Mystery Quilt

The Popular Patchwork revealing my mystery quilt goes on sale today, so I can finally show you what it looks like.  It is incredibly bright for a bed quilt, but I like strong colours.  The material is called a batik, but it is more of a tone on tone pattern, which makes the quilt less flat than the solid colour would have.  I don't make many large quilts, so I was pleased that this one was actually quite square when I checked it.  The design is just from playing with colours, initally on paper, but then I used EQ6 to check it on the computer.  It was useful to see as I could then make lots of small changes in the design quickly and so refine it.  It is not my normal sort of work, but it is good to just make something different every now and then and to prove to myself that I can do a version of traditional patchwork.

Cot quilt

While I know I should be concentrating on my art work in the few hours I have, it is easier to make quilts as there is more physical making and less thinking required, at least at the start. And when a friend has a much longed for baby, you just have to make a quilt. The baby arrived a few weeks early, before the quilt was started, so it was a rapid make, but he seems to like it now. I used fleece to make the circles to add a softness to it. The circles are to break up the squares a bit. Some of the fabrics came from Magie Relph's African Fabric Shop.  She has a lovely range of really brightly abstract patterned cottons amongst other great things, including beautiful wicker baskets.  I used fabrics from the quilt top for the binding, but looking at the photo now, I think I chose the wrong ones as it would probably look better with a darker edge. Still, I'm sure a new baby will not mind that and it was made to be used, not as an art object for contemplation in a gallery.  The picture is a bit wobbly as the light was low and this was the best place to photograph it before it got sent away.  The pattern probably be appearing in Popular Patchwork in a few months, when I finally get round to writing it.

Bringing the knit inside

The exhibition at the forest in Aberfoyle has finished and so it was time to remove the tree 'scarves'.  It was remarkably easy to unwind them and they were in surprisingly good condition.  Surprisingly no-one challenged us as we pulled the work from the trees.  Maybe the ladder made it look like we were meant to be doing it or did I just look like 'that sort of person'?!  There were some little beasties crawling across it, leaving silvery slug trails and some tree resin, especially where the staples had been, but no other major changes.  In fact, the biggest change was after I washed then as they felted some more and are now even shorter.
I loved having the work outside and recently I saw some images in a book (The Culture of Knitting by Jo Turney), of gigantic knitted cobwebs hanging between trees, which looked fantastic.  I hope I get the chance to sculpt some other knit for an outdoor exhibition again.

PS No little beasties were knowingly harmed or washed.   Can't tell you what they were as I'm not up on creepy crawlies.

Christmas is coming ... far too fast

I love Christmas, it brightens up a very cold and wet winter and allows us to have some fun.  In an ideal world, I would be making lots of handmade presents, but in reality it is not going to happen, at least not this year.  However, I did get the boys to help make some tree decorations which will be given as presents, which were included in the December Popular Patchwork.  The pressure was on to get them made in time and we got one of each finished.  I now 'just' have to machine the rest together.  Bets on which Christmas they will be ready for?

Halloween wrapping

I find that wrapping is something I'm often drawn to as part of my art practice. There is something primeval about wanting to cover and envelope an object. Well, it has passed over into my 'other' life too. The eldest monster (of his own choice) wanted to dress up as a mummy for Halloween and I got wrapping again!

sashiko and pottery

Part of the reason I couldn't go to Houston to see my photo was the quilt show clashed with our half term holiday and it would have been a bit mean to leave DH with the monsters. We visited in-laws and spent a few days in York, cunningly arranged so I could visit the Quilt Museum (www.quiltmuseum.org.uk/), as I hadn't been yet and the Sashiko exhibition at the York Art Gallery.
DH took the monsters to the train museum, which they loved and I would have hated and I got a few glorious hours looking at quilts and Japanese sashiko textiles. The sashiko show was amazing. It was well researched and I loved the make do and mend tradition it comes from. It makes me feel guilty for throwing out socks with holes rather than repairing them. The layers of repairs and shades of blue and brown made beautiful compositions. Michele Walker, who curated the show, wrote the book on quilting I used to have on permanent loan from the library. She has also created a website with lots more info and images (http://www.sashiko.org.uk/). It's well worth a look. Not surprisingly, there will be an article about the exhibition in Popular Patchwork some time soon.

As an added bonus, I saw Five Sisters at York St Mary's. It's an installation of pottery mosaic and paintings by Emma Biggs and Matthew Collings. I was rather taken with it and took lots of photos. I also love the idea of work being created specifically for this medieval church. It didn't use the space as well as I think Caroline Broadhead's piece did a number of years ago, but it was still worth the visit.

Whilst I was taking the photos, the monsters were playing with the mosaic tiles left out for the kids to play with and created this.

Has it really been this long?

Been having a bit of blogger's block. I've had to cut down on my work time this academic year to allow the middle monster more time at school nursery as he starts school next year. This just means lots of ideas and no time to do anything after I do the Popular Patchwork subbing. I have also written many blog posts in my head, but they have never quite made it to the machine. Anyway, I am back online and actually thinking about a new series of work.

But before I get to that, as it is still all based in my head and not even on paper, some other things to share.

I have had my first work exhibited abroad - I'm thrilled. The cobweb photo on my last post was included in The Eye of the Quilter: Inspiration exhibition at the International Quilt Show in Houston. The first I knew of it was when a hand written envelope with an American stamp on it arrived addressed to me. It had to be exciting - and it was. Two comp tickets were also included to the show and I spent a pleasurable hour trying to work out if I could go (it was 10 days beforehand) and what it would cost and the logistics. So it wasn't really possible this year, but I've already started planting seeds in DH's mind for next year. Playing around on the internet last night I found images of the exhibition, including my piece (top left on the photo). There are lots more images of the show at http://www.quilts.com/ I so want to go next year!

(Image copied from http://www.quiltart.com/eob/)

quilters' inspiration

On the SAQA website (http://www.saqa.com/), there was a last minute call for entries for an exhibition of photos taken by quilters for the big quilt show in Houston. As it required no real work and I have lots of photos, I thought I would submit some. These are the images I sent in. It took me ages to select three as I have so many photos taken over the years of things I find interesting. Then there was the small issue of whether I had actually taken the photos as Richard and I share the camera and some of the oldest monster's photos are really good too. In fact, I get really inspired by his use of the camera as he just plays with it and has no inhibitions like the camera should be held still. He does great self portraits too, because what is more fascinating to him than himself. I end up trying to copy some of his techniques to get some interesting effects.

playing with numbers

Maybe it is due to my accountancy background, but I love number sequences. Sad, I know. Even better, the oldest monster is following in my footsteps and really enjoyed learning about binary from his uncle last weekend. He is thrilled to be 111 rather than 7.

So I've been wondering about making a quilt based on the Fibonacci sequence for a while. It does have practical value too as apparently lots of things in nature follow it, like sunflower heads and ammonites (just don't ask me how - I never did practical maths!). Anyway, I'm making this quilt where each square size and number of stripes follow the sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21 etc - each number is equal to the sum of the previous two).

This is the first sample - I didn't pre-wash the fabric and then washed it after. I liked the shrinkage, but of course, the stripes all frayed in a not good way! The background quilting was wavy lines, but I think it is too distracting, so I won't use it next time. It also made me think of quilted leather handbags, which for some reason I don't like. This bad photo here shows my first attempt of a bigger piece. I've still to quilt it and add the stripes. I'm not sure how it will develop and whether I decide to make it less rectangular.

Festival of Quilts aftermath

I am a bit late writing this post as I intended to write whilst I was at the Festival, enjoying my new technology buy of a dongle (at least I think that is what it is called). As it was, I spent too much time enjoying the quilts to have any time to write and last week has been spent in the normal post Festival of Quilts daze as well as organising my parents' ruby wedding party. This week was spent recovering from the party and having five people to stay, as well as eating all the leftover food. I'm glad we over cooked!

Well, the Festival was great. There were some amazing quilts and exhibitions. I'm always a bit wary of posting images of other people's work without their permission, so the only images are of my samples from Chunghie Lee's workshop.

Her work was great. I loved the thought behind it, about honouring the unknown makers. She also has ideas for a large scale installation, which sound exciting art. I was really pleased to be able to interview her for Popular Patchwork. Her website is worth a visit: www.chunghielee.com

I also got to interview Jenny Bowker, whose work was also fascinating. They were more traditionally quilts in the sense of the three layers, but not traditional in their content. Her pieces were large scale pictorial wall hangings with Middle Eastern subjects. Her website is www.jennybowker.com

The workshop with Chunghie Lee was inspiring. I haven't done so much hand stitching in one day for ages. My stitch size needs some work - they are much too big for a traditional pojagi, but it was really good to learn some new techniques. The concept of wrapping cloths is lovely, so much better than disposable wrapping paper.

So I now have lots of ideas for articles (including some I'm not going to get to write!), and ideas for new work. I've just got to find time to get started.