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.

 



Altered Books

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day creating Altered Books with Laura Kemshall at her Wooden House Workshop.

First of all the venue is superb, set in the very picturesque Shropshire countryside and we had the bonus of a lovely sunny day. It was a pleasure to be able to work in the Wooden House as there was everything we needed to hand with plenty of space to work in.  And the home-cooked cookies and muffins and the lunch provided were just a welcomed and tasty bonus!

Laura gave each of us a book to alter and we have each brought one or two of our own to work on.  She went through each stage, giving us time to work on our books before moving on to the next stage.  Working on two or three books at once meant that we could have one drying and still have another to alter.   We also have loads of examples of Laura's and Linda's altered books to look at and inspire.

Here are some examples of the books I was working on.  They are still "works in progress" so I will post more photos soon with any updates.

 

   

    

    

 

 

          

     

 

 

I can thoroughly recommend Laura's workshops - I for one will certainly be returning.

Seen From Above - One Inch to a Mile

I just love "Inchies" and sooner or later I make some to fit with my current theme.  And Seen From Above is no exception.

I started needlefelting various fibres, fabrics and yarns to create a fabric which I then cut up into inch squares.   These were first edged with blanket stitch and then embellished with hand stitches and beads and for some I added scraps of old maps.   The Inchies were then assembled and mounted on old OS maps which in turn were mounted on board and framed.

As some of the maps I used were old enough to have a scale of one inch to a mile, I didn't have to think too hard about the title.

 

 

The left overs were then mounted on maps and used to map greetings cards.

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.

Seen From Above - The Village

Last month I gave you a preview of my latest creation which is now finished so can be revealed.

 

 

Made from my own dyed fabric, this is a pieced quilted hanging with the centre of the panel reflecting the layout of the roads in the village which I live.   I had to make a few adjustments so I didn't have too many corners meeting.   This panel was then hand quilted with lines of running stitch in toning perle cotton.  I used the shape of each piece when deciding which direction to quilt.

 

The top and bottom borders were printed with a stencil made from freezer paper.  The two left hand shapes - an oak tree and an anvil - are the symbols on the village sign; the centre house is the outline of my own house; and the two right hand trees reflect the woods that border the village.   These two panels were then quilted with seed stitch using random dyed perle cotton.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Journal Quilts

I have yet again signed up for Contemporary Quilts Journal Quilt Challenge and for this year the only stipulation is that they have to be 12" x 6" and you have to decide at the beginning of the year whether you will work in portrait of landscape.   I decided to work in portrait and this year I am going to create mixed-media quilts.

I thought long and hard about a theme but as I was completely stumped on this, I will take something from the month to inspire my design.

For January, I went for the weather and although at the time we had not had any snow, I did have some photos I had taken a few years ago which I wanted to use.   I started with a grey background which I discharged snowflake designs with a thermofax screen. To this I added snowflakes printed on to fabric and paper using another thermofax screen and snowflakes cut from lacy paper, Angelina fibres and film together with one of my photos of snow and icicles in black and white.  I also wanted to add some text so I wrote 'let it snow' on some tissue paper and this became part of the design.  I edged the two long edges with some lace and after binding I stitched white beads in to the inner edge.

   

I used Valentines Day as the inspiration for February and created a design based on love and hearts.  The base fabric was started by printing a red design with a Thermofax screen but as it was rather too bright I placed some lacy paper over the top to tone it down.  The heart in the centre was made by bonding various red fabrics and threads with bondaweb and then bonding red organza over the top. This was then machine stitched to a piece of card which was in turn mounted to a piece of dyed fabric.  I again included some text which this time were the lyrics to "A Million Love Songs" which I printed on to hand made paper.   The tags at the bottom are painted price tags which I over printed and then wrote the words.  Finished with ric rac, buttons and beads which were again stitched around the edge after the binding was added.