Floral Challenge

Floral Art Sketch

The Project Quilting Quarantine Challenge this week is Floral.

I've been meaning to try this technique for awhile so this was a great week to try it. I used A light colored Cherrywood fat quarter as my top fabric. It's a fabulous fabric to sew with and to paint on. I looked at several photos I took of a messy garden and sketched several elements from those photos into a composition. I used a frixion pen on the fabric. I sandwiched it with some black batting pieces I had and black backing fabric. I used black thread and free motion quilted the sketch onto the fabric. I ended up with this.

I used fabric medium and watercolor paint to color the piece. It got very intense and bled quite a bit. I liked the effect but I wasn't sure how to control the edges. I sprayed some water to encourage the spread. Then I added salt to the whole piece and let it dry. I used pink Himalayan Salt, cause I had a bag of it handy, but you can use any salt. It pulls the water towards it and thus, the paint, so the end result is a mottled look I really like. 

 After it dried and I brushed all the salt off,(Outside and with a good brush) I realized I wanted a few more flowers but lighter, so I used a lighter thread, instead of black, to sketch in a few more. I used Inktense pencils with fabric medium to bring out some more spots of color that I lost from bleeding before. I've never actually made a quilt with a rounded top , but always wanted to try it. It's roughly 13 x 20.  

Overall, I liked this project. I got to do some techniques I had wanted to try and I like the overall feel of the piece, like it's a watercolor sketch. I'd forgotten just how much I like the effects of salt. I really liked the whole piece as a great little project.