Embrace Your Curves - EAA Quilt Challenge 2024: Clyde the Octopus is Complete

Clyde the Octopus

EAA Quilt Challenge 2024 - Embrace Your Curves

What has more curves than an Octopus?

 

Detail of a tentacle, and the "buttons" that are standing in for suckers. 

 

Here's a detail of the quilting in the borders.  Free-motion swirls, indicative of the sea, waves, or fiddlehead ferns (akin to seaweed).  I should have waited to quilt the borders AFTER doing the binding.  Some of the swirls got lost under the binding.

I also added a flash of color with an orange-y flange with the binding. 

 

 

After cutting out the pieces, I fused them together as 1 unit, and then fused it to a piece of black fabric.   Don't worry-- This is only to stabilize the applique.  The black won't be visible in the final quilt.  

 Next, I added tear-away stabilizer on the back, and started stitching.

I used invisible thread and a zigzag stitch to sew down all the edges to the black background fabric.

 

Then I used a satin stitch and the glossy embroidery threads to finish those edges properly, so that nothing pops up unexpectedly in the future.  Above, you can see some of the thread colors involved. 

I did not satin stitch around the suckers. That would have been utter madness!  Instead, I free motion stitched the edges of all those circles.

 

Here's a detail shot of one of the tentacles, showing how all the edges are stitched and secured with satin stitch or free-motion circles. 

 

Here it is from the back as seen from the tear-away stabilizer side.  As you might guess, the stabilizer is torn away before layering it with batting and backing. 

The next step is to cut out the applique.  The black fabric is not a background, but more of another stabilizer for the applique, allowing it to coalesce into a single unit that can then be appliqued to the green seaweed-y hand-dyed fabric -- I used Dream Wool batting as the stabilizer at this stage.   I cut the black fabric about 1/4 inch from the edges of the octopus, and then appliqued that to the dark green background using the invisible thread (again) and a nondescript zigzag stitch.

Once it was appliqued and stuck fast, I added the backing and outlined the Octopus by stitching about 1/4-inch away from it.  This helps it pop out for a 3D Trapunto-like effect.

 

Here it is from the back.  And again -- In real life, it is square.

 These are most of the thread colors used in this piece.  I wanted to have a record of this before I put them away.

Day at Loon Lake Quilt is Complete!

 

Day at Loon Lake Quilt

 

Complete with the label in the lower right corner.  This style of label is easily readable by flipping up the corner.

 

 

On the label, I made note of the wool batting -- in case anyone int he future thinks they want to wash it. 

I have to say that I was really impressed with this Quilter's Dream Wool Batt.  I am looking forward to working with it again - on a bed quilt.

 

The pattern is by Nancy Davis Murty for Bee Creative Studios. 

This quilt has been at least 15 years in the making, so the pattern will be hard to find.

Here's a close-up of each block (for the record):

 

Quilting from the back side.

Other posts about this quilt:

Quilting Deep Water on the Loon Lake Quilt (2022)

Quilting the Elements: Air and Water (2022)

Next Steps on The Loon Lake Quilt (2022)

A Few Small Repairs on the Loon Lake Quilt: Replacing the Misfit Log (2021)

Day at Loon Lake Quilt Top is Complete! (2020)

Day at the Lake Quilt is coming along -Top Third is Done - Turtle and Perch Blocks Done (2020)

Progress on The Loon Lake Quilt (2017)

Thread Painting at Lake Lucerne Quilt Camp 2016 : Part 2 (2016)

Progress on Day at Loon Lake Quilt (2016)

Resurrection of Day at Loon Lake Quilt (2016)