tangerine tango challenge

orange zentangles art quilt
$35.00
http://www.etsy.com/listing/90582331/orange-zentangles-art-quilt



This started with a yard and a half of bright orange fabric that I got who knows where (and why?)
Orange is normally not my go to color and this thing was .......... well so orange! I'm sure my reason for buying it was because it has some lighter cloudy possible sunset looking areas but I've had it for 3 years and never used it for a sunset as is. I came across it a couple of months ago forlornly cast aside one of my fabric storage areas and vowed that I would find a way to use the sorry yardage. I did use some of it on my view from the barn window project (I have a blog post about that if you want to see it) - I used bleach to try to get rid of some of the overpowering orange of it all in that one. So that went pretty well, but still about a yard to go. 

Then someone on twitter tweeted about a tangerine tango challenge for quilts - how tangerine and orange is the color of the year and aren't I the out of the loop, not in the groove, fashion no - no for not embracing the orange! That's it, said I - I will embrace and love the horrid beast   - if you got a lemon - make lemon aid!

If you got an ugly orange fabric - make an orange zentangles quilt!

So I started with the orange (I started to make a tangerine, but looked more like an orange when I was  done so I went with it). I drew it out on the same fabric as the background and then used fabric markers and paint to add highlights and shading. Using fusible web I attached it and a leaf and a stem (from scraps of fabric with fusible on them already)

Then the free motion quilting - you basically just draw out different sections at random in a way that looks good to you and then go in and fill each one in like you would when you doodle. Haven't we all sat through hours of boring meetings perfecting this art? If you say you are not a good enough machine quilter - this is the way to learn, I'm telling you right now. You don't have to be perfect and you can cover up if you make a mistake with something else or if your loop goes awry - make that your doodle. 

YOU CAN DO THIS!

On the back is my favorite method of hanging sleeves or in this case - triangles. You take squares, fold in half, then sew to the corners before adding the binding. Then you can insert wooden dowels in them top and bottom, making the quilt lay flatter on the wall.

So that's the saga of my beautiful orange fabric - orange you glad you stopped by? :)