Thursday, November 13, 2014

Friday Finish: Pebbles on the Beach Mini



I have totally fallen in love with needle turn applique.  I've always loved a good hand stitching project, and these projects have turned out a lot easier to do than I thought and I can stitch shapes that I like without having to deal with machine sewing curves.


Our guild (Seacoast Modern!!) had a mini swap with another guild.  The theme was a "Sense of Place" which completely threw me for a long time.  I seriously would try to figure out what I would make, brain would turn to mush, and I'd avoid thinking about it with a different project.

Then, I bought a copy of Savor Each Stitch by Carolyn Friedlander.  I was completely hooked by this book; great projects, a good read, and pretty colors.  So I tried to see if one of the minis in the book would apply to the swap challenge.  One of the best thing about the seacoast is the beach, and one of my kids' favorite things to do is find pretty shells, rocks, or sea glass, and Aerial Grove kind of reminded me of pebbles lined up on the beach.


So I pulled a rainbow of scraps and started stitching them down to my "sand" fabric.  I had thought to put them upright as a center column with blue ocean to the right and green grass to the left, but it just looked to busy, so blue ocean won.  I used lighter colors close to the sand to get a waves crashing effect.   Then I quilted it all over with a wave pattern.


And of course, you need a label.


Once I finished that mini, I started right up on one that I would get to keep.  I think in the new year, I'm going to start work on a whole quilt of needle turn, as my big 2015 project.  

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Quilt Matters for TGIFF!

5 comments:

  1. It's beautiful, Mary! Your swap-mate is very lucky to receive this quilt! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on the finish - it is lovely, and I think it is great you immediately started on something fun for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So pretty! Simultaneously bright and soothing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hurray for new skills! :D I don't think you'll be able to get me addicted to it though. I don't even like hand binding quilts.... But this turned out really really cute. One of my favorites from the bunch. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. this is just beautiful - I love the colours you have chosen, and the design is fantastic :-)

    ReplyDelete

Go on! Comment! I love reading what you think! -m