Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Aviation Quilt Commission

Hi, and thanks for visiting.  A few months ago, one of my Quiltsy Teammates asked if I was interested in doing a commission quilt for an Aviation family's new baby.  I had a number of email conversations with Kaitlin, the new mom-to-be, and she shared her thoughts on colors and design.  I suggested Alison Glass Sun Prints because it offered most of the colors she wanted, plus the gray and gold colors she wanted for the border.  She shared a photo of a similar quilt for inspiration, so I did the math and came up with this design.  I got to work making the blocks, and was thinking of how I wanted to quilt the white blocks.  I got the idea of doing a variety of planes, helicopters, rockets and hot air balloon for my quilting designs, and searched online for designs that would lend themselves to quilting.  I've done similar things before, and usually find coloring book pages to work well.  

So, the quilt is done.  I chose 6 different flying things, because I had 18 white blocks.  I wanted the quilting to help share the design of the quilt and the theme of the nursery, which is "Oh, the places you'll go".  The colored blocks look like propellers, and Sun Prints has a compass design, and stars, along with flowers, and other shapes.  Kaitlyn wants to be surprised for the gender, and wanted something that would work for either.  The colored blocks all have a swirl design, in the matching color of Aurifil thread.  I took it to the Cradle of Aviation museum today for a few fun photos.  The guard and receptionist were very friendly and open to allowing me to do this, even putting the quilt on the wing of one plane, and holding it so I could get it with the Blue Angel jet.  

If you didn't know, Long Island has a wonderful history with Aviation.  The museum is in the area where Charles Lindbergh took off to fly to Paris.  Long Island is also home to Grumman, Sperry Fairchild and many other manufactures of planes.   I grew up knowing this area as Mitchell Field, and seeing all the old hangars and buildings and air strips.  I was really excited to see they decided to create this museum to honor the history of the area, and I toured it a number of years ago. It's only a few minutes from my house.  
So, here's my quilt!  

 Plane built by Grumman, on Long Island.
 Yes, it's on the wing!  
 Thanks to the guard for holding this!  The quilt measures about 58" square, and the photo is cropped only at the bottom.  Yes, it's a real Blue Angel plane.  

Aurifil 50wt Colors include 2024 white, 2255 Dark Red Orange, 2892 Pine, 2535 Magenta, 1133 Bright Orange, 2140 Orange Mustard,  1231 Spring Green, 1128 Light Blue Violet, 2920 Light Brass for the borders, 1125 Medium Teal, 2325 Linen, and 4182 Dark Turquoise.  Yes, lots of thread changes for about a minute of stitching the swirls.  I used a white bobbin in the bottom for all of it, though.  I knew changing for each color would not make me happy, lol.  I also knew too much quilt quilting would make the quilt stiff, not something a little one could snuggle into.  I use a blue wash-out marker for drawing the designs, and did each freehand, while looking at the printed illustration.  I couldn't use a lightbox for transferring, because it was already pinned together.  Sometimes having a strong art background comes in handy.  Quilting designs and Pictionary, are two examples, lol
 Feathers in the outer border. Binding and 2nd border are same gray print.

 Hot Air balloon, and some of the colors.  
 Rocket!
Biplane 
 Helicopter!  I guess I need to get close-ups of the other 2 planes.
Backing is Minkee.  

So, Kaitlyn I hope you love this quilt as much as I loved making it to help welcome your little one to a life to treasure.  Thanks so much for trusting me.  

Remember, it's also the day to Hop for Island Batik, and time to vote for your favorite Black and White challenge.  Mine is the Night and Day with purple border.  You get 3 votes!  

Thanks!  

4 comments:

EZ said...

Beautiful sentiment, great job! Quilts have made people feel loved and have comforted them for centuries.

Sally said...

Colors are so bright and cheery! The quilting in PERFECT!

PaintedThread said...

Neat quilt. I love the quilting! What fun.

BarefootThunder said...

This quilt brought tears to my eyes.... but in a good way. My Dad was a pilot. I think it's awesome that you got to take these photos with the planes. Whenever I see old planes I think of him.
It is absolutely wonderful, the propellers, the quilting, the colors. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing