Noah's Ark bed quilt

THis is Noah's Ark bed quilt.

You can't see the size on this photo but it covers a bed with enough to go down on each side.

It is now the property of daughter number 4, as the youngest the subject was closer to her age.

This quilt took me 2 years to make.

Of course I did other things as well, but it was a work of love.

The pattern was published in the magazine "Patchwork and Quilting" for a few months starting in April 2004, 2 animals per month in general.

The Traplet publications have made a book with this pattern, as it was so popular, the author is Lesley Brankin, she is a freelance designer.

It is entirely made using the technique or reverse paper quilting.

In short you draw a miror image of your design on paper ( I use normal copy paper, but you can use tear away paper), sew on the lines, and to add each new piece you put the fabrics right sides together, with a seam allowance.

The interest of this technique is that you get very precise sewing, and can really copy almost anything.

I quilted it with my machine and added the tails and some details by hand. I still have to do a few things I realised.

I really love this quilt, and feel that it will stay in the family for many years.

The sheeps still need mouths.

I have used some bits of fabric left over from the blocks to make a kind of piano keys border.

And the elephants also need a mouth.

I didn't put all the animals, just a selection for you to see.

I used a lot of different fabrics, mostly fat quarters.

I bought a kit for the patterned skins, like the giraffes, the zebras, etc... It was made when the pattern was first published.

I am not sure the photos give justice to the final product, for example you can't see much of the quilting.

I am a beginner on blogging.

I have done the label, but need to stitch it to the back....

It will all get finished, eventually.