Project Quilting Season 8 - Brighter the Better

We are up to challenge 4 with Project Quilting this season and the challenge was "Brighter the Better".  Now, this was right up my alley.  I love bright colors. 

My mind went right to this great bundle of  batik fabrics that I was given from a friend.  I had no idea what I was going to use it in and this was the perfect challenge for it. 

I decided that a plus quilt would be perfect for this challenge, so I set to cutting out a ton of 2.5" squares from this bundle and my overflowing batik scrap stash.  As I worked I kept cutting more and more squares since I decided I was making this one to do double duty for PQ and the Scrap Quilt Challenge. 

I cut so many of my scraps, but it still looks like I didn't touch them! The quilt is free motion with a large meander all over the quilt.  The binding came from stash and has so many of the colors of the fabrics in the quilt in it. 

My On the Bright Side plus quilt measures 52" x 64" and is made up of 832 2.5" squares. 

I backed it with a mustard yellow print from my backing stash that was prefect for the quilt.  A little stained glass action in the sun, too. 

 

Photographed on a perfectly bright warm day this February. 

 

On the Bright Side
52" x 64"
95% scraps
All from stash
Made in Lanoka Harbor, NJ

Project Quilting Season 8 - Texture

I can't believe we are already in to February and challenge 3 of Project Quilting Season 8.  This weeks challenge was Texture.  Such a fun challenge that made me look for inspiration all around. 

My inspiration came from a few things.  On my sewing desk sits a Rubik's cube and an Alexander's Star.  The Alexander's Star has a great shape, with triangles facing all different directions.  These triangles look so much like flying geese.  Also, this week, I was making draft socks and filling them with ground walnut shells.  The texture reminded me of the sand on the beach.  Once these two came together my idea began to form.  

I pulled a background fabric that reminded me of mornings on the beach with the sun sparkling off the sand and pebbles sprinkled in.  For the colors of my geese I turned to my collection of sea glass.  I love the different shades of teals and blues that I have collected, even some green and white can be found in my jars.  

I began to build my mini quilt, starting with paper piecing curving and growing geese from my own patterns.  It is as if the sea glass geese are coming out of the sand.  

To add more texture to the sand I decided on a small stipple for the quilting.  Giving the feeling of the beach when the water recedes and a light texture remains on the wet sand.   

This Sea Geese mini quilt measures 19" x 21".  All the fabrics in it are batik, they add just the right amount of texture and variation to the colors that make them perfect for this mini.

Sea Geese
19" x 21"
Batik fabrics
cotton batting
Created in Lanoka Harbor, NJ

I just love how it looks through the back of the quilt with the sun shining, like stained glass.