Anchors Aweigh!

I made a lap quilt for my father for his 89th birthday.  His career was spent as a photographer in the Royal Canadian Navy / Canadian Armed Forces so I went for the naval theme.

I found the "Anchors Aweigh" pattern in a Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine, but you can buy it from their website.  It is also a pattern that meets the guidelines established by the Quilts of Valor Foundation.
http://www.shopfonsandporter.com/product/anchors-aweigh-digital-pattern/Quilts-of-Valor-products

 I totally changed up the colour scheme choosing the colours of naval flags.

I also found a nice mottled grey which looked to me like it could be barnacle encrusted anchors. When my friend M found out what I was making, she offered me a selection of nautical prints she had collected.  Thank you M, they really added to the nautical theme of the quilt!

The blue striped fabric became the binding.  It was an absolute match to the solid blue fabric already in the quilt.

All I had to do then was add some white fabric and start sewing!  It only took me fifteen hours spread over five days to have a quilt top flimsy, a pieced backing and prepared binding.  I so wanted to blog about my progress, but since my father reads my blog it would have totally spoiled the surprise.....

I purchased an edge to edge anchor pantograph by Patricia Ritter called "Anchors Aweigh".

We had a birthday party for my father this past Sunday and here he is holding the quilt with the quilt label showing. (I blocked out his personal information.)

And here is a picture of the finished quilt.

It was a beautiful day and we had a barbeque on his deck to celebrate his 89th birthday.