! Your quilting is great. Every quilt you do is an inspiration to quilters to get going & practice your skills.

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  9. Wow! This is fantastic! I love everything about it! The colors are bold and the quilting superb!

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  10. What a fun idea - seahorses in their houses. Love the colors, the seahorses and the quilting. Bravo!

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  11. This is amazing! This might be my favorite quilt of yours, and that's saying something! I love the idea of an underwater seahorse sanctuary. The colors are great, your quilting is breathtaking as always, and it's just fun. I also completely agree with you in that this is fun and absolutely kid-appropriate and yet doesn't scream "I'm a kids quilt!" I think you and your kids should share it :) Looks like a great snuggle on the couch quilt to me.

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  12. I could stare at this quilt all day; there is so much to see and enjoy-true blue eye candy. Another beautiful quilt!

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  13. Wow! Quilting is so beautiful!

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  14. Oh my! what a fun quilt. I love that you decorated each house differently. That's exactly the kind of quilting I love most. (Keeps boredom at bay.) I love it!

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