Baby M's Chicago Skyline

Get ready. This is a long one. Because, you know, one of those secret projects that couldn't be revealed. Until now. Baby's not here yet, so I don't really know his initial. M is from his last name, but the baby shower has happened, so I can share. Yippee! 

This all started with a question to Baby M's parents about colors and possible theme for a quilt. They said the nursery is neutrals, with tan walls, black and white furnishings, and pops of color for decorations. They also said maybe buildings for a theme, since they have lived in some of the largest cities of the country. They currently live in Chicago, so I took that theme and ran with it. Here it is: my sort-of Chicago skyline--an abstract, with some well known buildings and the elevated train (the "L"), not necessarily where they are really placed, but in an arrangement that pleased me.

All washed--looks wobbly, but that's just from the hangers and breeze.

So now that you've seen the big reveal, I'll share lots more photos, with a visual tour of the process.

I started with the fabric you can see at the bottom of the quilt and in the backing here:

Here's a close-up:

It's from the Robert Kaufman Let's Go line. I found it online and was immediately smitten because it was in colors I was looking for and even more important, the cars, trucks and bicycles were all in the right orientation for a city street--no upside-down vehicles--so they'd fit perfectly at the bottom of a row of buildings. 

After looking at oodles of photos of the skyline of Chicago with labels of major buildings, I drew a plan on graph paper. 

You can see in the photo above that I've labeled and listed some of the buildings. The numbers at the bottom are planning for the amount of yardage for the vehicle and background fabric. I think. I can never tell from my scribbles. While waiting for my fabric order, I colored in the drawing and started planning the scale and piecing (those numbers are along the side of the photo, with each square of graph paper equaling 2 inches). The numbers along the bottom and in the body of the quilt drawing correspond to buildings and background pieces, which I may or may not have attended to while actually piecing. 

When the vehicle fabric arrived, it was time for a trip to the fabric store for fabrics with building-ish prints and colors that coordinated with the vehicle fabric. I was thrilled with my finds. I had a few pieces in my stash that worked, too, so in no time, I was all set to dive into piecing. 

I started with the Willis (formerly known as Sears tower) section of the quilt. There is another building in front of it (Board of Trade--the gold one) and to keep things easy where there were tricky seams, I freezer paper pieced parts of them where they overlapped.

 Here's a close-up of the front of that part:

And that section, finished:

 Then it was time to plan the next section:

I planned window color and placement.

Those copies to the left are just to cover the fabric.

And another section done:

It took a little time to plan the next section of the quilt. I had trouble at first getting the proportions of the windows of the CNA building (the red and white one) the way I wanted at first, and I did redo some of those seams to make the windows narrower. I also had to plan that building so that I could later fit the "L" in, which required some partial seams. I designed the building so I could remove a few stitches to insert the L train during the last phase of sewing.

Headed to too much white

Better

Ready to move on

Moving on, I forgot to take some photos, but all went well, with more freezer paper piecing where buildings overlapped.

The last big building was the John Hancock, recognizable for it's distinctive X's in the structure. I tried out several blackish/grayish fabrics

but suddenly realized that the blue/teal print was the perfect value and repeat of fabric use. I again used a slice and insert method--combined with freezer paper piecing to keep it neat.

Then it was time to add the L train and do one more slice and insert of the rail. Using the 1/2 finished rail kept the integrity of the building design--no windows or structural elements were distorted. And the last step was adding the street at the bottom. This whole process was so satisfying, and I'm thrilled that it turned out as I envisioned it. 

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch (-ish, I sometimes get a little off seamline) around each building, and then followed windows, quilted abstract windows and other building-ish lines. In the background (both the street and the sky) I did long wavy horizontal lines. Chicago is The Windy City, but I wanted just a decent breeze.

Here are the Stats, and then I'll finish with some close-ups:

Pattern: My own graph paper doodle based on photos of the skyline of Chicago.
Fabrics:  A variety (sorry, I'm not good at keeping track of them) plus the car print from Let's Go by Robert Kaufman.

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 

Thread: Superior-- Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; King Tut in White Linen for quilting. Unknown black hand quilting thread for stitching binding to back.

Binding: 2 1/2 inches cut, double layer, machine sewn to front and hand stitched on back
Size: 56 3/8 inches tall by 52 1/4 inches wide. 54 inches by 50 inches after washing.

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer Treadle 115 for walking foot quilting.

So, now, some additional photos taken indoors (on our bed) because the weather is dark and yucky.

The major buildings from left to right are:

311 S. Wacker (green check)

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower--black squares)

Chicago Board of Trade (gold plaid) 

CNA Center (red/white--the real building is distinctively red)

Either Chase or One Prudential Place (I never did decide, although it lacks the top of Prudential, but it's the teal one with blue windows) 

Two Prudential Plaza (the navy one with the pointed roof) 

Crain Communications (formerly known as the Smurfit-Stone--shorter red building), 

Aon Center (gold with long gray windows)
John Hancock (black with X structure)

And then, of course, the "L" train and track

Blogger insists on turning this photo sideways. Oh well.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt as much as I enjoyed making it. I think graph paper is my favorite way to plan a quilt and seeing this quilt come to life from the paper was such a satisfying experience. Perhaps it will inspire you to interpret a favorite skyline as a quilt. I hope the little guy this quilt is meant for will have fun with his own version of "I spy" with the buildings of Chicago. He even has an awesome skyline view from his nursery window.

I'm linking up this week with Kelly at My Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday, Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday, at Wendy's Quilts and More for Peacock Party, and Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant.

(I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)