A Change of Seasons

We've had a few days of unseasonably warm weather here in NJ, now sadly coming to an end. It was so warm on Saturday that my daughter wore shorts and I had to wrestle her into her coat this morning before she left for school. But that's her being 13!

The change in weather prompted me to change my kitchen wall hanging. I have a wooden hanger in the kitchen that I use to display a seasonally rotating collection of wall-size quilts. So I took down Valentine Hearts

and put up Aquarium.

I made Valentine Hearts in 2001. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted. Each heart is a different red/pink fabric. I made Aquarium in 2006. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. It is based on the techniques covered in Strips 'n Curves by Louisa L. Smith. At the time, my daughter loved visiting aquariums like the ones in Baltimore and Mystic, CT. She had plans for becoming a dolphin trainer and living in Bermuda (we had plans for visiting her there in our retirement years, LOL!) so I made this quilt to commemorate what I thought would likely be a passing phase - though you never know.

I used two different dolphin prints with a "watery" looking hand dye and about 20 other fabrics cut into narrow strips and sew in sets from which the various pieces were cut. This was a lot of fun to make, though not speedy. I keep meaning to try another quilt using this technique and will probably make one from the Stratavarious Quilts book I bought last week at the show.