WIP - Sea Side Sunset

This is from the deco daybreak quilt pattern found in the recent modern quilting magazine I previewed a few posts back. I decided tooled down my fabric selection to feature a bunch of fat eighths I got from the Heather Ross Mendocino collection that had been reprinted recently. I remember the first time I saw one of the designs that had been named swim sister's and scoured everywhere for the fabric. This was actually about a year after it's release so I sadly didn't find any.
The idea to fit the fabric with this pattern was because the design reminded me of fish scales. The leap from fish to mermaid wasn't a big one.

             

The layout is suppose to look like the sun setting over the ocean with the yellows in the center as the sun, the blues as the sea, and the pinks as the sky. I didn't make the half hexes as big as the pattern called for because I didn't want to do such a big quilt, but I am adding extra rows at the top and bottom to play with the sun setting element and get it as big as I want to.

This pattern calls for paper piecing the half hexes and I personally love paper piecing. It's a great way to get a perfect seam or point especially with difficult patterns. I have been going extra slow on this one because it's actually been a design as I go process.
I know I wanted to go from light to dark on all my blocks so I will lay them out radiating from the center of the row and try to pick what goes next from there. I haven't done much designing on paper for this one simply because of the layout already present in the magazine. I haven't needed much reference from it once I got the first few rows started, and I only redid one of my blocks because I thought the color change wasn't working.

On another note today's tea was made from brewing blueberry tea and pomegranate tea together. Both teas came from a sampler I got from disney. It is very good. The blueberry flavoring sticks out a lot in this tea. I would think it would be a great tea for the summer. The brand is only available at the disney parks. It makes a great souvenir because I always think of my time at the park when I go to make my tea, and I especially like their mad hatter tea party blend.

Quilting is in the blood.

I got my quilting habit from my grandmother and my mom. You have to admit it's a habit. I have several projects going constantly and plans for new ones. Like to the right here, I have the plans in the works for three of four ideas.

Both my mom and grandmother have been quilting for years. My grandmother has produced lots of quilts over the years. I own three that she has made for me. Like most quilters she doesn't sell hers, just gives them away for presents. And they get used. I use the quilts on my bed year round, sometimes two at once on a cold night. This one is one she's currently working on. It's actually a recreation of one she did a few years ago. (You can see it on her bed next to the loom) Everyone loves this one so I don't know who is getting the new one. (fingers crossed) She always quilts by hand. Her style is very indicative of the traditional quilter. You can see a close up detail of her quilting below.

My mom's style has gone from traditional to more modern. She normally does small projects and sewing. A full size quilt is not always something she has time or energy for. Right now she's working on pillow cases like the One Million pillow cases challenge. She has put some up for sale and has done a wide variety of pillowcases from whimsical and colorful. Currently up is the halloween themed pillow cases. I don't have many photos of stuff mom has currently worked on but I always enjoy sharing projects with her. We often go to shows and quilt shops together. So you can say this is always something special to bond with both of them over, just in different ways.

Also the first photo shows my tea of the day. It is a honey Jasmine Green tea made with mineral water I get from the local asian grocery store.