The Most Merry Meme
This nontraditional holiday mini quilt shines bright when you combine appliqué, seasonal fabrics, and memes in surprising ways!
I love traditional Christmas imagery and nostalgic holiday decorations, but it's fun to experiment with spreading holiday cheer in unique ways, like recreating memes with fabric.
At the beginning of December, I was completely inspired by the amazing teachers and great tips in String & Story's Appliqué Band Camp virtual summit. I've done a few projects that include appliqué elements and I've enjoyed the process, so it was fun to listen to how other people approach it.
Heidi Pridemore from The Whimsical Workshop shared appliqué techniques that encouraged me to look at appliqué in a whole new way. So when my friend shared Sarah Anderson's meme with me, I saw the perfect project to try some of the techniques I learned. This is one of those magically little projects that just flowed. I didn't over think the process; I just dove right in. And I'm so happy I did!
THE HOW
In the crudest way possible (and in complete horror of my husband who is fluent in Adobe Illustrator), I used Microsoft Paint to crop and enlarge the image I wanted to use. Then, to reverse the image for appliqué, I just traced the image on the back of the paper. From there, I copied my pieces to Heat N Bond Lite, and applied them to my fabrics. The piecing process didn’t take long at all - I didn't even have time to stage nice photos of the process.
This is the first project I've used a satin stitch on, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I experimented with a few different decorative stitches before I settled on the satin stitch, because it adds a cartoon dimension.
The front border is "Holiday Mushrooms" from Miriam Bos' collection Rebel without a Claus. I added batting and used (what else but) Rawring Holidays. I just love those dinosaurs with Santa hats!
Using my walking foot, I quilted straight lines at randomish intervals down each side. I added a hand sewn hanging sleeve to the back of the piece with Aurifil thread, so it can be hung as a seasonal decoration or used as a table topper. The mini quilt finished at about a 12 inch square.
THOUGHTS
As I was working on this project, the concept of "consume vs create" was at the forefront of my mind. It's been popping up for me in a different places, like in classes, on social, and in books.
I gravitate towards passive consumption. Reading, studying, gathering information, and planning all sound like really good things to do to prepare to achieve a goal, but I was over-consuming and not taking action to create. Creating is scary. Creating means being vulnerable, putting yourself out there, and risking failure. And the bigger the goal, the bigger the risk for failure.
For me, being mindful of consumption is necessary to ensure I'm focusing on my goals and not just envying or admiring other people's work. There's so much content out there--you could spend your whole day consuming. Then, if you're anything like me, you could beat yourself up for not creating all the beautiful things you scrolled through all day. I'm not condemning consuming, but if you're restless, depressed, and anxious, you might be over-consuming and under-creating.
Focused consumption is a great way to channel inspiration, which is what made this project so effortless. Watching the appliqué tutorial motivated me to try some of the techniques. Everything came together so perfectly for this project; I didn't struggle with fabric choices or run into any stitching problems. When you are inspired by a technique or tutorial, ride the wave of inspiration to create something of your own. If you want to add value to the world, create!