Ancient Shells: Ammonites

    I enjoyed this challenge. I decided to use a subject that I have used twice before for this group. One day last winter we had a lot of snow, so I was able to try snow dying for the first time. I had some successful pieces, including some old cotton sheet and silk organza that were just right for this quilt. I cut a lino block in the shape of the ammonite, using it to print on the cotton, then overlayed it with the dyed organza. I struggled to hand quilted the shells, finding it difficult to pass the needle through the fabric. It wasn't until I lost my needle and had to use a new one when doing the seed stitch background, that I realised that the problem must have been a  blunt needle!

  The other two quilts that I made for the group are the following:

 

Festival of Quilts!

 Do any of you ever get across to the uk for the Festival of Quilts, which is held in Birmingham at the end of July/beginning of August every year?

I’ve just spent 4 days there investigating the stalls and what they’re selling, helping a friend on her stall, admiring the 800 or so quilts that were entered for judging and on the final day I was stewarding.  It’s a huge show and well worth a visit.  I’ve spent lots of time there chatting to people from Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Australia and America.  The huge diversity of nationalities never fails to amaze me.

WELCOME

 A very big welcome to our group Erla.  So glad you are joining us on a fun and friendly group of art quilters.  I am sure you will enjoy getting involved in all that we do and I am sure all join in with me to welcome a new member into our group.     Patricia 

 Good morning all

Thank you for the invitation, Hilary, much appreciated! I have browsed through some of the work and themes on this website and it all looks very interesting and original :-) Well done to all of you! Patricia introduced me to her 'fish' while we were working together on the Centurion Group quilt for the most recent National Quilt Festival that was held in Port Elizabeth in South Africa. 

I have joined this group to explore and expand my artistic boundaries with the hope of getting better at competition standard pieces. Having fun is a bonus. I am excited about the upcoming theme for end of October! Regards, Erla Cilliers.

SHELLS POSTED ON BEHALF OF BREN

 I painted the background fabric and made shell stamps using foam sheets.  I printed the shells onto the background then free motion quilted it.  Finally, I handstitched running stitches around some of the shells.

I'm really looking forward to the next theme - interesting!

ART DECO DESIGN INCORPORATING SHELLS

 

I decided, after a lot of thought, of incorporating shells into an Art Deco design, which turned out after numerous drawings and changes to my design, I was eventually happy with.

I appliqued everything with gold metallic thread to give it an Art Deco feel, and which I was pleased with.

SHELLS BY ROSEMARY

Three shells were chosen for this piece, drawn and colour added with intense pencils.  The edges of the shells were covered with a small satin stitch and the background was free motion stitched.

FROM ROSEMAR

Y

 The next challenge is: LINES

   This should leave plenty of scope for our imaginations. I'm looking forward to seeing all the different interpretations.

REVEAL DAY AND OUR NEXT CHALLENGE

 Hello to everyone.  

Trust you have had an enjoyable three months to create your designs, which as a reminder, we will all be putting up on the blog on Friday.  I am, and I am sure you all are too, looking forward to seeing our pieces of work.  Such fun to see what we have all created.

A REMINDER that we are all looking forward to our next challenge I am sure, which this time around is Jinnie's turn to choose.  We look forward to receiving our next challenge subject Jinnie so we can get our creative juices flowing.

FANTASTICAL FISH

 I also thought of a sea for our water theme, and without water there would be no fish.  I then got the idea of creating a bit of whimsy and having a bit of fun by creating the piece that I eventually only finished a day or so ago, so here she is.

 POSTED ON BEHALF OF ROSEMARY.

Beatrix Potter loved all animals.  The way she humanised them was remarkable, dressing them up as humans.  The images she created have been enjoyed by everyone who has seen them over many years.  She was an amazingly talented artist.

 Water, water everywhere

   

  At first I pulled out lots of blue fabrics, but in the end I decided to experiment with some of the paint covered cotton wet wipes that I use to clean up when I'm printing. I have some lovely coloured ones. Their edges curl when drying, which made me think that they would work for waves. I added a little bit of white paint to the curled edges to make the waves stand out more.

THE NEXT CHALLENGE 

Well I guess we are at the end of our first challenge for 2026 and we look forward to hearing what you have chosen for us this time around Bren.  I am sure we all are looking forward to hearing what we have next to get our creative juices flowing.

Waves

 I used a mixture of blue fabrics for the waves, I painted the background and then used free motion quilting and fancy machine stitches to quilt it.

 FOLIAGE

 I recently finished a long quilt roll, which I started two years ago, using some of my own leaf and bark printed fabrics. Earlier on I made a quilt for one of the challenges inspired by the printed acacia leaves on one end of the roll (12 By the Dozen) and I have used the same inspiration now. I I made a really stupid mistake at the beginning  and have had to put in a lot of extra work to hide it. It shouldn't have had the yellow couched lines originally, but when I attached the fabrics I didn't notice until I'd ironed them down, that it was possible to see the wadding in between. Some of the fabrics hadn't stuck down well, so I tried to remove them, but of course most of them wouldn't. Next time I will make sure I overlap them!

 The next challenge is:

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

The whole world relies on water - we, as humans,  are made up of 60% water.  Life would not exist on this planet without water, therefore there are so many subjects we can choose:  Beaches, Rivers, Ponds with vegetation and water birds, the list goes on and on.  Enjoy!

Bren as there are only 4 of us left on this group we decided to take turns on choosing the next subject therefore you will be choosing at the end of April, then Jinnie, Rosemary, myself and you.  This will give you a bit of time to choose next time around.

BOTANICAL

 FROM ROSEMARY:  

Rosemary is having trouble getting onto the blog on her computer so has asked me to post her piece on her behalf.

I really enjoyed this subject as I love flowers and anything botanical in particular, so this was a real treat for me to work on.  Here is my piece.

BOTANICAL

 When we got the title "Botanical"  I immediately thought of some beautiful little succulents we have in our garden which we call Desert Roses, which started me on a quilting journey using these little beauties in a totally abstract design.  My design is an abstract design which stemmed from these succulents, set out below:

Here is my final piece drawn, appliqued and quilted.

BOTANICALS

This is my interpretation of the theme.  I chose Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe as they’re all native to Britain and are winter plants.

I used Neocolour crayons and coloured pencils to draw and colour the plants.  The background colour is Procion dye.  I’ve then mounted on felt and free motion quilted.

I hope this is ok for my first submission!