Alice's Harmony Quilt--Construction Process with Photos

At Andrea's suggestion, I documented the process of constructing my quilt with photos.  Probably what would be easiest would be to upload the various photos I took and then explain the process in the captions.

I first painted PFD fabric with the three Setacolor paints above, applying them to dampened fabric with a foam brush.

I had previously cut out the Chinese characters for harmony from craft foam.
These I placed randomly on the still-damp fabric.  The beads
and the green plastic were some experimenting
I was doing--to see how they
would sun-print.  (Wonderfully!)

I put the board on which the fabric was laid out in the sun to dry
and to sun-print on the patio table in our back yard.
(Our lawn is green and the flowers are
thriving, despite the drought, because
of our diligent watering!  Water has
not been rationed, thanks to the fact that our
water supply comes from a big lake, still
full!)

After finding a beautiful Asian fabric that featured Koi, I chose two fish
to be used on the Yin-Yang.

I lightly fused Misty Fuse onto the back of the Asian-themed fabric.

I auditioned the cut-out Koi on various fabrics, eventually choosing
this red-orange batik for the gold fish, and the Asian
turquoise fabric for the red one.

I used the lid from my ice bucket as a pattern for the Yin-Yang, tracing
around the lid onto the dull side of freezer paper.

I cut out the curved shapes and ironed the freezer paper patterns
to the two fabrics, shiny side down.

I cut out the shapes from the red-orange and turquoise fabrics.

I fused the koi onto the Yin-Yang.

            

I appliqued the fish and the Yin-Yang to the background, using a tiny
zig-zag stitch and thread that matched the applique.  I also appliqued the Yin-Yang
itself to the background.

I quilted around the Harmony characters first, and then
I quilted around the Yin-Yang several times.
Using a freezer paper template for the first line of
stitches, I quilted concentric arcs in three of
the four corners of the quilt.

I backed the quilt with this fabric printed with
Chinese characters.  I used the "pillow-case" method
of finishing, by placing the quilt and the backing
with right sides together, stitching all around the edges,
leaving an opening for turning, and then
blind-stitching the opening closed.
Obviously, when using this technique for
finishing, the quilting doesn't show on the back.