I’ve been whipping up pillowcases all week to add to inventory for a show I’m vending in December. I’ve got 7 made and now I’m waiting on some fabric to arrive in the mail to make more.

I’ll also be making tote bags and toiletry bags as well as baby play mats and some bibs.

Last night I was reading in the latest Quilting Arts magazine about using photographs as a jumping off point for abstract art quilts. Using a photo of something very simple and then rearranging those elements resonated with me and I got pretty excited to try a piece of my own. Examples of simple photos in the article included a wooden chair composition and a cat among others. I chose my sewing table and chair.

I picked fabric based on a color scheme I particularly like…

I free hand cut shapes to resemble the sewing room photo and glued them to a background…

Then I cut it up…

And I cut some more…

Here’s where the abstract begins! I rearranged those tiles about 50 times…

I joined the tiles with a zig zag stitch, layered, basted and free motion quilted it…

And then I pulled out my Inktense Coloring Blocks and I painted it.

So this is my first true abstract piece and I’m quite happy with it. It made for a fun afternoon and I was able to practice free motion skills as well as create a piece of art that I never would have thought of making before today.