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.