Sunday, March 25, 2018

The UPS quilt


Today I finished this quilt top made completely of 2.5" wide scraps from my "dark neutrals" and "light but darker than off white neutrals" bins. I've been wanting to make a black and white quilt, but didn't have enough black scraps. So I added brown. The pattern is Myra's Jelly Roll Waves, which I won for participating in the Splash of Color QAL. It measures 50"x70".


When Sean saw the top, his first response was the UPS slogan, "What can Brown do for you?" So that's what I named it. If you click over to Myra's site, you'll see the "waves" in most of the photos are bright colors against a contrasting neutral. That's what appealed to me about the pattern. In my mind, this quilt was going to look like dark ribbons of chocolate against cream. But the high contrast isn't there, and I was originally kind of disappointed in that. However, it has really grown on me. 


There are tons of really fun scraps in this top, from old fashioned telephones to camping tents to snowmen to chili peppers to leaves and dog bones. The mix of browns and blacks and the softer contrast with the tan/taupe/gray background pieces gives it a more homey, old fashioned feeling. 


I made it specifically to donate to Victoria's Quilts as part of Hands2Help. Victoria's provides quilts to people in Canada who are living with cancer, and they've asked for tops only, not completed quilts. I think this top has a nice, masculine and almost woodsy vibe that could provide warmth and comfort to a man who is ill. Maybe he'll enjoy finding the little hidden images in all my scraps. 


I started piecing WCBDFY? when we were still in the Berry Islands and the water was this gorgeous turquoise. The water is this color when it is shallow, around 15-20 feet deep.


When the water is this lovely clear blue it means it is deeper. Much deeper. Yesterday we crossed over depths of 10,000 feet, almost 2 miles straight down. It was a little rough so I didn't sew until we made it all the way into Nassau harbor. Today we were back in turquoise waters, flat calm and lovely. I was able to finish the top while we were underway. While I love looking at the water, 6 hours of chugging away at 6mph leaves plenty of time to nip down to the studio for 10 minute sewing bursts. Enough little bursts and many seams are sewn.


For those of you who asked if I was able to put my sewing machine on the back deck to sew, the answer is not yet due to wind! I tried to capture the wind in my hair in this photo. That thing on my ear is my hands-free microphone headset for communicating with the captain while out on deck. I raise and lower the anchor on the foredeck while Sean maneuvers the boat from inside the pilot house. We learned early on that electronic doohickey communicators are real marriage savers! No yelling with these puppies, just conversation at normal volume levels. One of our training captains told us that you can use hand signals, too, but most couples still manage to yell at each other using only their hands and proceeded to pantomime an argument about where to anchor that ended with a flurry of hilarious gestures that left me in tears of laughter.

25 comments:

  1. Love the quilt, Louise. Glad you are having a good time.

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  2. Beautiful! That pattern was perfect for your scraps. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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  3. Awesome quilt top, great color combo!

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  4. How fun to see you out on the water with such a happy smile on your face. I like your "brown" quilt top a lot.

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  5. That is a great pattern, and looks like it would go together quickly with 10 minutes of stitching here and there! I'm enjoying hearing about your sailing adventures, too!

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  6. What a perfect name for your brown quilt! Thanks for the chuckle about the communication!

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  7. The name of your quilt is hilarious! I cracked up reading that. The quilt top looks great, and I'm certain whoever receives it will enjoy the little surprises in the fabrics. How wonderful of you to donate your time to make something to comfort someone you don't know!

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  8. Another lovely top and I'm sure who ever receives it will enjoy checking out the variety of fabrics. Great to see an action shot of you and looking very tech savvy!

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  9. What a fabulous masculine quilt top! I enjoy reading about your adventures and those photos of the gorgeous colors of the water are amazing.

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  10. Great top, great way to use all kinds of scraps! The water colors are fabulous...thanks for sharing.

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  11. Isn’t that lovely!? A great stashbuster, too. Stay safe out there!

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  12. Oh you just make me want to make another one! I like the browns, and like you said perfect for a guy. How long will you be in Nassau? That was one of the ports we stopped at on our honeymoon cruise.

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  13. That quilt is definitely going to cheer someone along. It's fun to see the distance shot and then the up close, when all those fun fabrics come into view! I had to read your little blurb about the on deck communications to my hubs. We got quite the chuckle out it, imagining that we would be the couple with the electronic doohickeys, still gesturing and, some days, still arguing because we are both saying the same thing two different ways. Haha. Enjoy your calm waters!

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  14. I love the masculine feel of your quilt. It is also a great design and wonderfully scrappy.

    Yep.....waaaay too windy for sewing. The photo describes the conditions better words.

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  15. Congratulations on your finish. I agree, perfect for a guy.
    The blues in your water photos are gorgeous.
    Blue is a great color, I often find myself going through the Kona cotton
    blues at the fabric store; pool, turquoise, spa, Bahama, etc.

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  16. Ooh I think the contrast is perfect! and that chocolate brown against those azure and then sapphire waters--!! Heaven. I LAUGHED about the arguing with hand signals LOLOL! Oh that'd be me and my husband, so those headsets are a great marriage saver as you say.

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    1. PS MILES. Wow. and Whoa. That stopped me for a bit. Kinda like standing on a mountainside looking out, and realizing how very insignificant and tiny one is...

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  17. The quilt is really effective in your dark, milk and white chocolate colours! Great to see a picture of you on the boat...
    Hugz

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  18. The first thing I thought of when I saw the quilt was fudge ripple ice cream, so I think you nailed it. (Love the name, though.) It will be fun for whoever receives it to look for the pictures hidden in the fabrics. The changes in water color and depth are amazing—and that breeze! No wonder you’re sewing inside. I can just imagine arguing in hand signals. Probably in extreme conditions they’d need to be bleeped out on camera. 🙀

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  19. Thank goodness for modern technology but I should have loved to see all the hand signals. What a good idea having a quilt top to send off which has a masculine feel, I'm sure some one will be very grateful.

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  20. My what a great use for the color brown! This quilt is wonderful and a great masculine quilt. The water is beautiful. Must be an inspiration for another quilt. Have fun. Claudia

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  21. What a great blend of blacks of browns. Congrats on another finish. I've had quilts that didn't excite me at first but after hanging out with them for a bit, they grew on me. I like you solution to yelling across the boat, clear communication is key and does make navigating doing fun stuff together much easier. Looks like you trip has been both beautiful and smooth so far. Happy stitching and sailing.

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  22. Love your quilt and it's story.....and the giant pretzel floaty in the header:)

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  23. The UPS quilt is chocolate heaven, LOL!! That is another one to add to my bucket list!

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  24. Perfect name, really. I still think it looks like chocolate and cream!

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