Grab Bag Quilts

I am working on a grab bag challenge. Everyone submits a bag filled with fabrics and optional trims, and they are exchanged. Quilts are made using the contents of the bag, and the finished quilts are returned to the owner. I think I am not supposed to show what I am doing until the challenge has ended. So I will show some other Grab Bag challenges I have been in.

I did my first for a Quiltart challenge in 2004. A photo of this quilt is here.

In 2005 the Piecemakers Quilt Guild did a similar exchange and made this quilt. I used Robbi Joy Eklow's fusing techniqe. I overpainted the background fabrics to coordinate them more with the rest of the quilt, and added the solid dark purples from my own fabrics for some contrast:

In 2006, I made this quilt for the second Quiltart Grab Bag Challenge. Inspired by photos of succulent plants from my garden. I pushed the colors a bit in order to use the fabrics from my bag. I used Robbi’s technique again. The green smaller green succulents were shaded with Pigma markers to add some depth:

And again in 2006, I made this quilt for my CQFA group. This was based on photos I took of the pickle weed marshes in San Leandro:

I have been busy trying to get other things done, and hadn’t started work on this years grab bag, and have been a bit scared to start, because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with the fabric. The deadline is the end of the month, and I decided I better just do it.

I cut a piece of batting a couple of inches bigger than the finished size, started laying fabrics on it, and it became obvious what I will do. This afternoon I am off to the library to find reference photos of Irises, and then I will be very busy for the next week and a half.