Saturday, January 10, 2009

EZ Camper Quilt

Some friends of ours are the parents of Lily, one of the sweetest little girls I know. We know them through the Volkswagen community. They have a 1965 EZ Camper that is beautiful. Every year there is a big Volkswagen Weekend in the Tampa area. One of the shows that weekend is called Bulli Brigade and it's a gathering of VW transporter enthusists. VW transporters are the Microbuses, Single Cabs, Double Cabs, Campers, etc.

Isn't she adorable?



In honor of Lily's first Bulli Brigade last November I made her an EZ Camper quilt using the colors from her dad's bus to influence my fabric choices. It's a combination of red, white and black sewn together using the dissappearing 9-patch pattern (which I found through Sew, Mama, Sew's quilting month). Then I made an applique EZ Camper replica out of felt for the front. I used the applique tutorial from oh, fransson! as I am not yet proficent in applique. I even made the VW symbol on the front of the bus by lowering the dog-legs.

The back is lined with 100% cotton plaid pattern to resemble the curtain fabric on the bus windows. (You can see the curtain fabric in the first picture.)

I used the stitch-in-the-ditch method for the quilting. I am practicing my free-motion quilting techique, but it isn't quite there yet. Then I hand stitched the binding. A lot of people do not like to hand stitch the binding and will either avoid it like the plague or just machine stitch all of the binding, but I find the hand stitching really relaxing.

I was pretty pleased with the overall result. Lily gave the best reaction to the quilt. When I pulled it from my bag and handed it to her mom, Lily looked at it with wide-eyes and said, "Ooo, ooo!" That's a good thing! I have seen her say it to puppies, so I take it as a compliment.

Currently, I am planning two more baby quilts for friends expecting boys and a quilt for our bed. I'll be choosing fabric for the baby quilts soon.

=]

16 comments:

Amanda Jean said...

she IS adorable! and i love the quilt, too. how fun!!!

Kerri said...

oh, i love this!! and what a little cutie!! :)

Amy Sp said...

Such a sweet gift and a good story too!

Zonnah said...

I LOVE this! The van is amazing!

Leanne and Rik Brezina said...

great bus!

Tacha said...

Wow - very creative. I love the van.

Jocelyn said...

What a creative touch to your quilt! Love the colors. Are you in FL? We live in the sunshine state :-)

Miri said...

Adorable quilt...love the colors but the EZ Camper applique is the Best!

stitchinpenny said...

So creative. It is a wonderful and meaningful quilt.

Unknown said...

I love all the creative touches that make it familiar to the baby! Great job :)

Andi said...

Cute kid.
Lovely whimsical quilt!!

scraphappy said...

Such and adorable quilt, and a great story to go with it. I am so impressed that you kept taking on new challenges along the way.

meggie said...

Lovley baby! Lovely quilt with a fantastic van! Well done!!

Sandra said...

Black & white & red are such a good color combination. What is the VW van & Lily connection, my neighbor has several and his dog is named Lily.
Come see my favorites
#210 Sandra Starley -funky petroglyph quilt
#215 Utah Quilt Appraiser-civil war era red & green quilts

Heather said...

you did a wonderful job. Love the applique.

Granny Lyn said...

How adorable! and perfect for the campers! Lily seems to like it, too!