I need a vacation! Project quilting challenge #7

So this week’s quilting challenge is, “I need a vacation”.

  The title reminds me of the old commercials, “Calgon Take me Away!!!”  In the series of commercials with the same general theme,  women are shown having frustrating, terrible days and in exasperation call out , “Calgon Take me Away!” In response the women are immediately taken to a warm bathtub filled with loads of bubbles and appear to be relaxed and carefree.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVf1lClfBng   Here's the link if you want to see the old commercial! I digress....

    The title of this challenge reminds me of those commercials. I picture a place which is warm, where there is no sense of time, a place that is carefree. To capture this place in a quilt, now that is a challenge!

   I wanted to try to recreate the feeling I had on a recent vacation to Hawaii with a good girlfriend of mine. The beach, sunset, all the amazing colors in the sunset, that’s my vacation! Now I had to make it different a slight twist, so I made my quilt to resemble a postcard,    “Wish you were here!”. I invite you to visit my vacation in this quilted postcard!



These are my fabrics! I found this really beautiful tie dyed fabric that reminded me of a beautiful sunset.

I began building the background by cutting a simple landscape shapes

I cut templates from cardboard to make the outline of palm trees on a beach. After cutting the tree shape and repositioning them till I liked how they looked, I decided to add a moon in the corner. I appliqued all the trees down and applique the landscape lines.
 
I added a border and corner pieces to attempt to create the appearance of a postcard. I layered the front, batting and a back panel. I quilted the entire piece. I used a version of echo quilting for the moon and the water, and free motion stippling for the remainder of the quilt.

The back of my “postcard” with my Flip-flop postage stamp.


Wish You Were Here! Embroidered by machine.


I hope you enjoyed my vacation postcard. Till next time!
Irene



calgon commercial