spring is here!

Another season means another mini quilt for my hallway.

After the winter we had in the midwest, every one was more than ready to see spring arrive.  Honestly, this spring has been a little lackluster, with it's cool temperatures and cloudy days (not to mention a little snow). But, hey, we've had a couple days where I felt the sun warm on my face.  I'll take it.
This mini was another improv creation.  I used a method detailed in this craftsy class taught by Jacquie Gehring.  She calls it slice and insert piecing.  I pieced strips of color into these six panels, three grey and three green in graduating tones.  I increased the number of inserts as the panels moved up; I wanted it to look like spring exploding up from the dark grey and gloom of winter.
My boys keep pointing out to me that it doesn't make sense to have the green at the top.  They think I was trying to make flowers or grass, I think.  In fact I was going for something a little more symbolic of spring, not quite a literal spring scene.  :)

Once the six panels were pieced and sewn together, I decided I wanted to applique more pops of color over the top.  I did this for two reasons.  First, I wanted to place some colored strips over the seams where the grey and green panels met.  I thought it would make the image more cohesive to have color bursting all over, not just confined to the six strips.  I hope that makes sense.  It's hard to articulate that idea!  Second, I just wanted MORE.  More color, more craziness, more exuberance, especially at the top of the piece.  I had pieced just about as much as I could piece without disastrous wonkiness happening.  At a certain point it was easier to add on top than to piece within an already heavily pieced panel.

Once again, I'm happy with this mini!  I think it screams SPRING even though it's not actual flowers or grass.  It's just color and life and spring all over.  It's like a confetti popper of spring, and I love it.