Treasure Hunt

This was a fun piece to make. It started out as one section of a larger wall quilt that I had pinned up on my entry wall for a long time, taking it down when there was no inspiration for finishing it. The batik fabric reminded me of water and I had been given a small piece of fabric with fish (not a theme I have explored). So I put the fish into a “house” and used stitching to represent the sky (swirls) and bubbles (machine embroidery) coming up from the sea. I found a piece of cheesecloth that I’d painted and it seemed to match, so I attached it to the bottom half.

It was then the idea of treasures in the sea came to me, so I added beading to represent those treasures. I burned and ripped the cheesecloth, which now represented a net to capture the treasures. Also, my husband brought me flowers one day when I was working on this, and I added some of plastic wrapping to represent garbage found in the sea.

I used the pillow case method for adding the backing fabric and interfacing because I didn’t feel it needed a border but I was able to keep the netting free. I quilted some around the “house” but that is all. I now wish I had waited to add the swirly and embroidery stitches until all the sandwich was constructed so there would be more dimension. Oh well, with each piece I do learn … and that is what this journey is all about! My husband sees star wars, with planets floating around … what do you see?

"Treasure Hunt" Commercial cottons, batik, painted cheesecloth, beads, embroidery thread. 15x12