Well here I am again, not such a good blogger as Sue, but I thought that it was time I said hello again.
We had a brilliant day on Thursday visiting the Festival of Quilts at the NEC. It was wonderful and so inspiring to see the work and meet the artists that created it. Our heads were buzzing on the way home, we just need several 'Turtle Tuesday's' now to play!!
Anyway, I have now finished the next 4 months of the Contemporary Quilt Challenge and thought you may like to see them. I
had intended to use the “whole cloth” method for the next 4 months but I got
distracted and only used that method for 2 of them!
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May - Exciting News |
My son
returned from a 6 month tour of duty in May, just as this next part of the
challenge was starting. He was given a
yellow “smiley face” balloon by my sister, which really summed up all of our feelings
having him home safe and sound. This had
been such a overwhelming time in our lives that I just had to use his safe
return and our feelings regarding this, as the theme for the next 4 months.
So……..
Exciting News
We have had the date for his return to the UK, and the excitment is tangible.
I had played
with my selection of Derwent Inktense Blocks on a piece of calico, when my
daughter was home and loved the resulting colour. I decided to use a couple manipulated fabric techniques,
which I then cut and re-assembled into this wall-hanging. The furrowing and seed stitches and pin tucks
make me think of the excitement and happy chaos in our family at this time.
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June - Homeward Bound |
Homeward Bound
On our son's return, I showed him this piece of fabric and he immediately
went onto Google maps to bring up the aerial view of where he had been for the
past 6 months. It was amazing how similar my base fabric was to this view. So for me this piece had to present the view
from aircraft window when he was on his way home.
I started with a piece of calico that I covered in Gesso and
acrylic paint, with strips of torn fabric, scrim and threads, laid on top and
also covered with Gesso. I very lightly
quilted this with extra seed stitches and straight machine stitch.
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July - Busy Airwaves |
Busy
Airwaves
This is another piece of calico covered in Gesso and acrylic
paints with strips of torn fabric, scrim and threads, laid on top and also
covered with Gesso. Derwent Inktense
Blocks have also been used to add extra cover.
The use of Gesso makes the fabric quite difficult to free machine so I
machine stitched wavy lines that became the airwaves from all our happy and
excited chatter when he got home.
I have
added more seed stitch and several small brads to the piece to give even more
texture. I was un-certain of this one
while I was making it, as I loved the base fabric and was concerned that I
would ruin it, but the finish effect is very pleasing.
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August - And Breathe! |
And Breathe!
My final piece in this Yellow section is made from the same
fabric as ‘May’, calico painted with Derwent Inktense Blocks. I love the vibrant colour that you can
achieve but also the subtle effect of the lighter shading too. I love the calmness and order of this
piece. The pin-tucks, bow-ties and prairie
points are lovely to make and the finished effect is very tranquil.
So we
can all breathe again……until next time!
Here's to the next part of the challenge......Blue!!