Beto's Quilt

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Difficulty:

Category: Quilting

Type of item: Functional

For: Boys

Style: Hipster, Ethnic, Funky

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Materials

100% Cotton Fabric, polyester batting

What was your inspiration?

My original idea was to make a quilt that looked like a brick wall with my nephew's name in graffiti art style, and have some of the actual quilting resemble more graffiti on the wall. Here is the the final version. I think my nephew will like it very much, but the quilt turned out different from what I had originally pictured in my mind [doesn't that happen to all of us every now and then???] Thank you all who gave me input on how to make this design better - as you can see, I finally chose an ombre print for Beto's name, and I outlined it in "flames" with variegated thread in yellow/orange/red. I also put his name throughout the quilt, and the names of his siblings, plus the Raiders' logo and I even FMQ'd a picture of him in Red Rock, Nevada, wearing rabbit ears. This was more of an excercise in FMQ, and I think I did okay.

What are you most proud of?

I like the fact that I am getting better at free motion quilting. That's saying a lot since I was terrified of FMQ. Now I am getting more comfortable and even thinking of how to FMQ different designs on future quilts. This quilt turned out well and I am proud of it, even if it did not specifically turn out how I originally imagined it. This quilt is about 90% done. I just need to finish up the last of the quilting and do the binding, and it will be ready for Beto.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Choose your colors wisely. I am happy with the quilt, but if I had to do it over, my brick wall would be lighter in color, more of a single tone, either light browns, or light grays to make the lettering and the quilting pop out more. I really did enjoy making this quilt - I had fun with it, just "doodling" names and pictures on the wall, much like a kid playing hookey behind the gym with a magic marker would do. LOL