Fabric Book

This is my latest creation, one I've been working on for some weeks but decided to wait until it was finished before I revealed it.

I've been drawn to hand made fabric books for some time so felt it was time I made one myself and as the sea and beaches play such a large part in in life, it was a no-brainer when it came to the subject.

So, what's inside .......

Starting with the sea, I layered various fabrics, lace and trimmings which were hand stitched to a background of indigo dyed fabric (fabric I have had for  over 25 years!).  I added some hand stitching including French knots, buttonhole stitch and straight stitch before oversewing around the edges.

For this seashells page, I starting by cutting my own rubber stamp with two different sized shells.  I've used shells in other pieces of work and have looked before for a rubber stamp but as I could never find one, I thought cutting my own would mean I'll have it to use in the future.

The shells were printed on to a piece of my own dyed  yellow fabric and the outlines were hand stitched with backstitch.   The text was printed on to tape and attached with running stitch.  Pieces of shell were added to finish before the edges were again oversewn.

I just love beach huts so they had to be included.   I always take photos of beach huts when I see them so this one, taken at Avon Beach, was printed on to fabric and applied to a background of blue and yellow fabric which I had dyed.   Simple straight stitches were added to the 'sand' to represent the grass that grows on the beach and a couple of seagulls were added to the sky.  Again, as with every page, the edges were oversewn.

No trip to the beach is complete without building a sandcastle!   We've made many when having a day on the beach with the grandchildren so they had to feature in this book.

This was quite simple - backstitched outlines on a piece of hand dyed fabric.

Some years ago, I took a photo of a wooden groyne at Littlehampton in which seaweed had become trapped and then been bleached by the sun.   At the time I was very taken with the image and felt sure there was something creative I could do with it and finally it's happened. 

I started with a piece of cream fabric which I coloured in various ways including paint and water soluble crayons and pencils and adding the timber grain lines with a drawing pen,   I wanted the colour to be quite subtle which is why it looks as though the fabric has not been coloured!

I created a piece of seaweed by machine embroidery on soluble fabric but as it was a bit stiff I cut in to it to roughen it up a bit.  This was stitched into a slit in the fabric along with various lengths of different threads.  A line of backstitch was added along the bottom for balance.

The final fishy page has the outline of a fish in stem stitch with lines of sequins had stitched in rows. Lines of backstitch and fly stitch added detail to the fins and tail and feather stitched was used for the seaweed.   The text was backstitch around the edge.

When I came to the cover I used up scraps and off cuts of blue and yellow fabric that I had used for the pages.  I used bondaweb to secure the pieces and then added running stitch and lines of straight stitch to secure some of the edges.   I put a piece of light fusible Vilene to give the cover a bit more weight and then buttonholed around the edge of the cover and lining.

The pages and cover were secured with stitching down the spine.

Hopefully this will be the first of many fabric books!

Beach Huts quilted panel

For my next quilted squares panel I turned to beach huts for inspiration as they are something I've become rather fond of since our move to the coast and see on many of our walks.

One particular place is along Avon Beach where there are many huts in a variety of blue shades so they inspired this panel.

My original plan was to use photographs of the huts but I just couldn't seem to get the colour right.  I really must work with Photoshop more so I can really make the most of it!  I also felt that the photos didn't add enough to the overall look to spend too much time on so I went for using fabric.

Luckily I had a good stash of blue fabric in the shades that I wanted.  As before, I used fabric that I had dyed myself.

Once the fabric was all pieced I quilted around the beach huts as well as lines to show the wooden panelling the doors are made from. 

 I wanted to quilt the lower part of the panel and as I'd noticed that many of the beach huts had names, on one of our walks I recorded all the names that I thought were fitting. These were machine quilted in wave-like lines using white thread to represent white waves. To emphasised the shape I machine quilted in blue variegated thread. 

The quilted fabric was then stretched over a canvas frame.

Crochet update

I continue with my Temperature Blanket, finishing the month of June so it's half done and I can get an idea of the finished size.

June in the south of England has seen extremes of temperature with some places seeing a drop of 20 deg C in just a week.  It hasn't been that bad in Ferndown with a range of just 16 deg to 30 deg C.  This means a nice range of colours - the single green row is the 16 deg (Thursday just gone) and the two dark red rows are 29/30 deg from Monday/Tuesday the week before.

I have also started a new crochet blanket!   This one was a Crochet Along (CAL) issued last year (done by my daughter Karen at the time) called  Last Dance on the Beach .  Do have a look at the website as it has a story behind it.

I am doing the Dance in the Sea colourway (obviously, because I love the sea!)  It is made of 48 squares - 4 each of 12 designs - each of which are introducing me to patterns and techniques I have never used before.  That was my main reason for doing it as I felt I needed to challenge my Crochet abilities beyond rows of doubles and trebles.  There have been moments when I could easily have changed my mind but fortunately there are wonderful videos that have got me out of trouble.

I have completed four patterns - the first two have been washed and blocked and the second two still need to be done.

    

   

To give you idea of the complete colour palette here is a photo of all the wool I will be using.

My last project for the coming month is my first subscription to Amanda Bloom's Little Box of Crochet.

Each month I will receive a little box of crochet loveliness that will hopefully delight and challenge me.  This first month certainly has and I have to be disciplined before I dive in.

I will report back!

Hello Again!

I'm rather embarrassed about the length of time since my last post.  Started off with the excuse that we moved to Dorset but that was now over three months ago so I'll just move on.......

We have settled well in our new house and as it was brand new, we were able to move in without any further work.   We have had the garden to do so that has taken some time recently but as it is quite small, I can't use that as an excuse.   I got my workroom sorted quickly too and the best thing is I have my own room so no more having to clear away when the grandchildren come to stay.

It's not massive but I managed to get all my things in and with less space, I have to keep it tidy. So far, so good!

My only regret is that my large Perspex table that I used with my Bernina is too big for the desk so at the moment I have had to resort to the small extension table that came with the machine.  I have seen that Cotton Patch do a similar one (a lot cheaper than the Bernina one!) but I am having trouble deciding which size to get.

I have been busy with a few projects......

... the first one was a quilt for a friend's new baby boy.   We are caravan neighbours so I went for a seaside theme.   Baby Paul has now arrived and Mum and Dad loved the quilt.

 

 

I have also decided to have another go at selling online, this time giving Etsy a go.  I will start with some of the items I already have ready and will also include some of my framed textile art.  I've also planned to make some mounted arrangements of inchies, something I have done in the past as part of my themes on rust and maps.   For these new ones I am going to have colour themes but choose colours that can relate to occasions and anniversaries.  So far I've done purple (just because I like it!), red (Ruby Anniversary) and white/silver (Weddings and Silver Anniversary); will go on to gold next.

 

For each set I started by creating a felt base on my Embellisher, incorporating various fabrics and fibres including organza, scrim, netting and silk.  I then added beads, buttons, sequins, ribbon, lace or hand stitches before finishing the edge with buttonhole stitch.

 

 

 

I have also done some work in my sketchbook, but not as much as I wanted to.    The first two pages are based on some of the many photos I have taken of beach huts we've seen since we moved.  I've included photos, some gelli plate printed deli paper, some stitched applique and some hand stitching.   I found the colours particularly inspired these pages.

 

 

 

The second page uses car park tickets as the background which I printed with the gelli plate, adding some cut lettering to finish.

 



 



 

Hopefully there won't be a long wait until my next post.

 

 



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.

 

   

Flotsam and Jetsam

For my birthday last November (goodness is it that long ago!), my Thread and Shutter friend Jo gave me a piece of felt she'd made together with beads, fabric scraps, threads, wire and pieces of bark.

I've pondered for far too long about what to do with it and during this time I have watched Jo work on a much larger piece of felt she'd made, stitching and adorning with all sorts of ephemera and odds and ends and as time went on I became more confused about what I wanted to do with my small piece!

In the end I made myself forget about Jo's work and just do what my instincts told me.   I cut it into strips and reassembled it and then felted the strips to a larger piece of felt.  I then felted fabrics and threads to it, stitched (only using herringbone) and added beads, wire objects, bits of shell and of course the pieces of bark.

I'm very pleased with the end result which I have called "Flotsam and Jetsam" because it reminded me of all sorts of things that we see washed up on the beaches during our many walks.

 

 

Some photos showing the detail:



 

Two more Journal Quilts

Time is ticking on and I only have one week to get the August Journal Quilt finished and posted on Contemporary Quilts!

The June quilt, inspired by Charles Rennie Macintosh, has been finished for a while but only just transferred to the computer.

 



My daughter Karen recently visited Glasgow and was under orders to get me "something related to Charles Rennie Macintosh"!   I have always loved his work and would dearly love to go to Glasgow myself.   She returned with a plastic "thing" which was possibly a Christmas tree decoration as it had a hanging string attached.   I tried making a printing block of the design but with little success, possibly because I used rather hairy string!

I then tried printing with the actual token which was much more successful.   I decided to strip patch the prints to echo the chairs that CRM also designed.   The left hand print was beaded and then the strips were machine quilted in the ditch.

For the July Journal Quilt I used Art Deco as the theme and decided to use the Chrysler building in New York.   As time was running out, I painted the design on to fabric using silver and black fabric paint.

Everything went well until I started to quilt!   I began machine quilting around the triangle shapes, intending to then machine quilt the curves.   Unfortunately the silver paint has a slightly rubbery feeling so the top layer moved at a different rate to the backing.  Because of this I hand quilted the curves.   Not my finest quilting as the back shows, but I have learnt!   It may not have been as bad if I have used my walking foot but I didn't have it with me at the time.

The August quilt is nearly done so hopefully will be posted and uploaded in the next few days.

Journal Quilts - June, July and August

Rather late getting these completed but they are now uploaded on the CQGB site.

The first one, for June, is part of a series I've been doing based on Arts and Crafts Movement and in particular the use of tulips. I've done a much larger version that is similar. Most of the fabric I dyed myself. The quilts for June - September must include some text so I simply free machined "Tulips" along the bottom.

The July quilt was inspired by the roadside flowers that have been in abundance this year. I kept wanting to get out of the car and photograph them but there was never a safe place to do so! This was a development of the postcard swap I did earlier in the month and I am much happier with the way this quilt turned out.

I printed the background with the names of various wildflowers and then added some dyed scrim which I loosely needlefelted to the background. Machine stitching was added, some it cable stitched with perle cotton on the bobbin. Hand embroidered stitched were added together with snips of silk, beads and buttons.

Finally the August quilt was inspired by a photograph taken of Hope and Eloise, my grand daughters, playing in the sea during their holiday with us.

I seem to take several photos of them taken from the backview looking out to sea and feel there might be more creations to come based on the same idea.

The sea was strips of organza and net bonded to a blue background and the pebbled beach was printed with bubble wrap. Both were machine quilted before the image was applied, stitching from the reverse and cutting back the fabric to the stitch line. The required text "On the seashore" is free quilted in quilt lines of the sea.

Inspiration from rust - again!

How about this for inspiration!

Last month a collegue brought this in for me, knowing that I have an obsessin for rusty objects. He'd found it on a beach (he beachcombs for wood which he creates into wonderful objects) and thought of me! We think it was some sort of support for a post. When he found it, it was the other way up but when he gave it to me I turned it upside down and immediately saw a bird. I then "acquired" a tripod from a science lab and the garden sculpture was born. Even the tripod has rusted nicely in the few weeks it's been outside. My collegue admitted if he had seen the bird I might not have got it!

I think now that I will have to create something inspired by my new garden sculture. Watch this space!

And now for something completely different

Regular readers will know that we spend much of our time in the better weather in our caravan at Pagham.

This is a place much loved by our grandchildren and is affectionately known as "Nanny Caraban". Earlier this year I started to make a quilt which will live in the caravan to be used by whoever is there but mainly Eloise, Hope and Samuel.

I really evolved from a collection of ideas based on a seaside theme. My intention was to hand quilt it through the long winter months but when it came to it - as is so often with me - once the quilt was pieced I really just wanted it finished.

Being forced to stay at home because of the snow was my chance to get it finished by machine quilting.