Giving a talk, being part of an exhibition and finishing things

Giving a talk - table full of items to show

A few days after my last post here, I was at Pinfold giving a talk. Since around half of the group had heard me talk about my quilts already, I decided to bring along a wide range of the other bits and pieces I mess around with. You can see a selection of quilts hiding in the quilted bags sitting on the floor. The table holds books and embroideries I have made over the years, a few three dimensional items too - my fish and a couple of teddies. I think it went well. The variety and quantity seemed to surprise people.

Making print blocks

Since the talk, I have been steadily working towards getting items completed for the Pinfold exhibition which took place on Saturday. You can see a few photos of the exhibition here. I have been a member of this group for some months now, but this is the first time I have been able to exhibit with them. The first piece of work being my journal quilts. I had the final four to complete.

The first thing I needed to do was to make some print blocks.

Completed print blocks

Then, after preparing four pieces with a blue gelliplate print, I got the printing done. Different shades of green. The added squares needed to be orange.

Overprinting a gelliplate print

After leaving these pieces to dry, it was time to get on with the free machine embroidery. I really enjoy doing this, using my bright lamps to augment the light from the machine itself.

Free machine work

You can just see the orange squares which have been bondawebbed in place towards the back of this photo.

Completed journal quilts on show

I managed to get the final four JQs finished in time for the exhibition. Here they are, hanging in place. They are in date order with the top line being January, February, March and April. The middle layer are May, June, July and August. The bottom layer has September, October, November and December. These are held together with safety pins, so I really need to sort out whether to permanently link these together.

Display of Whispers challenge books.

This lovely table shows the collection of Pinfold Chinese Whisper Challenge books. My book is right at the very back with my journal detailing the challenge being the orange book beside it.

African quilt peeking around the corner - beautiful challenge quilts by Pinfold members

Pinfold is a group of very talented textile artists. I feel myself very lucky to be part of their group and am learning a lot by taking part in their challenges and being able to chat to the members about the techniques they like to use.

Giving a talk, being part of an exhibition and finishing things

Giving a talk - table full of items to show

A few days after my last post here, I was at Pinfold giving a talk. Since around half of the group had heard me talk about my quilts already, I decided to bring along a wide range of the other bits and pieces I mess around with. You can see a selection of quilts hiding in the quilted bags sitting on the floor. The table holds books and embroideries I have made over the years, a few three dimensional items too - my fish and a couple of teddies. I think it went well. The variety and quantity seemed to surprise people.

Making print blocks

Since the talk, I have been steadily working towards getting items completed for the Pinfold exhibition which took place on Saturday. You can see a few photos of the exhibition here. I have been a member of this group for some months now, but this is the first time I have been able to exhibit with them. The first piece of work being my journal quilts. I had the final four to complete.

The first thing I needed to do was to make some print blocks.

Completed print blocks

Then, after preparing four pieces with a blue gelliplate print, I got the printing done. Different shades of green. The added squares needed to be orange.

Overprinting a gelliplate print

After leaving these pieces to dry, it was time to get on with the free machine embroidery. I really enjoy doing this, using my bright lamps to augment the light from the machine itself.

Free machine work

You can just see the orange squares which have been bondawebbed in place towards the back of this photo.

Completed journal quilts on show

I managed to get the final four JQs finished in time for the exhibition. Here they are, hanging in place. They are in date order with the top line being January, February, March and April. The middle layer are May, June, July and August. The bottom layer has September, October, November and December. These are held together with safety pins, so I really need to sort out whether to permanently link these together.

Display of Whispers challenge books.

This lovely table shows the collection of Pinfold Chinese Whisper Challenge books. My book is right at the very back with my journal detailing the challenge being the orange book beside it.

African quilt peeking around the corner - beautiful challenge quilts by Pinfold members

Pinfold is a group of very talented textile artists. I feel myself very lucky to be part of their group and am learning a lot by taking part in their challenges and being able to chat to the members about the techniques they like to use.

Meet Frankie the felted fish

Frankie

I finally got round to finishing Frankie my felt fish. You can read all about the making of the fish here.

Showing how much the felting process has shrunk Frankie

I looked out the original paper shape which was used as a pattern for the resist inside Frankie - you can see it underneath the fish. The resist was made from a plastic tablecloth. The pattern here doesn't include the fins or tail since they were added later in the process. Frankie is hollow with aluminium disks for eyes.

Free machine stitching on my August journal quilt

I finally started work on stitching my next four journal quilts this week. The flower patterns were drawn onto water soluble fabric which was then stitched over. I'd started work on these some weeks back. You can see the work starting here.

Seven journal quilts showing the sequence

You get an idea of how the journal quilts will look when they are all completed in the photograph. I now have to start work on the last four of the sequence. The ones seen above still have to be cut to size, labels added and an edging stitched in place. I'm really enjoying working on these.

Making a fish, dyeing and the next stage

Side view, showing the washers acting as a resist, held in place by bulldog clips.

It has been a rather fascinating week since last posting here. Today, as you can see, I have been dyeing. This was a rather interesting workshop lead by Meryl for the Pinfold group. This invited us to paint dye rather than inserting the fabric into a dye bath. This allows the dye to find it's own path through the fabric and around any resists left in the way. I now have to wait for a few days until I can remove the clips and wash out the excess dye. 

Using bulldog clips and plastic washers as a resist.

 This is why the fabric is currently residing in a series of plastic bags. The kitchen roll used to clean the plastic surface protecting the table beneath also waits in a plastic bag. I will now have to be rather patient........

Dyed cloth samples waiting in plastic bags.

I've also been to a felt making workshop organised by the International Feltmaking Association as part of their AGM and Conference. This was one with the talented felter, Mandy Nash. My fish, still without a name, sits waiting for the final stages. A final shaping too. Nearly there, but not quite. I can recommend a workshop with Mandy Nash. A generous teacher, she is encouraging as well as knowledgeable. The day disappeared far too fast.

fish waiting to be finished

There has also been progress with the journal quilts. They are sitting ready for me to start the free machine stitching. The shiny surface is water soluble fabric. Hence two unfinished projects. I really have to choose which one to complete first.

the next stage of the journal quilts

Should have used gloves

Block printing over a gelliplate print.

Spent a very enjoyable time using the print blocks I showed in my last post. These will turn into my journal quilts for May, June, July and August. Each fabric piece has first been printed using a gelliplate using red.

Perhaps I should have used gloves

These were my hands after the printing session. Perhaps I should have used gloves, but I really find I need to feel the blocks. The blue will fade, but I must admit it does look a little odd.

More printing 

The first print will become May, while this one will become June. The following block print will be July.

Another print

The last piece will be August. I intend to free machine a pattern of flowers over the top of these. I shall need to add green squares too. The challenge this year is to add only one to each piece, but since I started off by adding three to each of my completed journal quilts, I think I'd best continue the same way.

August

It will be interesting to play around with different shades of green and finding suitable threads for the stitching.

Busy not sewing

Pattern of frost on the conservatory roof

We woke this morning to a frost which quickly disappeared as soon as the sun came up. These photos record the patterns on the roof panels of my conservatory. Really pretty.

Pattern of frost this morning

No sewing in the past few days, although there has been some preparation. Firstly, the book has started to take shape. The first few pages have been linked together with ribbon. The ribbon will eventually be hidden away inside the front and back covers of the book.

Book pages - showing the brown paper backings

I described putting the individual pages together here. The pages have all been trimmed ready for this stage. As you can see, the bright colours alternate with the brown paper backings.

Book - showing the coloured pages, each is different.

The first page - it still needs some lettering and some actual pattern.

The theme of the book is "Pattern". This is the theme this year for the NWCQ group, so it seemed rather appropriate. I sat steadily working on this book at a meeting when most people were working on altered books. It was an interesting meeting to attend, but I really have a problem with altering any book. In my mind I see it a defacing the book rather than enhancing it. Hence my making a book out of what might be termed rubbish.

I also worked on some designs based on flowers for print blocks. These will be used for the next four of my journal quilts for this year. I just need to find a little space to get on with some printing. The print blocks have been made from foam sheets stuck onto foam board using double sided tape. The centre block used part of the foam backing from a ready made pizza, backed onto foam board to give it more strength, My last four journal quilts can be seen here.

Merrily sewing and printing.

January and February - overprinting in progress.

This week has been rather busy so far. There has been block making and printing as well as the completion of the cushion cover I mentioned last time.

Firstly, the printing and blocks. The design work for these was based on the workshop I went to a couple of weeks back with NWCQ. The group have "Pattern" as their theme for 2016, and I had worked with some leaves preserved since last summer in my flower press. These were quite small - field maple, for example - and I played around with the outlines. In the end I made three blocks all based on the leaf design.

One of my print blocks - based on leaves.

The blocks are made from craft foam, and stuck using double sided tape onto foam board. These were great fun to print with and stood up to the task very well.

March on the left with February - drying.

I found it interesting to see the different effects made by the different blocks - one was purely an outline, the others were negative images of each other. The block printing was completed on calico which had already been printed using a gelliplate.

April

My last piece used the two negative blocks on the same piece of fabric. I used two slightly different colours.

Experimenting with printing medium.

What made it more interesting for me, was that I used printing medium with acrylic paints. My fabric paint collection has almost run out and I have been looking for a different method of working. Some months ago, I had tried using the medium in a workshop with Gillian Travis. I found some in Hobbycraft. I did find it rather thick, so added water to get the right consistency for block printing. I haven't used this for screen printing yet. That will have to wait until a later date.

The pieces above will be my Journal Quilts for this year. They are layered and waiting for me to free machine a leaf design over the top. My sewing machine really needs a clean before I can start work, hence my prevarication - writing this blog post instead.

Completed cushion showing piping.

I completed the woven cushion cover and it is now waiting to be added to the collection of raffle prizes for Pinfold. The lining fabric was a piece I had picked up in Ikea, and the cushion has the same fabric as the back. This is an envelope back which means that the cushion inner can just be pushed inside and there doesn't need to be any fastening. I have added piping too, just to finish it all off.

Completed cushion front.

It is quite a big cushion being 20 inches square. Cream calico, the lighter blue fabric is Fabric Freedom's "F435 William Morris Mix", whilst the main fabric is Fabric Freedom's "F433 William Morris Mix".

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.