Preppy the Whale – Finished!

Remember these guys from this summer?

I’ve told you how much I love this quilt, as I love all of Elizabeth Hartman‘s clever patterns so it’s no surprise that this Preppy the Whale project has been one of my favorites of the year. I previously posted about the piecing progress here, and the finished quilt top here.  I’m happy to have joined all the whales in their own little colorful pod.

I decided to try a little walking foot quilting inspired by Lorna’s (Sew Fresh Quilts) go-to quilting pattern.  I thought it would mimic the look of waves.  I extended my stitch length to 3.0 and used light blue grey 30wt Aurifil thread (2610) which gave the quilt the perfect texture. Surprisingly, the quilting only took me a couple of hours on the 47″ x 50″ quilt.

How cute is this octopus print I used on the backing?  It’s a Timeless Treasure print called Surf Tossed Octopus and definitely made the quilt even more fun.

When I shared my progress on the project, I asked for some help with picking my binding color and Carla from Granny Maud’s Girl suggested I used black.  At first I thought there was no way that I’d add black to such a colorful quilt but it really was the perfect color.  The black I found from Cotton and Steel’s basics collection has little fun white specks throughout and worked wonders for tying in the whale’s facial features with the overall quilt.

My friend Erica kindly took all of these beautiful photographs for me despite the bitter cold outside – didn’t she do a lovely job?  More of her photography coming soon!

While we were busy photographing another quilt (spoilers!), Erica’s daughter wrapped up tight in the quilt along with an old sheet so we wouldn’t dirty the quilt.  Isn’t she precious?!

Cheeeeeeese!

I used my three leftover whales to make a little mini for my friend that just moved away from Japan for her husband’s new assignment. Saying goodbye is the hardest part of military life but I hope this cheers her up in her new home!

Preppy doesn’t have a new home yet but I’m sure it will be gifted to someone special in my life.