This turtle was begun as part of a New Horizon Quilter's challenge called "Something from the Sea", using Susan Carlson's free-form piecing techniques, from her book Free-Style Quilts.

The challenge called for an 18" x 24" quilt, in either portrait or landscape layout. I'd been reading a book about Japanese woodblock prints, including many that were diptychs, so my turtle suddenly found itself on two panels.

The background fabric was sponge-painted then stamped with the Chinese, Egyptian, and Celtic symbols for water. There are diatoms (microscopic critters, obviously much bigger than life-size here) floating in the water.