Refrigerator Art

Stop. Don't scroll down. Let me explain. You'll spoil the surprise if you peek......let me start this way:

In the United States, in Wisconsin, in some small city, on my street, in my home, there is a little known art gallery known as the "refrigerator door". It's the very first art gallery for my children's creations. I have five children, so not everyone's pictures got to be on the refrigerator at once, but it was surely an honor to have one's creations displayed for all to see who came to visit.

Now, my children's children have been proudly displaying their works of art. If you want to know what a big deal this is, know/remember what I am talking about, it's a little like when you open this page and see your creation on the page for all the visitors to see.....that "little person" in you lights up with glee.......


What I have for you today is how to transform those wonderful art pieces into embroidery. First, I made an inkjet transfer of the artwork and put it on muslin. Make sure that you make the transfer reversed if there is lettering, so that when you apply it, it is legible. Then, because I am not schooled in embroidery, I wanted to have the quilt batting to hide my embroidery trail, so I sewed on a border and tacked the quilt batting to it.


Then, I began a wonderful experience of embroidery. I cannot tell you the pleasure it gave me to trace those little crayon strokes of my granddaughter's. I was quite surprised.


The only two rules I gave myself were to try to mimic the colors as much as possible, and to embroider in the direction of the crayon stroke. I think this gave credibility to making the crayon drawing into the embroidery piece. I used a chain stitch most often because it filled in easily and I could blend other colors if I wanted to. Being an embellisher at heart, I really had to resist adding things like extra design, or beading.......I used self-control and stayed true to the drawing....lol. Now I will show you some detail of the work.





After much deliberation, I decided to make the piece a wall-hanging, though the possibilites included a tote panel, doll quilt or framed in picture style. I used DMC number 8 cotton perle embroidery thread. I like the ease of not having to separate strands, but the colors are much more limited. I am not a quilter, so I must admit I put this together without that knowledge, but I am fairly happy with it. I wished I was a quilter after I sewed it. However, I cannot wait to see Gabby's face when I give it to her for her birthday today. Truly, it would even be a great "Gramma" gift! Hope you enjoyed it!