Ocean Cruise - the Beginning

I met with the Very Friendly Ladies in Monroe, Wisconsin and our project was this very traditional tessellating block quilt.


I took some of my Caribbean-colored hand-dyes and a couple of different whites for my blocks.







But it was still too traditional looking for my taste, so I got out my dye thickener and mixed up some dyes for painting.


I thought a couple of dolphins would be good.








And a sea turtle -- he's pretty yellow, I know.  But I think it will be ok after it's all put together and quilted. Although I might do a little painting over his shell with a green or brown.

And a toucan to watch over it all.  I used some really old thickener that I had out in the garage and didn't mix it quite thick enough, so there's some running  of the color.  The tree and the big red bump on the beak were the worst parts.  --Of course, I found the giant economy size bag of new thickener while I was putting away the supplies for this.

This is what it looks like on my design wall.


I think it will look good after I get some more of the tessellating blocks finished.  And maybe a little border around each of the dye-painted parts.


I'm linking up with Nina Marie at Off The Wall Friday.