JOINING THE JET SET

The Bubble Jet Set that is.

I spent several hours browsing art and quilt shops while I was in the States a couple years ago...looking for Bubble Jet Set. I found it in Kansas, brought it home and left it on the shelf.

Last month, I got busy with my new granddaughter's quilt. She isn't here yet...and my goal is to get it finished before she arrives in the next couple weeks.

And I think I'll get it done!

As you may have seen, I made 78 fabric collage invitations for my daughter's baby shower last month.

Robin, at Pink House Studio, (one of my favorite blogs) made a suggestion when she saw them on FLICKR that I print some of the baby shower invitations and make a collage out of them. Laura Lea from Flickr made the same suggestion. (I just spent ten minutes trying to find her and can't...so sorry...no link). 

Anyhoo...the light bulb went on and I took their idea and tweaked it a bit - and decided to make a quilt using printed-on-fabric invitations. I thank you both for being so wonderfully inventive and sharing your ideas!

So...to begin the quilt, I used said Bubble Jet Set and soaked some plain muslin. (I wanted to make sure my ink jet ink wouldn't wash out).  Then I printed pictures of some of my favorite baby shower invitations on the treated fabric and used them as the 'middle' or first piece of each block. 

The ink didn't come out nearly as dark as I had hoped but it has a nice hand and looks baby soft. You can see how different the color is from the pictures above & below where I've lain the original invite next to the printed block. Might be because it's a couple years old...and I read the bottle again later and realized I'd forgotten the directions said to use the fabric right away for best results. I won't forget that again. (Just in case though...you might want to remind me).

I plan on going back in around the white parts of the muslin and painting 'whatever'...with Precious Little #1's help...so they'll be quite different the next time you see them. I'm also going to add details with fabric pens.

Five and a half years ago, one of the members of my old group, AQU, in SW Florida, brought a bin of scraps to a workshop (it was Ellen Anne Eddy - one of my heroes - who taught the workshop I missed) to give away. Hubby had a heart attack and surgery that weekend so I didn't attend and some of my buddies...feeling sorry for me because of what we were going through......brought me what was left of those Beautiful Scraps!!! *Ellen Anne also sent me a gift of her fabulous hand dyed fabric, scrim and silk ribbon. Yummy. BTW...hubby passed his 5 year mark since surgery this year and is doing great.

I then added these strips - along with some of mine...log cabin style...to the printed fabric blocks that I began with. 

Then came the challenge of placing them in the right order. 

I had NO plan for the 'next step' when I began this quilt...and used different sizes and colors on each block...so it really is scrappy...but I'm beginning to love the way it's turning out! 

Even if it isn't very babyish!

Create Your Life...

annie!

Last year, I was one of the featured artists in The Pulse...an ongoing part of Seth Apter's Blog, The Altered Page. This weekend, he's included a picture of a 'Still Life' that I'd taken, submitted to The Pulse...and forgotten about! If you haven't heard of Seth...you're in for a treat. He's an amazing artist/teacher who has his second book publishing this year...and is a person coming into his own! The Pulse will introduce you to many amazing artists.


Linking to Pink Saturday.