The Flying Zebra Quilt is Finished!

I have had so much fun working on this quilt! And as my January project for A Year of Lovely Finishes, it is done well before the end of the month. It is also my second finish for my 2015 Finish Along Q1 Goals.

Back in 2011, I made two donation quilts from this line flying zebra fabric which I posted about here and here. This third one I had intended to save to have on hand for when we have young children visiting. But the more I worked on it, the more I fell in love with it and I just can’t see folding it up and putting in a closet.

It needs to be used. So that’s what we’re going to do. It will stay in the living room to throw over our laps when one of us is curled up on the couch reading or watching a movie (we don’t have cable.)

I put my quilt holder through his paces yesterday while we had one of those rare winter sunny days so there are lots of pictures to share.

First the front:

I quilted very lightly in the flying zebra sections, stitching along either side of those rainbow lines that run across each panel.

The two blue sections between the flying zebra panels were quilted in a cross hatch which you can see in more detail by clicking through the link.

It was the first time I’ve done cross-hatch quilting but it definitely won’t be the last.

The blue border is quilted in two wavy intersecting lines.

For the outside border in the rainbow fabric, I quilted intersecting circles. I splurged a bit and bought a spool of lovely variegated rainbow thread by Sulky® 733 Color #4106. I may just have to splurge more often because the Sulky® thread feels and sews so much nicer than the plain quilting thread I usually use.

Here’s a closer view:

I had quilted three sides of those intersecting circles and was so pleased with how it was turning out that I decided to try making a video to show you how I did it. Dave was recruited to run the video camera and to edit it into a short movie.

This is the first time we’ve tried to make a how-to video, so the finished product may seem a little rough. I’m sure that both Dave and I will improve and learn as we go. (We’ve already made a second one that I’ll be sharing next week.)

The quilt back was made from the same line of fabric as the front panel but with flying zebras cavorting all over it.

The fabric had to be pieced to be big enough. I remember that it took me several hours of very carefully matching up the zebras to make the joining seam as invisible as possible.

While I was quilting, I kept mentally searching through the fabrics in my fabric dresser trying to figure out what to use for the binding. Then I remembered one of the fabrics that our oldest daughter had sent to me. The blue cloud fabric matched the colors of the clouds in the flying zebra panels perfectly.

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 40” X 59”

Flying Zebra Panels and the quilt back are from “A Zebra of a Different Color” by Winky Wheeler for MMFab Inc.

Blue fabric between the panels and the inside border is Kona Cotton Ocean.

I can’t remember what line the rainbow fabric in the outer border is from.

Binding is “Atmosphere” designed by Maria KIalinowski in association with Benartex Pattern #Sky-C 5949.

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!