Using recycled fabrics

One of the things that everyone knows about quilts is that they were often made of scrap or old material. I had been collecting my husband and son's old shirts, pyjamas and nightshirts for a number of years because I liked the fabric but with no end in mind. One hot summer (yes we have had them) I decided that we needed a throw for the bed rather than a duvet and set to work. I used large and small squares and rectangles. (The flowered fabrics were added to balance the strips and plaids)

 For those in the know 'jellyrolls' have become very popular and I liked some of the quilts made from them. So I collected more shirts/blouses and just used strips.

After the single bed size quilt I made a lap quilt.

Then I went back to the squares design but added appliqued hearts.

Then I tried the strips alongside plain fabric in a different format.

This one had a fleece background and was made using the 'quilt-as-you-go' technique.

All of the quilts are cut out using a rotary cutter, machine pieced and then hand quilted.

Printed Birds

I thought I would share some of the work I was doing in the summer. I am working through some printing methods that I can use with my students.

I am always looking for good quality fabrics at a price my students can afford. A couple of years ago Empress Mills  introduced their Egyptian cotton bundles - they are lovely.

Here are some of the colours that I dyed the fabrics using procion dyes.

After drawing a variety of birds I prepared to transfer them to a screen for printing. I also drew some very simplified birds and created some lino blocks.

Here is a fabric printed using the lino. I printed and applied squares of fabric onto the background and then used the lino over the top ...

... and here is this year's (academic) diary with its cover.

As well as printing the birds I also made a screen containing sayings and quotes about birds. Here both screens have been printed on some green fabric.

Here are some of the items made from the fabrics ...
Small pillows - some filled with lavender

Covered journals

... and bags.