My regular readers know that a few months ago I acquired an exciting bundle of offcuts and scraps from a fellow quilter who dyes and sometimes prints her fabrics before using them in her original art quilts. By taking up her offer to send them free to someone who could use them, I helped us both feel good about ticking at least some of the boxes on ecological issues associated with textile waste going into landfills.

Earlier in this series, I quoted a comment by a fellow mixed media artist, Sarah Shoot, @sarahshootmixed that ‘red with turquoise is always fantastic’ and as I worked to complete the applique of strips of stripes onto the triangles piece, I thought at lot about this red + turquoise colour combination. A couple of days ago I selected a bunch of scraps from pale azure blue to strong turquoise green, interspersed with thin touches of some other colours from the opposite side of the colour spectrum.

I sliced into those to produce some long strips of colour/print segments, and once I was satisfied with the arrangement, machine basted them, and today began hand appliqueing them with that favourite orange-red thread which looks lively against the strong red background.

I have another couple of hours’ work to finish this stage, and am already thinking about the layering and quilting treatment. Because of their relative positions on the colour wheel these combinations against the red really sizzle, and I keep thinking about how in relationships they say that opposites attract – wherein might lie a suitable title.