December Journal Quilt

I mentioned last month that I was struggling with ideas for the final quilt of this year but fortunately the light bulb moment came and I managed to get the remaining idea into fabric.

The inspiration came from a tree we frequently passed which seemed to have hessian type fibres where the leaves had been trimmed off.

I think it was the fibres that I liked and where the leaves had been cut off, I thought the shapes would relate well in to patchwork.

It did take me a time to get my head around it, mainly because time was short and I wanted something that was not too complicated and took too long.

I settle in the end on using zig-zag strips on which I turned the hems.  The zig-zag meant I could quilt diamond shapes to reflect the cut edges on the tree.  I used some dyed fabric I had in my stash -I can't remember where I got it from but it is not one of my own.   The hessian that I laid in between the rows is a bit more uniform than I wanted but yet again, I love the messy, uneven look of things but somehow when I recreate them, I have to go to the neat and tide option!

I've really enjoyed creating this year's collection of quilts as it has made me take an idea and use a variety of ways of interpreting the source.    Some have proved more successful than others.  Some I love and some I don't.

I'm looking forward to next year's challenge and already have ideas mulling around in my head.