Friday, December 28, 2012

Nancy Drew for Baby Too!



When I was working on Nancy's Mysterious Quilt, I had a temporary lapse in my math skills and made too many nine patch blocks and cut too many background squares. Having extra blocks bugs me. It feels like such a waste of fabric...and wasting fabric this good? Can't do that!

Then I realized that I had just enough blocks to make a nine patch baby quilt.... it looked a little too simple, so I added Nancy's shadow (instructions for how I made the shadow are in my Nancy Drew Kindle Sleeve Tutorial)

That was the quilt I wanted to make!

But I wasn't sure how to applique Nancy into place. On the Kindle sleeve, I used fusible web and stitched a line on the inner edge, but that isn't meant to be washed. This is a baby quilt and meant for heavy use. I wanted that silhouette to be secure. I wasn't about to try zig zag stitching around that outline. I didn't want black thread showing on the back of my quilt...or white on the front...and I don't try to balance tension with different top and bottom threads...
 
 

So I cheated. I meandered the whole quilt with white thread and used a permanent fabric marker to color the stitches on the shadow black. It looks just the way I wanted it to, and I don't have to worry about Nancy coming off in the wash.

This post is linked to to Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and the online quilt show at Hobbies on a Budget.

18 comments:

beaquilter said...

uhhh are you going to show this again in March?

Michelle said...

Nope! I've got a whole new project to show in March. After that, my Nancy Drew fabric will have run out and I'll be sad. :-)

Sara said...

Nice trick with the permanent marking pen!! She is looking fabulous!

Needled Mom said...

It looks wonderful too! Nice job.

Rebecca said...

Oh wow..
now I want to make an eye spy quilt and put Nancy in/on the quilt!!!
thanks for the fun

Anonymous said...

Looks great!

Denise :) said...

Michelle, this is too, too darling! You did a fabulous job with it -- and I can't believe you have another Nancy Drew project in the works already!! :)

Kat said...

I *love* the marker idea -- brilliant!! I will definitely be using that trick! YOur quilt is cute, I think Nancy makes a great addition. Way to go using up the blocks for another nice quilt.

cyndiofthevortex said...

Your quilt is beautiful and has given me a few ideas I want to try out! I love your blog and am so glad I found it.

MTN MAMA said...

Love it! Very creative with the marker!! Nancy Drew is so timeless. We all loved her when we were kids and I hope this generation grows up loving her too. You did your part!!
Bully, Bully on a great finish!

Brookie said...

Great idea using the black maker. Just love the baby quilt

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Sarah Craig said...

Brilliant idea! Definitely worth a whoop whoop!!!

Sue Daurio said...

what a great quilt, and brilliant idea with the permanent marker :)

Christina at I Gotta Create! said...

So cute and a great tip. ;)

Thank you for partying with the Wildly Original Crowd.
<3 Christina at I Gotta Create!

Carol Swift said...

I've done the permanent marker thing on small spots, but you're a genius to do it the way you did. I love the silhouette and quilt!

Richard Healey said...

Nice quilt my sister loved those books as a kid. Thanks for linking up.

Richard and Tanya Quilts
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Hobbies on a Budget said...

Really cool use of the fabric to make an amazing quilt! Love it! Thanks for linking up to the online quilt show!

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