Huge Baby Playmat

So the other day I got asked to make a really really big playmat. And I mean big, like 50x73 inches big. And after thinking about it and finding fabric actually in stock to make it I decided that I was up for the challenge as my table is only so big, you know? So after working out the details, a few trips to IKEA (as their employees and stock indicator online aren't the most accurate), cutting, pinning, more pinning and sewing, I arrived at this:

One pretty functional playmat. I didn't let The Bubb go on it, obviously since it wasn't for him, but some of the left over fabric was hanging off a chair and he would not stop touching, pointing and babbling at the little red fox. So I hope that it is going to be a hit at its new home :)

The top fabric is 100% cotton canvas and the back is made with cotton denim. I like denim on the back of playmats as it seems more durable and can then be used outside but is still soft. Inbetween the two layers I sandwiched a layer of poly batting then I quilted it.

 

Figuring out the quilting was the hardest part for two reasons. One I wanted it to look good with the print and not disrupt the image and two I couldn't quilt in certain areas as it was too thick to fit through under the arm of my machine when rolled with the batting. So after playing around a bit, I decided to use Photoshop (but could have easily used Word, Powerpoint, Paint) and put lines over the fabric image so that I could figure out my quilting faster, it looked like this

My husband actually came up with the quilt pattern idea as the diagonals I wanted to do wasn't working and he wanted to watch Firefly but I need to solve this 'problem' before I could watch. Anyway he suggested a sunburst (like this quilt) and then I saw the rain clouds and thought, perfect. So it worked out really well and I am really excited by it.

I hope its new owners will like it as much as I do!