447 Fiber Arts Friday: Art Quilt Thingamadoober

As usual I didn't start working on this project until 1AM last Friday morning ... then I spent all day enjoying my family, so I skipped last Friday. Sorry, most of the pictures are off my phone.

I bumbled my way through creating this. First I made a batting and fabric sandwich, two pieces offabric, batting, and one more piece of batting (that I hoped would cut down on snags, failed). I left a small opening so I could turn it, planning on sewing my pieces on top and having the finished edge ... then I realized that I would still have the raw outer edges (DUH). *sigh*

So, I cut another base piece to construct my quilt thingamadoober on. I placed my Earth piece and stitched it down. I then started adding my pieces around in a crazy (lazy) log cabin type way. Placing the new piece right side down and sewing it down, then ironing it flat before cutting.

Then I placed it facedown on the padded piece I had already created, stitching around except for a 4-5 inch opening to turn. I purposely did not make it perfect. Promise. And this is what I got ... and then I slept ;)



All ready for the fun part... embroidery! I slowly added some images over the past week.

Trying to decide what I wanted to add was both fun and a little frustrating. I didn't have a set idea, just making it up as I went along.

I wanted to add a tree ... it is one of the images that speaks to me most. I cut a shape from black felt and stitched it down while I watched the kids play in the front yard.



I am still adding to it. Stitching around the blocks, little designs. It is something small enough to schlep out to the park when the kids want to play, and it has been fun to work on. Nothing overwhelming.

Although everyone keeps asking me what it is supposed to be.... It just IS. It serves no purpose. It is something to do, and hopefully something that isn't horrible to look at. It can't touch the gorgeous art quilts that are out there, so I will just call it my thingamadoober and leave it at that.

445 Earth Day T-Shirt - Fiber Arts Friday

You can just start blaming the kids for my lack of posts. Connor is on a mission to destroy as much of my home and sanity as possible, so there is very little time to sit in front of a computer. Only to get worse once school is out for the summer I am sure.

I decided to make Katie an Earth Day T-shirt on Friday... Hey, it counts for Fiber Art Friday... t-shirt is a fiber! I procrastinate, it is not news...

I googled pictures of the globe, and decided to use a heart shaped version. There are a ton of royalty free image out there. Enlarge and print out a copy.

Place your cloth or t-shirt over the image and trace with a fabric marker. It won't be perfect, but then all you really need is the basic shape of the continents to get your point across with this image. I first did this on a piece of cloth with the idea that I would then sew it onto the shirt, but decided to paint directly on the t-shirt instead. I think I will use my first attempt to make a small art quilt hanging. Perfect for next week...

I used a textile medium to convert my regular acrylic paint into a washable paint. This bottle is at least 8 years old, so I am sure the look has changed. It is very easy to use. One part textile medium to two parts acrylic paint.

Begin filling in your image. Try to get as thin of a coat as possible while still covering completely.

It says to let it dry for 7 days ... I let it dry for 24 hours. It seems to be working fine, but you might want to actually follow directions ;)  Hand wash and hang to dry. You will also need to heat set the paint. Make sure you use an ironing cloth. My iron dribbled on my piece and I had to re-wash it. Good news though, it definitely held up through two washings...

Connor's shirt is from one he had stained. There is a small picture on the chest that I painted over. Gotta love recycling a shirt for Earth Day.

Now to get my children clean and cooperative for a picture of them wearing my masterpieces ...