Quilting the Mermaid Quilt

You might also remember my mermaid quilt, which used some pre-printed panels and coordinating fabrics. This one wasn’t a kit. I just made it up.

It’s been to the long arm quilter, too – the dragons and the mermaids went on that adventure together – and now it’s all finished up as well. Here it is:

Mermaid quilt, assembled by Deborah Cooke, finished

The print was called Mermaid in Blue Jeans, if you’re looking for it. I think it’s so cute. There’s a blog post about piecing this quilt – from 2022! – right here.

When I pieced the top, I really wanted to use that allover print from the border for the backing, but at full price, it would have been pretty expensive. I decided to look for something that coordinated and was cheaper (I needed 6m.) About six months later, I was at my local fabric store and they’d marked down this entire line. I think it was $5 a m. So, I got my 6m and another one too, just because, and was able to make the backing match the front. It’s seamed and I was able to match the print, too. (Ha.)

Again, this was quilted in a meander pattern, also with blue thread.

Quilting the Dragon Quilt

About five years ago, I had a pandemic project of assembling a quilt kit called In the Beginning. Here’s the finished quilt top from the final post about that project:

In the Beginning Dragon Quilt Kit pieced by Deborah Cooke

And here’s the final blog post about it.

I’d decided that this would be the first quilt that I had quilted by the shop with the long arm machine and took it in there last month. I picked it up and have been sewing on the bias binding – I sewed it to one side by machine, then handstitched it on the back all the way around. This is a big quilt!

In the beginning dragon quilt in blue, assembled by Deborah Cooke, and completed.

The binding is the allover print with the Celtic knots. You can see it more clearly in the detail below.

In the beginning dragon quilt in blue, assembled by Deborah Cooke, and completed, detail

I chose a meander pattern for the quilting and they used a blue thread. It looks really great!