Embellished Art Quilt

I am starting a wall quilt (about 3 feet x 4 feet) that will consist of six blocks (approximately 8 x 10) embellished in different ways. As it's for my hallway, the color scheme matches my house decor in yellows, reds, and  oranges. The 'theme' is hearts, and each block will incorporate the theme using different techniques. I've finished two of them -- one crazy quilted and the other 'manipulated fabric':

This one was crazy-quilted by attaching random pieces to iron-on interfacing and then doing random decorative stitches around the edges and over the entire square. The three yellow hearts were needle felted (wow -- new addiction!) and then I attached store-bought charms for the heart detail. This was fun and fast. Some were swatches from old Sawyer Brook swatch packs.  I knew I saved them for a reason!

The second block was made by 'bubbling' fabric -- again onto interfacing.  The process is to wet the fabric and then poke it through a grate -- I used a purchased kitchen item with a 3/4" wire mesh grating. Let it dry, steam to a piece of iron-on interfacing, and pull from the grate. For this particular use, I also attached muslin to the interfacting for backing. If this piece was for a garment or handbag I would have machine-stitched between each 'bubble' to hold the shape.

 

What you can't see very well is the beaded heart I did afterwards. I used size 8 sead beads in purple and gold, stitching them 'in the ditch' of the bubbles and then outlining the heart. This took some time to do -- hope it shows up well in the final quilt.

Next up -- I am waiting for my order of foiling paper to arrive so that I can do some fabric foiling. Looks like a fun and easy technique!