A Trip to the Beach (mini quilt)

Since it has been cold and I am feeling under the weather,  I got a bit of inspiration by pulling out some hand dyed fabrics from Vicki Welsh.   One of the gradients, Anatola, looked so bright and sunny that it made me feel a little better.

I pulled out some pre-fused fabrics. Some were precut shapes, some were "scraps. "   I keep all those scraps as they can be used "someday."  This quilt proves it.
First I will show you the finish.

 Now let me tell you about the process just a bit.  As I was playing with the scraps, I made two flowers   But then I added a stem to one of them and suddenly I saw a palm tree.   So, I switched gears.
I placed some scraps around the bottom to make "beach" and water.  I added an aqua "sun" in the sky. This is fantasy so you can be a little crazy with it.
It looked like this:

I wasn't entirely happy about it, so I posted this photo to an online group and asked for suggestions.  Some I ignored, some I took under advisement.  Some I said "YES!"
So I modified, got everything where I wanted it and fused it to the background and batting.

Then I did some hand stitching, starting with the focal point, the tree.

I added the birds in the sky as one commenter suggested.

Then I started quilting it. For the sky I did rays from the sun, but then cloud shapes in the rest of the sky so that all of the sky would be quilted  The land and sea I did with simply wavy lines that remind me of the beach.

I finally added a  layer of stiff stabilizer on the back and fused random leftover pieces to the back. I added a fused binding and then some decorative stitches to really secure it.  Whew!  Then I did a handmade hanger on the back, signed it, and it was done.

Today I am going to the doctor just to play it safe.  This "crud" had been here longer than I feel comfortable with.
But honestly, I want to feel better so I can make some more of these fun decorative wall quilts.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
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