Dreamweaver Talent Squared!

Team quilt from left to right:

Laura, Terrece, Kristi

Lee, ME, Kristi

Kim, Louise, Georgia

Can you say, "WOW"? My post today definitely epitomizes the word. Since this week is a "free" week for the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team, I thought I'd show you just how talented our team is. Our own Kristi sneakily asked the team members if we would be interested in creating a stenciled quilt as a gift to Lynell, to which most of us answered with a most definite "YES". (A few members were not able to take part due to family emergencies, etc.) Here is the final result. Each of us were given a square of fabric to work with (praying that we wouldn't mess it up, lol.), and we let Kristi know which stencils we would be working with so there would be no repeats. I went with the sea stencils...Nautilus, Sea Horse, Scallop, Sand Dollar, Humu, and for the watery feel, the Mosaic Swirls. I used the set of Acrylic Paints, which provided me with eighteen colors to mix, match, color, shade, and highlight with. The process was as simple as stenciling on paper. I taped down each stencil where desired, first stenciling the Mosaic Swirls in the center. When dry, I added each of the other elements.
The paint dries quickly on the fabric. I had squirted several colors on a piece of wax paper to act as my "palette". I worked with three different sizes of the stencil brushes. Some of the areas were done in layers to build up color, shading, and highlights. When all was done except for the wavy border of Mosaic Swirls around the edge, I did one of those "necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention" type of things. I knew I wanted a wave pattern, so I taped several "Picasso" stencils together end to end to create a wavy pattern. This masked off the areas that I did not want to have the swirls and worked perfectly. When dry, I applied a clear adhesive line around the edge and sprinkled with clear tiny beads. For the Humu in the center, I sewed a few beads to mimic bubbles. To be honest, I was nervous about doing this quilt block...mainly I was afraid that I might mess it up and need another square, but it was really simple and so much fun. As a matter of fact, I plan on buying enough fabric and doing an entire quilt/hanging like this for my own home, with predominately the sea theme once again. Want to try this for yourself? Start small and do just one block to frame and hang in your home. I guarantee that it will be addictive! Send me a pic...I want to see your creation as well. Meanwhile, travel around to the rest of the team (listed at right) to see what they've been up to lately, as well as the Dream It Up! blog. Link your creation there as well.