Jungle Flame: A Finished Quilt

Sometimes when you ask expectant parents for the theme or colour choices of the nursery it is helpful. Sometimes the answer leaves you puzzled and causes you to sort through piles and piles of fabric in your stash before you settle on some colours and patterns.

Friends are expecting a baby in March. This is their second and, as with their first, they have chosen not to find out the sex of the baby. Though that is nice for them, it is not nice for me as a quilter. People might say they like gender neutral, but let's be honest- once that baby is born he or she will somehow end up in "gender specific" colours. So when they told me that their colours and theme is orange and beige ju'ngle, I was stumped. I do like orange, and had quite a bit in my stash. I had ONE beige fabric. One. I hate beige. And then jungle on top of that? Heaven help me.

I selected a pattern from Love Quilting & Patchwork magazine (Issue 11, "Bee Sweet") by Bijou Lovely and I just went for it, incorporating the one beige fabric I had, some beautiful oranges, a giraffe print and a jungle print.

Here is the end result. Jungle Flame:

Front of the quilt. Note the very scrappy binding. I used off cuts from the backing when I trimmed it to size to make a scrappy, awesome orange binding (with a tiny hint of green, bottom right in this picture).

 My husband says he likes all the white. He said it was "spartan." Not exactly what I had hoped for. And my best friend looked at it silently and then said "I'm used to your quilts being more cohesive." Ouch. I quite like it, even though the colour choices are not my thing. I think I made it work! But maybe not?

I did straight(ish) line quilting using my walking foot at different distances in both directions (horizontal and vertical). I absolutely love the quilting on this as there is at least one line of quilting through each tiny patch.

 As a result of being determined to, as much as possible, shop my stash, I pieced together a CRAZY backing. I was very nervous that this would look hideous, I'm not going to lie. And my husband HATES pieced backings so he was no help. Once it was done, though? I really love it! It is saturated and crazy and beautiful. That one green giraffe print really pops out, so I might not have included that next time, but I think I would opt for the back showing more than the front if I was mom and dad! (Maybe because there is only a tiny bit of beige?)

Wild backing. I used up most of the scraps from the front and some tone-on-tone Pearl Bracelets I had in my stash. I also added a half yard of what I think is Kona Flame, but I could be making that up (there was no label).

 I think the quilting looks really great on the back, too. You can see the lines at different widths and I think it adds dimension and interest.

Straight line quilting pops on the back.

I used up every last scrap I could, including taking the trimmed off fabric from squaring up the quilt after I quilted it to make a long roll of scrappy binding. I really quite love it.

Scrappy binding.

Though I love the end result, I really struggled with naming this quilt. After thinking and playing for a bit, I discovered that there is a flower named Jungle Flame that is bright and bold and very similar to the quilt. Isn't that a perfect name?

Jungle Flame. Source: Garfield Park Conservation Authority

What matters in the end is if the parents love this quilt, and I think they will. I definitely won't be adding any beige into my stash anytime soon, and I think I need an orange break for awhile, but I am happy with having it finished nice and early for when baby arrives in early March!

Lynn

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.
I'm also linking up to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday with a link up at A Quarter Inch from the Edge!