Abstract Mini

This week I have been working (in tiny blocks of time) on my next abstract mini quilt. It is not getting along with me very well, and I am fighting with my ideas on the theme versus my love of quilting a piece to death! I'll give more details when it's finished.
But in the meantime, here is the one I made for the January topic of "Family". I started with 4 circles of tulle to represent the people in my family. In overlapping the tulle I was thinking about the ways in which we influence each other. Then I thought the colours weren't strong enough so I painted with wax pastels on top of the tulle. I used too much water which made some of the colours run...but I still liked it, so I carried on. I quilted a free motion spiral in the circles and then a zigzag stitch around each circle to hold the edges of the tulle down. I liked how that turned out, thinking that it looked like cogs turning in a (sometimes well oiled!) machine - working together. I continued the zigzag quilting to the outside using a new varigated Rayon thread by Coats, to represent the energy of the family and our hope to influence the outside world in a positive way. I added a few beads because it looked a little plain, and well, I just couldn't help myself! In the centre is one of my favorite finds...a radiating sun medallion, clear heart beads in the centre of the circles and bugle beads in arrows around the outside.