Sandown National Quilt Championships 2011

This is my entry to the theme competition at Sandown this year which is Art Deco Revival. I called it "Clarice".

I didn't get a decent picture of it hanging straight against a wall before posting so this is just a collage including pictures I took as it was being made. The applique designs are pretty closely based on Clarice Cliff plate designs. The fabrics are nearly all from the Moda Marbles range, the only patterned fabric being that small strip of black and white stripe in the central block which is echoed in the border. The smaller plain circles were fun to do using the Bernina Cutwork tool!

The quilt itself was quite a challenge as the Art Deco period isn't my favourite design period and I am much happier working in other areas of the colour spectrum. It made me realise how infrequently I use orange and yellow fabric. Why did I enter the competition if I don't like the colours or the period I hear you ask? It is the challenge I think as well as the opportunity to do something different. Each quilt I do makes me learn something new. By the time it was finished I was comfortable with the designs and I realised that I shared Clarice Cliff's delight in trees and skylines. I still prefer Art Nouveau and Arts&Crafts movement stuff but perhaps I now look at Art Deco with a slightly different eye?


------------------------,
Sandown will also see the last showing of a collection of my quilts titled "Does it need beads?"They have been touring around since autumn last year with Grosvenor Shows. I felt very honoured and to be honest quite overwhelmed to be asked if they could be shown!

We will have to get the wheelbarrow ready to go and meet the courier when they are returned as our lane (damaged in the Cockermouth floods in November 2009) is still unmended. The good news is that work should start next week and should be finished by September! :o)

Not everything is perfect!

Another go with the Bernina Cutwork Tool this itime with a design that I digitised based on an Arthur Rackham drawing. The flower outlines were added later and could definitely have done with more care in their spacing but it is just a tryout!
The fabrics I used were a looser weave than quilting cotton and the silhouette did whisker quite a lot under the basic applique stitch in the software. A quick solution was to alter the applique stitch to a chain stitch and stitch around again whilst the fabric was still hooped.

Playing with the Bernina Cutwork Tool

This is no great work of art or design but just the result of several hours playing with the Bernina Cutwork software and tool. I have used the Bernina embroidery software from V1 right up to the current V6, but the software for the Cutwork Tool is very different both in operation and terminology. Last weekend wasn't good gardening weather so I spent as much time as possible trying to get a better grasp of it.

After a lot of experimentation I decided to start from scratch, draw a flower,bring into software and cut out all the shapes with the tool and then programme the applique too. I stitched it out in the Bernina Jumbo hoop .

Lots of room for improvement but I feel a bit more confident now.

Other companies seem to be bringing out variations of doing this. The ones I have read about all seem to involve using several cutting needles whereas the Bernina is a simple little blade that you rotate when the machine indicates the next position. Another software I saw seemed very similar to the Bernina one but amazingly it was more expensive!

A mixed month so far

A very belated Happy New Year! Where has January disappeared to?
The days seem to have flown past.

The biggest thing we have had to deal with so far was working out where a temporary drive could be driven through our garden and cause the least disturbance. We haven't been able to get any vehicles to the house since the 2009 floods and the way the powers that be are talking it could be autumn 2011 before our river wall and lane are rebuilt.The gate leads out into the lane along by the river that was our usual route pre-flood.

We are not feeling too happy about the time the insurance company have taken and this drive is a bittersweet pill!

However we can now drive home and will also be able to get rid of the 14 month accumulation of items for recycling thus making space in the garage. Sadly the drive has had to be cut through two mature hedges which will take a long time to restore. Some of the trees have had their roots bruised and cut through too.

I am trying not to think too much about the potential damage to them.

-------------------------------------------------------------


On a brighter note I have been gradually getting back into sewing both playing with decorative stitches on some silk and also learning my new Bernina Cutwork tool and software.

I was very wary of it at first but am getting quite familiar with it now. The applique names were an experiment in using fonts from the computer to make applique shapes and they worked beautifully and very easily.
The cushion was another experiment of using a simple shape that had rows of decorative stitches programmed in as borders. The alternate squares are quilted with a design built into the 830. I hadn't made a couple of borders wide enough but I joined them into a cushion anyways and will just add a little hand embroidery later.
What was really good was that I starched and ironed 10 layers of batik cotton and the Cutwork Tool just went through the pile like a hot knife through butter. Now I have sussed those bits out I can start to be a little more adventurous.:o)

Time to start stitching

Some more blocks are needed but not sure how many till I get these ones appliqued and cut to size. Once that is done I will work out the layout and see what develops from there. I have the rest of today free so should be able to make a decent start on this. :o)

My Bernina is cleaned, oiled and waiting with a new needle ready to go!

PS Yes, that is part of my thread stash peeping in on the left of the picture. Think it is a thread addiction!

A banner!

There is to be a recording by BBC tonight at All Saints Church for a "Songs of Praise" programme that will be broadcast on 21st February I think. A lot of people will be wearing their badges but yesterday when talking to Vicar Wendy somehow the idea of a banner popped up!

As the recording is tonight and I wasn't even sure I had enough time or the right fabrics in the stash I wasn't making any promises! Of course I can't resist a challenge and a deadline so this was delivered today. :o)
It is about a metre wide and I had to think of a quick method. I used the Bernina embroidery software again starting with the original embroidery design of the original cloth badges. I resized the designs to the size I wanted and then printed out all the lettering. That covered 10 x A4 sheets which I taped together and placed on top of the blue fabric. I had some red which I placed beneath.

It was then just a case of dropping the feed dogs and stitching through paper and two layers of fabric. The cutting away of the blue to reveal the red took a little time but it was easy then to remove the paper and zig zag round. The yellow balls were just appliqued on top and the bouncy line is just a couched string. It would perhaps have been quicker if I had had enough Bondaweb but this worked and was ready for this morning.

Busy ,busy.

This is the last bag of the year in the BQL bag challenge. I am pleased that I managed to get 11 out of the 12 made, but annoyed with myself for missing a month! They have been a brilliant way of dipping my toes in different piecing techniques as well as the different construction methods. I have only quilted for the last 5 or 6 years (apart from the Thirty Year Quilt!!)and mainly do sort of applique ones so these have all been new things for me to do. I just might attempt a "proper quilt" next year. :o)
We are now waiting for Kandy on BQL to let us know what the challenge is for 2009.


Couldn't resist posting a picture of a stocking filler doll in her seasonal Christmas outfit.

Crochet is so quick in comparison to knitting. This outfit was made in one evening whereas I think it would have taken me 2 or 3 times as long to knit it.

Sandown Entries

Not brilliant pictures but they give the general idea :o)
Sandown is a long way from the Lake District so I won't be able to see them hanging. A couple of people on the BQL list have kindly promised to send me some photographs.


This is my entry for the theme competition. I have called it ring-a-roses. Usually I title my quilts when they are finished. This one I thought of the title and meant to do an applique one showing children playing ring-a-roses. Somewhere along the line it changed into a wholecloth with trapunto and painted roses!

The next is my entry for the batik competition and the one below is my Hoffman Challenge entry.
(I was quite pleased with the striped binding on the latter as it used up every last scrap of the fabric to make it.)

U.F.O unearthed!

Way back around 1980 we lived in Shropshire . My neighbour, at the time, was keen on patchwork and introduced me to Laura Ashley fabric offcuts. At that time they were generous sized, odd shaped pieces that were left over from items made in the factory in Wales ie. not the neat co-ordinated squares that became available later.

I armed myself with a copy of "The Perfect Patchwork Primer" and all my used envelopes to cut up into hexagons and proceeded to "make a quilt".Of course it had to be made of hexagons because that was what quilts were like weren't they? (Can you tell I hadn't seen many?)

As you can see I didn't get very far and it got bundled away for more than 25 years. A few years ago I got drawn into quilting again, but this time by machine, and this bundle stayed firmly wrapped up at the back of a drawer. A few months ago I looked at it again and wondered what to do with it. It seemed a shame to leave it unfinished but I couldn't see me ever hand-finishing a full sized quilt so I asked advice on BQL (British Quilt List). I was assured that I could finish it as a traditional quilt by appliqueing this medallion to the centre of a larger piece of fabric and perhaps adding some flowers at the corners and then machine quilting it.

This then is my challenge for next year. Hopefully it will be done before the fabric is 30 years old?

Watch this space as they say!

Feeling creative again.

Christmas has passed (very enjoyably) and now I can reclaim my sewing room!
(For the last few weeks it has been heaving with funny shaped packages, Christmas crackers , wrapping paper etc.etc.)

These arrived at Christmas and I am really looking forward to using them for a batik quilt. I want to do some applique and reckon that this is the most economical way of getting lots of colours.

The bright colours are so welcome at this time of year.