A Dreamy Gut Quilt

I know – not the best name for a quilt but it’s truly what I made for the Project QUILTING Ab Intra 12.6 challenge. When the challenge came out I thought it was a great one but the possibilities were literally limitless! How would I narrow down what’s inside me? What makes me go? My love for my family, creating, apples, equality, animals, life!? Where do I start?

I started by looking at this from my creative world. How do I create? What inspires me? It turns out I create from my gut. I pull fabric without much thought or analysis – I just choose and I go with it. If it’s not working, I switch. If I need more, I add it. If I run out of something, I figure out a different way to make it work. I needed to make a gut quilt. Weird. I know.

I started and finished this quilt during the Zoom Sew Day I had yesterday! It was so much fun to sew with others. We were all on our computers in our own sewing areas but we were able to chat, share ideas, get advice, and have a few beverages! I’ll definitely be hosting another one in the future!

I started by creating special fabric for my gut. I made a scrappy trip along (sort of) using fabrics that fit me – cats, thimbles, paints, apples, basketballs, color, and trees. I did my math incorrectly so my scrappy trip along blocks were 6″ x 8″ but for what I had planned for this, it didn’t need to be perfect.

I drew a sketch of a stomach and then cut the stomach out from the scrappy fabric I had just pieced. I basted the stomach to a foundation fabric and then started adding strips of fabric. I design from my gut but I am inspired in my dreams. I wanted the stomach to the be the center of the project and then I used free form raw edge piecing to surround the stomach with dreams.

I’ve heard you dream in black and white but I think there is definitely color in my dreams. I choose black, white, and grey fabrics that had pops of color. It was looking a bit too crazy once I had all the layers stitch down – even for me.

So, I found a piece of purple gauzy fabric that I could layer over the quilt to tone down the piece a bit. It also adds a bit more of a foggy look reminiscent of dreams. I cross hatch quilted the purple over the top of the quilt and then cut out the part that covered the stomach.

I wanted to really make the stomach pop from the quilt so I add a outline of red lace around it.

A red binding finished this piece off. I’m so happy I added the guazy purple – it really toned the scrappy background down.

And I think you can definitely tell that’s a stomach … right?

Title: Dreamy Gut Quilt

Size: approximately 17″ x 17″

Pieced & Quilted by Kim Lapacek for the Project QUILTING Ab Intra Challenge.