My Quilts Part 3

I am still trying to learn how to do this blog thing so hang in there.
Above is a piece I call Siren's Song. Last year at guild we were all given a fat quarter of Laurel Birch's Ocean Songs print and were told that we could create any quilted item we chose but that we must use this fabric. I decided that the real challenge for me was going to be incorporating this wonderfully bright coloured fabric with what lived in my sewing room. ( Bright and colourful would never describe my stash) I am proud to say that only 1 fabric was purchased to complete this piece, all of the fabrics were already in my home. The fabric I purchased is what was used for the hair. This is actually a floral print but when I saw it I knew immediately that it would work perfectly for what I had in mind for my mermaid's flowing tresses! In creating Siren's Song I took the opportunity to learn a few more techniques. There is a small amount of hand applique, more curved piecing ( I really really enjoy using this technique) The mermaid's face was first drawn with pencil and then a pigma pen but it just did not have any pizazz so I began stitching the details of her face with my machine. I used the vivid colours of our challenge fabric to create the body of the mermaid but it was still so bright. I covered the entire piece with a layer of gold/brown tulle to help "tone" it down just a bit. I cut out a few of those crazy smiling fish and raw edge appliqued them on. I pieced together a little seahorse and added a bit of beading. The piece was then free motion quilted.
This was an extremely fun piece to work on.
All of the entries for this challenge were assigned a number and ballots were cast by guild members for viewer's choice.........when the votes were tallied Siren's Song was awarded 1st place. To see a slide show of all of the wonderful pieces entered, click here