I've been blessed with some fantastic custom orders this year.
Here's one that I made for Corinna, a textile artist in Sacramento who loves the ocean. She wanted a vest that incorporated both keeping it cosmic, and keeping the ocean clean, and an orca (all three of these are right up my alley!).
I love the black and starry fabric that I used for the orca -- they are, in my opinion, one of the most mystical and mysterious creatures on the planet. I try to utilize recycled, vintage and secondhand fabrics as much as possible, but sometimes I have to buy something new to complete a vision (like the starry fabric), The great thing about appliqué though is that I end up using almost every scrap! Textile waste is one of those things that's easy to overlook (or just avoid thinking about), but once you start thinking about it -- it's everywhere! All of the blue fabrics and the vest itself are recycled.
Shout-out to my friend Elaine for sending me a big box of random and beautiful quilting and batik fabrics! Click on her name and check out her Etsy shop.