My Great Quilting Expedition

We've had a lot of snow here over the past couple of days, so I've had a good excuse to finish my painted whole cloth.  I am happy with it, but wish I was braver with the quilting.  It feels like a cheat when the painting only took about 10 minutes, but it took me two days to quilt it.  I have called the quilt ' Liquorice Allsorts'. I think I may have a play with the Dye-na-flow and some Markal sticks I have, which I think would act as a resist if applied first?  We'll see.

On the back of trying out Dye-no-flow paints, I thought I'd try a larger piece.  The inspiration was the big lollypop with spiral design on them (that I used to see when I was little).  I used a pipette to apply the paint to the white cotton.  It was fun.  It is so much fun to make something without much of a plan!  I also painted another piece at the same time  - this time inspired by Bassetts Licquorice Allsorts.  I am quilting it at the moment. 

Sometimes 'stuff' happens by accident.  I bought a Jacquard Dye-na-flow exciter pack at the Festival of Quilts last year.  It had sat on my shelf since then and I thought I'd see what the paints were like.  I cut  a 16 inch square of white cotton and squeezed the paint straight from the bottle diagonally in both directions.  Where the paint was still wet, it bled into paint on the crossover locations and gave an interesting effect.  It had been my intention to throw the test piece away, but I wondered if I could actually use it.  When the paint was dry, I heat set it with the iron and then appliqued on some circles.  I used ombre fabrics from my stash.  I free motion quilted in dark thread around the coloured areas but didn't worry about staying on the lines.  Lastly, I free motioned a stipple stitch using white thread on the white areas.  I cut my binding and splattered some paint onto it - again direct from the bottle....