Baby Kaya

After thinking about several different projects I finally settled on making a beaded blanket strip for baby Kaya. I made one a few years ago for a friend's retirement gift and really liked how it turned out; it was traditional in design but that fits him...baby Kaya is something new, so its my first effort into a more contemporary direction. Her mom works with Inupiat people in Barrow Alaska understanding the impact of climate change on their culture. "Eskimo" people have long hunted and fished and mom Chie often comes home with a cooler full of whale meat. Baby Kaya was so adorably plump and given the Inupiat nickname for a baby whale: Ingutuq....so a whale design is perfect.
Here is the larger central medallion (about 5" across); there will be 2 smaller ones and all linked together by a beaded strip.

Not sure what the strip will be attached to....in the past they decorated hide robes as well as wool blankets. I've considered a plain wool blanket, a smaller one made from salvage edge woolen fabric that is so lovely, or possibly even a Pendleton sea wolf crib blanket:

although the images may be too competitive. But it will take ages to get all the beading done and parts assembled so there is no hurry to decide. I'm glad to have started and look forward to working on the smaller medallions next and then the long process of the strip (not hard, just lots of beading!). I'll need to decide on an overall length and place a bead order with enough so I don't run out...bead colors can change from order to order so its best to order more than actually needed.