Christmas is coming ..

As I was looking in the attic for the quilted advent calender I noticed how tatty my quilted tablemats were. Well they're over 20 years old and looked very sad. I have several Christmas fabrics so I decided to make some new ones - it will also help in my quest to use up some of the fabrics that fill several boxes in my workroom.

Random strips of fabric were sewn together. I used a heat resistant wadding which was lovely to machine. As you can see the quilting is very close together which produces a really firm surface. I have made ten and am in the process of making a larger one for the centre of the table. They measure 30cm x 24cm each.

We have a cat and he has a quilt to sit on in the living room (well, okay he has three as we've had three cats). I noticed that these are a bit worn now - the oldest is about 25 years old and decided that he should have a Christmas one. So that used up more fabric.

As you can see - a very simple design with simple outline hand quilting.

I thought I would also keep you up-to-date with the progress I am making on my machine quilting. The next two pictures show printed and quilted samples which I featured in August but now you can see that I have finished the edges.

Since returning from Portugal I have started work on the larger piece of fabric but got sidetracked by the Christmas goodies and other things. This is as far as it goes .... 

 I have stitched round all the motifs and completed all the text. The vermicelli (the wiggly stitching) is about half completed. Its fun to do but I really need to do it in good daylight.

Duxford Quilt Show

At the beginning of the month I went to a show at Duxford Air Museum. It was quite small compared to others I have been to this year but there was some lovely stuff on show.

I really liked this simple but effective adaptation of a quilt design by Karin Hellaby from her book 'Magic Pillows, Hidden Quilts'.

Another simple but effective quilt was 30 @ 30degrees by Maggie Howell. It seems as though it would be good for using up scraps of fabric.

One of the guest exhibitors was Greta Fitchett. She produced some wonderfully detailed work. This first one is called 'Aberdeen Harbour' and I love the way the image has been divided up as though it is reflected by a window. I also really liked the close machine quilting, I have been using this in my work a lot lately.

Another beautiful quilt was 'Venice Water and Glass'. The use of colour is stunning.

'Moroccan Pots' had so much detail in it that I have included a close up photo as well.

'Volubilis' is another quilt with so much detail. I really love the use of lots of brightly coloured hand dyed fabrics, net, buttons and the mixture of machine and hand stitching.

Cas Holmes

I recently attended a workshop with Cas Holmes, another of my favorite artists (cas holmes). I had the chance to listen to a talk by her on the Friday evening and then go to the workshop on the Saturday. We were looking at creating and then printing with collograph blocks made from found materials.

We were on tables of four and started by drawing an object in front of us. We then had to pass this around the table and redraw our object. The sketch on the left is after all four of us have drawn our object. We then had to isolate part of the design.

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 This then formed the design for the block. Cardboard was used and scraps of fabric, scrim, paper etc were glued on. Paint was added and we used this to print from. Normally you would glue the bits down with stronger glue and you would seal the block with varnish before using it but we only had a few hours which left no drying time.

The block was printed several times onto two pieces of white fabric

Further embellishments were added. All that is needed now is some stitching.

London

On a recent visit to London I saw some interesting exhibitions. One was at the Fashion and Textiles Museum called 'Knitwear: Chanel to Westward'. This was fascinating if you like knitting. I can only show you a few examples as you were not supposed to take photographs which I didn't realise at first.
The exhibition started with some pieces by contemporary designers.

Fashion and Armour: Proud looks and brave attire by Juliana Sissons in 2011 - knitted with cotton and gold copper wire.

Mr Elephant hat and Mr Lion gloves by Yang Du in 2011.

The Natural Blonde by Sibling in 2013 - this was hand knitted in giant loop stitch.

A petticoat from the beginning of the twentieth century.

A jacket and skirt in wool jersey by Chanel in 1918.

Daywear and swimwear from the 1930's.

There was another exhibition in the museum called 'Pattern: Watts' Architect Wallpapers'. This was a lovely display of hand block printed wallpapers. They even had some of the blocks on display too. The company still exists and you can still have these wallpapers printed (see www.watts1874.co.uk)

Bodley Beaton Pink by G F Bodley in 1870

Oakleaf by Bodey in 1870 with two of the wooden blocks

Sunflower in Burnt Ginger 1874

Triad by Pugin in 1845

Old English Eton in 1882

Pear Hand Blocked

Bentinck

Venetian in Eau de Nil by Bodley in 1880 with the two blocks and a detail of the first block.

The museum is close to the Shard and the river so I walked down that way. Some of the modern buildings are amazing.

I obviously had to take a picture of Tower Bridge and of the Tower of London.

As part of the Remembrance of the beginning of the First World War there is an installation around the Tower. 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' by Paul Cummins is made up of ceramic poppies which will continue being planted until November 11th (Tower of London Remembers)