Fabric collage: a Serendipitous new technique!

This past rainy weekend, I decided it was time to try a new technique in quilting.  I am not an art quilter - I tend to do simple, quick projects, with patterns all written out for me. But I have been longing to expand my crafting repertoire, and we recently got an amazing new book, Serendipity Quilts, that had a simple technique and stunning samples, and inspired me to give it a try.  So I took over the kitchen table with scraps, glues, scissors, and a simple picture of a moon from the book, and began to explore this style of fabric art.

At first, it was really hard to adjust to the freedom of this - since you are just cutting and gluing, precision and perfect cutting become unnecessary. And it was hard to see my fabrics as colors for my palette, rather than dots, plaids, or florals.  But as I got into it, I found that it was liberating.

One thing I was extra-glad I picked up for this was a "Tacky Pack" of glue -I wasn't sure which of the many tacky glues we carry to try, so I was excited to find this multi-pack of trial sizes - it was great to try them out, and when one bottle of glue got lost in the pile of scraps, I could always find another!  I wound up thinking that the regular tacky glue was the best for this project, as the fast dry and the quick grab were a little too quick to grab and dry, so if I changed my mind, I had trouble prying them off.

I stayed up late into the night, adding more sparking color to my project - it was so cool, and I love the way that it looks like a raggedy mis-matched mess up close, but when I hang it on my wall, it is the most gorgeous thing I've ever made out of fabric!
I haven't quilted it yet - I am looking forward to experimenting with layers of tulle to add even more color and dimension to this project.  My first foray into art quilting was truly exhilarating!  I am excited to stretch my creative wings, and Serendipity Quilts was just what I needed to get them going. If you would like to give it a try, the book is available at our stores (except the Outlet on 4th, but if you want to pick it up there, just let them know!  They'd be happy to order one up just for you!)

- Anna-Beth