Hugh the Manatee - Art Quilt Swap 2

Meet Hugh,



So named by my swap partner RhymeswOrange who received him this week! :)

I made him for the art quilt swap. This was her list of themes:

1. surrealist artists
2. skulls
3. "V-J Day in Times Square" photograph
4. cardinals
5. manatees

Manatees?! How irresistibly awesome!!! So I went to the drawing board. I wanted to do something cartoon-y. Something that really popped. I wanted to have elements of texture. I wanted it to have a subtle sparkle like in water.


I used applique for the manatee body. it was done in a subtle patterned fabric. RhymeswOrange said she likes fabric that registers as a solid colour to the eye. I used a blue bubble fabric for the background, and for the waves I used a stiff lightweight sparkly fabric that holds shape well when ironed for the waves. I twisted it and sewed it into odd shapes to give it movement. I hand sewed on little seed beads to give it that sunny gleam! The quilting was done with invisible thread in the shape of waves.



I also learned how to make my own bias tape for this project. I wanted it to match. To hang it there are spaces for a rod to go across the back. There are two grommets in the rope to hang it so that it can go on hooks. Makes it hang square. :)




So there you have Hugh! The lovable bubble blower from the deep sea! ;)




Here's a snap of how I packaged him. When you open the lid to the box you see strings of bubbles come up!



Text says "Something bubbles from the depths..."