Kim's Row Robin-Under the Sea

Tonight I finished my row for Kim's Under the Sea Row Robin. My row was inspired by the Laurel Burch Under the Sea line of fabric. I had the panel and knew I wanted to incorporate the mermaid into my row. I originally planned to use some shells from a piece of fabric that Hilda gave me when I was visiting her, along with some paper-pieced fish and seaweed. My first attempt at the paper-pieced seaweed was fraught with the usual frustration, and I quickly gave up on it. So I decided instead to use the flowers and palm fronds from the panel for the vegetation in my row, imparting a tropical look. At that point, I still planned to "try" to paper-piece some fish. But once I had completed the machine-applique of the mermaid on her throne of shells and had fused the vegetation to the remainder of the background, I decided to machine-applique the fish from the panel among the fronds. At that point, I took a look at the paper-pieced fish I had planned to use and realized that the scal was all wrong - they were way to big for the rest of the elements of my design. At first I was half freaked out because I had a lot of empty background space that needed filling, and half thrilled because I hate paper-piecing anyway. LOL! Didn't have any more usable fish in the panel, but fortunately Kim had provided a fabric with fish on it and the scale worked with the ones I had used from the panel. It isn't what I originally envisioned, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I think it would look nice embellished, but I think I would like it better embellished after the quilting so it would help add some dimension to the quilting. Fortunately Kim lives here in the Valley, so I've offered to embellish my row after she has the quilt quilted.

Pat H/SWquilter