cyberfyber « WordPress.com Tag Feed

A crazy quilter ...but not a crazy quilt in sight

paulahewitt — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:29:51 +0000

I have finally had the urge to take up needle and thread and start another quilt. It may be the hint of autumn (hooray) in the air...I had to pull the sheet over me the other night, or it may just be that I'm a bit tired of embroidery, but for whatever reason I have decided to start another quilt or four.

So I've started piecing by machine two giant plaid Ohio star quilts. Each block is 24" square – I think I only need 12 for each quilt. These are cheap and cheerful quilts for the boys. I am doing quick piecing by sewing along the diagonal of the squares and then cutting. I'm not a big fan of machine piecing – it seems a bit of a chore, although I usually use the machine to sew the finished blocks together.

I've also just cut out HUNDREDS of 1 ½ inch squares of 1930's reproduction fabrics. I am planning to make a version of Calico Garden. This I will be piecing by hand, because even though it is quick and easy to do 9 patches by machine, I want the patches fairly scrappy so I will do them by hand. Plus I find it relaxing sewing seams by hand....well the first few hundred anyway. My version won't have Broderie Perse floral borders – I will probably do appliqué daisies or similar, and I am thinking about embroidering the flowers rather than doing teeny tiny needlepoint appliqué....so it may not look much like (or anything like) calico garden when it's finished...but who knows. I have been collecting this fabric for a while, after buying a charm pack a few years ago. Its funny how little fabric 1 ½ inches really is. I have barely made a dent in my stash...I could still be making 1930s quits in 2030 if I'm not careful. ( don't rush back here to see the completed quilt).

I have also dragged out all the fabric I've been collecting to make a Lady of the Lake quilt. I have found a couple of versions...but I think the authentic block has the half square triangles around all four sides, not just two ....so that's what I am going to do. I am curious – and advice from someone that actually uses imperial measurement in real life may be able to explain this - WHY would they make the block 8 7/8 inch square – why not make it 9 inches? If the pattern calls for a square 8 7/8" and 10 squares 2 7/8 " would it work if I round all the measurements up - I.e. to 9" and 3"? I guess I could do a practice block...that would be a novel approach for me!

I even found some Japanese fabric in my stash and this sashiko panel I did a while back...I might turn this into a new handbag.

So I am wondering why it is that a quilter who pieces together bits of fabric without measuring them, and then embellishes over any errors is considered a crazy quilter.....but someone who cuts out millions of one inch squares to sew them by hand into 3 inch 9 patch blocks is considered sane?

SUMPTUOUS SURFACES:

And for those of you wondering.... Sumptuous Surfaces (sorry In too lazy to do a proper link) was a great class. I really enjoyed it, it was very fast paced – a lot of info in a short space of time....but class notes that can be referred back to time and again. Also we had a great class which made a difference – lots of interaction in the forum, and now even MORE blogs to read!

As for my rainforest embroidery...well that is on the backburner for a while. I am very happy with the progress I made on it, but it needs to sit for a while. I haven't stopped embroidery completely – stay tuned for an update of Antipode Island, and I've made great inroads into my postcard for Susan Lenz's CYBERFYBER exhibition. I'll post a photo of both soon.

Postcard in the post

carlseapatch — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:34:05 +0000

Three posts in 5 days, wow, this is a record!!!
I had to post today because I received some exciting post (in the mailbox) this morning. An envelope from Susan Lenz with the Postcard I chose from her swap. This was the last one left of her Endless Possibilities Series, which has these digitized words and other machine stitched rows of patterns upon painted, heat distressed bondaweb(?) The scanner does not pick up the metallic thread, but they are in there. I thought this would be a nice addition to my daughter's 18th birthday book. Susan's other postcards in this series included vintage keys, but this one doesn't. Luckily I have a few old interesting keys from our garage doors here and also some I picked up in my favourite second hand yard- Restorer's Barn. I will add one of these (Hope you don't mind Susan?).
Susan also sent in this parcel an extra ATC which will join the other one in it's frame above my sewing nook. (Have to get rid of a couple of children before I can claim a room to be a 'studio'.). And here are some pics of the book. I was going to leave space inside for the postcard but thinking about it while taking these photos, I think I'll dangle it with a key from a group of machined cords on the front cover. The dangle here on the front cover is actually a necklace I made that she can take out and wear. Some bits on these pages, such as the 18 wishes, were taken from an altered book on the web by Karen. She has some beautiful work on her site, so take a look.Here are a few more pages, just scan through if you're getting bored with the family snapshots.This last pic is the back cover with a poem I found while teaching at a school. I printed it on some red plastic sheeting that was part of the Country Road catalogue!
I have started working on the return postcard for Susan Lenz. Following the endangered life theme of the ATC I sent, this will be the Orange Bellied Parrot, which migrates between Tasmania and the south of Australia. Rather than just do one postcard, I am doing a large picture which I will cut up for a series of postcards. This is the initial sketch of a parrot (you'll have to click on this, it's a bit pale):
Here is the background with some silk fibres/hankies being layed on:
Here I have added some turquoise organza ribbon to the wing feathers and overlayed with a pale mauve chiffon scarf (from the Op Shop). It is pinned ready for FME.
Just one final note, Dale mentioned at the Australasian Quilt fair that she will be running a Wild Women (and song?) challenge so watch out on the Thread Studio website for that. Perhaps Dale could post a You Tube of her singing a wild women song. I'd like to see that!!!!
Cheers

ATC off to US

carlseapatch — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:16:55 +0000

After a busy week/weekend with Daughter No 1's 18th birthday party(it was a joint party with her friend, also 18 and they invited 180!) I managed to finish the ATC for the Fyber Cyber swap this week. When I couldn't find an appropriate bead I decided to stitch the butterfly. It is one of several rare butterflies from the Mt Piper region in Victoria, Australia. I am hoping to do a series on the butterflies from this area, which is now protected habitat. The Moonlight Jewel[Blue](Hypochrysops delicia delos) lays it's eggs on lichen covered branches which is the background stitching on the ATC, quite appropriate that it includes cocoon strippings!
My representation of the butterfly is silk ribbon embroidery on felt with beading and the feelers are one of Sharon B's woven stitches from the PLOS class at Joggles.

I also started on the background fabric for the postcard and had great fun mixing up a combination of paints. I layered a piece of Zap cloth(bulk nappy liner) from the Thread studio over some cotton material and painted both together, using lots of water.

Here are the pieces hung out to dry (saved the newspaper from underneath too).

With the leftover paint I also did litttle stamping on some white cotton.

I'm off to the Australasian Quilt Fair tomorrow in Melbourne, so probably won't get to work on this again until next week. It will be chopped up and layered to get the effect I'm after. Off now to have tea out with the family visitors who arrived from London 4am this morning. They've been sleeping off their jetlag. Cheers.

Monet

carlseapatch — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:45:30 +0000

I am inspired to write an extra post this week (I have set myself the attainable target of one post a week) by Fibre fan's blog. She did a very interesting weaving inspired by the Monet waterlilies for the January TIF and then shelved it.
This piece reminded me of some items I have inspired by Monet, I love the colours he uses. The first was from my ceramics phase and is a vase I painted
The next is a lovely pastel drawn by an artist friend.(I had to photograph it somewhere there was no reflection)
I am SO-O-O-O excited, I have arranged an ATC swap with Susan Lenz for cyberfyber. Check out what is happening on her site, there is an international swap happening later in the year as well, and lots of great invited exhibitors.
I will blog the ATC I am sending shortly, I'm just having some beads made up for a special series of ATC's, one of which I will send to Susan and the others for the international swap.
Before I went to Summer School for a workshop with Dale Rollerson I made up this cute little fabric box to carry some of my bits & pieces.
And the inside:It is a lovely aussie print featuring Flannel flowers, waratahs, grevilleas and bottlebrushes(callistemons). The beads are from my fantastic local bead man (who is custom making the beads for my ATC's - he says he loves a challenge). The pattern for the box is in this book: which I borrowed from our local branch of the Victorian Embroiderer's Guild. I also borrow copies of Stitch as it becomes expensive to buy overseas magazines here in Oz.
Just to finish here are the lovely eucalyptus (gum tree) flowers my 7 year old picked for me.
Cheers