Betta Fish

This fishy wall hanging was started Sept 2011 with the woven background.  I'm so glad it's done now and almost ready to hang.

All the fish pieces were made from stash.  Those eyeballs are leftovers from Halloween fabrics.  The added benefit is that those eyes glow in the dark!

I started with a picture of a betta to use as a guide for proportion.  The lips are extra big, because I wanted them that way.  Then sketched these guys on freezer paper so I'd have a pattern.  After picking out the fabrics, and fusing them, the fin shapes morphed as needed to fit with the lines in the fabrics.  Then, it was just a matter of setting the zigzag stitches to the desired width.

I like the cool background colors against the warm foreground colors.  They work well to make the quilt bright since they're complimentary colors (purple/yellow, blue/orange, green,red).

Here's the back side.  There's no added quilting on this one, just stitching at each raw edge.  Those eyes almost need a stitch around the centers, but since it's the back side, they'll do without .... for now. I still need to hand stitch the hanging sleeve at the bottom edge. 

Painter's tape helps with all the white batting fluff against the black backing.  This is one quilt where black fleece would be very successful.  I just haven't splurged to try that yet.

A friend at work has a betta fish, which began to look very sick last week.  That little guy is the inspiration for this quilt.  And when he looked like he was minutes away from a flush burial, I decided I'd go ahead and add fish to the woven background.  The good news is that he's made a wonderful recovery following a water change so he might even get to enjoy the wall hanging.  We'll keep it over his tank for a week or two, just for fun.

Enjoy your day!
- SeeingStars