Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A little creativity

After my quilting marathon for our show, I should be burnt out, but actually I'm eager to get back into the studio, just on a different scale. Instead of large quilts on a deadline, I'm in the mood for small items that I can play with.

Two inchies in progress, left, bases, center, and goofs, right
So, I'm going from a queen size quilt to .... inchies! I've been doing fabric postcards for a while, and have been intrigued by the question of what can you do with a one-inch work. I thought this would be a good time to find out.

So last night I pulled out a bin full of fun fabrics, and a drawer full of fiber stuff, and cut up some stiff interfacing into one-inch squares. My first effort was sewing two sets of four strips, then cutting them diagonally and swapping pieces, then sewing back together. But, oops! I didn't allow enough length for the seam and they were too small. Back into the bin to use for something else.

Fiber stuff to play with
Next was a simpler try, with three strips, made larger than my one-inch base. I fused them onto the bases on a diagonal, then pulled out some bits of fibers. For this one, I used threads I pulled from the edge of a scrap of pink lamé, and some threads that shredded off a new fat quarter when I washed it. I carefully laid the threads across the fabric base, then covered with a small piece of wash-away stabilizer. I quilted that down, using a metallic thread, then rinsed away the stabilizer.

I haven't decided what I will do next, some combination of embellishments, then put on a backing, and trim around the edges.

I can see why these little things can become addictive!
Fabric scraps to play with



More later.