The big reveal---The "Beach Quilt" has arrived.

Hello,

I can give the full reveal of the "Beach Quilt". I got the call that it arrived in New Zealand safely this morning. My sister Chris wanted a gift with a Beach theme for Roger and Lucre who had a housewarming back in the middle of the year. Chris sent some of the material to me,this is used in surfboards that Roger makes.

I used patterns from this great site, I spent several hours drawing cutting and appliqueing the seahorse. I purchased the yellow for the seahorse and when I walked into the patchwork shop I eyed the lovely sea material that is used in the background. This is a nutex material originally from New Zealand. Chris sent me the paua shell material which is from nutex as well.

Being a "Beach Quilt" we had to have a palm tree. Originally this block was much larger but to suit the size of the quilt I reduced this to 12.5 inches.

I included sun fish,angel fish,dolphin and a turtle. All these have been done with button-hole stitch around the edge. I even got to use my "Wavy Edge Ruler' which has been so handy.

I wanted to add a personal touch to the quilt. So I sent Pauline and Chris on a search of lighthouses that are near Lucre and Rogers. With Cape Reinga being the closest and being white I got them to search further afield in Argentina where Lucre hails from. Lucre grew up in an area that was landlocked so I chose one that was black and white as I already had the block together. So I chose to name if after the one that is at "Querandi". For the border I had purchased the "Surfy" type material as a remnant at Textile Traders. I left it for a day or so to see if it really went with it. Chris loves this material. The final measurements of the quilt is about 1280 wide and the length is 1380. This in inches is about 47.5 wide and 51.5 inches in length. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning and making of the quilt. As Chris wanted it for a wall hanging I added a sleeve to the back of it as well as a label. I did use a cotton wadding so it can be used to snuggle under if needed. The backing material has different types of sea shells on it.I bought this quilting material a while ago at Good Sammys. I knew one day it would be handy for a backing material at least. I machine quilted it myself and surprisingly it only took a couple of hours.Roger has a blog,you can see some wonderful photo's of the surfboards being made. I loved the one with paua shell in it. Lucre is presently on holiday in Argentina and will be back next week. She sure is going to get a great surprise. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.

Bev C