A Mermaid Tale

My middle initial is E. for Elizabeth. When I taught English/Language Arts it stood for Enthusiasm! Most of the curriculum that I was charged with covering was fairly easy to present to my eighth graders, but can you imagine what it took to keep them even remotely engaged when I had to present grammar and punctuation rules? It took humor, energy, standing on my head, and a ton of enthusiasm to keep students focused. :-) Later the E. came to represent Embellish when it came to quilting. 

Way back in 2013, a wave of Row by Row quilts washed over the quilting world. A theme was selected such as Sports and Hobbies, Sew Musical, Water, Seasons, etc. Quilt shops would create a pattern which would be available free to those who visited their shops. Shops also had kits for sale. Contests were held to see who could collect a certain number of patterns and combine them into a quilt first. I found an article that said by 2016 there were over 3100 stores across the US, Canada, and Europe participating. By 2017, New Zealand and Australia joined the fun. 

There were wonderful stories of folks planning vacations to visit as many stores as possible. My friends Edith and Laurel and I drove all over New England collecting kits and patterns. Edith brought back patterns when she visited Montana and Laurel made an Alaskan quilt with patterns purchased while on vacation there. It was great fun year after year. 

You didn’t even have to physically visit the shops. There was a website where you could see all the shops and all the rows which brings me to this mermaid which shows up in my kitchen each summer. The year was 2015 and that year’s theme was water. I fell in love with this mermaid row from Quilter’s Fancy in Cortland, Ohio. I purchased the pattern and fabric kit and started it right away. The mermaid needed  jewels so I made a tiny necklace and bracelet and added crystals to her crown.

I found small white fish beads and added iridescent sequin bubbles which do not show up well here.

I dipped bits of cheesecloth in watered down acrylic paint and added small rock-like beads.

The seaweed was fun to make and there are various types in this piece: stitching, angel hair yarn, and pieces of multicolored threads and yarn.

I purchased this large clump of colorful twisted threads? yarns? fibers? maybe ten years ago. Why did I purchase it? Beats me! I thought that I would find uses for it and so I have through the years. The funny thing is it never seems to get any smaller :-).

I used Texture Magic to create areas of interest along the bottom. You can see it here in the lower right corner.

When I come across potential items to add to this piece, I tuck them away where I can find them come summer. This year in addition to more seaweed, I added turtle and starfish beads. 

It has been great fun adding to this piece through the years. I wonder what I’ll find to add next year. :-)

Have a fun, creative week and try to keep cool.