Chinese Whispers - a collection

Rather later than I intended, here are the pages I produced for the other members of the Chinese Whispers Challenge. We all saw each others pages and original inspiration for the first time at a recent meeting. Here are my contributions in chronological order.

Rosemary's page.

This first one was for Rosemary. The fabric picture I received reminded me so much of a bear wandering through a landscape. The original photograph was rather interesting. I showed a rather beautiful valley called Bryce Canyon in the USA. The shape I had thought of as a bear was actually a shaped rock in the photo graph. So my landscape was truly fictitious. The image is constructed using simple kantha style stitches for texture and commercial fabrics appliquéd onto a black background.

Brenda's picture.

The second picture had already been to Rosemary, so I was working from her stitched picture. The image I received reminded me of the story of Jonah and the whale. Hence my own hand stitched image using a variety of accidentally dyed dyecatchers. I used back stitch and simple kantha style stitches for the image. What amused me when I saw Brenda's original inspiration was that it was the famous painting of the wave!

Bernice's picture.

This third image had come to me through versions made by Brenda and then by Rosemary. As a result the original image came as rather a surprise. It showed a snowy lakeside scene in Handforth, Cheshire. My own version was based on what I saw was an interpretation of the four seasons. This used my own dyed fabrics, free machine embroidery and some sheer fabrics cut using a soldering iron.

Mary's picture.

The inspiration for this one was a seaside scene which I received from Rosemary. She had interpreted a scene from Brenda, who in turn had received one from Bernice. The photos for this were printed onto silk and allowed to fray a little before being handstitched in place. My photos came from a trip made to Llandudno in Wales. The background is made up of sheer fabrics over different colours of satins used both matte side up and shiny side up. The original inspiration was the photo of a lighthouse. So perhaps I wasn't so very far out with this one.

Chris' page.

This last page was inspired by a rather nice stitched picture of a pigeon. It reminded me so strongly of a song we were singing with the choir that Rosemary, Chris and I sing with. I just had to use the information from the song. It is one of a series about pigeons by Guy Turner. This particular song was "Wood pigeon in the Weald" and uses a pub and place names around Hartfield in Sussex. The hand drawn images were printed onto silk and then bondawebbed in place. The stitching was all by hand with many french knots. The phrase on the grey border at the bottom of the image was directly taken from the song. The original image from Chris was a Kiwi bird. So her pages have travelled rather a long way from New Zealand to the UK.

Work in progress

Caribbean beach.

Same beach as the above photo.

This is a sample which I am currently working on. The design is based on the Caribbean photos above. I took the photos myself whilst on holiday, and is rather an experiment in using sheers and playing with texture.

Octagon and square quilt - in progress.

This next quilt is a hand sewn project. I'm really not sure what the eventual size will be, or even how I will quilt it. Still, I am enjoying playing around with the colours in my quilting cottons stash.

January 2013 Journal Quilt.

February 2013 Journal Quilt

March 2013 - Journal Quilt

April 2013 - Journal Quilt

These are the first four of my journal quilts for this year. My theme for the year is "Shadows and silhouettes". It has been a good excuse for messing around with different printing styles and applique. I am woefully behind, however and need to start the May and June quilts. However, the work being done on my Horizon quilt is taking precedence. Ah well, I might just be able to catch up by the next deadline - the next four journal quilts need to be completed by the end of August.

Bookwraps and textile book pages.

The following photos are the first pages I have received in a book page swap I am involved in.

The first two pages are by Marion. It will come as no surprise that the them of my book is "Music". The mp3 player is particularly clever being made of felt with some plastic and cording. Unfortunately, I have yet to start the front and back covers to the book.

Hilda made these two pages above. I love the way she has highlighted some of the notes with hand stitching.

The last two pages were made by Brenda. She dyed the fabric for the background of the second page. She also specially designed the machine embroidery elements. So clever.

Being busy - sewing.

Well, it feels as if there's a lot to do. My first concern at the moment is to get this quilt finished.

Yes, I know it isn't my usual style. This is a child's quilt which will be sent off to Roberta in Italy at the end of the month. If I can get it finished in time, that is.

This is the true colour of the two fabrics used for the main part of the top.

I am busily stitching around each of the applique pieces. This will make the whole thing more resilient. The child receiving this quilt will probably be around 3 to 5 years old.

Another project which needs to be completed are the journal quilts for Contemporary Quilt. I have pieced the remaining four, but haven't completed the stitching yet. 

I have two quilts to complete for the Sky's the Limit group, some textile pages to complete for another group   and then there is the second blouse for choir which is waiting for me to sew it together. The list continues, but I shall not bore you with it. It is my usual problem - far too many projects to fit into the time I have available. I shouldn't complain, since it is far better to have a lot to do rather than nothing at all.

A busy month

The first five of my Journal Quilts for this year. I intend to turn these into a book once they are completed. Its an exploration into colours and the colour wheel. Left to right they are: January (purple-red); February (deep red); March ( pale red); April ( orange-red); May (orange-yellow). Sorry about the addition of my knees, I just couldn't get far enough away to get a decent photo.

This is a closer view of the May Journal Quilt.

Now June - as you can see it is dark yellow. I have also completed July (light yellow) and August ( yellow-green). These last two will have to wait to be seen until I have been able to post them on the Contemporary Quilt Yahoo group.

This last photo is the small portable print board I have recently made for myself. It isn't white and pristine any more. I made it to take to a printing day at one of the Textile groups I go to - "Textiles without limits".

May was rather a busy month - with printing and painting fabric, stitching and sewing.

More photos next time.

So sorry its been such a long time since I last visited this Blog. It has been rather busy here. The serger quilt is nearing completion. I am currently doing some free machine embroidery on all the sashing to enable it to lie satisfactorily.

Progress is steady.

I'm knitting and planning some sewing too. A blouse and a shirt, with a skirt and a pair of trousers are amongst the projects I have in mind. I really could do with getting rid of some rather shabby pieces in my wardrobe..........

Another project is the monthly journal quilt for the Contemporary Quilt group of the Quilter's Guild.

I call this series "A year in the life of a village - Moulton 2011." It sounds rather presumptuous, but the idea is just to show elements of the village where I live as the seasons change.

Each quilt is just ten inches square. The first one shows the sign at the side of the road, as drivers approach the village. The house stands very close to the sign. The crows are the emblem of Moulton and will be shown in each journal quilt. It is called "Welcome to the village - February."

The second quilt, entitled "Spring is coming - March." It shows the metal spire of the local church, with nests in the local trees. The snowdrops and daffodils are some of my favourite signs of Spring.

Part of the challenge of these quilts is that the first four quilts should show a circle. The next four should have text in some form, with the final four quilts having buttons somewhere on the surface. I decided that I would use all these elements is all the quilts I make in this series.

Both of these quilts have a painted background with appliqued items, photographs printed onto fabric ( I used Jacquard's Cotton sheets made for inkjet printing), and free machine embroidery.

Traveling Page has arrived.

Cobi has recently received her June page from me. I had been lamentably late in sending it.



Cobi's theme was Art Nouveau. This is one of my favourite books on the subject. I just love the wealth of detail and the beautiful lines of Art Nouveau. The ISBN for this particular book is 978-1-84451-265-2. I find it an excellent source book for images. Published by Flame Tree Publishing, it is one of a rather useful series of titles, all linked to artists or periods in Art History.



I used this particular photograph as my starting point.



This is the information given by the book.



Now, my own interpretation. It is simply applique using a brown fabric over a beautifully marked printed fabric from my stash. The bottom fabric looks almost like water. I overlaid this with a fine gauze, then added beads.

For the reverse of the piece, I used another image from the same book.



Isn't this a wonderful screen? The book gave the following information.



My own version of a small section, looked like this.



It is FME over gauze. I used water soluble fabric to stabilise the piece until I appliqued it to the pocket on the back of the page.

I have now just posted my July page, on the theme of Windows.