I acquired a piece of manatee fabric some time ago. Just a quarter yard, 18 inches by 22 inches. The print is large, so it didn’t lend itself to strips. I typically put prints like this on the back of quilts, but this time I wanted it to be on the front. It took me a long time to figure this out and cut it to maximize the manatees. When you are used to doing things one way, wow, it’s hard to change.

But I finally decided to try a diagonal cut with perpendicular strips and a surprising option for the back – a bright green tone-on-tone swirly fabric.

It’s quilted with sun rays made with a red, green, and gold variegated metallic thread. I added matte gold glass seed beads to the end of the rays.