Weighing Anchor

 My scrappy ships are all fitted out, ready to set sail. 

For their maiden voyage I've decided they will sail the south Pacific, heading for the islands.

That means they will be sailing over assorted marine life (including mermaids!).

Given the nature of the scrappy ships I took the opportunity to use up various ocean-theme prints to piece the quilt back.

There are rows of hermit crabs and then shells at the bottom. That's actually where I began, with the largest pieces of fabric from my stash that fit together color-wise. Many of these fabrics were bought on spec. Like the proverbial butterfly, I am attracted to bright colors. That means I sometimes end up buying prints that can be difficult to use. My style of quilt making has evolved over the years too, so that what I bought ten years ago doesn't work as well for the way I make quilts these days. I established with width I needed for this quilt back, then worked my way up in rows until I had the length I needed. This came together more easily than I expected. I usually struggle to piece quilt backs. Even though these are larger pieces than I use to make quilt blocks I guess they were small enough for me to wrap my head around to get the job done. 😉 I do still have some small bits of these prints laying around. It will be interesting to see where they end up!