Finally! Pirate quilt!

It was finished ages ago! Seemingly. At least... 3 weeks ago? But I have been enjoying my new sewing machine too much to post. (Actually, I have only had the machine for two days, and that is a spurious excuse. But hey! new sewing machine!)

once again, I photographed it weird, but it is a rectangle in real life

There is a lot going on, so bear with me! This is for my elder child, who is into pirates. The sails we painted together (I did the purple one, she did the green and black. This was an attempt to sun print, it didn't work that well, but if you look closely, you can see the tiny clothespin shadows). The screenprint of the island is made from one of her drawings. The sun, you have seen before. The ship is many thin strips of fabric and ribbon overlapped to form a ship (it is built on a base of muslin). The flag is batik! (I made 5, and this was the only good one; on the rest the wax overtook the design). The border is a commercial red star fabric (stars are the theme!) and some black fabric I hand dyed.  The moon is from my best thrift store find of all time, Star Trek fabric. (She does not know the sacrifices I make for her!)

The border, and the ocean, are Seminole patchwork designs. Which is a sort of stripe piecing. It is amazing, although, I have to admit, I do not like sewing long strips of fabric together. (again, the sacrifices!)

pirates! castaways!

If I were to do it again, I would... run the sky from light to dark so they were not heading into a storm. Also, that would solve the issue of the sun facing the wrong way, and the ship appearing to abandon the people on the island. Which is something that concerns my daughter, too. Although, that would lead to a new problem, when the black flag would be against a black sky.

Also, I would not make it so large! That crazy quilt sky almost drove *me* crazy...