#41 Black and White and ...

#41: Black and White and ...
Finished: 10/13/12
Techniques: Black and White, Machine Stitches, Strips
Size: 24 1/2" x 18"

Description: As much as I like working with bright colors, I've always admired black and white quilts too. Those that I've seen, especially those with splashes of color, I've found to be very striking. I hadn't thought that I had enough of a variety of black and white fabrics in my stash to create a black and white mini-quilt, but once I started looking I decided I did. And then I found that I had numerous strips of black and white, and that cinched it.

When I started creating the rectangles, I didn't like the look. Even though I tried to abut "light" black-and-whites next to "dark" black-and-whites, there was not enough definite delineation between the fabrics for my liking. So I ended up buffering different fabrics with solid whites or solid blacks and that helped a lot.

Quilting was done with a machine wave stitch. I think this will make a nice wall hanging.

#12 Aquarium

#12: Aquarium
Finished: 3/25/12
Techniques: Raw-edge appliqué, machine stitches.
Size: 23" x 18"

backing

Description: This is late in posting, but I did actually finish this mini-quilt last week. I used a variety of machine stitches to apply narrow strips of blues, purples, and blue-green strips from my stash to create the water. In retrospect, the variety of machine stitches detracts from the scene, and were I to do this again, I would stick with one simple stitch to attach them. I used green strips for the seaweed, and attached them using an open flower stitch. I also used the open flower stitch by itself where extra quilting was needed. The fish were starched and cut from fish fabric I once used as curtains in my bathroom, then stitched into place using invisible thread. I also used the fish fabric for the backing, shown at right.

I also added a couple of turtles from a batik, and if you'll notice some of the blue strips of water are batiks with dolphins on them. None of the strips were large enough to contain whole dolphins, so I used them as background.

I wasn't sure if the blues in the water would be too dark or distracting for the design, but the brightness of the fish seem to compensate and they stand out ok. The turtles are more subtle and I like that contrast.

#1 Furrows of Flowers

Mini-Quilt #1: Furrows of Flowers

Finished: 1/8/12

Techniques: Strip Quilting, Stitch in the Ditch

Description: I have a lot of flower or leaf fabric in my stash, so I gathered them all up and choose several that coordinated. I used 2 1/2 inch strips, pieced them, then cut and stitched at angles for added interest. It reminds me of the time several friends and co-workers got together to make a quilt in one day for a friend who lost much in a house fire. We had everyone bring fabric with flowers - any kind of flowers, any sized prints, any color. The blocks were sashed with green solid fabric, and it was great how everything came together.

One funny note: In my haste to finish this mini-quilt, I added the backing fabric upside-down - a print of a golf course left over from a quilt I made for my nephew.  But since no one will ever really see the back, I left it that way.