Ocean Chain

     Last May, I queried my three sisters on their favorite color combos, whether they preferred brights v. darks v. pastels, whether they saw themselves as modern v. traditional,  and if they liked a scrappy look.   My sister Amy answered first, with pink and orange, brights, scrappy and modern.  Amy's quilt was all those things.  My sister Juli requested a tee-shirt quilt.  Alison took her time responding, and said she liked shades of blues or green, slate blue and all ranges of green, with light gray and beiges and other soft neutral colors and a modern design.   With those colors I decided to go with batiks, and ordered up some blue and green fat quarters, some light gray yardage, and added in some from my stash.

Sorting through the various batiks

    In browsing various blogs, I was inspired by versions of Cluck Cluck Sew's off track pattern, and decided to give that pattern a try.  I cut the batiks into 2 1/2 inch strips to place against the gray background.

After first pinning the matching pieces together, I eventually switched over to use Wonder clips to hold the pieces together.  

     I sewed the blocks together, trying to keep a contrast between the blocks and the middles, but otherwise, just randomly selecting the fabric.

Trying out a layout on the floor.  I ended up moving around some of the dark pieces, which had accumulated in one corner.   The finished quilt is about 44 by 70 inches - a nice lap quilt size. 

The final layout

Close ups on some of the fabrics before quilting.  

I decided to do a loose double loopy quilting, as a counterpoint to the straight lines of the pattern.  I used a light gray Aurifil on the top, and a white Aurifil for the bottom.  7 bobbins for this quilt! 

More little loops

The back is an Alexander Henry fabric.  I used scraps of the batiks for the binding.   

All soft and quilted! 

         This quilt has a nice soft look to it.  I have now made two quilts using batiks.  My earlier Tranquility quilt and this one.  I will definitely use them again.   

      Enjoy the rest of the summer.  I intend to link up to  Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish it up Friday next week.  

Take care, 

Gretchen