My Friend Mickey ~ Birthday Quilt

This quilt was finished back in August just in time for the 1st birthday of a special great nephew who has already undergone several surgeries for a bilateral cleft lip and palate.  And when nothing else can comfort him, Mickey Mouse can.  He loves Mickey Mouse!

I had the idea of a simple Mickey Mouse quilt, but finding licensed Mickey Mouse fabric was not so simple.  With a quick online search, I found a cute print and set out for my local Walmart which was supposed to have the fabric. They did and when I found it, the fabric was 100% polyester, not what I had in mind or would use.  The only cotton print they has was the red silhouette fabric which became the inspiration for the quilt.

While researching, I saw sunglasses on a Mickey and thought that would be cute on the yellow silhouette.  I machine appliqued the Mickey Mouse silhouettes using matching 100% cotton Aurifil 50 wt.

The gray and black dot fabrics are by Waverly and were purchased at the same time I found the Mickey fabric.  The yellow Kona I had in my stash.  I cut the squares 10 1/2"  thinking I would have a nice sized quilt, 40" x 50", and be able to use a width of fabric for the backing.  I would be WRONG.  The backing shrank to way less than 40" and was printed very crooked.

The top came together quickly and here it is pin basted and ready to quilt.  

I first secured the blocks by stitching in the ditch around each block and quilting very close around each Mickey head.  Which each block I changed thread colors to match the block.  I quilted meandering loops in all the blocks.  I tried to plan it where I could travel diagonally between the blocks as I quilted.

Fortunately , I had all the colors of Aurifil in 50 wt., I needed for quilting.

Matching the red, white, black and gray threads were no problem.  It was interesting when it came to the yellow thread though.  The perfect match was not found with the other yellows on the Aurifil thread chart.

The best match, Aurifil 5015 in gold yellow was found over in the greens/ browns on the Aurifil thread chart.

When quilted, it matched perfectly with Kona Cotton Solid in Canary.

I debated whether or not to quilt in the the Mickey heads and if I did what would I quilt?  The quilt show judge did mention that the Mickey heads would benefit from additional quilting and she's probably right.

There was plenty of the black dot left so I decided on that for the machine sewn binding.  I attached it on the back of the quilt and finished the topstitching from the front.

The black binding made a nice frame for the quilt.

Mickey was the hit of the birthday party.  There were even Mickey Mouse red velvet cupcakes.  I wish I had taken a picture before I took a big bite out it.

Quilt Stats

• Finished size: 40" x 50" 
• Pattern: Original layout inspired by a modified Mickey Mouse silhouette
• Fabrics: Mickey Mouse licensed fabrics, gray and black dots by Waverly, Kona in Canary, and bleached white Bella solid by Moda
• Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in Natural White 2021; Black 2692, and Arctic Ice 2625; Red 2250; and Gold Yellow 5015 
• Quilting design: meandering loops
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: August 2017

Linking to Finish It Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF at Devoted Quilter this week with Leanne, Whoop Whoop Friday with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Show Off Saturday with Caroline at Sew She Can.