Menominee Mermaid

I have been collecting these great blues, greens, teal and turquise fabrics to make a wall hanging and then I decided to do a mermaid quilt. I started with wanting her to sit on a rock but then should I do a realistic mermaid or a "line drawing" mermaid with the pretty fabrics showing through?? I went with the second choice. The size of this piece is 22.5 x 25 which made the face too little for any applique except the mouth. I drew and painted the face to complete it. I cut 25 different 5" squares in blues, greens, teals and turquiose and added the bottom row of browns to get a rectangle and to have more of a "rock" color going on w/o deviating from my original color theme. My co-worker Sherrie at Pizazz Salon, where I work, said "don't you ever do a lighthouse in your quilts?" I then make a Mr. Yucky face since that motif is everywhere in Menominee because we have a lighthouse on the Bay of Lake Michigan. But I needed something in the upper left corner and thought that would be funny and I had to go no further than the cover of the local phone book to figure out how to draw a lighthouse!! Miss Mermaid is embellished with a blue starfish in her hair which also has strands of blue gliiter. Her face is painted with nail polish, Smooch paint and fabric paint. There are beads randomly sewn and I made fish buttons out of Sculpy clay and painted them with teal nail polish. Every summer at Spies Public Library in Menominee there is an art exhibit for any local artist to display their work. I will be putting this piece in the show and will not be doing Show and Share at Northwoods Quilters first because of the timing. The exhibit will be on display until the end of August.

Here is a close of Menominee Mermaid's face and hair.