mini quilt for May's whiplash

I was so excited to see that mini quilts were the challenge for the May whiplash- a great way to try out a quilt without committing to something I would never finish.

I'm definitely a wing-it sewer, to say the least. I have a degree in furniture design/making & had a studio for a little while, but in the absence of having a place to build, I pulled out an inherited Necchi and the rest, as they say, is history! Regrettably I've yet to take any classes, so I sew the way I approached building furniture.

I saw the challenge on Mother's Day, and The Idea fell out onto paper very quickly (I almost never sketch anything, so this was a novelty!). Long before I was even pregnant, I had always thought I would name my theoretical kiddo Blue, because Blue is everything I would like to give my kiddo- the peace, expanse & freedom of the sea, the sky & space/eternity. My daughter was born last October, and my husband put the kibosh on Blue for a boy or a girl. I couldn't even convince him that Blue was a good middle name.

But I still want to give her these things- thus, a triptych of mini quilts, sea, sky & space/eternity/infinity. I have finished Sea- hooray!- and the other two will actually follow, because I have absolutely loved every bit of making this first one!

The quilt is a wavy-seamed log cabin (hard to tell in the picture, sorry). I used the machine to piece it, but handquilted the rest. In the center patch, the "waves" are also wavy-seamed strips, and I used white thread to piece them with the idea that gently pulling/pressing the seams, the white thread might look like the white spray on the crest of a wave. Not, um, sure that that translated as it just looks like I used white thread...

***I am having a problem with the 3rd quilt & need your help!!!! I can't decide if I should embroider the word space, eternity or infinity... please de-lurk yourself and let me know which you think fits the concept the best!



And this is Miss Lovely, whose name is Kate (admittedly just as lovely a name as Blue), though she did get some seriously Blue eyes...

Thanks for viewing- please don't forget to leave a comment casting your vote for the third quilt!