Palette Green

Hello friends,

For the past 3 or 4 years, I have kept a saying scrawled on a bight pink Post-it note on a wall leading into my kitchen. When I pulled the Palette Green fabric out of the box, that message immediately popped into my head and I knew I had to somehow add it to my project!
Green is a wonderful addition to the Freespirit Palette collection. It's a great color to add to Palette pink, yellow and even orange projects (since orange has bits of green in some of the patterns). It will also go with the blues that are coming in the next few months. 

I used just two of the ten fabrics for my tray: Palette Green Stamps for the background and Palette Green Tiny Print for the center feature. I quilted both pieces - one with squares following the stamp lines and a diamond pattern for the center. You will be able to see the quilting better in the close-up photos. 

There are 8 more fabrics to choose from:

Palette Green Collage

Palette GreenVintage

Palette GreenTapestry

Palette Green Numbers

Palette Green Ferns

Palette Green Typography

Palette Green Map

Palette Green Tickets

Lets get started with the Vignette Box. 

I decided I wanted to leave the wood showing but I wanted a smooth satin finish. So I painted Collage Medium on the parts of the tray that will show: the inside and outside walls. The Collage Medium gave it a finished look and really elevated the look of the raw wood.

I cut the Stamp fabric and a piece of Warm & Natural for the back of the tray - 6 x 12". That will give me enough fabric to be able to trim up the sides after quilting.

I used a temporary fabric adhesive to keep the fabric in place while I do the quilting portion.

For the stamp fabric, I followed the lines of the stamps. That made it very easy to follow and no pre-marking was needed.

Then I went to the cutting mat and trimmed up the edges to fit the large Vignette Tray.

I added a good amount of Collage Medium to the entire back of the tray, before adding the quilted fabric. I used a small brayer to help adhere the fabric panel to the wood then set it aside to dry.

I also decided to add Design Tape to the lip edge of the tray. Of course my absolute favorite green tape worked perfectly for my green theme. I do like to add Design Tape with Collage Medium underneath for longevity.

I cut a piece of heavy chipboard 4 x 10", then once I had my phrase planned out, I cut it to 4 x 7.5" (4" was as wide as it could be). I did not account for the eyelets that I added later, so in hindsight I wish I would have cut the chipboard about a 1/2" longer - 4 x 8". Sometimes that happens and you just have to go with it!

The Sizzix die is one of the newer Vault Dies - called Edges. I love this lower case alpha - that 'g' gets me every time!

I used  Distress Heavystock for the letters (cutting two sets) because it is so thick - the perfect cardstock for die cutting (and it has a silky smooth surface). Cutting all the letters took a bit of time, but I added Sizzix Adhesive sheets to the back of the cardstock, which made stacking the letters very easy. I just put on some music and worked my way through the phrase.

NOTE: Be sure to take a quick photo of the layout before sliding the letters off the chipboard.

So lets quilt the second piece of fabric. Again, I added Warm & Natural to the Tiny Print with spray adhesive. Then got to work marking the first set of sewing lines using a Pilot FriXion Pen. It looks like a lot of sewing but it's not.

Once the first set of diagonal lines was sewn, I marked the second set and went back to the sewing machine to finish it out.

Next is trimming it up to fit the chipboard.

I used Collage Medium to adhere the fabric to the Chipboard. I also used a small brayer to make sure it was adhered well.

Next up is the eyelets. It's always scary cutting into the fabric to make the hole but you just have to go for it.

Once the eyelets are in, you can proceed to recreate the layout of the phrase. You can see that I had to shimmy the lines closer together because I had not accounted for the eyelets in my original design. Not ideal, but still doable.

It looked pretty good when I was done, but gosh that extra 1/2" would have made it easier. 

I added some stamp pieces at the top. I followed my easy patch making technique, by painting Collage Medium onto the back of the fabric and letting it dry completely. Then I just cut out the pieces I needed and stitched them together. 

It was only after that, that I glued them to the panel as if I had sewn them on. The string was threaded through the eyelets for hanging. I love how the string, dyed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, completes the panel. Now, how to hang it?

I painted a handle from the Mini Hardware Set. 

Then glued it to the fabric with Collage Medium. This is why it was important that the background fabric is secure to the back of the tray. Once it was secure, I placed the panel over the background with the string around the knob.

I added a five bingo chips to the back of the panel to raise it from the tray and keep it secure.

And there you have it! One of my favorite sayings (and not on a Post-it note anymore!).

If you have a favorite saying, maybe it would work for a project like this? 

Now carry on,

paula

Palette Yellow

Hello friends,

I an so excited to share my Display Panel project using Freespirit Palette Yellow fabric. I like yellow, but I LOVE this fabric! It is just so beautiful! The yellow tones are so pleasing and work so well together! 

I decided to use the Yellow Map fabric for the background, along with paper from Vault Memoranda in 12 x 12" for the sides of the Display Panel (one can never go wrong with ticking).

Of course there are 10 Yellow Palette fabrics-

Yellow Botanical

Yellow Collage

Yellow Map

Yellow Numbers (lotto cards)

Yellow Specimen (butterflies)

Yellow Stamps

Yellow Tickets

Yellow Tiny

Yellow Vintage

Yellow Wallpaper

Let's get started on the Display Panel project!

I added the Memoranda Paper to the sides of the panel with Collage Medium. I also added a bit of white paint to the top of the panel in case the wood showed. 

Another idea is to cut your fabric panel smaller, say 8 1/2 x 8 1/2" and paper the top of the Display Panel so the ticking shows on the front, not just the sides.

Cut both the Yellow Map fabric and a piece of cotton batting about 10 x 10". The Display Panel is 9 x 9", but I want some leeway so I can square up my fabric after I sew these two together.

I'm going to quilt these two piece together so I am making lines with a FriXion Erasable Pen (I bought mine at Target in the office supplies section). I just used my clear quilting ruler to make the lines 1" apart.

Turn the fabric and make lines across the ones you just made (again, 1" apart).

Go to your machine and stitch following the lines.

Then to the ironing board so you can use the heat of the iron to make all the pen lines disappear. It's like magic - I swear it never gets old!

Now to the self-healing mat to square up the panel to 9 x 9".

So I want to add some patches of three other fabrics - Yellow Botanical, Yellow Stamps, and Yellow Tickets.  I found that Collage Medium is perfect to add stability to the fabric. You just paint some on the back. You don't have to over do it, just a nice even layer will do. You can either let it dry naturally or use a heat tool. I used the heat tool because I'm impatient.

Once dry, you will easily be able to cut the pieces apart (with fabric scissors or a rotary cutter).

I began by sewing patches on the left side of the panel. I knew I wanted the nails on the right, so it made sense to have the collage on the left. 

One trick Richele taught me is to use a glue stick to stick things down (like patches) before you go to the sewing machine. She uses it when she sews the first line on a zipper, so why not a patch? Well it works like a charm. 

You can see I have a empty area for my Photomatic image. We'll work on that next.

I chose one of my favorites - the lady with the hat and polka dot veil. She looked to me like someone who is on her way to the big city! I used three Distress Crayons and a few cotton swabs to tint the photo. The blue and green background was added directly then smoothed out with the cotton swab. For her cheeks, I always add Aged Mahogany to the Studio Mat, then pick it up with the cotton swab, tapping over the cheeks. I can "smooth" put the color with the clean end of the swab.

To make it look like she is riveted to the the panel, I added Mini Fasteners to each corner. Set the photo aside while we finish a few more things.

Like this long Word Plaque. I colored in the Word Plaque with Picket Fence Distress Crayon then sewed it to the quilted panel with heavy string.

I added the Photomatic with Scor-Tape. You could use the Mini fasteners or Collage Medium to add the image but I went with Scor-tape.

Now this one might be hard to see, but I added french knots to the center of the flower with dark brown embroidery floss. I love making french knots, but if that is not your jam you can skip it.

Using the same embroidery floss, I added a small clover from the LUCKY Adornments pack. I did paint it green using Rustic Wilderness Distress Paint before adding it to the panel.

Use Collage Medium to add the quilted fabric to the wood Display Panel.

Use a Picket Fence Distress Crayon to fill in a Word Tag. I used the word Found to add to the nail that will be hammered into London on the map.

I used two idea-ology Tack Nails to hold the string that represents travel from the far reaches of the world all converging on the international city of London.

I used blue sewing thread to hold the strings on the edges, rather than nails. Almost like the string can slip through the thread at any moment and that line of travel being extingushed.

I'm loving this piece. I also think it could be personalized with so many symbolic references particular to the person it was being made for. The Yellow fabric really works, but it could be done in many colors! When we get into the blue's during summer, a much more masculine one could be made with a whole different feel.

Now carry on,

paula