Quilt Voices

Saturday I went up to London for the Contemporary Quilt AGM. It was good to meet up with some I have met before and to get to know some new members. The discussion about some of the current issues was very stimulating as well. A good majority of the committee members are stepping down (stipulated length of office) and we met new members. It will be interesting to see how the group goes forward from here. It is the 10th year anniversary and we have grown to 657 members!

The speaker in the afternoon was Elizabeth Brimelow. I had not met her, nor was I aware of her work. Although after seeing some photos, I do remember seeing cards at the Quilt museum with images from one of her quilts.

However, I was sooooo inspired by the various things she said about her artistic journey and by the work she has developed and made her own. It was fascinating to see how she developed a way of working in layers and with stitch to create work that is just as much a work of art from the back as from the front.

Here is a composite image of detail from 2 quilts showing the front and back of each.

Elizabeth has also created several works using transparent and translucent fabrics. This was exciting to me as I have several pieces I have done working with similar concepts. I was really taken with some of the techniques of placing cut fabrics between transparent layers to create depth and shadow. I have some ideas in mind for taking my transparent work further and some of Elizabeth's techniques would be just right for getting the look I have been contemplating. While Elizabeth takes inspiration from the landscape around her, I can see how I can use similar concepts with themes that inspire me!

Here is another composite image showing some of the samples of her experiments as she developed the transparent work.

All very exiting!! Now to get the time to begin to put into these ideas.

these are the aprons I finished from my stash. The lady has sent me some fabric with teddybears baking, so I will make those and then send them all off.

Two Projects at the same time is fun, but the studio is a mess.

Note the two sewing machines. I’m trying to use both of them. The little ripped, worn out ironing board and my chair have to trade places depending on which machine I’m using at the moment. There’s an old Pfaff on the right and a big Singer commercial machine on the left; it has a wider needle swing and I’ve spent two days off and on trying to correct it’s tension. Almost there.

Here are the two projects:

Cover Lovers Askew is now pinned and ready to embellish.

Flower Patch blocks – there are 14 so far, not enough room on the design wall to display them all and there will be more.

This is how they will go together using the QAYG  (quilt as you go) technique.

Marianne at The Quilting Edge blog has excellent “how to” tutorials on the technique.

I Belong to an online Sewing Forum. In the last couple days there was a cry for help from the sister of a lady who makes children's and some adult aprons to sell to raise money for prostate and breast cancer charities. She makes up a little baking kit to go with the apron.

However, there have been some family situations which have meant she is quite behind with getting enough aprons for an upcoming event where she hoped to raise money. So, the cry for help from the sister. And why not? I have a few more days before college starts back up.

The sister is sending some teddy fabric she had to those of us who said we'd make some. It is a good idea and also good reasons for selling. If we liked, we could make up some from fabric we have.

So, I thought I would make use of some of the novelty fabric I have which I didn't suit Christmas serviettes or fabric bags in January. The children's size takes a 'fat quarter' and a small adult or teen size takes 1/2 metre of fabric. Here is a completed dragon in the larger size.

and some in progress that might appeal to boys or non-girly girls.

I thought I could use up bias binding scraps as well. But actually, they take longer than you think if you use bias binding. I am tempted to get out the cotton tape which would be easier and take less time. Perhaps by the time the teddy fabric arrives, I will have worked out a quicker system...like rethreading the overlocker?

by the way, the second photo also has the altered suit trousers I mentioned doing for a Certain Lad.

Also over the weekend, I managed to finish off the last 2 red journal quilts. Actually, I had made the tops before I did the strawberries, but I was still considering how to quilt them and whether they should be one off ideas and I should do fruits/veg each month.

So, I quilted them over the weekend and did the binding today. The aim for these was to try the concept of Notan a video showing the concept. I wanted to see if I could create something that looked like flames using the technique. Because the challenge says up to 25% of any other colours, I took 1/4 of an A4 page and used it to create the design. I cut one set of shapes out of yellow batik design and the other I cut the shapes from the red hand dyed fabric (from Farne Designs) and fuse it over a dark grey fabric. I have saved the red shapes - possibly to use in one of the future journals, but we shall see.

So, one is Red Flames

and one is Red Smoke.

I think this technique might be interesting to use for creating a background to stage a dragon scene.

Over the weekend we had several events on. A Good Friday Service, a Hot Cross Bun Event (like the Mince Pie event at Christmas) where the people from our church gave out balloons, hot cross buns and small Easter chocolate eggs. Just a chance to meet people from the community. And then the Sunday Services.

Since A Certain Young Man was here, I ended up doing alot more cooking. He went with my husband to the shops and rather than small tidy roasts, they came home with major beasts! So, we had Lamb on Saturday evening and Pork on Sunday. Then with the leftover lamb and being Bank Holiday Monday I made a lentil stew while we still had someone here to help eat it all.

At some point on Saturday I decided to see if I had any of the little food dye tablets left from a packet of Easter egg colouring someone sent me from America. As Someone had already eaten most of the eggs, and two out of the 5 left cracked in the pan, I ended up colouring 3 eggs. And since I didn't really want to waste the dye...I gathered up some silk scraps and put them in the cups!

Here is the tangle of silks after I put through a rinse in the machine. I was well impressed with the turquoise silk organza. It is interesting that the 'red' dye came out very fuchsia...the little piece of velvet is interesting. I don't think it is silk, maybe a rayon base. I have a plan for the green silk noil.

A Certain Young Man also had requested some alterations to some of his trousers/jeans...he has been weight training and suddenly things don't fit straight off the rack any more. I also took measurements for making a custom shirt for him. I am a bit nervous. He seems to want Saville Row quality at student prices. Yikes. but anyway, it will be a challenge.

I have also managed to complete another Journal Quilt. Still on the Red theme.

I had this red fabric which seems to be cotton woven with rayon or something. But I thought it would work for a punnet of Strawberries.
I was going to put beads on all the strawberries to make the little seeds. But when I did the first one, I felt that it would be enough and would help to create a focus.

what do you think? more beads?

I did manage to get away to the Sewing for Pleasure/Fashion Embroidery Stitch event at the NEC before Pepper got too ill. However, I forgot the camera. A lot of very interesting exhibits - The Downton Abby costumes were interesting. The stills from the TV shoots were much more lively looking than the actual garments. Maybe because someone was wearing them? or maybe the lights, etc. I have never watched the show.

I have added a link at the side to my friend Helen Cowen's blog. She had a really good exhibit of her work at the show. I wish she didn't live so far away! It would be great to pop in and out of each other's studios. I am sure she would be great to bounce ideas off of.

And then on Saturday, I popped out for a bit to the TVOffcuts meeting at the community centre. Where I also forgot the camera, but was able to finish off the last bits of the Loads and Ladders piece. Everyone else had great projects, but my brain was a bit fried, so I don't actually remember them all.

also, a Certain Young Man was 23 on Thursday. My husband's nephew had travelled down from his uni to visit our Young Man, so they came over on Sunday. I did manage to get a photo of the 2 of them. The Nephew is off on adventures this year which sound exciting.

I was in my studio (hiding - too emotional about the dog) and The Nephew came to look in.
"So this is where the Magic happens." Just what I needed to hear...someone - male! - who was willingly interested in what I do.
"Grandma showed me a photo of you in the paper when you started to be famous." (Me? Famous?)
I tell you, that boy will go far! He knows just the right thing to say!!
So, I had a few pleasant moments showing him some bits including the dragons.

I also told him how special I thought his comment was about the Magic happening. I may make a sign or something to hang in here to encourage me when I need it. :-}

While looking after my little friend the last 3 difficult weeks, I managed to work on the 10 year CQ celebration challenge and get it done by the deadline...just.

The piece is very dark and so hard to photograph, but this photo does give a glimpse of what is going on in the layers under the black silk organza. A 20cm sample also went off with the entry form so they can tell just what it looks like.




The building in the original photo could be compared to the tip of the iceberg; fairly serene compared to all that was happening so far below ground. However, whilst researching, I was deeply moved by descriptions of the conditions for workers in the mines and especially by the realisation of how far down the miners had to go in order to work. Miner testimonials recorded in days prior to electricity lodged in my head as I read that it took approximately 1 hour to descend the rickety ladders to the work face and 2 hours to ascend at the fatiguing end of their shift. This long climb, for the most part, was done in complete darkness because the workers did not want to waste their candles. Added to these thoughts was the idea that this work had gone on for centuries! Romans, and possibly Phoenicians, sent men down these pits for the tin and other metals to be found in the rocks. Day on day, year on year men worked and lost their lives in the toil for the metal considered so valuable.

In making the work, I felt it was important to show the darkness, the depth and the endless toil. I used layers of paper fabric along with silhouettes of the men in various stages of the climb and the work. This was overlaid with black silk organza and quilted with a jagged stitch for the rocks and a linear stitch for the mine shaft. It is a side on view of the mine shaft, men working the layers of rocks and the overwhelming darkness overall. Amongst the paper layers, glimpses of tin are represented with grey metal tissue and geometric symbols for tin oxide. The white cotton backing serves to backlight the image so that detail is not totally obscure.
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Here is a lighter version of the photo showing the men climbing and toiling.

Lily Kerns chose our latest challenge for the Uncommon Threads group. It had to be black and anything but square.

Drove me nuts!

I cut 3 1/2 squares out of all the black fabrics I have in my stash and sewed them together to make a 12″ x 12″ square. Then I auditioned all kinds of stuff on it and it all looked mundane. Finally I settled on a pojagi sample, made some time ago when I was just fooling around. The sample was sewn to the black background and the black cut away behind it. Then the back of the whole piece was also cut away so that one can see through the transparency. The tile is “Diaphragms.”

I actually like the back better than the front!

All of the challenges can be seen on the Uncommon Threads blog site here.

My first stop was Tangled Threads in Lynden.


Each shop was giving away the pattern for a block.  All of the shops made all 13 blocks and put them together in unique quilt settings.  Seeing all of the quilts was like a mini quilt show.  This was Tangled Threads' quilt:


These are the fabrics that were in the "kit" that Cher sent last year after she attended the annual quilt show in Sisters, Oregon.  This panel was the official fabric for the 2011 Sisters Quilt Show, and is called "Nature's Symphony", by Kathy Deggendorfer.  Cher challenged each of the FABs to make a quilt using this panel and the other kit fabrics that she sent us. 

I may have found a new addiction--cat fabrics.  While at Tangled Threads I found these three cat themed fat quarters.  They seemed to call out to me so I brought them home.  I also found some teeny tiny black buttons that my Mom and I might be able to use in our snowman blue work blocks.  (We seem to be French Knot phobic!  LOL)
My second stop was also in Lynden at Calico Country.


This is Calico Country's quilt using the shop hop blocks.

I found the perfect cat fabric at Calico Country.  This fabric is from Loralie Designs and is called, "Spice Cats." 

The third shop I visited was, Folktales, also located in Lynden.  http://folktalesfabricshop.blogspot.ca/


This was Folktales' version of the shop hop quilt. 

I came across this cute panel at Folktales.  It was on sale for less than half price, so I brought home two.  If one is good, then two must be better, right?

I also found small black buttons - a little bigger than the buttons that I had bought at Tangled Threads.  This cute Easter stitchery pattern also came home with me--Easter Stack by Kassie Moen.

This was the shop sample of Easter Stack.  The woman who stitched this sample was in the shop when I was there and told me that she used Crayola Crayons to colour her fabric, not chalk as had been used in the pattern.  I prefer the look of the crayons myself.

That was it for quilt shops in Lynden.  I then headed down the highway to Bellingham where I stopped at Fabric Etc.


This was Fabric Etc's version of the shop hop quilt.  They added the name of each shop that participated in the shop hop above the door on the house that featured that shop's block.


The next stop was Fourth Corner Quilts.  This is the side of the shop that you see as you approach the shop from the road.  You have to pull in off the busy street and park in the rear of the shop.

This is the view around the corner where you park and enter the shop.


This is Fourth Corner's version of the shop hop quilt.  Fourth Corner's block is the Maple Leaf block.  All of the blocks are arranged  in the shape of a tree, symbolic of all the trees in the Pacific Northwest.  You can't see it in this picture but the background quilting contained many images of things you might see in the Pacific Northwest like birds.

The last shop that I visited on the shop hop was Two Thimbles, also in Bellingham.

This is Two Thimbles' version of the quilt shop hop quilt. 

I picked up two fabrics at Two Thimbles--a green and a brown.  My daughter is getting married in September and her colours are green, brown, and champagne. I have a lot of greens in my stash, but as I said before, very little in the way of browns.  This brown had so many shades of brown in it, I thought I couldn't go wrong picking some of this one up.  The woman in the shop told me that this particular brown is very popular with the local quilters as it covers a wide range of shades of brown.

Several years ago most of the trees in this area of SW Missouri received severe damage in a terrible ice storm. It’s still very evident in the winter time when the leaves are gone. Every time I go down this road I look at these trees and fantasize that they are dancing. Maybe they are dancing for the joy of still being alive!

making progress in the one 'clear' space

Also happening here and about:

A Certain Young Man (no longer a Lad) home for Mothering Sunday. He made a lovely pork roast. And a Fine Man made a 'not fruitcake' simnel cake. Michael Barry recipe. Yumm

A very sick Dog :-(

A Mother in hospital for emergency op far far away. I guess since I can't do anything for her that my sis and the hospital can't do, the dog is actually being the bigger concern.

and hiding away in my room listening to Lord Peter Wimsey stories to stop the worry.

Valentine's Day may be long past, but I only just took the last stitches on my Valentine's Day quilt this weekend.  Late for this year - early for next year!



This is a table runner made from St. Patrick's Day fabric sent to me from my FAB pal, Pam.  Pam sent the fabric to me back in 2008.  I made the flimsy right away, I only did the quilting this weekend.  I took the last stitches in the binding tonight.  There seems to be a theme here--late for this year, early for next year.

The strategy of loading the Fall Rail Fence quilt last weekend so that I could make passes on the long arm as I had a few minutes during the week seems to have worked.  I finished the quilting on this one Friday night.  

The quilting pattern is called, Swirls.