Changing it Up

I decided our living room needed a change. My youngest sister painted me an abstract of poppies about 5 years ago in bright reds and yellow, but I felt that it didn't really fit our living room anymore. I looked at a variety of art for quite awhile, but I kept running into two large obstacles. 

First, I was having a hard time finding something the right size for the space over the mantle. If I found something I loved, it was invariably too small or tall and skinny to look balanced in this space.

And, just as importantly, everything that I really loved was either too expensive or Nathan hated it.

Finally, I had a flash of inspiration. When coming up with an idea for my office wall, I realized that I could buy a scrap quilt topper and use it for two projects simultaneously: the office wall AND our new mantle art.

I found a piece of sturdy cardboard to fit in the same frame our abstract poppies were in and covered it in a simple muslin fabric to act as a backing for the quilt. I used a little bit of spray glue to adhere a couple of strategic blocks to the muslin, just enough to hold the whole thing in place, then I wrapped them around to the back of the cardboard, cut of the excess, and secured the edges with more spray glue.