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Octopus’s Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek

January 26, 2019 by persimondreams 5 Comments

The end of the second week of Project QUILTING Season 10 is coming to an end.  I went back to my comfort zone for this challenge – Convergence Quilts. 

Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek

Today I’ll share with you the process I went through to create my quilt “Octopus’s Garden” for the Red, White and Blue Project QUILTING Challenge.

I knew pretty early on that I wanted to do a convergence quilt for this challenge.  I was a bit stumped and when I’m stumped – Convergence Quilts is my go to. fabric pull But, the key to a good convergence quilt is the colors.  I went to my stash and these were the first four I thought I’d give a go on.  While looking in the stash I came across some buffalo plaids I had gotten for my friends baby.  final fabric pullI couldn’t get that out of my mind … so before I knew it – I switched out the Alison Glass red fabric for the buffalo plaid.

fabrico marker on fabric

I really liked the Alison Glass Diving Board fabric but I wanted to jazz it up just a bit for this project.  So – I started by coloring in some of the Ocotopus with a Fabrico marker.  pre convergence

And here’s what the adjusted four fabrics look like – a hand-dyed, a white print from Alison Glass, a buffalo plaid red and some fish on blue!convergence step 1

I accidentally cut the wrong side of my second panel so I had to tweak my strips a bit to make the octopus flow through the strips.  I’m ok with it.  convergence step 2

And once you do the second convergence cuts it really starts to change!wavy border

For the border I first added a strip of hand-dyed fabrics.  The second strip is pieced from the other three fabrics in the convergence.  I used Ricky Tims’ method for sewing soft curves to create even more interest in the border.    Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim LapacekOnce that was done … here’s what I had.  I’ll admit, I am not in love with how this look.  The blue fish are just too much for me.  I needed to add something.

derwent inktense pencils and liquitex fabric medium

It was time to play with some of that Diving Board fabric from Alison Glass again – this time with Derwent Inktense pencils and Liquitex fabric medium.  Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek process photo

I had some fun coloring with the pencils and before I knew it I was ready to embellish the quilt.  I fused Heat n Bond Lite to the back of my colored fabric.Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek process photo

I played around with the placement of the additional octopus but it was way too much to keep it this full.Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek process photo

I trimmed him down some more and got it just the way I wanted to.  I also fused some whales and sand dollars down from other fabrics I had.  It helped create even more movement to the piece.

Thermoweb products for quilt sandwhich

Once I was happy with how all the fused elements looked, it was time to baste the quilt!  I used Stitch N Sew Sew in Fleece from Thermoweb for the batting and Spray n Baste to baste the quilt.Aurifil thread

I used Aurifil thread to free motion quilt the piece on my Bernina.Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek

I decided to face the binding on this one and some of the whales and Octopus’s actually look as if they go off the quilts’ edge.  I really wanted to add some angelina fibers to the piece because – you know – glitter is awesome.

IMG_0986-001

And I think I’m happy with how that worked out.  Just a bit of shine … not too much, not too little.  The great thing is they’re just stitched on loosely so if I want to take the angelina fiber off it won’t be too hard.  I really need to get a better picture but I’ll be gone all tomorrow morning … I’ll try to get one before the crazy snow storm hits on Monday!Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek close upHere you can see a little more detail. Octopus's Garden Quilt by Kim Lapacek close upI love that the Angelina Fiber bits are translucent so you can still see the design behind them. 

So there you have it!  Octopus’s Garden is complete! 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shasta Matova says

    January 27, 2019 at 11:42 am

    That turned out really pretty! I just love how you added the design on the top of the piecing.

    Reply
  2. Pam Geisel says

    January 27, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    It’s like the blue octopus is trying to get to the red octopus, which is behind a window.

    Reply
  3. Annmarie says

    January 28, 2019 at 12:30 pm

    Awesome quilt. Awesome quilter. I don’t think there is a quilter more creative than you!

    Reply
  4. Sharon Huisingh Smith says

    February 3, 2019 at 3:51 pm

    Very creative! Love how you added the 2nd octopus. My first quilt class was a convergence quilt. They are a lot of fun!
    .. an you explain or point to a good tutorial on coloring with the intense and fabric medium? I’ve been wanting to paint or color on my fabric and have no idea how to go beyond fabric markers. Thx!

    Reply
    • persimondreams says

      February 3, 2019 at 7:58 pm

      Painted Applique by Linda M Poole was the book that started this all – https://amzn.to/2Tuw9jZ But Trisha Frankland was my real inspiration to learn this new technique.

      Reply

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