Dens gens Creatifs: PAPER QUILT II AUCTION PROJECT

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

PAPER QUILT II AUCTION PROJECT

From reading past posts, I'm sure you have noticed that I have quite an attachment to quilts of any kind. I needed another auction project, so I thought that a paper quilt would be just the thing. The amazing thing about this type of project is that it is very inexpensive to create, however, it is tedious and time consuming. Not to dissuade any of you to create your own, let's begin.

Here is my receipt on the items used in making this project. I didn't have a frame here at home, however, with the 50% sale at Hobby Lobby, a nice frame was purchased. Looking at the receipt, notice that there are 9 items highlighted. Those nine pieces are all a person needs to create--well, as long as you have a paper cutter, a yard stick, a putty knife, scissors and a glue stick.

I am always looking for the 50% off scrapbook paper sale at Hobby Lobby too. You can't beat the price, considering all you need are 8-12x12 inch sheets.

So, for about $20.00, you can make a 16x20 inched frame piece of artwork by yourself.(That includes the frame!)

These were the 8 colors that I had originally purchased.

After looking at them, I went up to my scrapbook paper stash and found one with circles with embellished gold glitter. It had the added dimension I was looking for and it complimented the circles page I previously bought. Then, I found a page of aqua barn wood that really had a lot of character.

It was a leap of faith to swap at the last minute, but I felt good about the change. So the lime green with purple wisps was pulled from the pile.

When I mentioned that this was a tedious exercise, here goes. Using my scrapbook paper trimmer, I cut eat sheet into 2x2 inch squares. Each 12x12 inch sheet yielded 36 squares. You must be so exact with the cutting. A bit off on a square and you lose the exactness of the finished product. So here are my 8 piles of 2 inch squares.

Notice that I have 2 lavender, 2 lime green and 2 aqua colors. The bold stripe and colored circles compliment all of the other colors.

The next step was to cut each square into half creating 2 triangles. Don't give up. The results are incredible!

These two cutting steps, cutting the actual squares and triangles took about 3 hours time-I told you it was tedious.

Now, take one triangle from each of the cut piles. Group them. This way you always use the same components to make your squares, just use different combinations.

Here is the frame that I purchased for this project.

Before going on, take the cardboard back out of your frame, and using your yardstick, find the exact middle of the board. This will be our starting point.

Always start from the inside out. I use 8 triangles to make the first 4 squares offset of the midpoint. Dry fit pieces first. This is the step that is crucial. If the first quadrant is off, the entire piece will be crooked.

Here is the beginning of the paper quilt. Eighteen triangles are attached to the board. Continue working from the inside out.

I wanted to show you a mishap in attaching the triangles. If the seams don't match, use a putty knife to remove the piece. This process slows the work down, but you will not regret taking the time to make it right.

Cut a new piece of that pattern and continue on .

The actual timing to set and glue the triangles at this point took me 2 1/2 hours. I can't emphasize enough that you cannot rush a project like this.

I love the end effect. You really cannot go wrong. There are a million combinations to create such a project. Anyone can become an artist.

Do you see the glint of the glitter in the picture below?

I realize there is glare in the next picture, but I love the glittered circles adding so much dimension to the quilt.

If I could say one thing about this project, I would give the following advice. Pick 2 or 3 colors. I picked lime green, aqua and lavender in this project. Make sure that you have a good amount of texture and design in your patterns.