Inspiration Avenue: Alphabet quiltlet

Maggie's (Magpie's) prompt for us at Inspiration Avenue this week was Alphabet. "Art with words," etc. was what Maggie suggested when she issued the challenge. All kinds of images danced in my head, as I contemplated making art using stencils and hand made stamps. Of course, I had limited time, because I have a leak in my pipes (OK, not mine, but my house's) that I have been dealing with.

As I was further contemplating the challenge, I remembered back in July of last year, I wrote a tutorial featuring shaving cream on fabric. At that time, I used an alphabet stencil. Please check it out, if you are not familiar with the process I used.


I began with the fabric I stenciled using shaving cream, and tore a piece to quiltlet size (about 9 X 12 inches). The piece I used is in the upper left side of the above photo. Remembering what my friend Dianne of Art Beneath the Cottonwoods suggested in the comments of that post, I decided to outline each of the letters with my black ink pen. Not sure what kind it is, but I think it's a Rollerball or something like that. I just know it's not a Micron, because my Micron is deader than a . . .


I then colored an apple rubber stamp using Staz-on reinkers and stamped onto a portion of a dictionary page.


To the back of the quiltlet, I cut batting and drew a backward "A" using the same stencil as I used on the front of the quiltlet. To attach the batting to the quiltlet, I added my "free motion" stitching of the "A." It didn't show as well from the front as I had hoped, but I did like the technique of adding "free motion" stitches from the back of the fabric. Now if only I had a way to make real free motion stitches. In retrospect this is one technique I will definitely try again. Next time, the thread I use will be a much more distinct shade from the stamp or image I choose to use.

Thanks again to Magpie for challenging me to create this alpha inspired quiltlet. And, please check out all of Inspiration Avenue's entries this week.