Journal Quilts 2009 - The First Four Months

When I have been procrastinating for a long time, it is very difficult to get back on track again (and includes a great deal of guilt on my side!!) - but here we go...............

For the Contemporary Quilt Group Journal Quilts 2009 the challenge was to make them 6” by 12” (15 X 30 cm), either portrait or landscape orientated.

Collage 1 - January.............. Collage 2 - February

Collage 3 - March................ Collage 4 - April

For this years theme I have choosen ‘Explore Collage’ and I decided to make all the backgrounds in one go, as a kind of hole cloth, with heavy machine quilting, then cut it into 12 pieces, aprox. 13” x 7” = my blank “canvases” for the whole year.

Work in progress and all the fused silks and linens.

Quilting samples

The 12 blank "canvases"

Materials for the “canvas”: Various textured off-white silks, wadding, commercial cotton (backing) and silk thread.

Technique for the “canvas”: Fused and free-motion machine quilted.

Materials and technique for the collage: ColourCatchers® and cotton threads. Fused and free-motion machine quilting.

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And another thing - I just love to read all those inspiring blogs, it just haven't happened lately - so I'm looking forward to get back on track in this matter too.

Update: Regarding the Aurifil Quilt Patchwork and Embroidery Threads I haven't forgotten to test them, only I still have a lot of deadlines and therefore it will have to wait a bit more ;O)

Aurifil Quilt Patchwork and Embroidery Threads

Gosh how time flies when you are procrastinating……..

I want to share a lovely little story:

A couple of weeks ago I finally got round to join Facebook and within a few days I had quite a  few friends, mostly people I already know from the quilting world, which is how I prefer it. Then one day a man I had never heard of wanted to be my friend?!? What had I let myself in for………… It turned out that we had several mutual friends in the quilting world and that he is the head of Aurifil Quilt Patchwork and Embroidery Threads in Milan and sponsor of many quilt shows. So I was happy to let Alex Veronelli be my friend, he was merely networking ;O) 

In Facebook you can be a ‘fan’ of something or someone, and Alex asked me to be a ‘fan’ of Aurifil Quilt Patchwork and Embroidery Threads - which I promptly did. After a couple of hours I thought, hang on, this is a brand of threads I have never heard of, nor tried, how can I recommend that?

So I wrote Alex and asked if he would send me a little sample pack, so I could try them out and he kindly agreed.

But I never expected this:

This is what I received - wow - a big thanks Alex, I’m really looking forward to trying them out……… At the moment I’m working on some quilts in other colours (for quilt show and a magazine, so I can’t show them on my blog just yet), but I will try them out soon. Yummy, yummy colours - the chart on the wall is for the cottons and the one standing behind the reel holder (my own) for the wool/acrylic. 

Four different sizes cotton (3 of each)

#50/2 the size I normally use for piecing (top row)

#40/2 for quilting smaller quilts [journal quilts, little germs, etc] (middle row, left)

#28/2 that’s interesting, I usually use a #30, so this will be slightly thicker (middle row, right)

#12/2 that is quite thick, and might only work from the bobbin, so the quilting must be done from the back. Haven’t tried this before. (bottom row, left)

One 50%wool/50%acrylic (3 of each)

#12/2 - not quite sure what this is for? (bottom row, right)

Although it isn't so "green", I like the fact that they are covered in a thin layer of plastic - but would have prefered the plastic reels to have been made of card instead.

If you are on facebook, you can find Alex Veronelli here, and the Aurifil Threads here, where Alex gives some wonderful guided tours of the factory - much fun!

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Why do I show you a picture of some empty tissue boxes and an empty loo-roll (toilet paper roll)?

First of all - they are not empty at all. It is all about recycling........ the tissue boxes dobbles up as bins (trash cans to you over there ;O)) - very handy when you have the quilt group around or by the sewing machine, armchair etc. The empty loo-roll is covered in ducktape and has a little opening at the top - this is where I can safely dispose of any sharp objects, such as needles, pins and cutting blades.

Bookbinding the Easy Way

Last week I made this little fellow, using some new equipment called 

Bind-It-All or Zutter.

(Watch the little demo on the link)

I first came across this method on 

Liz Plummer's Blog and Gunnel's Blog 

and it's what I have been looking for, for a very long time.........

For the first book I made, I was just using  all sorts of scrap paper, anything I could lay my hand on. 

This is 6" by 6" (15 x 15 cm).

Here it is - the Zutter:

Once I had discovered that you use the same machine for any size, I decided to buy a beginners kit, always a good option on trying something new:

Here is the book without any decoration:

I'm looking forward to making my own sketchbooks with exactly the papers I like, in sizes I choose, it's all very exciting!

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In near future DH and I are going narrowboating, and he always makes an enlargement (in A4 and laminated) of the part of the trip we're doing. So for my second try with the Zutter, I decided to bind these pages as well - for ease of use on the boat.

I made a few mistakes, perhaps I shouldn't have cut the holes for all 12 pages at the same time ;

O) - but all in all I'm very pleased with the result.

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For my own use I also photocopy the route we are taking and paste the pages into my sketchbook, that way I find it easy to know where we are and can add my own drawings and notes. Here is a sample of last years sketchbook:

Collins / Nicholson Guide to the Waterways

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Addition - more on narrowboating:

Carol Sloan (who also have a Bind-It-All) quite rightly asked me what a narrowboat is, so I hasten to add to this post to clarify what I'm on about. ;O)

A narrow is boat is between 45' to 70' (14 - 22 m) long and 7' (2 m) wide, we are usually on a 66' (20 m). Used to transport goods on the English canals and rivers in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries - first by horse-power, later by steam and then by fossil-fuel. As the landscape varies a lot in hight, there is a lot of locks. Now mostly used for leisure and/or houseboats.

It is steered from the back (it's actually me steering here) and the pace is so that you can walk briskly beside it at the towpath - where the horses used to tow the boats.

Here we are at a rather large lock (sometimes only one narrowboat will fit, sometimes two, but tightly) - this tells me it's a river rather than a man-made canal.

And finally a picture of how it used to be - lots of space for cargo and very little space for living quarters, often a whole family would live there.

Picture courtesy of

THE HISTORY OF THE NARROW BOAT STEAMER – SO FAR…..

Getting to know George

I have started using George on one of many of my old UFOs - the reason for starting with this being that more than half was already quilted.

These blocks were given to me in 2001(!) by five members of a (non-quilting) group I belong to.  We meet once a year for a long weekend and I host it . As that years hostess present, I'd asked for quilt blocks (30x30cm/12"x12") and sent them the fabrics. This is what I got........ They didn't like the gray-blue fabric. (The blocks are hanging on my black flannel design board)

So I added 11 more blocks, sorry I couldn't find any pictures, and I haven't got a clue of when I did the blocks, the quilt top or the quilting.......... only long ago. I have fleece on the back, something I find very useful for utility quilts. Very useful in the garden, on the beach or in the car.

Will post a picture of the finished quilt, with my added blocks. ;O)

I have used the above book quite a lot, and was delighted to find that you can still get it. BUY THIS BOOK

This one is new, I can always use some more inspiration for quilting lines. I never mark the quilts, I find it stressful to follow lines. BUY THIS BOOK

And finally I bought this book, it also have some free-motion quilting inspiration and a mountain of inspiration for various techniques - wonderful! Those of you who read Quilting Arts Magazine knows what to expect. I read a review by someone who was disappointed with it, she felt she had already read it via the magazine. But I see it as a great reference book, I can go straight to it, instead of waisting hours looking through piles of old magazines. BUY THIS BOOK

George has moved in with me!

DH has helped me with this. And no, he is not jealous........... ;O)

I don't know about you, but I always happen to have a pile of "not there yet quilts" lying around - some of these has been with me for a number of years, I just haven't got around to quilt them yet......... The blue one is still only a quilt top, the other ones has been sandwiched.

Enter George - now I really have no excuse!!!

George is a 'mid-range' quilting machine, for motion-free quilting only, with no stitch regulator (so it is still my skill that makes the stitch length) and it has the biggest "throat" or "harp" on the market. Off cause this is not only for previous work, but for all future quilting. Jubiiiiiiiii.

I have bought George from Angela & John Pickering who did the delivery last Thursday. Luckily they stayed on the island for a few days, because I had a few problems with the tension. George prefers polyester threads, but I like cotton and silk - so we have compromised - I now use polyester in the bobbin, I can live with that ;O)

Then after they had left, I had further problems: George keept skipping stitches big time. I tried all the tricks in the book: Changing the needle, clearing lint/fluff, changing thread, using a thinner thread in the bobbin, using "sewers aid' etc. 

In came my big hero DH, who had a good look at the mechanics of a sewing machine (he can take a car or computer apart and put them back together again, he cooks too, no I won't trade him ;O) ) - he made some mechanical adjustments, and now George works like a dream................

5000+ Visits to my blog

When I started my blog at the end of March last year, I had no idea how many people was going to read it. And it took me a couple of weeks before I discovered that you can install a NeoCounter (Click on the name to get there), showing how many people and from where, visits your blog. 

 

This morning the total said 5002 visitors from 76 countries - wow - thank you so much to everybody for the visits! 

You can get all sorts of gadgets, some are for free. Do make sure to set it up so it doesn't count yourself, that would give a false picture of visits to you blog.

Warning: In the beginning it can be addictive to check all the time. ;O)

Another recommendation is the sitemeter (Click on the name to get there) - that gives you information on the time the visitor spends on you blog, how many pages they look at and from which site they have been redirected. What you can't see is who is visiting.

I have made mine unavailable to visitors, but here are some samples (you can see on the total that I have installed it much later than the NeoCounter):

Have fun!

Fat Quarters Storage System

Fat Quarters Storage System - not my term - but very intelligent coined by Pam Rubert, 

or better known as PaMdora - she has surgested that I should post a picture of the whole unit. 

Here it is...........

Studio Tips

I'm not a big fan of ironing boards, so I don't have one in my studio, that doesn't mean that I do not iron or press. I do - big time! When I had one, it was always in the way, no matter where I put it, so now I have made myself an ironing pad instead. It works really well for me, it is situated next to my cutting table, but away from the sewing machine [on purpose], so I have to get up and stand, between sitting down at the machine. (I am surprised how small it [the ironing pad] looks in the pictures - when I work at it, it feels rather large?)

When I need to iron bigger pieces or quilts, I move the ironing pad over onto my cutting table, see picture below. This works because the iron is a detachable one, I love this, because it means the cord won't be in the way when I iron or press.

I have made the ironing pad with and old cork noticeboard, wadding/batting, old sheeting and a staple gun. Yesterday I re-covered it for the fifth time. This one is 90 x 60 cm or 36" x 24". It is very rare that I feel the need for a bigger one.

PS. This is unusually tidy for me! I savour the moment............... ;O)

Eye Candy Silks

For a long time I have been keeping my smaller pieces of silk in a big basket in what some quilters poetically call 'archaeological order' - not only was the basket always in the way and I had to move it all the time,  when I did need these fabrics I could never find what I wanted............

So last night I sorted the silks on the table (I always listen to audiobooks when doing tasks like this - two birds and all that......) Yummy eye candy!  [I had to stand on a rather tall stool to take this picture,  puhh, glad I didn't  slip or anything]

I keep all my fat quarters in some cheap mdf Ikea CD racks - luckily I managed to buy enough before they were discontinued. They work great, and yes if the fabrics fade, I want to know, rather before, than after I have used it in a quilt that after! :O)

BEFORE

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AFTER

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After: Close-up

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So now my collection of Colour Catchers and my used, dried tea-bags (I blame Judy Coates Perez for the tea-bags......) don't have a home any more - will have to look into that :O)

SAQA Celebrates

This great organization is celebrating it's 20th anniversary, and the president Martha Sielman has asked all it's members to spread the word.

I have been a member for a little more than a year, and the greatest asset for me has been the Yahoo discussion group or should I say groups, because apart from the main discussion group, Europa now has it's separate one. I'm sure that it's the same in other parts of the world. The great thing about Yahoo groups is that you can either follow from the sideline or take part or both. If you have a query regarding any aspects of the quilt-world, you can be sure to have an answer quite quickly. Members are very generous with their knowledge.

The newsletter is excellent, and I really feel a closer link to the art quilt world via SAQA. 

Kreativ Blogger Award

A belated Happy New Year to you all!

As you can all see: I have started the year in real procrastination style, something I'm not to proud of. Someone simply stole January, where did it go? How can it be February already???

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Just before Christmas I was awarded the Kreative Blogger Award by Pamela Price Klebaum

who has the most wonderful blog with some stunning glass work. Please go and have a look! 

Thank you Pam, it was very generous of you, I am very proud.

I now have to nominate five other bloggers, and I have been thinking long and hard. First, I have hardly looked at any blogs for the past months (nor blogged, as you can all see) - secondly I have so, so many favorites................. 

Normally I have about 30 blogs I look at daily, another 30 I look at weekly and those of you who don't blog so much I look at every new month starting. Yes, I know, so much wonderful stuff out there, so inspiring and so many new blogs wonderful blogs to add.

So how to choose just five? It has been very difficult, but here it comes (in no particular order, as they say on TV):

Margaret Cooter is my "missing link" to all things cultural, all the things I enjoyed when I lived in London and miss here in my lovely little green island. I couldn't do without her blog.

Helen Cowans is in her own words "an embroiderer who quilts" - I really enjoy following her work in her great, nearly new studio.

Ineke Berlyn is very new to blogging, but I'm a great admirer of her work and I'm sure it will be great to follow her blog.

Pat Rubert's quilts always make me laugh and to see them in the making is very inspiring.

Judy Coates Perez must be the most used "cover girl", for both Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth, Paper, Scissors - the visual instructions for her art is great on the blog.

My only regret with this award is the logo! Both the design and the colours are too 'girly' for my taste. I really, really don't like pastel blue and pink. Pink is my least favorite colour, and to see it there at the top of my new post, clashing with the colours of my blog................ uush :O)   Still, I'm mighty honoured!

Working With Sheers

This time I haven’t been procratinating, I have just been busy like the rest of you with Christmas and all that………… [Thank you very much to those of you who wrote me privately to enquire if I was all right.]

For my on-line C&Gs course I had to work with “sheers” - both fabric and transfer paints. The fabrics ones will be quilted at a later date.

This is my sheers drawer. I have collected for years, but only used a little. I have recently bought a couple of clear [sheer?] chests of drawers for all my goodies and it makes it so much easier that I can actually see what I have without having to pull out all the drawers.

I didn’t have any sheer cotton for the backing [that I could find], so I used silk instead. I might live to regret this. I made the blue/cold colours first, and found the pinning down taking much longer than the actual cutting and placing the squares. The whole thing came alive and the bits kept shifting.

The netting on top

Work in progress.

So for the yellow/warm colours I choose to bond with Mistyfuse®. But because I’m not used to this product [yet], it took me the same amount of time as the other one. 1 hour each. Looking forward to quilting them. I love squares on squares.

Transfer painting is a completely new activity to me and much fun. One evening I painted some pieces of paper in the colours yellow, violet and ultramarine. The next day I cut these into smaller squares and rectangles. It turned out that I didn’t have any polycotton in the house, and rather that wasting time driving to town and buying some, I have used Lutrador®. Wonderful stuff. I have learned to use it in a class with Ineke Berlyn. 

I made the two first pieces simultaneously, leaving the iron on one piece, while arranging more pieces on the other. It was only when I photographed them, that I discovered that I had mixed up my two pieces of backing parchment, so some blue colour had transfered to the violet/yellow piece. The yellow/violet is done on thick lutrador, the yellow/blue on thin lutrador.

And then just for fun I photographed all three on top of each other.

Quilting Monoprints

Continuing with my C&G course, the next task was to quilt with straight stitches along the lines I had made when I monoprinted on fabric in the previous task or activity, as they call it.

It’s funny, because some of the tasks are quite daunting and others are just child's play……. This one was just that, child's play and I’m mostly posting this for those of you who consider doing an on-line C&G, to show that it can be easy as well.

Straight stitch quilting with twin needles, following the lines. This combination of monoprinting and twin needles looks great, and is a technique I shall return to in the future, it has great potential.

Detail: You can see an enlarged picture if you click on it - why this doesn't work with the other pictures shall remain a mystery ☺

This one is just straight stitch quilting, following the lines; for this kind of quilting I would normally have chosen to do it free-motion, but it was fun to do anyway. 

I am getting the hang of this, shorter posts and more often helps cut down on time waisted on "How is it I normally do this?" and "I can't remember how to do that?" etc.

Tip: I now have a dedicated notebook in three sections: Computer, Blogging and Photoshop Elements. I make a lot of notes! Blogging for Dummies has also helped a lot.

Ps. Today we celebrate 15 years in Guernsey!

Monoprinting on fabric

This weekend I have been monoprinting, it is part of my C&G course and the brief was: Monoprinting with Procion dyes on fabric using lines.

I have been shying away from this activity for a while, mainly because I have never done this on my own before. I have however taken several classes with Committed to Cloth, but although the preparing procedure was explained to us, all paints was prepared for us. A few weeks ago I prepared the Manutex (a thickening agent) and I can report that it keeps well.

I finally started Saturday and a couldn’t believe that it took an hour+ just to gather everything I needed for this activity. I was glad the instructions said to have everything ready, because if I hadn’t, it would have driven me mad (perhaps the instructions says so because of somebody's previous experience?) 

I couldn’t believe how easy the dyes and the Manutex mixed, why had it taken me so long? These two yellow prints are both A4.

Moving on to making a little woodland. This and all the rest is A3.

As I neared the end of green mix I just made some monoprints with lots of texture and no lines.

Monoprinting - just texture

Then I remembered that the form-roller was still full of yellow mix and started rolling directly onto the last three pieced of fabric, scooping up the very last bits of mix from both pots and all the tools.

I ran out of mixed dye and fabric at the same time; beginners luck…………… Not great art, but great fun, I enjoyed the whole process immensely. It might be the first time I did this on my own, but not the last!

Note to oneself: It takes longer to gather and setup everything for monoprinting, than the rest of the process combined.

Published!

I am in a book for the first time! And my goodness, am I in good company………..  Els van Baarle, Diana Harrison, Alicia Merrett, Katie Pasquini-Masopust, Joan Schulze and Charlotte Yde, to name a few. 120 artists in all and I am included! 

  Amazon UK   Amazon US

It’s a bit weird though, because in December 2006, I was contacted by Drusilla Cole, who asked if I was interested in being included in a book called "Contemporary Textiles". Off-cause I was, so I submitted pictures of five quilts, with notes and a contributor's agreement, and had a thank you mail. Never to hear another thing………….

Fast forward to yesterday: I was leaving a comment on Julie's blog and noticed someone called Helen Suzanne - so I decided to have a look at her blog too (as you do) and guess what, she had just learnt (from another blog) that she was in this book called "Textiles Now"; hadn’d been informed that it was out, nor been given a complementary copy. I saw the name of the author, and some bells began ringing in my head. Then I looked at the link to Amazon, luckily it is one of those books where you can look inside and  the index confirmed that my name was included! So I ordered my copy right away ;O)

As this is my first being included in a book I don’t know if this is normal practice.  I’m one of the only ones that is only listed with name and e-mail, so I am disappointed that I did not get a chance to add my blog address (I only started blogging in March) as well.

My copy  arrived this morning (from Amazon), as we didn’t get a complementary copy, my bet is that there is a lot artists in this book that don’t know that it has finally been published.

Off-cause I have only myself to blame for not keeping in contact, but frankly, along the way I forgot……..

Bush Fire  32 X 43 cm (12.5" X 17")  2002

Two years ago I was so, so eager to get published that I sent pictures of five of my then best quilts, among them one that I did in a class with Kate Cox in 2002. A very good class, but although the quilt  was made with my own fabrics, the result was a mini “Kate Cox” quilt. And that was the quilt Drucilla Cole chose for the book. Lesson learned. In my defense, Kate mailed me for a picture of it because she thought was very good.

 

So here I am, published for the first time, very proud and (mostly) happy, almost ashamed by my mixed feelings. But shouldn't all the artist in the book, who submitted free pictures of their work, at least have been notified when it was published? Any thoughts?

UPDATE (07nov08):

As a member of  Contemporary Quilt  I had this reply from a fellow member Janet Cook: 

"My experience has been that this is certainly not normal. I have been sent proofs of the pages featuring my work, notification of publication date and then signed copies and warm thankyou letters from the authors and publishers concerned. All very enjoyable - and all offered with the request to publish my work in the first place. Let's not forget that without the free work submitted to Drusilla she would have no book worth publishing."

I think we can all agree that this is when it's done in the very best way (authors and publishers take note) - but I would have been happy just to have been notified by e-mail that the book had been published.............

"Rage" - the making of a quilt

I have been procrastinating again - both with my blog and my life.

I am a very lucky girl, I have a lovely studio and lots of time of my own (no children, no job and a husband who cooks), so really I should produce a lot, right?  Wrong!  I have a butterfly mind and very often I can’t decide what to do, so many choices………  Because I want to do a bit of this, or maybe I could finish that or perhaps …? In the end it is so much easier to sit down with the latest quilting magazine and guess what? Get even more ideas………. Perhaps I should ban comfy chairs and reading matter from my studio?

Anyway, that means that I don’t have any new [finished] work to post, but as many people has asked about the construction of my quilt “Rage” exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in August, I shall share the pictures I took as I went along and a sample of a ‘hole’ block I made today.

This was the start of the quilt - I auditioned some fabrics I had dyed in a class with Committed to Cloth and made a set of blocks with holes. This is my workspace in Denmark, the design wall is a Quilter’s Block Butler - I am afraid that I can’t recommend it and it will soon be replaced.

I decided against most of the orange colours.

And in came my favorite fabric in my pt. favorite colour from Heide Stoll-Weber. 

Nearly there - just need something at the right side. You see, it had to be 140 X 140 cm in size - because I had entered it into The Festival of Quilt at that size, and the whole layout of the hanging of quilts for the show is based on quilt sizes. A change can mean that the quilt is not going to hang after all…………

Back in Guernsey, my design-board is full of stuff that I can’t be bothered to take down. It is easier to see the holes with the bookcase behind the quilt top.

With the wadding (batting) I placed the quilt top carefully on top of wadding and backing fabric that had already been 505’ed (spray glue) together, then drew inside the holes and cut away wadding and backing in one go.

Here you see the front of the quilt with the back of the hole block still on top. I have ironed on some fusing at the sides.

Three hole block having not been pushed through the quilt yet - fusing visible.

Back of the quilt with the same three blocks pushed through and ironed down. Sorry for not taking those two pictures at the same angle.

Back of the quilt before quilting.

Not only is DH a marvelous cook, his first profession was photography and he still practice it, see more here. However he does not have a big studio any more, so the garage doubles for that when he takes pictures of some of my bigger quilts.

And now how to make a hole block - it is not my invention, but I have forgotten who did, perhaps I blocked (no pun intended) it out, because what I do remember is, that it was a very, very boring class and at the time the hole block didn’t excite me either…………….. That only came to me, when I took an even more boring class. Lesson learned: Boring class + boring class = exciting quilt called  “Rage”.

Two pieces of fabrics right sides together. For clarification I have used black and white.

Sew a few circles in free-motion with very short stitches. Mark first if it feels better. I have used a contrasting thread for clarification. Normally I favor the YLI #100 silk thread in neutral colour for any piecework.

Cut very close to the sewing.

Turned inside out. I like to let the back fabric show, also I like irregular circles, so I don’t mark first.

Note to self: Blog more often, with fewer pictures. Today I have spent 3hours 45 minutes on blogging, some would say “I would rather sew”, but when living on a small island blogging is a good lifeline, together with Margaret Cooters blog keeping me updated on London culture, something I miss, having lived there for nine years. 

But frankly, I love blogging………...

More Journal Quilts - things goes wrong!

Keeping to my beach theme, the Journal Quilts for September and October didn't go as I've planned.....

Starting with September, I had a C&G activity (strip piecing): What better than to "kill two birds with one stone" - so I did some strip piecing inspired by a photo I took this summer on a Norfolk beach:

Here is my first go - I have changed the colours of the grasses in order to tie-in the quilts in with the rest of this years quilts.* 

Quilt top.

Sandwiched and marked 12” x 12”

The finished quilt: “Grasses I” I’m not to proud of the horizon…...

With the October quilt I decided to strip piece the background only and fuse the grasses.

Here I have sandwiched the quilt only to find out that it would have been much easier to quilt the background first! HA.

So here we go - the grasses frayed a lot, but I found that I liked that.

Cut and ready to bind, not quite…… I had forgotten to get the horizon, well, what, horizontal! Can’t have the water run out of the ocean.

So I had to add a bit back, not very smart.

The finished quilt: “Grasses II” (Yes I know, not very inspired names).

Oh, one thing more - I also forgot to line up the quilts horizons, so now they can’t hang side by side, looks ridiculous. It’s OK over each other, though. So many things to consider. :O)

And the last picture is actually my first attempt. Not my finest moment. But all in all, I have learned a few things and two more journal quilts finished. Now, what to do for November and December?!? Watch this space……..

*Last year I’d based the journal quilts colours on the colour of the month, and when it came to exhibiting, we were asked to supply five quilts. I didn’t have five quilts in the same colour scheme [important to me] so I ended up making November in non-November colours! After all it was only my own rules…… You can see the 2007 JQ in the sidebar. For the exhibition I chose April, July, September, October & November.

You can still see all the Contemporary Quilt Journal Quilts 2007 at The Autumn Quilt Festival, Malvern 2008 Friday 31st October - Sunday 2nd November and at The Chilford Autumn Quilt Festival 2008 Chilford Hall Vineyard Friday 7th - Sunday 9th November

Fabrications magazine issue 56 (latest) feature almost 8 pages with a lot of those quilts.

Must Have Books - Order your copy today!

I have ordered this new exciting book 'Digital Essentials' by Gloria Hansen. 

You can order it here.

I already have her book 'The Quilter's Computer Companion' from 1998, and has eagerly awaited a follow-up. Now it is here!

Read this brilliant review by Virginia Spiegel. 

Update: 

You can also order it from Rio Designs in the UK

'Blogging for Dummies' arrived yesterday and I don't understand why I didn't think of buying it before - it's a must if you blog. I have learned so much from the first few chapters.

It also confirmed that 'Blogger' is right place to start blogging (free and beginner friendly).

UK order here

US order here

On a fun note, I have added this link from Multicolr Seach Lab to the sidebar. 

You click on up to 10 colours to search for images in those colours. Click on the same colour several times to increase it prominence.

Real magic. Have fun!

Festival of Quilts - part 7 (Favorite Quilts III)

This will be my last report from the festival and include two entries to Quilt 2008 - I think either should have won! 

© Inge Hueber (Germany)   

"High Tide Low Tide - Broadstairs, Kent"

162cm x 178cm

Inge Hueber

I just love the colour flow in this quilt - it makes me feel so calm!

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© Leslie Morgan (UK)   "Awakening"   148cm x 102cm

Committed to Cloth

I have seen this quilt in the making and it is sheer magic, truly!

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This quilt by Claire Crocker was not in competition, but in the ColourFX gallery.

(It is photographed on a black background)

 

© Claire Crocker (UK)   "Orient and Immortal Wheat"   

 97cm x 122cm

I just came back to look at this quilt, again and again!

Detail:

You can see this quilt if you are in London next week.

14-19 October  Gallery 47, 47 Great Russell Street, London WC1 3BP (near British Museum) Tues-Sat 10-4, Sun 10-12. More info: ColourFX, 020 8455 7620; email: info@colourfx.org.uk ; www.colourfx.org.uk.

ColourFX members are: Marlene Cohen, Claire Crocker, Margaret Jarvie, Alicia Merrett, Christine Restall and Stefanie Richard.

 I have seen this exhibition, it's really worth a trip!

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As always, the pictures does not even begin to do the quilts justice, I was lucky to be there and see them in person, this is second best but better than not at all. 

Festival of Quilts - part 6 (Favorite Quilts II)

I promised some more quilts from the festival - here they are. Eight more quilts with detail pictures as well. As I have said in a previous post: "The maker, title and number are under the quilts. If you are included and don't want to, please e-mail me (or e-mail me a better picture). Not all quilts have been photographed straight on, sorry."

The smart reader might have noticed that I haven't included any winners, that's because I thought that I have seen a web-site with pictures of all the winning quilts (and with much better pictures than I could ever take), if so, I can't find it again........ If it's this one The Festival of Quilts  it doesn't work at the time of writing this. So if anyone can help?

If you click on some of the quilts, you can get a larger image - but it only works on some of them !? ;O)

Please also note that I have now added Bonnie McCaffeery's WidCast of the Festival of Quilts 2008 to the sidebar at the right.

© Mairi Wheeler  "Spot the Vane Bird"  524

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© Sheena Hughes  "Looking Out"  548

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© Sue Hunt  "Reflections in a Pond"  519

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© Agnes Szomor  "Wandering in the Desert"  507

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© Sonja Thalen-Maat   "Less is More 1"  430

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© Liz Jones  "Parasol"  424

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© Julie Roberts  "Venice the Sinking City"  308

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© Helen Howes  "White Woods 3"  321

I find it very difficult to photograph quilts, if you don't hold the camera dead straight in front of the quilt, then it shows in the picture. I can do a bit on the computer and have done so, but it takes a long time to adjust 16 pictures and change the size to suit the blog. And to look up everybody in the catalog. If you ever show one of my quilts on your blog, this is the way I would like it to be done.