Finally I have internet 11 months after requesting it, finished are the days of counting how minutes I was on-line and unable to watch videos, make video calls etc….

Since I last wrote so much has happened. At the end of July I drove to the UK , in part to attend the festival of Quilts where I had a half day class to teach. I then flew to Moscow to attend and teach at the Suzdal Quilt Festival. In September I had a piece on exhibition near home and then I headed to Ste marie for the European patchwork meeting where I gave a day class. Now I am at home and have time to stitch again in earnest for next year which promises to be busy.

I finally caught up with my journal quilts, the July and August pieces were to be made using materials other than the traditional ones, I chose to make this group of 4 based on photos and experiences in Israel. Tow have been posted previously.

 

 

August’s is based on a photo I took in Israel of a river with roots hanging just above the water line. My target was to make something that didn’t take very long. Lutrador rocks, nylon water stitched in silver and miscellaneous fibres: an experiment I won’t be returning to!

The interesting challenge of these journal quilts is pushing one’s limits to try alternative ways of working. One can experiment and either take the idea to another level or file it away as something which won’t go any further.

The last four are to be made using different techniques for the background which I am much happier with and will be based on inspiration from my visit to Russia. The first didn’t quite work as well as I had hoped the background was sun printed on a piece of old sheet with a commercial product which was rather old, plus the wind started blowing while I wasn’t looking. The result was a flop until I looked at the back…

There have also been two new Fifteen by Fifteen quilts, one at the end of July and one at the end of September. I am working on the theme of the coastline near here and am trying incorporate all the six subjects into this theme to create series.

July’s subject was flight: Natural and Manmade

September’s was Photoshoot:

I wanted to show a little of the history of the area which is known for its mussels and oysters. I used a photograph on a signpost and enhanced the clothing with patterned fabrics and highly stitched by hand and machine to create life and texture.

The local exhibition was on the subject of animals which is not a subject that I am totally comfortable with. The group is an art group comprised of artists using different media and I find this a very interesting means for exhibiting some of my work. We had to choose an animal starting with the letter of the alphabet that we were given I landed up with ‘N’, not easy but finally I found a sheep called a Navajo-Churro and I contacted the association for these sheep and Bonnie Barcus very kindly sent me a photograph of her ram Ceasar and gave me permission to use it.

I worked it on a fairly rigid felt and then mounted it on a frame. The background of the sheep is a fine wool jersey, the horns are painted bark cloth and the fleece is fleece, mainly hand-stitched but with some machine stitch. Bonnie was pleased with the result and she is putting the photo into their newsletter…

Teaching in Birmingham went really well and I had a lovely group of students who produced some great results.

The Russian students were so enthusiastic and diligent, I taught three classes and thanks to the translators the results were stunning.

All these samples are work in progress, when I teach the aim is to give students the techniques and encourage them to create their own designs which can be further worked on at home.

At EPM in Ste Marie the class were also very keen and enthusiastic and we spent a great day together. Again the results were brilliant.

After a great 4 days in Ste Marie-aux-Mines I returned home and vowed to continue with a very long over due project to make a king size quilt for my nephew. They chose the pattern that they wanted and then they asked for a jazzy back so that they could choose which side to use. The front has around 2000 small squares and so I used large brick shaped blocks for the back as I am hand quilting and wanted to keep the seams as far apart as possible. Last Sunday was a grey day and the usual weekly walk was cancelled so I sat at the machine and stitched the back.

The quilt is now blocked and the long task of hand-stitching has begun, the longer evenings will be well occupied! Other projects are in the pipe-line but photographs of full pieces won’t appear on this page as they are all for upcoming exhibitions, teasers will appear from time to time….

I could add a whole list of photos that I have taken during these last few months but I would much rather be sewing…. As I hope to use some as inspiration so there will be glimpses of all I have experienced over the months to come.