November Journal Quilt

This month's Journal Quilt was inspired yet again by cactus.

I started by curved piecing the background using my own dyed fabric.   Yellow spines were then bonded in rows and these were machine quilted, again in rows.

Sounds simple but there were many trials getting the size of the spines right!

The next and final quilt for the year is still undecided.   I have used up all the ideas I had in January with the exception of one that I just can't seem to get from my brain to fabric.  I'm trying to come up with an idea that combines all the designs and colours of the other eleven quilts but again nothing has so far come to fruition.

September Journal Quilt

This months quilt is inspired by the many cactus we saw in and around the hotel in Gran Canaria. 

For the construction I was inspired by some videos of Hilary Beattie that I have been watching on You Tube.   She is really a great inspiration and I have admired her work for some years.  She is also a very generous artist who openly shares her way of creating not just in workshops she runs from her studio but also on the internet.

Using her methods, I printed and dyed some fabrics inspired by the spines and form of the cactus.  Using the fabrics I arranged a collage of shapes, together with photos of the cactus.  I did minimal machine quilting around the square shapes but added hand stitching to reflect the spines of the cactus.

  

I think this is definitely going to be one of my favourites this year.

Journal Quilt for June

I have once again used Strelizia Nicolai as inspiration for this month's Journal Quilt.

The plant has large flat leaves which grow upwards and wave in the breeze and split towards the stem so I've used this image of the leaves.   The background was inspired by another tree which grew nearby but remains unidentified.  For the background I used some white lutradur which I printed with lines and dots together with some black lutradur and newsprint.   The edges were machine quilted with patterned stitches before the leaf shapes were added and machine quilted.

  

Pink Quilt for Linus

Please to say my second project of the year is complete!

This time I have used the pink fabric from my stash, together with a couple of fat quarters I bought to match, to make a quilt for Project Linus.   It's a simple design of 6" squares but I appliqued some hearts on the plain fabric using some left over bits of the other fabric.   

I'm never sure how to quilt and usually end up quilting in the ditch.  This time I did some free hand random swirls, avoiding the squares with the hearts.  Can't say I'm ecstatic about the results and will no doubt resort to 'in the ditch' for the next quilt but it looks good and hopefully will eventually bring some joy and comfort for the child that receives it.

Apologies for the photo but I'm struggling to find a good place to photograph larger items in my new house.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

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.

 

 

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.

 



Seen From Above - 58 to 121

This time my piece of textile art in the Seen From Above series is a linear map that follows the route from my house to our caravan on the coast.   It's a journey I take many times and have come to know it very well.

The techniques I have used include hand stitching, painting, printing and applique.  The background was printed to resemble contour lines found on OS maps and then I illustrated various landmarks or features along the route.

 

 

The 'map' was stiffened with Vilene so that it fold up in four sections just like a real map.

Two small quilts

I'm making the most of the free time I have before the Christmas rush arrives!

I've recently signed up for DMTV and have been inspired by some of the videos I have watched.   If you have never seen or heard of these excellent videos, have a look at Design Matters website which is run by the very talented Linda and Laura Kemshall.

I have long been an admirer of their work and inspired by their use of quilting which is often much more dense that I would ever do!   I also love the printed fabrics that Laura sells under Fingerprint Fabrics.  I have purchased some in the past at FOQ and have recently bought a couple of pieces of map fabrics for using in my "Seen From Above" series.

One of the videos I was inspired by was about using your own printing blocks to create first papers and then fabrics to use in collage.

So using the map fabric - an old map of London - and some simple stamp made with foam blocks, I created two collages in my sketchbook which I then translated into small quilts using my own dyed fabrics which I had printed.   The use of a rectangle for the stamps was to reflect the buildings which would be seen on a map of a different scale.  

On the first one I quilted around the rectangles and then bit the bullet and did some much more dense free quilting on the map area.  I left a couple of areas unquilted for variety.   As with my earlier quilt in this series, I quilted the title of the quilt on the right side which I intend to do with all my creations in this series.



Seen From Above - Suburbs I

     

For the second one, I again quilted around the rectangles first and then machine quilted vertical lines over the map areas.



Seen From Above - Suburbs II

     

Each quilt measures about 12" x 16".

My take on a "Modern Quilt"

I have become intrigued by the "Modern Quilts" that have become popular over the past few years, in particular the debate that has taken place between those for and those against.   I stand on the fence as I have never liked to think of myself in any particular box; I'd rather do what I want to do whether it's a complicated quilt (not many of those these days!), a simple quilt, a piece of embroidery, a piece of felt, or a combination of any of these - and more besides!

I do love the simplicity of these newer quilts and with that in mind, as well as my "Seen From Above" theme, I designed a quilt which uses the plan of our house.   It was definitely useful having an in-house draughtsman who could come up with an accurate drawing, although I did made a few changes to simplify the design.

The background for this quilted hanging was created slowly over the summer and was based on the ideas of Valerie S Goodwin from her excellent "Art Quilt Maps".   She first creates an opaque layer by sewing irregular shapes of fabric to a background using the stitch and flip method and then hand stitching any raw edges which gives the background some texture.   She then goes on to add paint and a translucent layer but I didn't feel brave enough on this piece to go any further so I just left it with the random shapes background.

To this I bonded the shapes from the plan of our house which were cut from some red fabric I had dyed myself.   The quilt was then machine quilted in vertical straight lines using a variegate cream for cream areas and a variegated red over the red shapes.   I also added red quilt lines horizontally over the red shapes.

I used the faux piping method to bind the quilt, using the same red fabric for the contrasting piping.
I finished by machining the title on the side using the red thread.

    

Having had this quilt in my head for so long I am pleased that it has turned out just how I imagined it!

Quilt for Indiana

A friend of mine recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and as I made a quilt for her first baby I wanted to do the same for this one.  Luckily we knew it was going to be a girl so I could get it ready for when she arrived.

Now that I have given it to her, I can share it with everyone else.

 

 

I was really stuck about how to quilt it as I didn't want to cross the rectangular blocks.  Following some great advice from a group of friends, I used a combination of their ideas.   I appliqued the kites so that their tails went across the blocks and then the smaller blocks were tied on each corner where there was no quilting.

 

 

     



My friend loved the quilt but baby was too busy sleeping to make any comment!

Journal Quilts Complete

Quilts for May, June, July and August are all complete!  Having struggled a bit for inspiration, once I started the ideas flowed quite freely and I got them finished in the little time I had available, with just the hand stitching of the binding to complete.

As I've already posted, this year my Journal Quilts show the course of the River Arun which gives the line that must pass through each quilt.

For the May quilt, I chose to feature the Toat Monument which is a structure that sits on top of a hill in this section of the journey.  The monument was applied and then machine embroidered with the detail.   I also free machine quilted the contours to show the landscape.

The next place the river runs through is Pulborough.   I wanted to try out a technique used by Valerie Goodwin in her map quilts so I randomly pieced a background, machining and then hand stitching raw edged with simple straight stitches.    The river and roads were applied and machine quilted.  I then printed shapes for the buildings using a piece of foam packaging which were also machine quilted.

 

 

Close to the river at this point is the RSPB Pulborough Brooks.   The whole area is very watery with many drainage ditches so I used a randomly dyed fabric in blue and green to reflect the landscape.  After bonding the river and machine quilting it, I free machine quilted a random design which included a bird's foot motif.

 

 

The River Arun runs through Amberley in the next section so I have included photos of various landmarks in the area - Amberley Castle, Amberley Church, South Downs Way and Amberley Museum.   The river was again applied and machine quilted and I also machine quilted in straight lines to reflect the drainage ditches that was me seen on the OS maps.



 

 

Onwards with the final four quilts.



 

 

Journal Quilts

Work on the Journal Quilts has continued with February and March finally being finished at the caravan at the beginning of April.   Inspiration for the next one was slow in coming but thankfully it came in time to get it finished and uploaded on the CQ Yahoo group with one day to spare.

The February quilt was inspired by a watermill which was beside the river in this section.   I took a wheel design, made a foam stamp and used it to print some green fabric.   I then cut it in strips and reassembled it to use for the land either side of the river course.  This area of the quilt was machine quilted with a wheel shape.   Once again the river was bonded and machine quilted.

For the March quilt, I used the contour lines from the OS map and cut shapes in two different green fabrics which were bonded another green background, leaving the river valley clear for bonding the course of the river.   I machine zig-zagged the edges of the cut pieces and machine quilted the river.

Finally for April I created a background fabric by bonding some cut rectangles and squares of various green fabrics to some fusible wadding, added some torn sections of the map and then covered it with some dyed scrim.   This I then machine quilted around the map sections, taking the quilted lines to the edges of the quilt.   I then hand stitched a torn segment of the OS map showing the river to the quilt using small stab stitches and highlighted the river with blue stitches.

 

Journal Quilts 2014

After much deliberation I decided to once again take part in the Contemporary Quilt Group Journal Quilt Challenge.

This year the quilts have to be 8" x 8" and must have a line going from one edge to another.   I didn't want to just have a random line in each quilt, instead I wanted the line to show a journey over the twelve quilts.  With this in mind a explored a couple of ideas and in the end decided to show the course of the River Arun from source to sea.  The Arun is a river we often cross in the course of our travels and as frequent visitors to Littlehampton, we often sit beside the river, usually with ice cream in hand!

Armed with OS maps I plotted the course and then divided in into twelve sections hoping that there would be something in each section that would inspire the design.   This I will only find out as I go.

In the first section the river is crossed by the Downs Link footpath which, according to the county website, is bordered by wild flowers and butterflies.   This inspired a design of flower-shaped quilt blocks with butterfly quilting finished off with a 3D butterfly made using water soluble fabric and machine embroidery.   The river crosses the top of the quilt and this was appplied and quilted.  I used a combination of my own dyed fabric and commercial fabrics.

So far I have only completed this first one so have a bit of catching up to do.

December Journal Quilt

For once I am ahead of myself!   I was determined to finish all twelve Journal Quilts so they could be exhibited at the Thread and Shutter exhibition this month so I am very pleased that I achieved it.

The December quilt is once again inspired by one of Wassily Kandinsky's paintings, Pressure from above.

 

Detail

 

I appliqued some of the shapes from the painting and then quilted further lines and shapes.  The fabric used was from the stash of my own dyed fabric.

 

 

I was also pleased with the way all twelve looked when they were hung at the exhibition.