Learning Something New
It seems I am always learning something new. It goes hand in hand with problem solving. You would think after 36 years of quilting there would be nothing new to learn. The reality is there are always new tools on offer and new ways, often more efficient ways, of doing old things. Fortunately, this old dog can learn new tricks.
The last time I shared How Does Your Garden Grow? it wasn’t bound. Since it is a fairly traditional quilt my plan was to simply bind the edges. Those of you who follow my posts probably caught the word “simply” and realized I would add some new Gwyned complexity. It is true. I really planned to simply bind the quilt and call it a day. However, I stumbled on a tutorial on how to make faux piping and knew it would be perfect. The faux piping is the very thin strip of red between the pink binding and the quilt. Gives the piece a nice finish, don’t you think?
New Beginning
Now that 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt is basically done it is time to begin my next small quilt. That adorable girl sporting a pink sun hat is my youngest grandchild, Ariana. She was 16 months at the time. She is 9 years old now. My plan is to thread paint her face, hand and arm. This is a giant leap. It is one thing to thread paint an owl or a cat, but a human? That feels intimidating. New can be scary, but it is exciting, too.
The first thing I did was to print the image on fabric. I use inkjet fabric sheets. This is my first time attempting a thread painting that is larger than a single 8.5″ x 11″ fabric sheet. I could write a post on how to print and align multiple pages to form a single large sheet, but I won’t. Of course, you can send a photo to a company that prints images on fabric, but that is pricier and takes time. Since I am impatient and cheap, I went for the print at home method.
Would the seams disappear when they were thread painted? I crossed my fingers and started with the eyes. The answer is YES! Oh the joy of trying something new and having it work the way you hope and imagine it will.
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Before I squared up How Does Your Garden Grow? I added antennae and legs to my butterflies. The individual butterflies are thread painted off quilt and then appliquéd in place. I stitch the antennae directly on the quilt.
I’m linking up to the following posts:
