Boats! Baby Quilt

Boats, boats, boats!  That's pretty much what a coastal Maine summer becomes if you have anybody even slightly nautical in your life :)

This little quilt is a celebration of a new baby who will certainly (especially now) grow up to be a boat lover!

With 20 red, teal, apple green, navy, and aqua sailboats cruising along it, this quilt measures up at about 42 x 54 inches.  I deliberately used many different fabrics for a scrappy look but stuck closely to each boat's color for contrast against the white.

The inspiration for this quilt was a specific request for the design, and a bit outside my usual quilting repertoire, so I looked at as many sailboat quilts as I could to figure out the layout and placement.  Mine are made of 2-inch (finished) HSTs and squares, so that each boat creates an 8-inch (finished) block.  I added 1-inch sashing between each boat, and a 3.5-inch (I think) outer white border to give the blocks some space.

The backing is a cheater print from Birch Fabric's Set Sail, and was a starting point when I was picking colors from the front. Such a fantastic palette for a boy, but would work equally well for a girl! When it came to quilting, I stitched simple straight lines along the "patchwork" of the backing to give it some structure while keeping it soft, too.

Finally, for binding I chose a half-inch red stripe, in keeping with the nautical feel, of course! I love it, especially all rolled up into a squishy package!