Final JQ for 2015

My final Journal Quilt for this year is Christmassy in design and came about through a need to make the best use of my limited time and combine the quilt with making Christmas cards!

My cards this year include a monoprinted gift tag which has been foiled and embellished  peel off stickers so I have also included a smaller version of these tags on the quilt.

The background of Christmassy fabric was first machine quilted in a simple star shape using a twin needle and metallic threads.  The tags were then stitched on with a bow to finish.   As in previous months, I stitched matching beads around the seam of the bound edge.

Simple, quick but I think effective!

 

 



October and November JQs

Just a little bit behind on my Journal Quilts but managed to catch up so I now only have December to get done.

October was inspired by the colours of Autumn, always my favourite time of year as I just love the reds, rusts and golden brown colours that appear around us.   I used my own dyed fabric and strip-pieced the background, simple but effective!   The leaf stitched on top has the words of John Keat's Ode to Autumn, a favourite poem of mine since school days.  The machine quilting echoes the shape of the leaf.

As with previous quilts, I have bound the edges with the same fabric and stitched beads on the seam.  I bought some beads at Ally Pally this year to use on this quilt and they were stitched on the top and bottom edges.

 

  

 

 

For November it had to be fireworks - not that I'm a huge fan but it seems everyone who lives around us is!

I started by foiling a piece of my own dyed blue fabric.   I used some powdered glue that I have had for years and only just started to use.  As the foil only adheres to the particles, the result is much more speckled than be achieved using something like bondaweb.    I used some different colours to represent stars and sparks from the fireworks.

I then free machine embroidered firework bursts, adding some 'firework' words to finish.

Yet again I bound the quilt and stitched beads on the seam.

 

 

    

 

Glacier River

For each Thread and Shutter exhibition I always like to create some pieces of work that are directly inspired by Brian's photographs.  Luckily he travels to some exotic places and as one of his more recent holidays was to Iceland, I used two photos on Jokulsarlon, a glacial river he visited.

 

The first piece was a felted panel for which I used wool and silk fibres, Angelina fibres, silk and cotton scrim.   I needlefelted the various materials together into a sheet of felt and hand stitches were then added, along with beads an sequins.

The panel was then stitched to a hand dyed cotton background which had been machine quilted with icicle shards.

 

 

    

 

The second creation is a quilted wall hanging  which uses the actual photos.   These were printed on to cotton fabric to form two larger panels within the quilt as well as smaller patches throughout alongside my own dyed and printed cotton fabric.  

Icicle crystals were then machine quilted and further ice shards were also quilted before finishing with foil, beads and sequins.

 

     

 

Chichester Harbour

Now our exhibition is up and running I can catch up on the things I had to let slip as I was hard at work getting work finished.

Chichester Harbour is a place we visit on a regular basis so I became very aware of the variety of activities and landscapes that can be seen, depending on where you are.

 I started by creating panels to depict sailing, the birdlife, oysters which were once harvested at Emsworth, the dunes of East Head, the quay at Bosham, yachts at the Marina, feathers from birds, and of course the water.  

 

I used a variety of techniques for each panel including a photo printed on fabric, gelli plate printing, printing with stencils and machine embroidery and quilting.

 

These panels were then collaged with plain dyed fabric to form a hanging that was machine quilted.  Hand stitching, beads and shells were added to finish

 

   

 

 

   

 

   

 

 

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Thread and Shutter Exhibition

Once again Thread and Shutter are holding an exhibition at our local theatre, The Hawth.   We would love to see as many people as possible at our Meet the Artists days so hopefully you can make it.

Thread and Shutter

We return to The Hawth for our third exhibition of new and exciting textiles and photos.

There will be hand and machine embroidery, quilts, felt, mixed media and collage together with inspirational photos.

  22nd November – 11th December 2015

at The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley,

West Sussex, RH10 6YZ

  Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 20:00

 

Meet the artists:

Wednesday 25^th November 10:00 - 13:00

Saturday 28th November 10:00 - 16:00

Wednesday 9^th December 10:00 – 13:00

 

Admission Free.   Free car parking.  Disabled access.  

Further details:  Lynn Collison  email - lynncollison@threadandshutter.co.uk

www.threadandshutter.co.uk

Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace

Once again I made my way to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting and Stitching Show which really is one of the best shows and a must for anyone interested in any textile art.   This year I was once again joined by my daughter Karen and for the first time Granddaughter Eloise joined us.

I spent the morning looking at the Galleries with my Thread and Shutter friend Jacquie and what a treat we had.   There is always a great variety of textiles from the 'normal' to the 'bizarre' and everything in between.

My favourite had to be Kate Jenkins and her Kates Plaice, The Stitchmongers, a creation of fishy food in knitting, crochet and stitch.  If you missed the fishmongers counter it was probably because there were crowds in front of it!  I managed to get a few photos just to give you an idea.

Another of my favourites was Sue Dove whose had hand stitched creations made me really envious.  She also had her sketchbooks to look at and to say a loved them is a bit of an understatement!

Her work had a freedom I strive to achieve myself but rarely succeed.  I spent some time talking to her and her words of wisdom just about convinced me that I should accept that I have my style and maybe I will not be able to change it.   I was left feeling that I will spend more time working on sketchbooks for a while and see where it takes me.

Unfortunately photos were not allowed but you can find examples of her work on Pinterest.

There was of course many other exhibits that took my eye and of course many suppliers that took my money, but these two had the greatest impact on me.

September JQ

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to have Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason with my daughter Clare and  her mother-in-law, Anne.   For my 60th birthday a few years ago, my two daughters took me there and we've promised ourselves a return visit ever since!  Needless to say it was delightful and something I would recommend.

As this was my inspiration for this month's Journal Quilt, I started by dyeing the background fabric with tea!   As I have been using text on all my quilts this year, I have used the Fortnum and Mason logo together with the menu.   I decided to keep it quite simple by having just a teapot and cup and saucer which I bonded to the background and free machined around the edges.

After binding, I added beads in toning colours.

 

 

JQs for July and August.

My Journal Quilt for July was inspired by a visit to the Indigenous Australia exhibition at the British Museum.

Continuing with the mixed media theme, I started by using the ticket for the exhibition and an image used in the publicity.  I started my tacking these to a calico background which I then monoprinted using a Gelli Plate.  I built us a few layers of paint, using acrylic paints to which I added Golden Fabric Medium.   Using a small "dabber" (something I found amongst the art department of Hobbycraft which I think is a blender) I added black and white circles.   I then added hand embroidered French knots and running stitches and mother of pearl buttons.   The paper pieces curled a bit as they dried so I secured them with some straight stitches.

As with all the other quilts this year, I used the same fabric for the binding and then added toning beads around the edge.

  

During August we spent many happy hours walking along one beach or other on the Sussex coast, so this was my inspiration for the next Journal Quilt.

The background of my own dyed fabric (some of the fabric I dyed in July) was monoprinted once again using a Gelli Plate.  I then machine quilted sea waves and sand ripples.   The "Seashore" letters were all cut from various magazines and attached using Matt Gel Medium.   Fabrics including organza and scrim together with Angelina fibres were stitched in a wave-like way with hand stitches and seed beads.  Some fishing twine was also couched to the sea area.   On the sand section I stitched shells, wood and dried seaweed which I collected from the beach.

Once again the quilt was bound and beads were added to finish.

 

   

Dyeing for New Work

Happy few hours spent dyeing some fabric and threads for my next two projects.

You can tell from the colours that it is a watery theme!  One will be inspired by Chichester Harbour and the other will be inspired by photos taken in Iceland by my Thread and Shutter friend Brian Baker.

It's the first time I've set out to dye very pale colours and I'm now worried that they will be too pale.  At least I will be able to dye them again!

Can't wait to get started......

Collage for a change!

Just for a change I have abandoned  fabric and threads and have completed a collage, still under the theme of "Seen From Above".

A few months ago I bought a Gelli Plate so have been experimenting and watching demos on You tube!   For anyone who, like I used to, thinks that you can do mono prints on a sheet of glass so don't need to spend, let's face it, quite a lot of money on a Gelli Plate .... well you're wrong! They are superb so if you need convincing try to get on a course or see a demo in person to be convinced.

Having produced a large stack of printed papers I had to do a collage so used the isle of Portsea as my subject.   We go to Portsmouth quite a bit so it seemed appropriate.

I started by painting an A3 piece of cartridge paper with orange acrylic as the background and then used various printed paper for different areas of Portsea, leaving small spaces in between all the pieces so the orange showed through.  I used the same orange acrylic to paint the edges of a canvas frame and then collaged blue printed papers as the sea surrounding the island.

To use up the left over pieces, I made some cards!

Another two Journal Quilts

May and June's Journal Quilts all completed and posted on Contemporary Quilts!

For May I was inspired by the bluebells that were abundant in the woods in Sussex this year.   I've always loved this time of year because of the bluebells so it seemed right to use them.

I started with a background of my own dyed fabric, one part green and the other a blue/purple mix.  To these I added small pieces of toning fabrics and machine quilted them in a random zig-zag pattern.  On top of this I machine sections of a photo of bluebell woods.

I then hand stitched both sections, using seed stitches for the green part and French knots for the blue section.   I also free machined 'Hyacinthoides non-scripta', the Latin name for Bluebells and hand stitched it to the quilt.

As with the other Journal Quilts I have done this year, I stitched beads around the binding.

 

 

 

 

 

In June I seemed to spend a lot of time in garden centres looking at various plants so it seemed only right to yet again have a flower-inspired quilt for June.

 

I started with a print of a vintage seed catalogue which I've had in my paper stash for some time - so long that I can't even remember where I got it from.  As it had delphiniums on it, I used a piece of my dyed fabric which I partly over printed with a blue floral design.  I then machine quilted a delphinium-like design all over the quilt before applying some lace, the seed catalogue and a "delphinium" printed sign which was hand stitched to the quilt.  A selection of blue buttons finished the body of the quilt and once bound, I yet again stitched various shades of blue beads.

 

 



Two more Journal Quilts

In the nick of time, my March and April Journal quilts are finished!

In March, in the UK we have Mother's Day and as my own Mother also had her birthday in March, I wanted to include her in this Journal Quilt.  

I chose blue for the colouring as this was one of her favourite colours and the photo I used is from her much younger days but it is a lovely photo of her which is the main reason I used it.

I started by monoprinting the background (using my new toy - a Gelli Plate) and then printing with the same wooden block I used on the Gelli print.   As I have planned to use text in all my quilts this year, I printed 'mother' in various languages and forms using foam letters and a variety of rubber stamps.    I  printed some paper at the same time and used these in stacks together with a printout of the 'mother' words which were stitched down with a button.   After binding, I stitched beads around the edge, similarly to the other quilts I have done this year.

As a late addition, I also included a photo of my daughter Clare as she was born on Mother's Day in 1977.

    

In April this year the daffodils all seemed to come out at once so I decided to use that as my subject for the April JQ.

The background is a piece of my own dyed fabric on which I painted the stems and leaves of the daffodils using fabric paints before machine quilting them.  The daffodils were made my layering painted Bondaweb on to yellow Lutradur and then free machining them in place.  Some yellow bugle beads were then stitched on.

A photo of daffodils was machined close to the lower edge and then, continuing the use of text, I wrote the Worsworth poem "Daffodils" around the edge.   Yet again, after binding, I stitched yellow beads around the edge.