"WHAT IF" Challenge for Quilt Artists of Kentucky

 Last Spring, I got the idea for a Challenge fund raiser, for our Quilt Artists of Kentucky Guild that would involve selling kits, made up of various pieces of fabric and trim found in my studio and that of a fellow Art quilter. This photo shows 4 of those kits.  

You can see my kit in the lower left corner of the above photo. 

The challenge was to use part of everything in the kit and see what the artist would create going along with the idea of "WHAT IF" I do this or that with these items. "What If" I add in another medium or embellishment. The finished piece could be 8"x10" or 5"x7" and had to be mounted on a 8"x10" canvas.  

I got the idea from someone asking me how I create. They wanted to know if I fully plan a piece or create as I go. I said that I start with a basic inspiration or idea and then ask myself "WHAT IF" as I design the piece. 

This is a photo of the beginning of my piece.  It started out as a 5"x7" Crazy square.  

After doing the Crazy Piecing, I decided to see "What would happen If I enhanced the fabrics with watercolor pencils. I used Derwent Watercolor pencils and Golden gac 900 fabric medium. 

 I really liked the richness of color that resulted. I then stamped a fern design into the center of the piece.  I used Gold metallic paint. 

Fabric enhanced with watercolor pencils and stamped with gold metallic paint using a TaTa wood block stamp.

There was a piece of hand crocheted lace trim in the kit.  I thought about attaching it with hand embroidery or beading. I ended up doing both techniques after I painted it with Tsukineko bronze ink and sewed it into place by machine. 

After the paint had dried, I free motion quilted the piece using gold metallic thread. I quilted in a vining leaf pattern and outlined the fern. The edge is finished with a satin stitch using Madeira FS20 metallic thread. 

I then sewed down the painted lace. The ink was nice because it did not cause the lace to become stiff.

The above photo shows a detail of the embroidery and the start of the beading using leaf beads and glass seed beads. The center of the fern is beaded with gold 6/o beads. 

Here is a photo showing all of the beading.   The piece is ready to be mounted onto an artist canvas.

I "pour painted" the canvas. Just as the paint was setting up, I pressed the piece into the paint and held it there until it adhered to the canvas. 

Each artist can finish their canvas either with paint or fabric. Even though the pieces can vary in size, I set the canvas size at just 8"x10" so a show of the pieces will hang better together and be easier to hang.

I really love the way this "WHAT IF" project came out. Since I was starting out with the materials already decided for me, it became a good exercise in letting go and letting the design process just happen. 

 There will be a show of the finished pieces at our Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society Getaway in June.  I'm excited about seeing what everyone else has done. I know it will be very interesting. 

Creating Always, 

Karen