Autumn

   Last year I did an online course (Making connections. Mark Layer and stitch) with Cas Holmes and Fibre Arts Take Two.  Cas uses wallpaper paste on the fabric instead of a stabiliser when doing machine embroidery.  I used this technique at the end of the course to make a sample, which worked out really well, and which was the inspiration for this piece:-

  However, this time I thought that as I was doing the freemotion on the  background and wadding it would work,  but the free motion quilting was so dense that it distorted the background to the point that it would have been very difficult to quilt the rest into submission. So I had to cut out the tree, cobble together a new background from the scraps left, then appliqué the tree to it. At which point I discovered that I hadn't quite caught all the background under the applique and had to apply a little glue in one or two places. The quilting has taken longer than anticipated, as I decided to add seeding to give more texture to the background.  It's a little smaller than planned as a result, but despite all the problems, I'm pleased with it. The photo of the sample gives a truer idea of the colours. The weather has been very overcaste here, and not likely to  change in the next few days, so I've not been able to get a decent photo. Will I be able to change it later?

Shapes

Using any combination of shapes (any shape such as triangle ,rectangle ,hexagon or a created shape) construct a quilt of whatever size you wish.

Roots

 

Regarding the theme of the quilt, “Trees”, I used Van Gogh's painting “Tree Roots” as my inspiration for this quilt.

How to present Van Gogh's characteristic brushstrokes in a quilting way? I thought about it for a long time! I decided to try to use crayons(oil pastels)and fabrics for the work . It's like painting, coloring and pasting layer by layer, it's a fun way to make this quilt.

Momo 

 Teaser

    I am afraid that mine will not be ready in time. Earlier in the year I made a sample, a tiny portion of which is in the photo, and wanted to develop it further. The original worked, but for this quilt I made a few changes and it has been nothing but trouble. I had to cut part of it out, and cobble together the background from the remains plus the scraps that were left. I took it on holiday with me, intending to do the quilting, but found another major problem, which had to wait until I returned home to sort out. I am now quilting and hope to finish it maybe next week... unless it has any more surprises for me!

tree

This is my imaginary tree. It was fun to create and I enjoyed doing all the free motion stitching.

Rosemary
 

Weeping Willow

 In 2007 my UK family took me to visit Normandy in France.  We stayed in a lovely house near a small village (the name eludes me now) and at the side of their garden was a small river and Willow trees.  It was a magical time we spend there and brings back many wonderful memories.  I thought I would try and capture those memories in my piece.  It took quite a long time to put together but I really enjoyed the process.

APOLOGIES

 I am getting my apologies in early, even though there is a month to go, as I took a tumble 3 weeks ago and will be going into hospital on Monday for an L1 spinal fusion. I have been virtually flat on my back this whole time and I have no idea how long I will be confined to bed afterwards and what my limitations will be. 

 Acacia blues

   Over ten years ago I made a journal quilt with transfer prints on a manmade fabric, overlayed with more transfer prints on tyvek. 

 I wanted to try something bigger and had the idea for this quilt, so this challenge was the ideal opportunity to try it.

This time I printed the acacia leaves on a synthetic fabric, again using transfer paints. This was overlayed with a piece of silk organza printed with fabric printing inks. For the trunk I used a denim trouser leg printed with a collagraph plate I made using strips of gauze for the bark pattern.

Green

 

I've never had much inspiration for this project.While surfing the internet, I stumbled upon this stitching method, so I gave it a try.

The green color is the theme, and it's split and pieced, but I'm still thinking about the quilt part, so do you have any good ideas?

Momo

TREES, TREES EVERYWHERE

My hubbie and I spent a couple of hours walking around our local Botanical Gardens yesterday playing with our cameras mostly looking birds but the gardens are full of amazing trees. Here are a couple of them.

.....and coincidentally our International Quilt Festival is on at the moment and one of my Guilds Group quilts won first prize and the theme......trees.

Apologies for the poor Pic.  Hmmmm!  My head is churning away.  Watch this space. 

Sorry for the delay!

 Every one all did a great job with your quilt .

Sorry guys, I needed a bit of time this time and couldn't really find the inspiration.I'm really sorry and hope to have it up as soon as possible!

Momo

And the next theme is... TREES

 

    During the covid lockdown, when we were allowed to walk no further than a kilometer from home for the short period of an hour, I took a daily walk round our  housing estate, which has many trees in the passages between the houses, and on the stretch of grassland between the estate and the motorway. I began to take  more notice of the trees, filling two sketchbooks with drawings, prints and samples inspired by the textures of their bark, their silhouettes, and their leaves. For the last few years I have been working on samples and have  started making quilts inspired by them. So trees as a theme was a natural choice for me. Have fun!

AND THE NEXT PERSON TO CHOOSE A THEME IS....

JINNIE!   

Have fun with choosing, Jinnie.  Hilary

CAFE AU LAIT

Sorry everyone.  June has been especially hectic and this last week even more so.  The piece was finished apart from the border but I just didn't have the energy to finish it - though after this morning's effort, I might have had better luck!!!

The piece is an homage to Ben Nicholson and Morandi.  There were minor slip-ups along the way and at least one was a fortuitous boob meaning I had to add more turquoise - which I like.  This morning my machine is playing up and the edge is scrappy.  It is raw-edge appliqued, backed with felt, machine quilted and satin stitch edged.

I can't get the colour right - the background is much more creamy beige and the turquoise much brighter.  Ho hum.  It measures 17.5" x 11"

Hilary

 Teaser

   I have run out of time, due to life and eye strain, so I'm having to dose how much I can quilt at the moment. I have quilted about two thirds of it and will finish it as soon as possible. I have just looked again at Hilary's post about the monochrome challenge, which I have just looked at again, and I realise I have more than 5% of another colour: too much white. Unfortunately I am not as brave as Phil, so I will not be overdying it in another shade of blue! Therefore it will have to stay the same. 

 I was a bit daunted by this challenge but in the end really enjoyed doing it and am really pleased with the result.  I found a design I had roughly sketched out many years ago and worked on that until I was happy, as well as choosing the gradations.  In the end I enjoyed every minute of putting it together.

A GENTLE GIANT

 

Whole cloth, sketched, sandwiched, stitched and then dyed.  In the dyeing process I used a very large tray keeping the piece (A4) flat as I did not want a uniform colour. Interesting that I was able to, with the use of the stitching, keep the dye mostly away from the tusks. I did go in with Derwent sticks just to enhance areas where needed. 

The process of adding dyes after completing your piece I first saw many years ago by a Textile artist, June Barnes (Hilary correct me if I have her name wrong).  She did an amazing piece which was a study of bottles.  

DAISY'S HANDKERCHIEFS

 

 

Whilst clearing out a drawer I found about 10 handkerchiefs that belonged to Graham's Gran - Daisy, a pet name for her. Slow stitch on the base of one of the handkerchiefs with lots of old buttons and lace collected over the years. 

This is Beth's submission which she put together prior to starting her overseas trip. 

monochrome

 I chose the colour yellow going towards orange and as my secondary colour I used black but only as an outline for the shapes so that they stood out. It was fun to do and quite a challenge. In the end I was reasonably pleased with the result.

Rose Arch

Sorry I'm so late in submitting this, but I've finally finished my quilt!

I was inspired by the wedding invitations, where the couple is surrounded by a door of roses, full of happiness and sweetness.

The pattern was drawn with oil-based pen and embossed on cotton, and the roses were knitted with fabric.But I don't think I've got the desired feeling of the roses this time, I may need to test it more, since it's been delayed for too long, so I'll leave it like this for now!

Momo 

 

ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

Sorry everyone, late again!  This has been a double challenge in that, although the technique is what I had in mind, I didn't have the time to do the screen printing.  But...I found a pile of fabrics with exactly the screen I wanted to use, plus of co-ordinating fabrics using various tie-dyeing techniques.  I have no idea when I did these but I must have enjoyed myself as there are so many.  So the second challenge was to create something with what I had.

All the fabrics are cotton and hand dyed or screen printed from a thermofax screen I had made from a photo I took of a rose in my garden.  It has an iron-on wadding (I had a sample the right size and was interested in how it would work - OK).  The roses are raw-edge applique fused on with Heat-n-Bond Ultra.  It has a bound edge and measures 41.5 x 50.5 cm.

Thanks Momo - nice to use up some of the stash.

Hilary

BLOOMING ROSE'S

 My title is a bit of a pun as what should have been straight forward was not.  I was all ready to go yesterday morning, however, fresh eyes and a photo and I realized it looked unfinished. Unfortunately yesterday was already planned so it had to wait until this morning. My apologies but here it is hot off the press.

I have now corded the stems and added more quilting. Applique and quilting on a whole cloth. I now have a slightly wavy border which hopefully will settle but will not be flat in the end. I can live with it. 

 

Sorry for the delay~~

 Sorry for the delay in posting my work!

It's a shame!After all, I'm the one who came up with the   theme this time!

I'm really sorry.

Momo

Nearly done! And the next challenge is....

 Sorry, folks, but Easter coming so early this year has caught me out.  I am so close to finishing my piece.

My challenge to you all is to create a monochrome piece.  You can choose whatever colour you fancy but you must keep within the colour.  You can add only up to 5% of another colour.   The challenge is basically to create an interesting piece using just tints, tones and shades of one colour.   It can be realistic, or abstract - any subject, any materials, techniques or textures.  Think Picasso's 'blue period' or black and white images or transparencies, etc.  Have fun.

Hilary

A COMPASS ROSE by BETH

 

A COMPASS ROSE is a figure on a map that helps a traveller orient the map to the cardinal directions North, South, East and West and thus you can find your way forward on your journey. 

All hand stitched. 

(Apologies by Beth. She is still having trouble uploading pics etc. She is hoping her son can sort it out for her when she travels overseas  in a few months time.  As she will be travelling for 4 months she will be taking a break from the group until she gets back home.) 

ROSES IN A TRELLIS

When I first saw what the challenge was it took me ages to figure out how to create a rose and do it in fabric.  After many drawings I decided on what to do and came up with what you can see here.  It grew rather rapidly as I kept on adding leaves and this whole piece took a really long time to create and finish, but I am very happy with the result.  All the roses are done in Kafe Fassett fabrics and the leaves in hand dyed and other fabrics.  

 

La Rose rose de Léa

 

  When I saw the subject for the challenge, my first thought was not the flower, but the french word for pink. I therefore  decided to make a pink rose, though now I look at it on the screen, I'm not sure it looks much like a rose. I sorted through my pink fabrics, but found that the commercial fabrics I had in my stash had a horrible greyish tinge and didn't go with my hand dyed fabrics. I found some darker pinks that I had saved from my daughter Léa's childhood clothes: a much loved linen blouse and the lining of a summer skirt. I limited the quilting to just round the petals, having used trapunto to make them stand out. which unfortunately is difficult to see from the front, though it's easy to see it from the back! The working title for this was 'The pink monstrosity', as I hate pink! Léa loves pink and is quite happy to have a quilt reminding her of some of her favourite childhood clothes.

Roses

The next person is...

 Hello, how's everyone's work coming along? I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's quilts ! 

Let me reveal the next person to think of our next theme! 

The next person is... Hilary.

Momo 

CURRENT DESPAIR

Sorry, this is so late.  I stupidly didn't think it through and was forced to start again but this did give me time to think and trial ideas.  Some things were a blessing in disguise - like 'wasting' all my fabric printing sheets.  This meant I had to print on card - which meant I could 'tear' them which is more effective.

This is a two-sided piece.  The front shows the incredible destruction of homes and the tearing apart of families.  The innocents.  The deaths and the upheavals.  I am disappointed in that the quilting I did to express bombs exploding on the top photos doesn't show up.  Another time I might consider stamping paint.  There are sniper bullets across the piece. 

The back has splatters of 'blood' left in the sand (actual sand glued to fabric and difficult to see).

I would like to say that I do not condone the events of Oct 7th but I am left with a sense of despair in that the mass killing of innocent civilians is not the answer.

The piece measures 20" x 22".  It is machine quilted.  Commercial fabrics.  Satin-stitch covered edges.

On the whole I am pleased with the result and thank you for your patience waiting for me.

Hilary 

 Le Cotentin et le Raz Blanchard or the Alderney Race

 When current was chosen as the challenge this time, I thought about using an idea for a block print that has been in my mind for quite a few years, but which I hadn't tried out. I cut six blocks, marking where I wanted my lines to start and end in the same place on each block on the top, bottom and sides.  I drew and cut different lines on each block, then printed them in a haphazard order, so that the pattern didn't repeat itself. I was pleased with the result, but wasn't sure how to use my printed fabric. Then we had a week’s holiday in the Cotentin (the part of Normandy that sticks out opposite the Channel Islands) in October. When we were at Goury, we could see Alderney on the horizon, and my husband told me about Le Raz Blanchard (in English the Alderney Race), which is one of the fastest currents in Europe. When the current and the wind are in opposite directions, sailing between the Channel Islands and the French coast is dangerous. I decided to base my quilt on this and the Cotentin. I wanted to keep it simple, just basing it on the sea current, the beach and sky: I used Markal paintstiks to represent Alderney on the horizon, though I am not sure whether my version is really Alderney-shaped! Whilst we were at Carteret, I found some lovely shells with holes in them, which I decided to include on my quilted beach. 

THE FRIENDLY FLOATEES by Beth

 

In 1992, a cargo ship carrying approximately 28,800 bath toys (mostly rubber ducks) lost a container over the side during a storm, spilling these yellow rubber ducks all out into the North Pacific Ocean. These so-called Friendly Floatees have been drifting ashore for the last 30 years, sometimes in surprising parts of the world - not just Alaska but Hawaii, Australia, Chile and Indonesia.

Today we know that there are as many as 11 major gyres - ocean currents across the world's oceans and all of them are potential vestibules for the world's trash. And if Friendly Floatees are an example for anything, it's that plastic trash endures for a very long time and that it is a global issue.

Roughly 2000 of these rubber ducks still circulate (wild and free) in the rotating ocean currents in the North Pacific Ocean. 

Me too, I'm afraid

 Silly me, because I had the idea, in all the chaos of getting craft group organised for church Christmas decorations, plus, plus, plus, I assumed it would work and didn't bother to think it through or do a couple of trials.  I have fallen flat on my face.  But I have picked myself up and my imagination is working overtime.  It has almost been a blessing in disguise.  Having lots of fun now, but it means you will have to bare with me while I work it out.  Forgive me.

Happy New Year everyone.  Hope it turns out to be a creative and productive year.

Hilary