Summer Watercolors in fabric

I needed fabric therapy one day this week.
I turned to the magic box of fabric candy...

As I am digging through scraps for projects I come across small squares and cut them to 2". Not 2.5, because my very first watercolor class used 2" and I had some left so that's the size I cut after that.
That little box probably holds thousands of little cotton squares.

Seeing this it looks like a fat quarter doesn't it?

Wouldn't you like a fat quarter of this?
It's one reason why I love fabric... all the possibilities in one print.


it's actually one of these...

I arranged, and moved, and played around til I did a tree, summer sky and wild flower covered ground.
I plan to hang a rope swing from that branch. The picture is before sewing the little squares together. It's a flash project once you start, a speedy tutorial on my tute's page.
Look as some of the prints...

I use these based on color, or the light to dark scale.
I admit, sometimes I use them for the cuteness factor, such as the cows....

After I pieced the center,
 made up of 99 2" squares

The decision of whether to border or not surfaced.

Let the auditions begin...

Rejects.  Not quite right.

 And the whole drawer unit?
No...not right....

while some of these might "do" none of them gave the effect I want. When we create art, we are not satisfied with what might do. We want the whole thing to be exciting!

And I don't know exactly the effect I want either.
 That complicates things.
I have made an improv winter quilt, an improv Fall quilt, and a Spring quilt. I want something that sings summer.

I know it will have lots of thread work. Hand embroidery and beads. Surface embellishments. But the borders???




Next post I will show what I chose, and what new question came next.