Hand Printed Whole Cloth Quilt

It's a dark and rainy Saturday here in Brooklyn. Good weather for staying indoors and working on craft projects! That is, unless you have a dog like mine who needs a very long walk in the morning in order to not be restless, bored, and demanding. As you know, here at Yardwork, there is no yard for the dog to run and play in. So I figure I have just enough time to make a quick blog post and update my readers on what I am working on.

As I told you in my last post, 2014 is shaping up to be the year of the quilt. I wasn't kidding! And I've come to the conclusion that my Yardwork Clear Decor Stamps go hand in hand with quilting. As I showed you in one of my very first tutorials, printing on a charm square is quick, easy, and fun. If you make a mistake, there is not much to worry about! Just move on to the next square. But I had the idea the other day to try something a little more daring. Why not just hand print the whole quilt top? Of course, I had to go into this project knowing that any stray fingerprint or glob of paint would ruin almost two yards of fabric. I decided I would deal with that by cutting up the good parts into individual charm squares, so all would not be lost! I have not quite finished, but so far there have not been any major mistakes. 

I used one of my craft stencils to help to mark the layout for all the different squares. I printed it first in an olive green and then again, alternating squares, in a darker sage green. Then, I went in with my stamps and made different patterns and color combinations in various 4"square areas. I've used flowers from my Marlene's Garden, Filigree Garden, and Wild Flowers stamp sets, as these all have the same clean, graphic style to them (some of the other sets have a more hand-drawn style).

Another close up. Now I need to go into the sage green areas with some other stamps and colors. Unfortunately, I am more or less "winging it", which I do not recommend! Better to test it and plan it all out first. Unless you want to live dangerously. There is always plan B, as I mentioned before, which is to cut the good parts into charm squares!

At the same time, I've been working on these smaller, both hand stitched and machine quilted, squares of hand printed fabric. I wanted to make something very intensely "hands on" and textural. I'm going to sew the squares into zipper bags and see how that goes. 

Another view from a little further away.

I put a tiny stitch in the center of each large flower, using a metallic blue embroidery thread. The flower itself is printed in a copper metallic fabric paint. Sorry the photos are so dark! Remember, it is a dark and rainy day….

And again, from a little further away.

One last print. I did not do any hand stitching on this one. The paint was a bit more transparent, so there is more texture in the print. I thought that gave enough visual interest, so I decided to keep it simple.

I'm happy with my results and it has been a very satisfying activity. It's my own personal response to the hyped-up feeling shop owners are urged to take on for the gift giving season that is upon us!

Remarkably, Frankie is still napping! I just might get something done today!