Quilt for Sophia

Last weekend the baby shower for our new Grand Daughter was cancelled because of the snow storm but this weekend we visited my daughter-in-law and son and I was able to deliver my gifts.  Of course I made a Quilt.

I saw the Loose Girl Stencil from Stencil Girls  knew this was what I wanted to use to make the quilt for our new baby girl.  My daughter -in- law wanted to decorate the baby's room with pink and gray.  These are not my colors and selecting from my fabric stash for her color scheme was going to be a challenge.

I found  pink kona fabric at a local fabric store and decided to use it as a base.  I went on Etsy and found a jelly roll of pink and gray prints.   I did not have any idea of how I was going to put this together but my New Years Theme  that keeps going through my head is " DON'T THINK,  JUST DO".

I first started out with testing the stencil on fabric using different types of fabric paint.  I ended up making my own gray paint by mixing black and white fabric paints together.  I then decided to use the Love stencil with the heart because the white and gray fabric has swirls of hearts.  I backed each dress block with batting and stitched with variegated thread.

I decided to try a different process of quilting the dresses as blocks and then stitch the quilted blocks together.  I then attached the backing fabric and then quilted all three layers,

The backing fabric was not what I had in mind,  but it was pink with shades of gray.  The fabric is of girls dancing .  This gave me the idea of sharing inspirations with my new granddaughter "  I HOPE YOU DANCE!"  I thought about stitching this saying around each dress but thought better of it and will put that sentiment on the label.

Stencil, Fabric, Paint

Two months ago I joined The Stencil Club.  This group of creative individuals have given me the courage to expand and experiment.  It seems that most of the group work on canvas and have art journals and I like to work with fabrics so I am experimenting with my stash of fabrics.    

I have found that I am always adding words to my work.  I purchased two stencils from Stencil Girls that have motivational words and began to test how to use this stencil with fabrics.  My first experiments using fabric scraps and a quilted block and white fabric paint.  

I first took a scrap of colorful fabric to see if the words would show up.  I backed the fabric with freezer paper, taped the stencil to the fabric with painters tape, and began using a makeup sponge to apply the white paint to the fabric.  

I next took the quilted block and followed the same procedure.  

Next using other fabric paints and a make up sponge I applied paint to additional scraps of fabric.

I then decided to try artist acrylic inks.  I had these misters so I filled them with ink.  I laid the stencil on top of the  scraps of fabric and then misted the fabric.  

I ended up making a gift for my daughter a quilted wall hanging form one of my scraps.