Modern Quilt Wall Art Tutorial

To my mind, a traditional quilt is pure folk art. Check out the amazing quilts at the American Folk Art Museum. When considering they were each hand-pieced...they are miracles to me. Especially the double wedding ring quilt pattern. The intersecting circles are visually stunning.

For my entry for Week 1 of SYTYC, I wanted to create an homage to the double wedding ring quilt. I chose traditional colors, red and white, but wanted to simplify the process and make the aesthetic available to anyone. So, here we go!



Gather the materials you'll need:

3/4 yard background fabric
3/4 yard cotton batting
2 red fat quarters
2 white fat quarters
heat n bond lite
scissors, rotary cutter and ruler are nice to have
thread
sewing machine
pattern

First, I drew my pattern.  I wanted a perfect circle, so I began with that.   

Pattern is ready.

Second step, prepare your backing materials.

Third step, prepare your applique pieces.

Be sure to label each piece so you don't get them mixed up.

Ready to assemble your "quilt block".

You might want to do the next step on your table with a couple towels underneath.  I found my ironing board was too skinny to hold everything in place.

Be sure to iron the applique from the back as well.

Step Three, top stitch your design.

I also drew designs in between the appliques as shown.

Fourth step, wash the design to "quilt" everything together.

I got this up on the wall, and decided it needed a little more stitching in the center.

If I hadn't been making this for a contest where it needed to be "anonymous", I might have stitched a letter "P".

Last step, frame your art.
My sweet brother in law, Sam, made the frame for me from pine one by fours.   

After 3 coats of spray paint, it looked like this:

Once the frame was dry, I got out my handy staple "gun" and carefully stretched the quilt into place.  I worked from the centers out.

I added the paper to protect the quilt from getting dirty or pushed in from the back.

And congratulations...you've completed a fun art/sewing/framing project!

Thanks again to each of you for your encouragement and support.  I appreciate it more than I can express.

Featured on Craft Gossip Quilting and One Pretty Thing. 
Linking up with Today's Creative Blog, Someday Crafts,  Women Who Do It All, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Favorite Things, Along for the Ride, and Tatertots and  Jello.