Sailing Away...

As I continue my adventure into raw-edge applique quilting, I have found that it is taking no time at all (relatively) to finish these quilt tops!  I am so used to the long process of designing a garment, creating a pattern, sewing the sample, finding fit adjustments and fixing the pattern, then sewing the garment in final fabric.  All for one garment!  It's only been about 4 or 5 weeks and I already have 3 (and a half) quilt tops done!

I have set aside the quilt of my own tattoo to finish the pirate ship quilt.  This is what I have so far:

All the applique is done, but I still have to add the satin-stitching of the swirlies around the sides and some seagulls.  I bought some quilting stencils from The Stencil Company with a nautical theme, so I'm excited to incorporate those somehow.

The two other tops that I have finished have a backing and have been quilted, but just around the main image and its details.  They still have yet to be quilted around the sides and have a binding put on.  This the most recent one I finished :

I really wanted to experiment with sewing curvy lines, and it actually was pretty fun!  This design has been the most difficult one to stitch so far.  The sheer amount of satin stitching for the scales and fins was the biggest pain, along with layering the water splashes and stitching around those tight curves.  You can see my attempt to add a quilting pattern on the top left side, which I have tried to sew with my machine's free motion spring foot but I just can not get the hang of it!

This is the very first design I attempted:

It's a sugar skull from the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  I thought it would be fun to play with the colors, especially with the selection I have of silk dupioni fat quarters I received for Christmas this past year.  This one's a little rough, and there are definitely things about it I would change... like not making him look so angry... but this one proved to be a very good learning experience.

So I continue to sail on with this applique quilting thing... once I finish the quilt top of my tattoo I will be on the hunt for my next design inspiration...