The Layers quilt

I was given the opportunity from Lynne over at Lily's Quilts to create something using this beautiful box of Aurifil thread. I did a simple tutorial over on her blog showing how I created these layers of fabric.

I should have taken the picture before I used up all the cream thread.

I pulled all my colors for this quilt straight from the thread box. I chose to stick more with the aqua blues rather than the true blues. The title of the thread collection is Seascapes. I kept that in mind as I put this together. My ultimate inspiration for this quilt happened to be those layered colored sand creations that most of us made at least once when we were kids.

I'm simply calling this quilt "Layers". The creative process of this quilt was quite meditative for me. As I cut each layer and sewed I thought about my own personal "layers" as well as those of my kids. We are each made up of so many attributes or layers--both good and bad, but together they make each person beautiful. The dark brown and grey layers alone wouldn't necessarily be called beautiful, but without them, this quilt would be pretty bland. Without our quirks, we would all be pretty bland too. I'm trying to keep this in mind lately as my kiddos have been testing me more than usual.

Keeping the attributes of the sea in mind, I quilted each fabric according to it's specific attribute in a "seascape". I quilted blues with a dense swirl forming waves. The two browns were quilted in very small, dense pebbles representing sand and dirt. The greys are quilted in larger pebbles representing rocks. The whites/neutrals are quilted in a much larger swirl for the air. Green is quilted with leaves. Yellow represents the sun, although I couldn't come up with a good design for sun quilting in such a small space so I chose to quilt it with a swirl as well.

Honestly, I am so excited about the quilting. My quilting skills continue to improve as I brave trying new things. The Craftsy class Machine Quilting Negative Space by Angela Walters that I took several months ago gave me the guts to just try it and get out of my rut. I'm still trying to find the time to start watching the clips for the Free Motion Quilting Sampler Class by Leah Day that I signed up for last month. I think that class will help me a lot as well.

The back is so fun because you can really see the different layers of quilting.

Final size is about 42" x 55". I love it!

Check out Lily's Quilts for the tutorial on cutting and piecing these layers of fabric.

Fabrics included in this quilt:

• Art Gallery Pure Elements: Appletini, Cozumel Blue, Dark Citron, Empire Yellow, Fresh Water, Creme de la Creme, Coffee Bean, Tile Blue, Tranquil Waters, Sandstone, White Linen, Ash, Moonstone, Light Grey
• Michael Miller Cotton Couture: Aqua, Lagoon, Ocean, Turquoise, Taupe