Friday, June 2, 2017

Gulf Coast Churn Dash finish


My version of the Chunky Churn Dash pattern is a finish. Gulf Coast Churn Dash was started back in January, when the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was purple. After sewing up as many purple blocks as my scraps allowed, I immediately moved on to blue, aqua, and green blocks.


I guess I'm not patient enough to wait until a new color is announced each month! This aqua block shows the quilting, a free style overlapping circles motif. It's not free motion, though; I used the walking foot. But without any markings and just eyeballing it, the curves are a bit wonky and don't intersect into perfect circles. I'm OK with that. I started by stitching in the ditch because I thought I'd do a more elaborate design in each block, but this simpler pattern won out so it wouldn't compete with the busy, scrappy fabrics. The SITD was totally unnecessary, sigh.


This block is one of my favorites, with the fussy cut butterfly flitting through the cloudy sky fabric. It's a peaceful little scene, and I hope it gives some comfort to the recipient. This quilt is going to be donated to Covered in Love and will be given to a terminal hospital patient to brighten their last few hours or days. 


The backing is quite scrappy, too, using several orphaned blue/green/purple fabrics. All the remaining chunky churns are here, too. I had no preconceived idea of how large this quilt would be when I started sewing the blocks and ended up with extras. This photo also shows gratuitous husband feet and knuckles.


Here's a boaty glamour shot, showing our anchorage this morning near Cameron, LA. You can see a couple of the tools of the boatswain's trade, which is my primary role on the boat. One of my three boat poles is holding down the far edge of the quilt against the breeze, my beautiful (but disappointingly low quality) blue line is hung from the rail, and you can see just a sliver of my lurid orange ball fender. Those beefy, commercial boats in the background service the oil platforms out in the Gulf of Mexico, and are built to handle very rough waters.


Here in a bend in the Calcasieu River, though, it's calm and peaceful. And, apparently, full of shrimp. As we were taking quilt photos, we heard the unmistakable sound of dolphins exhaling at the surface as they were feasting. Boosh! Boosh! At least four were feeding within 100 feet of the boat and I managed to snap one decent shot. They only surface for a second, and then reappear a random distance and direction away, so it's tricky to capture them. I love it when dolphins visit us; they are so graceful and sleek.

Gulf Coast Churn Dash still needs a trip through the washer and dryer, and I might ask Kat to do that depending on the timing of our next marina visit.

Linking up with Cathy's Butterfly and Kaleidoscope  and Kat's Sew Some Love linkies this week.

19 comments:

  1. It is a lovely quilt but I am really jealous of the backdrop you have there with dolphins and shrimp and warm breezes.

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  2. It's beautiful! This is one of my favorites of yours in a while, love those colors! And CiL is going to get it!! SQUEE! of course I can wash it when it gets here if need be. Thanks!!

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  3. It's quite pretty! I love your color choices! You're funny when you say you didn't have the patience to wait for each color to be announced! That quilt just wanted to be made!! And it definitely will brighten someone's day. XO

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  4. I love the colours in your quilt, perfectly fitting in with your life on the water! This beautiful quilt will make someone very happy indeed.

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  5. So glad to see this quilt again. Just love your color choicest. The colors are so calm and peaceful. I am sure it will bring comfort to some one. Love the back drop for the boat photo of the quilt. Safe travels to you all.

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  6. Louise, I just love this color and block-it made for a gorgeous quilt. Great boaty glamour shot, but the dolphin's are my favorite. I have always been drawn to them and used to want to swim with them!

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  7. That looks so pretty and is a perfect addition to the peaceful looking setting.

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  8. Love this two-block quilt. Adding an alternate block makes such a difference, like these circles that appeared. Congratulations. How kind you are to donate this to a terminally ill patient. It will bring beauty to him or her.
    Your dolphins must have been such a treat. Thanks for sharing them and linking with Kaleidoscope of Butterflies.

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  9. Great quilt finish! Someone will love the quilty comfort you made and donated. Such a beautiful setting, too.

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  10. Hi Louise. I popped over after you left a lovely comment on my blog. How do you manage patchwork and quilting on a boat? Gosh. I spread out everywhere in my rather large house! I hadn't heard of covered in love before but I have donated quilts before to an organisation that send quilts to service men and women abroad. I might see if there is a covered in love organisation branch here in Australia.

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    1. Hi, Jenni! I'm so glad that you stopped by. You're a no-reply commenter, so I hope you come back to see my response to you here.

      I admit that it can be tricky to quilt on a boat! I'm lucky that I have one whole room where I can spread everything out and make a total mess. Since I already was living on the boat when I started quilting, I don't know any better, ha!

      Thank you for donating quilts to those serving in the military. My father retired from a career in the US Army, and I know how hard and lonely his three overseas tours were. He would have been so pleased to receive a quilt! I don't think Covered in Love is big enough to be in Australia, but I'm sure there are other organizations that work with hospice groups. There are so many good charities out there, I say give to whichever one makes your heart feel full :)

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  11. Some of my favorite colors in that quilt - and what great glamour shots!

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  12. This is beautiful! And in my favourite colour combinations! Love the glamour shot too btw. And LOVE the back! Just read through a couple of Sean's posts, so interesting, but I thought you shared the same blog...and scrolled and scrolled, then thought where is Louise?! Went back to the blogger profile and voilĂ !

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  13. That is gorgeous, love the colours, the scraps and how it all comes together. The quilting is great too, what a lovely gift someone will definitely treasure.

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  14. What could be more glamorous than a pair of dolphins in the background? Great shots, and a lovely quilt too!

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  15. I'm envious of your glamour boat shots, they are so pretty. And the dolphins - super fun!! Oh, and the quilt is really lovely and I'm sure it will bring comfort to someone. (I was so taken by the water shots that I almost forgot to comment on the quilt! :) )

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  16. Love your colors and the setting. I'm moving more toward doing scrappy with a limited palette, rather than anything goes type scrappy. Your quilt is an inspiration to keep moving in that direction.

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  17. What a beautiful quilt, so perfect for your boat. The pictures you post are so pretty with your boat and the water as the backdrop!

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I'll reply as soon as I can.