Little Inchie Crazy Quilt

Scrappy ATC 2.5X3.5

Scrappy, artsy, crazy quilts are like the frappuccino's of the art quilt world--all cool and mixed up with an extra dollop of whip cream. So I came across my box of Inchie Art from last year, and felt like freeing these teeny tiny pieces of art from their storage prison. An Inchie is one-square-inch of artwork...it can be paper, fabric...whatever you wish! I participated in Every Inchie Monday, a blog linkup there for a few weeks--but then started having the pinched nerve in my back, and at that point I was barely blogging anything, let alone creating teeny tiny themed art. But the good part of participating in the Inchie group was ending up with this itty bitty gallery of art. Many of my Inchies were done on fabric--and a few on paper. Now, looking back on them, I hardly remember what some of their themes were...so I knew it was time to put them somewhere fun. I gathered up the fabric Inchies and made a little square scrappy quilt to display them.

Lately I've enjoyed just taking scraps of fabric and sewing them onto something. It's almost therapeutic! (like art) It kind of started with a scrappy ATC I made to send to my U.K. soul sister Jan. I LOVE having a soul sister across the pond! For me, scrappy stitching is all about choosing little scraps and cuttings of fabric that I dearly love for some reason--or beyond that it has sentimental value--or it's something I've embroidered or cross-stitched. I have lots of little hearts here and there, for example, that I cross-stitch all the time. I could cross-stitch a heart in my sleep, and when my hands aren't busy with something else, I'm probably cross-stitching a heart. It's like my little motto: if you sit, you knit. In another words, I never just sit down and watch TV, or just sit around--if I'm sitting, I'm knitting or stitching on something. Otherwise--I'm dog tired and laying down!

You can see, the little tiny Inchies displayed on the scrappy background. But some of those scraps are special too, like the blingy little silky piece of fabric on the upper right. It is from fabric that made up my sash as part of my costume when I played a royal wife in the King & I at our local community theatre.

Down in the corner by this musical Inchie done on black Aida cloth, is a snippet from the ribbon Jan used to tie up the beautiful gifts she made me from her scraps--but they certainly do not look like they were made from scraps--her work is gorgeous. I so love ribbons though--and this ribbon came to me from a beautiful country--so it is stitched into the fabric canvas of my quiltie Inchie gallery.

Of course, one of my Inchies last year was a cross-stitched heart on 18-count aida...and I stitched a bigger heart onto the crazy quilt. I think one of my favorite Inchies was the purple girl with crazy DMC wire floss hair!

This is a peek at how the little crazy quilt began. The base is two squares of felt--then a snippet here and there of fabric stitched onto it--goes very quickly in the sewing machine.

I love this little fabric Inchie that was about sisters, apparently.

Here is one of the darling things Jan made me--by the way! The most adorable pin cushion ever!

The six surviving paper Inchies found a home in my art journal. 

Eat, Write, Dream, and Stitch your art!
 

THE THEME IS "FROLIC"

An "Inchie" is one square inch of art.

Today's Inchie theme, "Frolic," might have you imagining someone skipping through a field of flowers.  

But I pictured someone who had just finished her frolic. Someone with long pink hair, on a windy day, standing in the middle of a field of bachelor's buttons, smiling, with the wind blowing her curls straight up. That's my "frolic." Oh, and she is purple.

She began her life on a one-inch square of 14-count aida cloth. I inserted her DMC memory thread curls--using a long straight pin to wind each strand around making the tiny ringlets.

I quickly embroidered her face and a hint of a blue dress. The tiny piece of aida cloth quickly wanted to unravel, even though I had sewn the edges--I saved it by giving it a piece of purple polka dot material for the backing. My frolic was over!

Here's a another portrait of Frida--I couldn't decide which background to photograph her on for the Every Inchie Monday gallery. (visit http://everyinchiemonday.blogspot.com/)

This is the one I think I will upload. Phew! Next week the theme is "Dance."