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| Petals to Picots’ Baby Keepsake Quilt |
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| T-Shirt Quilt at lil blue boo |
Some quilters are pretty amazing artists. Check out this quilt at Cedar Canyon Textiles – it was quilted and then painted, so that the stitching lines show.
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| One of Cedar Canyon Textiles’ Painted Quilts |
I also love this idea – to use blocks of hand-painted fabric and incorporate them into your quilt.
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| Hand-painted blocks at A Discordant Piece of Cheese |
What do you think? It’s simple, whimsical, fast and easy. Totally perfect for the one-hour rebel quilter in me. :)
If you are interested in more posts on stenciling fabric, I reviewed Cutting Edge Stencils here at Happy Hour – I LOVE them. You could also cut your own design with freezer paper and a utility knife, if you are just doing a single block like this. If you haven’t done that before, I made a Halloween short for Raya last fall, you can take a look at that technique here.
I used acrylic paint mixed with textile medium. It says to use 2 parts paint to one part medium, but this fabric is pretty thin, so I went a little heavier on the medium. The medium makes the paint permanent for washing and more flexible.
I did get a little bit of bleed on the stem portion after having thinned my paint. But I think it was worth it, because once it was dry, the painted portion isn’t stiff or rough at all – and I LOVE the dandelion. The drying time was about 15 minutes between my two coats, plus another 30 minutes at the end – and I STILL finished this block (including clean up) in less than an hour.
I hope if you’re sew-phobic, you consider a no-sew idea like this, and get involved in the challenge! I know you may wonder why you should bother to make a quilt block if you don’t want to pursue a whole quilt.
Well, for one, I think that if you try it, you might like it (that’s such a mom response, isn’t it? LOL). But also – if you don’t have plans for your block at the end of the challenge – I’d love to take it off your hands! When I have enough blocks, this quilt is going to be my blog quilt – and I’d love to incorporate other bloggers’ blocks into it! Just drop me an email or leave me a comment if you’d like to send yours along. :)
You’ll be able to link up your finished squares starting this coming Monday, August 6. It’s not anonymous or anything, so be sure to spread the word! If you don’t have a blog, you can email me photos of
your finished blocks at happyhourprojectsblog@gmail.com.
See you tonight for Happy Hour Friday! I link up to these great parties! 
I like this! I have to admit, though, I'm a traditional quilt square kind of gal, but for someone who is scared half to death of their sewing machine, this is a good alternative to still be able to make something lovely for their family!!
Love this! I was nervous to try to paint fabric, but after seeing this I'm not. I might just have to try this method too!
Oh, oh, oh, I love it! Have you read the children's book The Patchwork Quilt. It's beautiful! I made a quilt with my students when teaching kindergarten. I got the paper that could be ironed on to fabric and they each drew a square. It was spectacular!
Sending see beautiful thoughts your way!
How cool, Adrianne! Thanks for including my quilt :)
Very pretty! I love it.
What a cute idea… have a dear friend who has a 'vendetta' against dandelions… sew of course, I buy her everything I can with a dandelion on it… I have some really cute fabric that has dandy-lions (lions in the flowers) that would make a great border for a pillow cover with this as the center block (if I can find it LOL) I think that in addition to the paint idea, I might do the bleach pen thing on a dark fabric and just see what develops…. thanks for sharing this with us..as always you inspire me!
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Wow! I love this block! The dandelion looks so delicate and it would be stunning in a quilt. Or even as a quilted pillow. Love it!