Feathered friends

   I have always enjoyed birdwatching. We are lucky to have a large variety of birds visiting our suburban garden, including three species of woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, an occasional treecreeper, jays, longtailed and crested tits as well as the usual sparrows, robins, blackbirds blue tits and great tits. There is also the occasional buzzard passing overhead, and once there was a young sparrowhawk in the trees at the bottom of the garden. Altogether I have counted almost 50 different species in the years we have been in this house. It is the best garden I have ever had for birdwatching (in comfort too!), with plenty of species I have never seen in the gardens of previous places that I have lived. I think that if we ever move, I will want to take the garden with me! So here are some of my favourite feathered friends.

   I made lino prints of some of the birds I see daily (blackcap, greater spotted woodpecker, robin and blackbird), colouring them with inktense pencils. I had intended to mask the birds and print leaves in the background, but it didn't look right when I tried it, so I coloured the backgrounds with inktense too. The fabric I printed on turned out to be a bit stretchy, making it a bit difficult to put together, but overall I'm satisfied with it, even if it's a little bit wonky! I'm sorry that it is so late, but I had a few problems making it, and also have been having to work around eye strain, though that is a bit better now. The print of the great tit didn't make it into the quilt

 

THE NEXT CHALLENGE

 Hi everyone.  Now that we are ready for our next challenge for the end of July (I can't believe how quickly this year is going) I have thought long and hard above what to choose for this one coming up at the end of July and I decided on:

FLIGHT

There are so many things one can do with this subject so I really hope you have some fun creating something incorporating this subject.

Hope you are all keeping well.   

stained glass

 

I chose stained glass as my inspiration.

I used vignette fabric to show how the glass changes color as the light hits it.

I used black cloth to represent the frame.

I can't be very detailed because of time, but it's still an attempt.

Momo

THE NEXT CHALLENGE

Regarding the next challenge for the end of July I assume I will be the next person to choose the subject as Jinny challenged us with  "Trees", then Rosemary with "Shapes" and Momo with this present challenge.  I will put up the next challenge tomorrow so watch this space! 

 My favourite thing would be to travel through Europe again.  I fell in love with Italy and in particular Venice when I travelled there some time back.  However, in 2023 my grand daughter went on a school tour of Europe and whilst in Venice she took some absolutely beautiful photographs of that city.  When the subject came up I asked her if I could use one of those photographs in a quilt for this time around, which she was very happy to do. 

To be honest it wasn't the easiest quilt to do as I battled with perspective (and straight lines) but in the end I was very happy with my piece.  I did simplify some of it as it would probably be too difficult to incorporate every minute piece but I was very happy with the end result.

My favourite things

 
 As you can tell from my piece, sewing and reading are two of my favourite things. It was fun deciding how to combine two of my favourite activities. This is how it turned out.  Rosemary

Red

   This must be the first time I've finished a quilt a month and a half before the deadline! I've 'cheated' by using a quilt that I made about ten years ago, but which had a major problem with the last step, just before I was going to enter it in a European Quilt Association exhibition:  the only time I have ever wanted to enter anything. I was so dispirited at the time that I abandoned it, despite having spent over 40 hours on the seed stitch quilting.The theme for the exhibition was colour and each member country of the EQA was allotted a different one, the one for France being red. I played around with a stamp pad and used the resulting motif for my quilt. I used  quilting cottons and a transparent fabric for the motif of overlapping squares, outlining them with couched gold threads. The foil for the central squares was the last thing that was added, and that is where everything went wrong, despite it having worked perfectly on a sample piece. I had used bondaweb to attach the squares, but when I added the central gold foil squares to each motif the foil attached itself to more of the motif than intended as the glue must have seeped through the transparent fabric. It looked terrible. I have had to take off all the appliquéd motifs, and remake them, this time adding the gold foil squares to the centre before I applied the bondaweb to the transparent squares,then applying them to the quilt. I'm pleased to have had this opportunity to finish it, as I doubt that I would have got round to it without the deadline of this challenge.

   The following photos show the original sample that worked and my sketchbook try outs

Next theme is⋯⋯

 The theme is "Favorite Things".

Please use your favorite things, people, and events as inspiration for your work.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Momo

MOSAIC

 I decided to use a mosaic design which is based on a class on Gaudi mosaics which I so enjoyed a couple of years back.  Using shapes in this design was fun and quite challenging.  I used different shapes to enable me to fit these shapes into my design.  I did change my triangles a bit by cutting off the tips and the same with the ovals, but all in all I am pleased with it.  So glad we decided to use any size as this is larger than the usual pieces we have produced in the past.

circles

I've always been a fan of circular patterns, and this time I've used dark and light colored circles together to create different shapes visually. 

Momo 

 I have drawn Momo's name from the hat so it is Momo who will choose the next theme which will be revealed at the end of April. We look forward to knowing what it will be .   Rosemary

Shapes

REVEAL DAY

 Hello Jinnie, Momo and Rosemary.  Well we have arrived at our reveal day tomorrow and time just seems to have flown.  Looking forward to seeing all our  pieces on Shapes and as Rosemary was the last one to choose please could you draw out of the hat either Momo or myself for the next piece for the end of April.  Looking forward to our next challenge.  

MYSTERY CARVING

We have lived in our house for over 30 years. In the early years we had an elderly gardener called Phillip. The house came with a built in braai (barbecue) area and one day we decided to sort out the wood storage area. In amongst the broken packets of fire wood we discovered this carving. 

Unfortunately this was discovered after Phillip had passed away so we are still no wiser to this day as to the origins of this carving. It does have an uncanny resemblance to Phillip and I treasure it. I made the mosaic stand that is mounted on the outside of the house where he sits looking out over the front garden.

This is my tree piece. An Andy Warhol influenced tribute to Phillip. Simple but happy with it.

Colmers Hill

Better late than never.  The thing was I knew straight away this is what I wanted to feature but just didn't have the time.  The pile of fabrics and design has cluttered my working surface for months!  But what a great way to start a new year by completing something!

Colmers Hill

Colmers Hill is an iconic landmark about 30 miles west from where I live.  It is clearly visible to all motorists driving along the coastal road.  It is open to the public with a permissive path up to the top. During the First World War, the woodman to the Colfox family, John Sprake, planted Caledonian Pine on the hill, and more recently, the family have added Monterey Pine which together gives the iconic silhouette so loved by photographers and walkers.

I decided to use the shibori dyed pieces of fabric I created many years ago in a workshop with Jan Myers Newbury, thinking along the lines of work by Elizabeth Barton where she used this type of tie-dyed fabric (her fabrics are so much more vibrant than mine but I am not about to add to my stash!).  

Elizabeth Barton

It is raw edge applique, fused to felt wadding and machine quilted.  There is minimum quilting as I thought the fabrics should speak for themselves.  The edge is satin stitched and the piece measures 20" x 15.5".  I am cautiously happy with it although I see the trees are slipping down the hill!

Maybe one day I'll make this image up - love the wild flowers!

Happy New Year everyone - may you all find time to be creative!  Hilary