Green Tree Quilt From Stash Fabrics
When students attend my surface design classes, I always encourage them to just play and create fabric, and build a stash. I am happy to say that I practice what I preach on this one!
![stashdrawers Judy Gula stash drawers](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/stashdrawers.jpg)
My studio is a small bedroom in my home, and the best part of the room is that there are two closets that I have filled with drawers from the elfa® Shelving Systems. These drawers are stuffed with my huge stash of fabrics, including most of my painted fabric: gel printing plate monoprints, wood block printed fabric There’s even a drawer dedicated to my handmade silk paper. Going through your stash periodically can inspire you to begin a new project.
I found the below square of fabric featuring a green and yellow tree in my stash, and it so coordinated with the green fabrics I used to create one of our Row by Row Experience samples in the shop that I was inspired to make use of the leftover strip piecing I had already completed. I have really been having fun Rayna Gillman’s wonky strip piecing technique, as described in her book, Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts: a Stress-Free Journey to Original Design). (See my previous blog post for my take on Rayna’s technique.)
![whitebackgroundtree Stenciled tree by Judy Gula](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/whitebackgroundtree.jpg)
I created this tree by placing a stencil on a gel printing plate and rolling a mix of paint over the stencil with a brayer. Lift up the stencil, and then lay down fabric atop the image on the plate. (Honestly, I was a bit amazed that I was able to keep the fabric around the stencil so clean and white!) I am sorry to say I don’t remember exactly which stencil this is, but with more than 200 stencils in our online store I am sure you can find one you like!
![beginningtopiece Beginning to piece the stenciled tree block](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/beginningtopiece.jpg)
Above is the start. The colors are great, but despite my earlier pride about keeping so much of the fabric surrounding the tree white, now I am just not liking the white ‘screaming’ at me from the background. I wasn’t sure what to do about it and finally decided to stamp it. I used Memento Luxe Mixed Media Ink Pad in Danube Blue and a Cover-a-Card Script Stamp. The trick was to not stamp over the tree!
![stampedbackground White background toned down with script stamp](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/stampedbackground.jpg)
Much better with the stamped background (photo above), I think!
Using additional hand-stamped and printed fabrics left over from sewing the Row by Row samples, I enlarged the overall dimensions. The bright green batik fabric you see on the right hand side was auditioning for binding. I think that the quilt needed a bright color.
![choosingbinding Auditioning fabric for binding](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/choosingbinding.jpg)
While happier with the stamped background, as I was working I concluded that I stamped too much close to the tree. I softened those areas using some Stewart Gill Alchemy paint in the Opal shade; I simply painted over some of the stamping close to the tree (see detail below).
![closeup_alchemy Stamped background selectively softened with Stewart Gill Alchemy paint](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/closeup_alchemy.jpg)
Once layered with batting and bound, I free-motion quilted the center tree block and the borders using a wonderful variegated thread.
![finishedjgula_treequilt Completed stenciled green tree art quilt by Judy Gula](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0791/5054/7221/files/finishedjgula_treequilt.jpg)
Finished! Click here for a larger view of the completed quilt.
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