Sea, Sand, Sky

Sea, Sand, Sky
18" x 18"

This is number 5 of five in the little series. I wanted to try a view from the water and I love the way this looks! A great change of perspective, this one is my favorite. This might be my point of view if I were swimming in the ocean looking back at the land, or on a sailboat, or perhaps a surfboard. I didn’t quilt this one because I love the pure distinct lines of color. 

This one also presented a number of technical challenges.  Because I chose not to quilt it, it was substantially floppy. It was not really sturdy enough to hang on a wall.  And, I didn't make it big enough to wrap around a canvas.  Ultimately I decided to piece a white border on it, add some batting, and then wrap it around a canvas.  It made for a little bit of bulk on the edges and corners, but mostly those don't appear obvious. 

Here's a photo of it hanging above the mantel by my fireplace, along with some shells and dead coral I found on a trip to the Bahamas when I was a teen. Sharky is fond of it too! :)

Sand, Sea, Sky

Sand, Sea, Sky

11.5" x 11.5"

This is number four of five in my little series, a small abstraction of being on the beach and looking towards the water. Breathe in, breathe out. 

This little quilt has 24 different colors of fabrics, each one was cut 1" wide, and then the strips were sewn together to leave 1/2" strips visible.  I quilted each row with a variety of threads, some that were matching, and some that were not. It blurs the lines between the colors and makes the edges look a bit fuzzier. Kind of like drifting to sleep.

Here's a closeup of some of the threads. 

Ha! Sorry, that is not a very close detail shot! Trying again....

I also discovered that this many rows of stitching changes the texture significantly.  That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but I think I liked it better before I added the stitching.  So my next one will be THAT.  Just the pure simple strips of color.  

Sand, Sea, Sunset, Sky

Sand, Sea, Sunset, Sky

12..75" x 12.75"

This one is pretty simple.  I just wanted to make a slightly bigger grid of these colors, and keep the colors and values more horizontal in composition.  It is still a lovely abstraction of the beach and the ocean and the sky.  Then I kept seeing in my head, a brilliant contrast of orange between the top two lines of blocks, so I auditioned the fabric.  I loved it! I have always been a fan of orange and blue! Meanwhile, there is some irony here.  I grew up on an east facing beach.  We see sunrises over the water, the sunsets are over the dunes. My memories of sunrises don't look like this at all, this one reminds me of sunsets. And, if that is so, it cannot be an abstraction of my home beach.  However, and regardless of all the thinking about this piece, it is ultimately about the 'feels' that come with it. And, I really like the feels. It is even softer and more wonderful in real life because you can see all the thread colors in the different stripes, and it's fun to throw in some unexpected colors!  It adds interest and movement and texture, all wonderful!

Since this little quilt has more contrast than the previous two, I call it the high drama one! Ha! What appears to be a calm sunset hides the dangers lurking beneath (sunset is when the sharks come out!).

This next photo, I was playing around with adding some shark fins. I did not ultimately decide to put them on, but decided to share it with you because I find it amusing and laughing is good!

Between Me and the Beach

 Between Me and the Beach

12" x 12"

For this one, I was thinking about obstacles to traveling.  The white grid work alludes to all the things that keep me from the beach, some internal and some external...like covid.  My heart longs for the sounds and smells and sight of the beach. 

For the quilting, I wanted all the lines to go horizontally, following one line of color across the entire piece before changing thread colors again.  However, I did not want them to go across the white grid.  I wanted them behind the grid and associated with the sand and the water.  So, I realized that I should have quilted the grid work first, and then found a way to add the white on top.  That would have been a lot easier than what I actually did, which involved a lot of starts and stops.  I really like the way this one looks though, and may try another version of it, but this time planning ahead better.