I’ve had fun this weekend. I had in my mind to turn some of my scrap fabrics into circles (using my AccuQuilt Go! circle die) and then make a space-themed art quilt. I ended up making two! If they meet the OMG Guidelines, I’ll submit them as OMG Quilts, but if not, then I still had fun making them. And I was really pleased with how they turned out, especially #2.
Almost all the circles I die-cut were from batik fabrics, with a couple from a small sheet of sheer gold metallic fabric and some white satin, and a few from a heavyweight bright orange felt. The trick with cutting circles on the die cutter is to stabilise the fabric with fusible first, otherwise the edges will fray. I used MistyFuse on the backs of each; even so, the gold fabric would’ve frayed had I given it any more time before stitching it down. And I used fusible Pellon for the batting.
Update: These art quilts were accepted as OMG #54 and #55 respectively! And are both now available for sale from my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/605104028/interplanetary-space-1-art-quilt and https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/618942075/interplanetary-space-2-art-quilt
Interplanetary Space #1
The background fabric for this one was a piece of upholstery fabric I’ve had for decades — I re-covered two 2-seater sofas with this fabric back in the 1980s! I had about half a yard left, and so used it for the background and the binding. It was nice and strong so was perfect for lots of stitching, but a bit thick for the binding. No matter. It’s almost all gone now — yay, busting the stash!!
I made the quilt sandwich from the background fabric, the Pellon, and a cream backing fabric I had plenty of. Then I quilted it graffiti-style, using a variegated thread in cream, purple, and pink. After quilting it, I arranged various circles on the top and fused them down with the iron. Next, I stitched around each (and in some cases, inside each) with either invisible thread or gold metallic thread. Then for some of the large circles I stitched rings (like Saturn’s) using gold metallic thread. Finally, I fused on some more circles and raw-edge stitched them down, before trimming the art quilt and adding the binding.
Final dimensions: 15 x 20 inches; can be hung vertically or horizontally — there’s no top or bottom.
Threads used:
- Top: Fil-Tec Glisten ‘Gold’ (metallic, colour 60088); Wonderfil Mirage (30 wt, colour SD 32)
- Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)
Interplanetary Space #2
For the second one, I used black as the background fabric to get that feeling of deep space. I made a large circle of gold metallic fabric (lame?) the focus, arranging the other planets and moons around it but not touching it. After fusing everything down, I stitched around each circle (and inside some) with invisible thread.
I also stitched around the gold circle with gold metallic thread, and then started coming out from the ‘sun’ with some flame-like stitching. I was originally only going to do a couple of layers but then figured why not continue this flame stitching out to the edge? So I did! I liked the overall effect of the gold metallic thread on the black. Finally, I went around the gold sun a couple of times with some gold metallic couching yarn — the purpose of this was two-fold: to hide a couple of fraying edges, and to give even more emphasis to the ‘sun’. I finished off with plain black binding.
Final dimensions: 20 x 20 inches; can be hung any way.
Threads used:
- Top: Fil-Tec Glisten ‘Gold’ (metallic, colour 60088)
- Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 