I added the checkered border first..
It reminds me of the mosaic tiles I saw in Mexico.
However, lets make it more interesting.,.
I cut a 1” strip of fusible web and ironed it to the top of the strip of check fabric.
I cut along the edge of the pattern tin the fabric to give me an interesting texture.
The top and bottom strips in blue, also come from the images I saw on some of the buildings in Mexico... I didn’t have a pattern, so it comes from my imagination
I added a 3” strip fusible web to a strip of blue fabric.
I folded it in four and drew a pattern... three of the images fitted into the 4th fold of the strip...
With sharp scissors I cut out the pattern through the four thicknesses...
I wasn’t too fussy about the shape being perfect... The strip at the bottom is the reverse of the top strip... so one cutting line gives you 2 borders....!!!
The other two borders were cut in the same way..... Don't you love batik, you can do so much with it....In fact after I had added a small strip of fusible web to the border piece, I just cut it out like we used to do for paper dolls when we were children.... Triangles on one piece and squares on the other.....
It’s such fun.... very freeing and quick.... You sort of throw out the rules and be creative...
All of the he borders were pressed to the background piece.... because they have a small strip of fusible web on them, I did sew the top and bottom border to the quilt.
The pots have been illustrated with pigma ink, so now they have some dimension...
The base of the cactus was also changed in texture by using the pens...
Now to appliqué and quilt it.
Oh, you may have wondered why I chose the dark fabric for the top and bottom....
First the colors blend beautifully, second, there was so much gold and black wrought iron on some of the buildings in Oaxaca Mexico and the black and gold printed fabric gave the quilt a richness that depicted the opulence.
All in all it took just over half an hour....