'Black, Blue, Shark!'

 Last week I sent 'Black, Blue,Shark!' off to its home and it arrived safely so now I can show more details. Prepare for an avalanche of pictures!

The main thing I was keeping as a surprise was that as well as the Totally Awesome Shark's nemesis the Creepy Spider, I also added his little crab and fish friends.
These guys were hand drawn on, and I quilted the outline in big, sketchy black lines to enhance the illustrated feel (which was loads of scribbly fun, by the way :D ), and then I painted them. I didn't have any proper fabric paint though so they're a bit...crispy, but I expected that and thought it would be okay as they're really quite small.

Those tentacles bug me. I wish I'd had a more blendy thread so they weren't shouting at me every time I look at the quilt. :P

On the back, the fish looks like it's about to be chomped on by a shark. D:

I copied this guy from a page in the book where he was upside down. Oops!

I wanted the quilting to kind of represent the many depths and whims of the ocean so I started at the bottom and worked my way up, using a different design for each colour and trying to make it flow between layers. I continued to use the book for inspiration, as well.

I just realised I think I forgot to get the lint brush out and get rid of all that fluff!

Throwing some Batman fabric in there was fun.

I hand quilted a treasure map line on the pirate fabric with 'X' marking the spots for treasure.

You can't really see it unless you're right up close but I painted the top fabric with a white Pentel fabric crayon in a cloud pattern for some added dimension.

I wanted the top to be super soft for snuggling so for the sky I needed a large, allover design. This is the only design on the quilt I didn't make up as I went along. I was kind of stuck on how to differentiate the sky because all the cloud and wind designs I was coming up with looked too swirly and similar to the ocean's quilting designs. So I began looking through some eBooks on quilting I'd forgotten I bought and found this awesome bird and cloud design in Laura Lee Fritz's 'Mindful Meandering'. Of course, I ended up changing it up slightly but it's still pretty much her design.

And of course I bound it in black. There really was no other choice for this quilt, and it's the only quilt I've ever made where I planned the binding in advance!

As you know, this quilt would have been my entry for the first round of 'Sewvivor' had I made it in, but it's one of those things that made me glad I didn't make the cut because I wouldn't have had the time to add all the little details I'd planned on. It all worked out for the best. :)
I really loved making this quilt and I'm so happy it went to a home where it's appreciated. The mother of the boy it was for sent me pictures of him playing with the Shark, and giving a thumbs up sign. :D

-Strange,

More details on the making of this quilt can be found here, here, and here. :)