Self Portrait as Crab: another quilting technique

    The Quilters' Connection has free winter workshops. I signed up to take Gladys' impressionistic quilting based on Susan Carlson's book, Serendipity Quilts. I own the book, but had never tried quilting by drawing a picture, gluing tiny bits of my fabric scraps to fill in the subject and free motion quilting atop. I didn't get far...just the crab. I cut it out and quilted it to a sandy looking fabric. Actually, I added a piece of tulle to the top to blend the colors and give extra hold to the teeny fabric pieces. I am still embellishing it, trying to save! This was all fun to do even though I made a zillion mistakes.

    I drew the object, freehand from a photo, onto 14" x 14" muslin using a Sharpie Rub a Dub marker. I grabbed groups of fabric scraps from the drawer where I keep them and gathered them in piles, rainbow pattern. I used Aleene's Tacky glue and a wooden pointed stick to apply the glue to the center of the scraps. Other people like glue sticks in order for ease in shifting the fabric pieces.

     As a present for the teachers, I turned little tins found at Michael's into mini portable hand sewing kits for carrying handwork around the house...magnets in the top for needles and pins, batting in the bottom so beads won't roll away.  The teachers had to add their own small scissors and a bobbin of thread for sewing to my present. Click to enlarge photos. Visit Susan's book at Amazon to read about the technique in more detail.