I AM ENOUGH Fabric Painting

It’s high time I admit to my new creative obsession: painting. I want to paint, paint, paint! There’s something fast and freeing about painting fabric that is giving me such a kick these days. 

I’ve been designing Stitch n’ Paint embroidery designs so I have more excuses to paint (new design coming this week!) and this weekend I finally gave into my muse and painted some fabric I designed for Spoonflower:

If you’d like to make this too, you can find the background fabric right here.

Yep, this was me circa 1998

This video was really fun to create just using my iPhone and the timelapse option in the camera. I set it up on a mini tripod and hit record while I quickly painted the words I’d sketched over this fabric. 

I wasn’t actually listening to any music while painting this, but if I had, it would probably have been along the lines of the music I added to the video. I was once a girl that head banged with purple hair at Lalapalooza after all!

I AM ENOUGH has long been one of my favorite affirmations because it perfectly sums up several points in one – No, you don’t need to do any of this stuff. You don’t need to do more. You’re okay as you are. Please enjoy what you have and where you are and who you are right now.

Painting these words over fabric with all the things I feel pressure to do felt powerful and fun and I definitely see more painting in my future. These days I just want to work faster, simpler, with less fuss and complication.

I also want to express myself more without creating tons more stuff. I’ve finally reached that critical mass where I don’t want or need more huge quilts, so I plan to make a lot of small quilts and cover every inch of my house with bright, beautiful things.

I’m also working on my first painted barn blocks to decorate the outside of my Crafty Cottage and woodshop. James and I primed to massive plywood boards this weekend so be looking for a new video on painting barn blocks sometime next week!

What is the next step for this beautifully painted fabric? I’m going to heat set the paint, baste it with thin batting and backing, and hand quilt the layers together with big stitch quilting.

Yes, you did just hear me say that. Big stitch. Hand quilting. Fast and slow. Whatever you’re feeling, give into it and have fun!

Let’s go create!

Leah Day