The DNA Quilt

We are two weeks into the school year, and I'm trying my best to keep a more regular work schedule. Along with that, I have a goal of blogging at least once a week! I have a huge backlog of projects of my own to share, along with some long arm work that I did for others.

I made this quilt this spring when I had a little lull in my schedule. I started with a stack of 10" squares, and initially just sewed them together into a giant patchwork top. There was no sparkle to the quilt top, though, probably because all of the prints are a medium tone. I didn't want to give up on these great colors, though, so I cut into my quilt top and inserted black strips of varying widths. I used a black batik, which is so wonderfully dark. The black seemed to do the trick, because now the colors really pop!

With the black strips inserted among the bright colors, the quilt reminds me a bit of DNA running through a gel. :) 

For the quilting, I quilted swirly "mermaid hair", as I like to call it, in the brightly colored sections. And in the black strips I quilted curved lines. Batiks can feel a bit stiff sometimes, so I wanted to keep the quilting soft.

The binding is a orange batik in a fun zig zag print!

For the back I used several batiks that I had on hand.

The quilting is really visible on the black print in the back! I love the aqua thread against the black.

Quilt stats:

Name: DNA Quilt

Fabrics: Hoffman Batiks

Size: 54" x 67"

I'm listing this one on Etsy!