Twin Tales - I

I got a commission to make quilts for TWIN babies! Out of all the baby quilts I have made (109 to date), this is only the second time I've had such a request (the previous was in 2016). 

The original specs were for a beach theme (if possible), for example with palm trees, seashells, starfish, etc. for both, with a dolphin for the boy’s and a flamingo for the girl’s.  

I went to my go-to place for things like that, Counted Quilts, and, believe it or not, I was able to find patterns with those animals!  However, the flamingo one turned out not to be "ocean" enough, so they asked me to look for a mermaid instead. Bingo!  Found one of those there too! 

So this post will be all about the mermaid pattern; "Twin Tales - II" will cover the dolphin.  

We went through my fabric stash and were able to find great fabs, but we also thought it would be good to use the same "water" fabric in both. Alas....we either found one we liked but didn't have enough, or nixed the ones where there was enough for both. So that required a trip to the local quilt store. 

The way the pattern is designed, you have to add on the parts of the mermaid's face. However, the pattern had a seam running right down the middle!  Not good. Plus, we thought her face was a little too square, and that her bangs as shown looked weird. So, we did a major redesign and it is now much better and alluring (in our opinion). 

We also wanted to use the same fabric on the backs of both quilts, and wanted that to have an "ocean" theme. It would have been great to use one with mermaid and dolphins on it, but we were not able to find anything like that. So we got one with fish, octopuses, crabs, and other assorted ocean creatures. 

The quilting, as usual, was free-motion swirls done with mostly thread colors that matched the fabric. The water "currents" run bottom to top, as she is submerged (so they are not "waves"). The one exception was that I used clear monofilament and sewed in the ditch to anchor the darker purple of her body and tail (those areas are not otherwise quilted). 

And, speaking of the tail...thus the quilt names.  The creatures in both have tails, and the journeys and experiences these quilts have with Meadow and Jake will be part of their Twin Tales!