Sewing and more stitching

November Journal Quilt - the last piece of the map.

December Journal Quilt - a repeat of the boot to finish off.

The last couple of weeks have seen me busily sewing. I have completed my Journal Quilts for this year and now you can finally see all twelve of the little quilts shown together as intended. The theme, as I have mentioned before was "Journeys", which I took from another group which has used this a their theme for the year - NWCQ. The Journal Quilts were a challenge from Contemporary Quilt - each little quilt is 8 inches square. The map pieces all show the area where I take my dog Ella for her walks each morning, which also explains the walking boots being part of the design. Ella loves going for rides in the car too, and sometimes we take her further afield for a walk, hence the car. The aeroplane celebrates a trip to Prague taking an exhibition of quilts across for the Patchwork meeting. This took place in April.

The materials used have been: silk sheets printed with photographs and designs of my own based on car tyres and the tread of the walking boots; dye catchers which have been accidentally dyed when used in my washing machine - I have quite a collection; my own printed and painted fabrics; sheer fabrics and the wristband I wore during the Prague exhibition; finally, free machine quilting, and some hand stitching. Some details have also been drawn onto the quilts using permanent marker and coloured pencils.

All twelve Journal Quilts shown together.

I also made a couple of little bags for friends. These were made from my stash of Liberty lawn fabrics and have a spring clip fastening. 

Small presents for friends.

The little bag linings.

I also got the December challenge for the Sky's the Limit group finished on time. For me, this year, it has been quite an achievement to get this posted and finished on time. I do intend to be less last minute in 2015. Wish me luck in this resolve.........

The December challenge for Sky's the Limit, was "Painted Face". So many different ideas went whizzing round my head, so that, in the end, I borrowed my younger daughters beautiful masquerade masks. I just love them.

The Scaramouche mask.

Catto

My own version was rather simplified using silk and satin scraps on a black linen background. The gold fabric has been bondawebbed in place since it was far too fragile to stitch in place. The rest of the fabric has been satin stitched. The background has been free machine quilted imitating the swirly patterns of the masks. Yes, I was very good and returned the masks quickly to their owner.

Skys the Limit December Challenge - Painted Face.

No knitting, but some sewing

It has been rather chilly outside today - with really wintry showers. The colours have been beautiful. These pictures were taken from just outside my kitchen.

The following photo shows the promised one of my newest jumper - the pattern is Tire Tracks. It is wonderfully cosy. I knitted a blue one for my husband a few weeks back. 

Tyre Tracks - my second jumper

There has been some sewing, but nothing has been finished and isn't quite in a state fit to photograph. Never mind, I shall show the photos next time. I have almost finished the November Journal Quilt which shows the final section of the map. The last piece, for December is almost ready to start. Sadly, the only other thing I have accomplished today is pinning the hems of my new curtains.

Sewing and knitting

September JQ - Ella

It has been quite a busy week. I managed to nearly get up to date with my journal quilts, finishing two of them. The third one, November is languishing on my workbench this evening since I have been so busy getting other things done today. I have promised myself that I shall get it stitched tomorrow. It is another section of the same map that I have been putting together over the past few months.

October JQ - another section of the map

It might seem daft to stitch a map in sections like this, but the intention is to get all twelve of the journal quilts put together in some way. I haven't quite decided how this will be achieved yet, but they will need to be held carefully together so that all the bits of the map link up. It shows the areas where I go walking with Ella.

Speaking of Ella, the September Journal Quilts was achieved by printing an outline drawing of Ella onto silk. The outline was taken from a photo which I took some time ago. The colouring in was done after the silk had been printed and left to dry. I used some colouring pencils, trying to keep as close as possible to the colours of the original photo. It would have been so much simpler to have merely used a photograph printed onto silk. I just wanted a different, matt, texture. The background was first painted and then stencilled before the image of Ella was appliquéd using bondaweb.

Sky's the Limit quilt for November - Hand Out / Handout

The last quilt completed this week was this one for the monthly Sky's the Limit group. The theme this time was "Hand out". For this I used a piece of fabric which I dyed some months ago and was not happy with. It had been lying in my "fabric to be used for printing" pile for some time and was perfect for this. I have written phrases in the style of a dictionary, putting together some of the meanings of "Handout" and "Hand out". Hence the title. The hand is an outline printed onto silk which has had the words "Handout" written repeatedly over it in permanent marker. This has been bondawebbed in place onto the background. The whole has then been free machine quilted with a hand design in variegated thread. This was simply achieved by drawing around both my hands, scanning this image into my computer, reducing it in size. This was then printed out and the resulting print used to trace the design repeatedly onto a thin tissue. I then stitched through this joining the hand images so that the whole was stitched continuously. Good fun!
Oh yes, I finished my jumper too. I've worn it as well. Very cosy and comfortable. I forgot to take a photo, so that will have to wait until another time.

A weekend in Harrogate

My collection of purchases

My husband and I were away from home last weekend, heading off to Harrogate for a few days. Harrogate is a really interesting place to visit, and we chose to go because not one, but two shows were on. I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show, whilst my husband headed off to the Woodworking and machine tools Show. We both had a great time.

Vintage patterns

Stencils, wooden blocks for printing, sheer fabrics and a mat for making lino prints.

Goodies found in a rummage box.

As you can see from the range of my purchases, I am planning to do more printing and dressmaking. The vintage patterns are an indulgence since I just love the style. I have been looking for a nice culottes pattern for some time, so was delighted to find this one.

I think I shall make the skirt too.

Almost two yards of Linen and Viscose mix fabric.

Going round the charity shops I found these two lengths of fabric. The linen/viscose mix will make a delightful blouse, whilst the other length will make a lovely summer dress.

Four and a half yards of light cotton batik.

The battered book you also see in the pile of purchases was found in a charity shop too,

I also indulged myself with the purchase of a light box. This will be so useful.

A light box!

Knitting and a textile book

Another jumper started.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I have been involved with the Drama group once more. Not, this time, making costumes, but helping out with fast changes. With so much sitting around to do, I had to find a second knitting project since I quickly finished off the jumper shown last time.  I chose to do the same pattern again. So far I have completed the back and knitted the front to the stage between the casting off for the armhole shaping ant the casting off I shall need to do for the neck. My husband really likes the blue jumper, but hasn't worn it yet since it really has been a little too warm for a thick jumper. I hope he doesn't do his usual thing of putting it safely in the cupboard and only bringing it out "for best". This brown version will probably be for me since I could do with another really cosy jumper.

The completed "Music" book

I was also busy during the past week with completing a textile book. This has been going on for such a very long time. The group decided that last Friday was the deadline for completing these. So I got mine finished just in time.

As you can seen from the photo above, it is a concertina book. Each page is just 6 inches wide and 8 inches high. Most of the pages have been produced using an embroidery machine. Not surprising since the group is called the Machine Embroidery Group! I don't have such a machine and so all my pages were made using a mixture of appliqué and free machine embroidery onto my own dyed and printed fabrics.

Brenda's pages

Hilda's pages

Karen's pages

Marion's pages

Judy's pages

A third page from Judy and my explanation of the project.

Judy was very sweet and made three pages for me. This really worked well when putting the book together since I was able to add an explanation about the project onto a single page.

The covers

As you will notice, my front and back pages are free machine embroidered onto a piece of my own dyed fabric. I really wasn't happy with the intensity of the dye on this piece of fabric, but it worked perfectly for this project. It has been hanging around in my collection of fabrics for over dyeing or printing for a couple of years now.

The backing used for the pages showing the hinges.

The back of the book has been covered using my own dyed fabrics. I couldn't bear the thought of cutting these bits up, so having larger pieces like this to show the accidental patterns caused by the dyes was rather a lot of fun. Each of the pages is backed onto a stiff vilene using bondaweb. The hinges are simply dressmakers tape (used for strengthening seams in flimsy fabrics) which I inherited from my late mother-in-law. Each page is zigzagged to catch the tape and bind the edges.

Knitting and printing

The start of my husband's jumper.

The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of knitting - I finished a waistcoat and started a jumper for my husband.

The waistcoat.

The front of my husband's jumper showing the cable detail.

The jumper is Tire Trace by Agata Smektala. The pattern is a free Ravelry download and can be found here. 

The waistcoat can also be found on Ravelry here. It is by Meghan McFarlane and is an extremely quick knit having no seams at all.

I really enjoyed knitting this cosy waistcoat and am looking forward to wearing it.

We also travelled into Manchester and went on the Big Wheel. 

View of Manchester from one of the Big Wheel capsules.

The Big Wheel can be found in Piccadilly Gardens right in the centre of Manchester. Such an extraordinary experience being up so high and able to see for miles around. 

Fabric printed and stencilled.

There has also been some printing using some of the techniques taught by Gillian Travis during her workshop. Here you can see some photos of the fabrics I played around with. All have been painted with acrylic paints with some spraying and the use of stencils, thermofax screens and block prints.

This last piece may, or may not turn out to be something. I am rather late to submit it to Sky's the Limit for their November challenge - Townscape. The photos come from buildings I photographed whilst they were being demolished in the early 1970s. The brick shapes come from paintings I made around the same time.

A workshop with Gillian Travis

My first piece.

This weekend has been a really special one for me. On Sunday, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Gillian Travis. I really admire Gillian's work, since she is a prolific quilter and an excellent teacher.The previous day, she had been giving a talk to the Quilters' Guild Region 13 Regional Day held in Frodsham. She gave a really interesting talk and showed us a very wide range of her work, whilst talking about her travels. The afternoon speaker was Val Jackson who showed her amazing work.

On the Sunday, Gillian showed us several techniques to build up a background fabric. She showed us how to make a wash using acrylic paints, and then using stencils and blocks to build up a texture. Then adding a thermofax print. Some people reading this will feel that this all sounds rather familiar. I must say that, although I have often used these techniques before, I learnt a huge amount from Gillian. I had never used acrylic paints before, preferring to use fabric paints. However, I have now changed my mind and will be using acrylics in future.

The second piece

I used some of my own stencils, learning the best way to apply the paint. I was so pleased with the results and will be investing in a couple of stencil brushes and also some little sponge dabbers that we were able to try.

My second and third pieces still need a lot of work, but I had such a lot of fun putting them together. The original fabric was an off-white stiff calico (muslin). 

My last, just started piece

Today has been spent trying to catch up with my emails, so there has not been any time to spare for playing around with textiles in my workroom and I still haven't managed to put all the workshop stuff away. Never mind, there is always tomorrow. I did manage to get a fair bit of planning done taking Ella for a long walk. I always seem to be able to get thing settled down in my head when I am off on a long walk...........

Hendred Hat by Elly Doyle

I did manage to get a cosy hat finished on Sunday evening, just in time for a rather chilly walk with Ella this morning. It really kept my ears cosy, just what I'd wanted. This hat can be found here and is also in the Scrumptious Collection Volume One from Fyberspates.

I still had some of the cosy yarn left over, but didn't want to make the mittens that match the hat since I never wear mittens. So, I decided to make a cowl or a scarf. In the end, I decided to try to design my own very simple scarf. So here it is:

The basic idea from my notebook.

I was going to use a cable design from one of my stitch library books. This one is excellent with lovely colour photos and clear diagrams.

The original photo of the cable design.

It is lovely working with books like this one. I know I haven't got very far yet, as you can see from the photo below this. However, I feel fairly confident that my scarf will turn out all right. Any problems with it will all be of my own making rather than the cable instructions from the book.

 Tomorrow is the day when I get to show my latest textile book to the Embroiderer's Guild meeting in Alsager. I shall have to let you know about how that goes another time.