Wednesday 21 August 2013

Man Quilt inspiration

It's man quilt time in the Shush household. No pretty EPP or candy pink Princess quilts. Nope, it's all grey and charcoal and sand and colours that hubby likes. His incessant nagging about his quilt finally wore me out and I started.*

So before I launch into the boring monochromatic photos, here's some pretty fabric to cheer you up.  That's it though folks, so enjoy it. 

Too cute, right?

Those of you who have been around the Shush traps for a while may remember talk of hubby designing a zombie quilt. And hubby ain't no talented man sewer who knows his way around fabric either (although he certainly knows where the quilt fabrics are at Spotlight - he spends quality time there with me). His sewing experience consists of asking me to make muslin bags for his home beer brewing (which I have down pat now if anyone wants to know the details). 

So we were all very proud of his efforts, in much the same way as you are proud of your kids learning to draw - cute and well loved, but no masterpiece. I won't bore you with the details, but it was a Midwestern style half square triangle extravaganza. And not in a good way. For a while I thought about making the quilt he designed to validate his efforts and blah de blah.  Then I decided there was no way on this earth I was making something that ugly, and announced if I was making it, I would decide what it looked like.  Poor hubby. But he's happy now, so don't feel bad for him.

So my vision (which is naturally brilliant and awesome and so on) was to make a concrete block wall onto which zombie wanted posters will be appliquéd. Über-cool, right?!

I chopped me 72 concrete blocks in two shades of grey (think post apocalyptic urban jungle) and sashed them up with a sand coloured 'mortar'. 


Possibly the most boring quilt photo.  Ever.

The blocks are 10.5" x 6.5", so the background has ended up just over 65" x 80" once the 1.5" mortar sashing was added.  A good man sized throw and quick to put together. 

Now I've finished the block wall, I'm liking it. I reckon it could be a background for all sorts of things:

Some Banksy style graffiti 
A climbing rose
Rapunzel leaning over the top of her tower wall
Some knights jousting in front of the castle
Wanted posters for superheroes or cowboys or favourite pop stars or anything else you can think of. 

No judging the indoor photos - its POURING with rain.  Ugh.

Or maybe it could be quilted up as is, with some orange and grey binding (hubby LOVES orange) and put on your white leather couch in your New York loft apartment. Don't have one of those? Me neither.  

Anyway, what do you think?  A versatile man quilt background?

Make me exciting.

Next up I have to sort out the posters that go on it.  For now, in an effort at post apocalyptic humour, I'm foundation piecing a Stick No Bills sign for the middle of the wall. That is sooooo a story for another day - but Kristy @ Quiet Play has been VERY helpful with her hints and tips. I can pass on the beginners guide to surviving foundation piecing soon. There are some sneaky peeks up on Instagram if you go have a look.

That's it for now. 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday and Needle and Thread Thursday and Show and Tell Thursday (phew) so howdy folks if you're visiting!

PS:  I've got the ABC quilt along page up now, if you're keen. I'm thinking about starting in two weeks. And it has a button - squee - my first ever - so go grab it for your side bar and let me know if you're in. I think we will be a small but sophisticated bunch, embroidering away.


Shush I'm Quilting

* to be fair, his nagging consisted of him looking plaintively at me when I finished the lattice quilt and saying "perhaps you could do my quilt now, honey?".  Probably not the biggest whinge in the world. 

20 comments:

Kristy @ Quiet Play said...

LOVE your idea for the quilt! Perfect manly type concrete wall. And now the "bill" block on IG totally makes sense ;)

Let me know if you need any poster type paper pieced patterns. My kid likes zombies too ;)

Angela said...

That is a great idea!! We cannot go by costco without my husband giving me a thirty min lecture on how and why we will hole up there in case of the zombie apocalypse! Lol

Melissa at My Fabric Relish said...

I die!! "Blah de blah" hahaha! I've convinced my husband he needs a parson gray curious nature quilt. Lol

nicole said...

fantastic start so far, i love the concrete wall and can't wait to see all the bits that go on it!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

This is a brilliant idea. Love the stick no bills (or post no bills in my mind for some reason) idea. Can't wait to see what you come up with for applique!

Gina said...

What a perfect base for a man quilt! Your husband's quilt is going to be the envy of all other husbands; my husband and pretty much every other male in my life are all about zombies!!

Schulz Family said...

This is very cool and very manly

Lucy | Charm About You said...

fab idea!! The wall looks great and I love all your ideas :) Grabbing the button now!

Megan said...

What an awesome idea. Appliqué terrifies me so I shall watch with much interest and perhaps a touch of envy!

Leonie said...

That quilt is going to be awesome! Cant wait to see the final result! The pretty fabric is sooo pretty :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous background. Looking forward seeing your take on stick no bills. Fabulous.

Alison V. said...

Wow that looks awesome! :)

hydeeannsews said...

oh, I love the description of you ditching his design! your wall is looking fantastic - a great foundation piece. so is this the front/back to the zombie piece you showed ages ago? good luck with the super tiny piecing of the posters.

and that little china doll needs to be a block for your epp, right?! too cute.

prsd4tim2 said...

I love your brick wall quilt. Very masculine, a trait which is hard to come by in quilting. I like it!

Lucy Casey said...

I picked up my book for the ABC quilt along. I might need a bit longer than two weeks to get organized though.

Looking forward to it.

jan said...

I love the concrete wall! It is totally awesome- can't wait to see the rest.
xo jan@sewandsowfarm

Ella and Nesta said...

I'm curious to see how your "wall" quilt turns out. Very very original idea, love it!

Hootnz said...

Definitely a great block wall, I'll be really interested to see the zombie posters on this....what a great and unique idea!!

sarah elizabeth :: {no} hats said...

Manly and modern and marvelous indeed ;)

Angela Bullard said...

I completely understand what your going through! I made the mistake of telling my husband he could pick the design for his quilt. I thought he was going to look at Pinterest and show me a picture...no, he got out some graph paper and say down and sketched out what he wanted. In order to make it happen I will have to piece, paper piece and appliqué and maybe even throw some magic in the mix. Glad yours turned out looking great! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and if the design isn't bad enough, he also asked me to use khaki, chocolate brown, and CAMO as the fabrics 😖