Messy marbling for a mini quilt inspired by Monet

'Grandmother's Flower Garden' by Anna

'Not my Grandmother's Flower Garden' by Claire

'Not my Grandmother's Garden either' by Claire

'Not Monet's Lily Garden' by Claire

I decided to make a little quilt this week for the workshop I am teaching on Sunday at Midsomer quilting. The workshop is called 'Not my grandmother's garden' and is very loosely based on the very traditional quilt made solely from hexagons - just like the first picture up above on the left. The first piece of patchwork I ever made (when I was 11 years old) was just 7 hexagons big, and I must say, it didn't inspire me to carry on with patchwork at that time. Too many fiddly bits for an impatient eleven year old! However, several years ago I made the yellow quilt (above) for a Quilting Arts Magazine challenge, and used the traditional hexagon quilt as the starting point. Hopefully you can see the hexagonal 'flowers' behind all the paint, thread and buttons. 

For this weenend's workshop we will be using hexagons (well..... maybe!) as the starting point to create an art quilt something along the lines of the yellow quilt above. I wanted to explore different possibilities, so I made a further two quilts to try out a few more ideas (see images above). The green one is similar in many ways to the yellow one, and the last one doesn't use hexagons at all - but Suffolk Puffs, another very traditional and English patchwork piece (currently known by the more funky name 'yoyos'). Thanks to Jamie Malden for sharing her 'how to' video on youtube on the right.
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The inspiration for this last quilt came from one of Monet's paintings of the waterlily ponds at his home in Giverny. The top section of the green quilt reminded me of a watery pond, and made me think of Monet. Changing the shape of the hexagonal flower into a rounded flower is the sort of variation I was looking to explore for the workshop. It also meant I learned another new patchwork technique - Suffolk Puffs. 
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Nymphéas (Waterlilies), 1914-1917, National Gallery of Australia

 
To make my version of the lily pond I needed to start with a watery blue background fabric - but my stash of such fabrics is rather depleted at the moment, so I needed a quick way to make a suitable piece. I decided to try my hand at marbling with shaving foam, as I believe it is quick and easy (nobody ever seems to mention how messy, however!). 

If you haven't had a go at this technique it really is fun - but I do recommend wearing an apron and having lots of newspaper and a large bucket of water and a bin at your side!
(Arthur Comstock - a little bird told me that you love the gelli plates, so I think you might like to have a go at this too!)

This is what I did...

You will need: a tray or other flat surface, cheap shaving foam, acrylic paint, a big and a small scraper (ruler and a credit card), a stick, cloths, bucket of water and a bin

1. Squirt out lots of shaving foam onto the tray.

4. swirl it about with a stick

6. Lift the fabric up and lay on a flat surface, foam side upwards.

2. Spread it out with a credit card.

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I discovered that the paint took up better onto fabric that was moist (not soaking wet). I got the best results when I misted the fabric with water from a spray bottle and let it sit for about ten minutes to penetrate the fibres.







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7. Use a ruler to scrape off the excess foam from the fabric.

3. Add some spots of acrylic paints. You don't seem to need a lot.

5. Lay a piece of damp fabric on top and pat down gently all over.

8. Allow to dry. Press with a hot iron covered with a piece of paper. Wash if required.

The shaving foam on the tray can be used several times, spreading it out again and adding more paint. My foam did start to break down and 'curdle' after a while, so when that happened I scooped what was left into the bin and started again. 

The whole process took less than 3 or 4 minutes per piece of fabric,  so was a quick project which yielded several very nice pieces of fabric, each a little different.
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I'll add some photos of the quilts made at the workshop as soon as I can.

​Thanks for reading.
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