Baby Jack's Farm Mural Quilt

Before Baby Jack was a twinkle in his mother's eye, we knew if she ever had a boy, his nursery would have a farm theme.  So when we found out in July that he was indeed a boy, I went right to work on his nursery bedding. 

My daughter in law selected a pretty color scheme of baby blue and mint green.  With some farm scene paintings as inspiration, I went to work designing a mural-style quilt.  I am no artist and have lots of trouble with perspective (kinda like my troubles with perception) so one really has to use his imagination with this quilt!

The quilt police would have a heyday with this one, I am sure!  There were many times I wasn't really sure how to proceed, so I just dove in.  I used a piece of muslin as a base for the sky and land, and satin stitched the fields, sun and blue sky to the muslin.  Then I added the road, satin stitching it as well. 

All of the animals, the barn, tractor and plants were applique'd using my Topaz 30 and purchased applique designs. 

Here is the quilt top before the quilting was done.  Deciding how to stitch the crop rows was a real challenge because of my lack of artistic ability.  Again, I just dove in!  I quilted inside the rays of the sun in straight lines.  For the road, I did my first pebbling; that was fun!  Around the animals, the tractor and the barn, I simply did some outline quilting to hold everything together and add a little texture.  In the "grass,"  I used variegated green thread to free-hand some sprigs of grass, again, to add texture and hold everything together.  I think the quilting really added to the finished product!

The quilt is backed with a print also used to make crib sheets and is bound with a cowhide print.

So what did I learn in the making of this quilt???  First, it's the thought that counts and not the quilter's artistic ability.  My DIL and son LOVE this quilt!  Second, using two layers of Warm and Natural batting on a baby quilt is probably not such a good idea.  I was seeking extra texture, but the quilt is so heavy that it now hangs on a wall in the nursery; an infant would be crushed under its weight!  Third, I LOVE pebbling!  I can't wait to do more!

In case some of you are interested, I made the rest of Baby Jack's bedding to go with the quilt.  Here is a photo.  My DIL made the darling mobile!