Mussel shells are all over the beach, all over the path, embedded on the rocks as the waves pull in and out. Gulls and crows drop mussels from heights to start their snacks. The pearly color draws my eye, but I like the blue, the texture, and the irregular lines around the shell. This is the California blue mussel, ubiquitous in our parts. But still, I pick them up. Here's to you, ocean.
California Blue
14.75" x 12" (37.5 cm x 30.5 cm)
Hand-dyed linen and velvet; Japanese woven cotton; found fabric; fabric paint; appliqué; machine piecing and free-motion quilting
Details:
Back (variegated thread and bobbin):
And how I got there.
Collected from Moonstone Beach, Cambria, CA.
Painted a piece of cotton with pearlescent fabric paint, then cut out the shell shapes.
I thought I was going to layer fabric. But my sewing machine balked at sewing through four layers plus the painted texture.
So I painted each one instead.
Then created strips to cut into shapes for the background.
California Blue echoes my 2021 California blue mussel quilt, or is perhaps a little cousin to it: Study for a Finding.
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