Festival Of Quilts

Despite the best efforts of mum with a suspected wrist fracture (apparently it isn't) and hubby with a painful leg (turns out to be cellulitis, we think) I did manage to get to Festival of Quilts for one day instead of the usual three that I aim for.  I like to go for several days so that I don't exhaust myself trying to see everything, meet friends and shop all in one day.  Since I had to be content with just one day this year I concentrated on seeing the exhibition stands, the art quilts and with meeting up with a few friends.  Sadly I didn't get photos of everyone I met up with, silly girl.

I didn't rush there first but I did, of course, find my art quilt on display.

 I was really pleased to see that the organisers had hung my piece on a high batten as it wouldn't have looked anything on the lower level.  I'm not sure I had made the best decision about how I had assembled it with a felt support though.  I saw several alternative hanging methods that didn't rely on a sleeve and batten and I think I will make a second blog post to remind me of some alternatives.

I stood watching the movement of my quilt for a while and I enjoyed the way the light filtered through it onto the felt behind. Maybe food for thought for a subsequent work.  I am awaiting the judges' comments with a little trepidation as this is a bit different.  However, the winning quilt for this sector was, in fact, a pojagi quilt!

This is 'Sunrise, Moonrise' by Mercè Gonzalez Desadamas from Spain and is made of hand-dyed organza.  It is made of two layers of pojagi.  

The winner of the Miniature Section is a fellow Contemporary Quilt group member Roberta Le Poidevin.

The quilt is titled 'Hundred Acres'.

I loved this beautiful vessel made by my friend, Gill Boyle, who lives locally to me.  I particularly like the chunkiness and solidity of the figures and the sumptuous colours used.  If, like me, you are curious enough to peak into the top of the jug you would find a slip of fabric preventing your view.  That gave me pause for a quiet giggle, strange girl that I am.

Catherine Percival's 'Wool Garden is inspired by sketches of patterns on German salt-glaze pottery and Swedish folk embroidery.

Christine Heath 'Four Seasons' was very appealling with its layered and slashed construction.

Another friend, Sandra Wyman's entry in the Contemporary Quilt Group Dislocation challenge.

'Sunset Over The Cuillins' by Jennifer Lewis

This quilt is by my friend Maggi Birchenough and won her a Judge's Choice award. (Sorry, the colour is more rosey in reality).  Maggi had done a course on Abstraction with Lisa Call and I have seen great developments in her work.

Jules McConnell 'Millstone'

Mike Wallace 'First Arrival', self-dyed wholecloth, printed, scraped and quilted.

Julia Gahagan 'Home Sweet Home' which is about A4 size and very sweet. 

Another friend's work, Marion Robertson 'Greek Island Seas' which I love for its colour and surface texture, not to mention the addition of ceramic buttons.  

 Jean England 'The Monster' made from recycled silk ties.

 Above and below, Sally Hutson 'Diaghilev Comes to the Party.'

 Sally also has a blog.

This beautiful 'vessel' which won a judge's choice award is 'Splash' by Linda Turner

I met up with many friends and had lunch with several of them and I hope they will forgive me for the following photos which caught one or two of them unawares.

  No names, no pack drill!

I will make another post of the exhibition pieces, these have mostly been competition pieces, but if you'd like to see more of the show this blog has a great post.  See you soon!

Works in Progress

I have been making good progress on the quilt for our friend's baby who was born a week ago today.  I was hoping to get it finished for today as we should have been visiting baby but unfortunately Mum and baby have had to have a few more days in hospital so I have been given a reprieve for a few days.  Just as well really as my machine is not behaving itself and I keep getting broken threads.  I've adjusted the tension and I am already using a new needle so I think I may have to change the thread I am using and see if that helps.  Anyway here's a pic of the progress so far:

I've settled on a random swirly quilt stitch and I'm quilting it a quarter at a time so that I don't have to keep heaving acres through the throat of the machine.  

After what seems like a long wait my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project arrived yesterday.

I've had a great time today colourwashing some pages and I've also decorated/strengthened the front cover.  The sketchbook is fairly small at only 8.5 inches by 5 but what surprised me was the weight of the paper which just about takes a wash.  I quite like the effect on the reverse of the pages where the paint has soaked through to give a light texture. 

My working title for the sketchbook is 'This is not a Sketchbook'.  I thought that would be less daunting than a set theme and in my mind it means I can do pretty much anything I want in any medium.  I'm thinking there will be a fair bit of collage work and some printing but I will try and get round to doing some sketches here and there.  The sketchbook will eventually be returned to America and will go into the permanent collection at Brooklyn Art Library where people will be able to take it out to read just like any library book.  The sketchbooks will also be available to view online from the end of this year and will be going on tour.  If you fancy joining in there's still plenty of time.

A few days ago I received an email inviting me to participate in a project that will benefit a village in the Central Africa Republic.  I checked out the projects credentials and found that several people I know in blogland are already taking part so I decided I would join in too.  I reproduce here Amy's initial invitation.

"I would like to ask if you would consider becoming part of this project that will benefit a village in the Central Africa Republic. A few ladies have been taught quilting and they are really enjoying it. These ladies have sent our organization 2 beautiful squares and we are hoping to put these squares together with other squares from around the world to make a beautiful quilt that will be auctioned off and 100% of the proceeds will go to a new well for a village in Central African Republic and a latrine for a school in CAR. We are asking quilters to donate a 12 x 12 or 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 block for our Global Quilt that will be auctioned. We will build 2 latrines (one for the boys and one for the girls) at a school and a nearby clean water well for the community's use. These latrines will provide the privacy maturing girls need to stay in school and the well will help prevent water related diseases. "

Hopefully these crazy squares will fit the bill.  There is still a little time if you want to join in.  The squares have to be in Florida by 31 August so if you can spare a little time click here for details. 

My sketchbook is going to be christened tomorrow.  We are travelling up to Berwick by train and I am going to do some 'travel lines' a la Margaret Cooter.  There is also going to be a meeting with another blogging friend see you soon Julia!

Oh yes, I nearly forgot, I've been adding a bit more to the sketchbook I am making with Carole Brungar.

I've still got lots to do before I can get to the binding but I'm really enjoying the change after making my festival quilt.  

Have a good rest of week :o)

What if? and webs

Remember this?

I didn't do a lot on holiday but I did do this

(excuse the colour change, I've tweaked it a bit). Hopefully the photo will enlarge enough for you to see what I have done with this crazy patch so far. My DH thinks it is finished but I feel it needs a little more stitchwork on it. So far I have ironed it onto vilene and I am going to couch yarns around the edge, echoing the colours I have used, to finish it off as I didn't leave enough to turn an edge (Duh!).

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I've been a bit quiet as you may have noticed since we came home. The usual routine and catching up on the net has been the cause and I've also been feeling a bit low. Nothing I can put my finger on and I'm sure it'll pass.

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My mood was lifted this morning though when I went to my art club. I don't normally like spiders, although I won't kill one if I can help it, but I do like to see cobwebs strung along a hedge glistening with dew.

This is just part of a hedge which as you can see was smothered in webs which were sparkling as the sun was breaking through the mist. Beautiful!

Blog Awards

What a lovely surprise! The lovely and talented Jean who blogs as Genie's Art World and also Genie's Photos has given me not one, but two awards! I am delighted and humbled to receive these awards, especially as they are both very sweet.

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I have to admit I am a bad blogger for not passing these awards on. I read so many wonderful and stimulating blogs, many of which are in my side bar. As I'm still under the weather I am going to say, if I visit your blog and leave a comment please accept this award from me and post it on your own blog. And Jean, thank you very much for these lovely awards. I hope you are feeling better today.

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Jude Hill who blogs as Spirit Cloth has a second blog called "What if..." . Just recently she has posed the question "what if we get crazy?" Her question, of course, relates to crazy quilting and how we may choose to work other than traditionally. Since I have already set up a piece of crazy quilting that has no rules other than the initial colour I have signed up to play along with her and many others to produce a piece, or pieces, of crazy quilting (or not quilted!). There is no time limit to this (just right for me) and absolutely no rules and Jude has offered to make a piece of crazy quilting for each participant. You won't be surprised that my first piece is the crazy quilting block I have started for the Take it Further challenge. While it will be worked with balance in mind I am sure that all the while I am working I will be asking myself "What if..." Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I will have plenty of progress to show. Just in case Jude looks in here this is a reminder of the piece I am working on....

All of the fabrics have been laid down with raw edges and were chosen simply because I liked them or to provide a foil to the pieces I liked. I did not worry about the size or the shape of the pieces, I just worked with what I had. I'm really looking forward to working on this. It's about 8 inches square. As usual I haven't given a thought to how I will finish it off. I'm sure "What if.." will play a part!

Take it Further

Well, it's August and I am somewhat amazed that I haven't completely fallen by the wayside in the Take it Further challenge. At the beginning of the month Sharon said "I my chaotic and hectic life I often admire people who are able to maintain balance in their lives. What is balance to you? Do you maintain a balanced life? How do you balance aspects of your life? That is the challenge this month - balance."

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You may remember (or probably don't) that at the start of the year I chose three words to be my guide this year. One of those words was "Balance" so really I should have had this thought in my head all the time. If you take a look at the dictionary definition of Balance you may be surprised at the number of interpretations.

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There have been times in my life when things have got seriously out of balance but currently (at the risk of tempting fate) life is well balanced. Of course, as you might expect, my version of "balanced" is a life with lots and lots of creativity. This is probably at the expense of what anyone else would accept as a "normal" lifestyle. Housework and the Rat Race are a long way out balanced by a huge chunk of creativity. It is this "balance" which helps me maintain my feeling of balance in life.

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In terms of art I have been taught to consider balance when constructing a painting and to work all over a painting so that it is brought to a completion as a whole and no one area is completed in isolation. If you check back here (you'll need to scroll down a bit) you will see a piece of crazy patchwork that I started earlier this month. I am intending to take this on holiday to keep me occupied in the evenings but I could not resist making a start on it this week.

Although I didn't consciously set out to do it I found that I was working across the piece. This crazy patchwork is obviously in its early stages. This is the first piece of crazy patchwork I have done and I am hoping to stretch myself by bringing in lots of new(to me) embroidery stitches. You can see my start in the collage below.

I am sure that while I am working on this piece it will come in and out of balance but hopefully while I "Take it Further" I will end up with something harmonious which will have helped me maintain the balance I have in my life. I have to say that without my very special DH who tolerates my obsession with creating there would be no balance! :o)

Journalling and crazy quilting

Following on from the journalling post the other day I have found some time to work on the colour studies suggested by Sharon. The instruction was to gather 1" squares of a predominant colour, a different colour each day to reflect your feelings on that day.

The first day I did this it was dull and rainy so I decided to scour my magazines for shades of grey. I tried to look for all types of grey - red grey, blue greys, green greys........

The next day I looked at complimentaries on the colour wheel - yellow and violet. I found it harder to find samples of these two colours in the magazines.

It may be because of the ramshackle way I had cut out the pieces but I didn't particularly like the block arrangement on the right hand side. I preferred the slightly staggered arrangement on the left.

Instead of using magazines clippings on the third day I went through my stack of painted and mixed media surfaces as well as photographs and cut squares of all the reds I could find. On the page I arranged them from (warm) yellow reds through to (cold) blue reds. Hopefully that comes over in the pic above. I think I can see I was feeling brighter because the sun was put, hence the red.

My fourth choice, on another bright, blowy day, was shades of green, again taken from my stash of painted/textured papers, photos, handmade paper and the fabric they use to make hats! This time I arranged the greens from light (maybe more yellowy) to dark (more blue or red) greens.

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I still have one more day to do this exercise and then have to take it further by matching to fabrics and threads.

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A few days ago Lesley blogged about a crazy quilt base she had prepared. You may remember that Kate sent me a bag of scraps which I was desperate to play with and, inspired by Lesley, yesterday I had a play. I was too impatient to turn lots of little edges so I bondawebbed the pieces to a square of cotton, leaving the edges raw.

I don't think the colours above are too accurate as the whole assemblage is a little more into the orange/brown spectrum. My plan is to maybe free machine all ove to hold everything together and then to use embroidery and beads to decorate. I may not get back to this piece for a few weeks but at least I now have a piece ready to pick up whenever I feel inclined.