Beeeee-cause!

OK!  I'll admit I want to make everybody work a little bit harder to read the letters in this version of the Crayons quilt. Having made each letter from one fabric however, limits my options for the remaining letters. I have to find appropriate fabrics for the letters I have left. It isn't easy, as you can probably tell.

I've had this Jane Sassaman fabric for a while. I like using very large prints for the backings of my quilts, but the quilt I was planning for this fabric grew too large, so I selected something else.

I knew that if I just made a letter out of this fabric without regard to the pattern the letter would be rather disjointed looking.  The letter B has curves, and this fabric has plenty of those.  How should I use them?  I didn't think the pink flowers would work well, and I knew the blue orchid would require too much cutting into the yardage. So I cut a couple of 2-1/2" strips crosswise and played with them.

I decided to use the leaves with the blue stems on either side of the lower "bowl".

I cut a piece of the same leaf and placed it on the bottom, underneath the black rectangle to look like a mirror image. Then I cut a piece on the bias to use in the corner. I didn't like that light area in the lower right corner, but a B is a curved shape, so I knew I could simply chop that out and make that corner suggest a curve.

Finding something to use for the upper part of the B was a bit trickier. I needed a longish, narrow piece of green.

I kept the top piece and the horizontal strip connecting the upper and lower parts of the letter in line with how I had used the fabric in other parts of the letter. That swirling green piece that connects to the blue is no accident.

Lastly I needed a long strip for the upright along the left side. The pattern on its own was a bit too big, so I did a bit of tinkering.

This is the finished letter B.

The pink dots on the left edge may disappear in the seam allowance when I sew the letter to the backing.

When I teach letter-making, the afternoon is devoted to teaching students to get the most out of their fabrics in this way.