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.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards all made and ready for writing on!

I used the painting bondaweb/lutradur/foil/sequin method done at the Kim Thittichai workshop in October.

  

 

 

Better get them written on and posted now!

Finished work from Kim Thittichai workshop

As I mentioned last month, I attended a workshop with Kim Thittichai.   Some of the work I started at the workshop is now finished and are currently being exhibited at the Thread and Shutter exhibition at The Hawth in Crawley.

This first piece, Nightime, was created using painted bondaweb applied to coloured lutradur which was in turn cut with a soldering iron and reapplied to more painted lutradur.  Foil, sequins and gilding flakes were also applied at the first stage.

I added simple embroidery stitches using cotton threads.

 

 

 

Detail



The second piece, Skeletal Fragments, also started with painted bondaweb applied to lutradur together with sequins, gilding flakes and some skeletal leaves.   The lutradur was then "cut" using a heat gun.  I also cut strips of organza in the same way.  The strips were then layered and secured to felt using simple stitches.

Detail