quilting with paper

After all of my dreaming (and drooling) over amazing craft spaces, I decided to stop whining about my space (a.k.a. the dining room table) and do something about it.

Something simple, something quick, something happy.

What makes me happy?

The quilt.

What did the mailman just bring?

A 20 x 30 print of said quilt.

Where can I hang it?

No clue...

So as I sat at my sewing machine pondering these questions, I looked in front of me at the giant 4 x 4 foot canvas that has been bugging me since the day I painted it 3 years ago.

That is where I wanted the picture to go.

But I didn't want to just ditch the canvas.

Nor did I really want to buy a giant frame for a giant price.

Enter the paper quilt experiment.

I took a pack of Heather Bailey paper

which had exactly 12 different prints.

Then I cut each paper into 2 inch strips.

Here is my stack of 16 different "quilt blocks".

I made sure that each block had 6 different prints.

No real science to this.

Random is how I like it.

I used my tape runner to attach six strips to each 12 x 12 piece of cardstock.

Then I grabbed my dear friend Mod Podge and a brush.

While I let the kids go wild with glue sticks on their craft table, I poured out nearly a whole bottle of the Mod Podge and went crazy with glue of my own. The foam brush was quickly ditched for a much more useful big bristle paintbrush. Similar to the Quilt Along, I just lined up each block and smoothed it down.

Then I used my staple gun to put some aqua ribbon across it.

Finally, I put the matching french clips to good use attaching the picture.

One hour later.

One thousand times better.

Is it too girly and crafty for a dining room?

Maybe.

But not for my dining room.

So if you don't sew, you still can make a sweet quilt,

and if you come over for dinner you can eat next to sweet baby feet.