Creatures from the Deep.

This summer, after learning that one of our circle of friends was going to have a baby, a few of us decided to do the sort of thing that we do: collaborate on an ambitious handmade gift by long-distance (I’m in New York, the others are in Philadelphia).  The project: a patchwork quilt.  Since I’ve never done any gift-worthy patchwork or quilting before, I volunteered to embroider a series of squares that could be incorporated into the quilt.

Here are the eight designs that I came up with:

I found my inspiration for these designs in a number of places: a chalkboard drawing by naturalist Louis Agassiz, Heather Ross’s Munki Munki mermaids, an old painted metal whale-shaped paperweight that I’ve had for quite some time, a crab-illustrated cigarette card, and more.

I had hoped that I would learn a bit about quilt-making while helping out with the project. And after a marathon making session, I did learn some of the basics, all thanks to my friends, who had themselves learned to quilt at Spool.  Spool is a super fabric shop in Philadelphia where we got everything that we needed.  I’ve now shopped there a few times, and I love it both for its well-curated fabric selection and for its very welcoming and encouraging energy.

It’s hard to keep a project like the sea creatures quilt a secret when you’re really excited about it (as we three makers were) but we didn’t spill the beans until today.  The quilt’s now in the hands of the mother-to-be; photos of the finished product will come along soon.