Caribbean Blue

Sounds a little sad but not, the colour inspired a nap quilt. I don’t consider myself as a true quilter- Yes I cut up material and stitch it back together but I do prefer a very free form and rarely follow the rules. Not that rules are a bad thing and I think it is important to know them so you can break any when needed to. My preferred method is whole cloth quilting where I sketch, stitch, paint, dye, burn, and other types of fiber distressing techniques.

Caribbean Blue has come about due to 2 projects I am in the middle of and have come to a creative hurdle. So to take a break and re think a few thing but stay in the studio and still be creative I went digging threw the fabric stash- I find pulling out yardage of colours can be very inspiring. A small Ziploc bag stuffed with pieces of colour caught my attention. It was a gift from a sister’s trip to the Caribbean a year or so ago. She knows me well and I was delighted to see these bits of light weight cotton stamped with a variety of motifs from the region in a batik resist.

There were a mixture of sizes some very small and others not quite a fat quarter. I think these were left over bits from a dress/ accessories shop as a couple shapes were definitely from an armhole. My goals were to use all the material in the most economical way to reduce any waste. My second goal to work quickly, and third make something useful. I started out thinking I may have enough for a bag or a pillow but soon discover there was much more I could do.

I decide to cut it all in to 5" squares and go from there.

                                                       Had more then I thought

                                                  A 9 Block square was starting to form

Looked good with blocks made up.

So then I decided to add a bit of  "sand" from my stash.

Not to over think the process and needing to add some width plus a little more length I proceed to use up the left overs were they would fit.

The bump to the left is a cat-  I'm happy with the end results and of course the pictures does not  do it just. It is a bit long but will have to square it off after it has been quilted I was pleased that it is fairly even which means my sewing skills are improving. I'll machine quit it and have a few thoughts of what I will do.

I pieced the binding and everything is ready to baste- I have a pretty blue flannel for the backing and I didn't move the basting boards to far so maybe on the weekend I'll get that started.

I achieved my goal- it was quick, useful and very little waste- The pile on the left was used for the binding, the center pile will go for stuffing in pet pillows and the pile tot the right will go to a friend who makes miniature quits.

I started on Friday afternoon and worked about 3 hours a day got it all done Monday afternoon - So happy dance for me.