Using Batik fabrics.

The girls at the Eltham Quilt Shop have been both amused and puzzled by me snapping up most of the Batik sample fabrics that are put out for sale by the managers.  The samples are given to quilt shops by the fabric wholesalers to choose from when ordering, and our shop sells them on to their customers for 50cents a piece, a real bargain when some of them are as big as fat quarters!  I don't know why the others leave the batiks behind, because there are so many things you can do with them.  You only have to look at Pinterest for a start, to get plenty of inspiration.  Below is my first batik project, partly inspired by Linda Steele's prize winning seascape wall hanging, and partly by a tutorial I found on You Tube.
I cut the fabrics into strips that are a bit wider at one end, to give a bit of interest to the panel, rather than all being the same width.  Machine stitched them on to a piece of stiff interfacing.

 Trimmed the sides, and started looking for some bits and pieces to embellish it.  I used freezer paper to draw the seaweed, then cut it out from another piece of batik.  I fussy cut fish from other fabrics in my stash, and found some small shells with holes drilled in them.  A friend gave them to me years ago, and they have been sitting in my stash waiting for the right project!  I haven't attached anything to the background yet; I like to sit on something for a while, show it to friends, and see if there is anything I can add, remove, or modify.  Do tell me if you have any suggestions!