Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Gray & Yellow - Who Knew?

My neighbor recently asked me to make a baby-sized Hawaiian quilt for her to use as a baby gift. Her color choice was pewter and knowing I didn't have a clue as to what color she thought was pewter, we went to Hilo to fabric shop at Kialuea Kreations.

Unlike me, she chose the fabrics she wanted in less than 5 minutes. Gray-green with tiny stars and a mottled pale yellow. Colors I wouldn't have ever thought to choose. But she's happy and I think they actually look great together.

I've done the applique and now it's time to tackle the quilting. I'll probably do hand quilting, although since it's meant to be used by the baby, I'm considering doing machine quilting instead.

Here's a sneak peek at the appliqued top:



The pattern is from Kathy Nakajima's Tahitian Quilts book, with a few modifications. I enlarged it and removed the coconuts. It's supposed to be palm trees and waves.

4 comments:

Kay Koeper Sorensen said...

I really love this.
Not colors I would have picked either, but it really works.

BarbR said...

Your neighbor has a good eye for color and you found a great design to work with. Along with your good work it is a winner for baby. Where might I find a Tahitian Quilt book? (I'm here in the Islands.) =!=

Kathy said...

Barb,

I always buy Kathy Nakajima's books from Shades Textiles in Georgia (www.shadestextiles.com). The site isn't real intuitive so if you can't find the books, let me know. It's softcover and all in Japanese but it has lots of patterns and great pictures and if you already know how to applique and quilt, you won't care if you can't read the text. I love her books, especially for all the patterns.

Kathy

Stacy Michell said...

Aloha Ya'll,
Stacy Michell of Shades Textiles here, I have a new web address, www.ShadesTextiles.CO, and I hope an easier to navigate site. I have just finished the uploading my inventory of books by Kathy Nakajima. Thanks for the mention!

Stacy