Fabric mosaic

I've been experimenting (playing?!) with this fabric collage/mosaic technique over the last few weeks. I posted earlier the version I made with my children 'Light Through Leaves' where I used rough cut scraps spray basted to a background of wadding then FMQed. Here are some sneaky peeks of a larger work in progress using a similar technique only here I fused Misty Fuse to the wadding and cut the scraps roughly square. I then freemotion quilted pebbles in each square and then stitched heavily over the edges of the squares to hold down the raw edges where they overlap so are not fused. This also makes the pebbles really stand out - a bit like coloured bubble wrap!

Here's how it looks before it's stitched - the fabric squares are around a half inch square. The gold spirals were stencilled on with markal sticks.

Here's another piece already stitched - pink bubble wrap anyone?!

A more usual way of fabric fusing is to apply the fusible to the fabric before cutting the pieces out but as I wanted to use my oodles of tiny scraps, this would have been impossible. The only disadvantage of applying the fusible to the wadding is that the overlaps don't have fusible to hold them in place. This is overcome by the heavy stitching - plus a bit of raw edge showing here and there only adds to the texture and visual interest.

 

I used the same technique to make this little piece only here I stitched cobbles and swirly shapes as well and cut some of the scraps into logs instead of squares. Any shape would work as long as you follow the principle of stitching close to the edges around each scrap then overstitching heavily in between to hold down the unfused edges. This little piece is also embellished with some gorgeous sari silk ribbons I bought at the Festival of Quilts, couched yarns, beads and machine and hand embroidery. I had run out of Misty Fuse so I used Bondaweb instead and it worked just as well - it was very easy to hand stitch through too.

Strata I - 8" x 16"

Close up showing pebbled mosaic and sari silk

Close up showing cobbled mosaic, couched yarn, embroidery and beads



I am starting another piece today for Midsomer Quilting's mini quilt challenge using this same technique so I'll take photos of every stage and then post it later as a step-by-step tutorial. I hope you feel inspired to have a go! It's a great way to use your teeny scraps so watch this space as they say! Happy quilting. k3n x 



Kaleidoscope Workshop

Here are some pictures of my latest kaleidoscope workshop in Whitelackington Village Hall. I never tire of teaching this technique - even when students have a fabric I've seen used before, the quilts come out completely different. And all the ladies' enthusiasm and excitement for the 'magic' way their fabric is transformed is a joy to behold! One lady already had a second fabric to show me to make another quilt on her own and others were talking about buying more fabrics to make more. I did give a health warning that these quilts can be addictive ( I think I've personally made getting on for 30 of them). It's a wonderful way to use those gorgeous large print fabrics that don't really suit traditional patchwork patterns and everyone I've ever taught this to has loved the fact that their quilt is truly unique and that they have designed it themselves. Thanks ladies for a great two days and all your quilts are beautiful. Now go and make more! :-D!

 

 

Happy ladies working away!



Jane's Quilt

Jean's Quilt

Jenny's Quilt

Kim's Quilt

Lisa's Quilt

Liz's Quilt

Maggie's Quilt

Sue's Quilt (and some of her fingers!)

Feather Doodles

This project started with a long, thin strip of Heide Stoll-Weber hand dyed fabric - the piece I cut out from behind the felted section of "The Westering Sun" here. Well it's too beautiful to waste, isn't it? I had it up on my design wall while wondering what to do with it so I decided to quilt a feather on it! Oh, and some pebbles! Then I had the blue/green section of fabric that I'd cut off from the bottom of the background of that same quilt and another piece of Heide Stoll-Weber (pinky purple) that I bought at the Festival of Quilts this year, so I doodled three different feather designs on paper and then freehand machine quilted them onto the three different pieces to be hung as a triptych. I marked the spines on each piece with my flexicurve so they're the same. I have coloured in the raised parts of each feather with a different coloured markal stick. Here's the first one finished - the blue/green - actually the second one to be quilted, hence "Feather Doodle II". The others still need the binding to be hand sewn in place and one still needs colouring with the markal stick. As soon as they're done, I'll post a picture of all three together.

"Feather Doodle II"

Fabric Collage

So easy it's childsplay - literally! I have been wanting to try this technique for a while and have dabbled round the edges of it a little, with my "Flying High" quilt for example (http://www.theartofquilting.co.uk/index_files/FlyingHigh.htm). But having seen Kate Dowty's gorgeous work at the Festival of Quilts, and having a chat with her when she generously answered all my questions about her take on this technique, I thought I'd have a play with it with my two children, Joey aged 10 and Lily aged 8-next-week, scaling down and adapting it to make it child-friendly.

We worked on small pieces - Joey's 12" square, Lily's 12" x 15" and mine about the same. We cut pieces of wadding to the desired size ( I like Quilter's Dream Blend which is low loft and very stable, available from Cottonpatch). Then we spray basted with 501 and started to build up our pictures using scraps of fabric cut with scissors, making sure we overlapped the edges slightly so no wadding showed through. For Joey's quilt - "The Earth is NOT a Scrapyard" (his title), we drew round a plate first to mark the circle on the wadding, then I rotary cut a circle out of a square of black fabric to make the frame which we applied after he'd stuck all his scraps in place. For the mountains on "Lily's Landscape", we ironed some fusible to the piece of fabric and she drew the mountain shape on the paper side and cut it out, then we simply pressed it in place. Then we stitched over the pieces. Joey did a freemotion meander over his in a variegated blue/green thread except for Antarctica at the bottom where he used white. He then hand stitched white and silver beads onto the black frame to represent the sky. Lily did some freemotion wiggly lines in her foreground then softened the base of the mountains with some threadpainted grasses. She stitched wavy lines across the sky using a walking foot then hand stitched some yellow and pink beads in a circle on the sky for the sun.

Joey with "The Earth is NOT a Scrapyard!" and Lily with "Lily's Landscape"

My quilt is "Light Through Leaves" - I freemotioned wavy lines though the central diagonal light section then stipple meandered the darker corners for contrast. To finish the edges, we just trimmed them square then went round with a zig zag, adding corner pockets to the back for a hanging rod.

 

"Light Through Leaves"

 

 

To make a larger piece, this spray baste method probably wouldn't work. As you manipulated the piece thought the machine, the scraps would fall off. For a larger piece you would have to work in sections, stitching the scraps down as you went - but the spray baste holds well enough for small quilts like these. It was fun and as you see perfectly achievable for the children - all I did for them was the rotary cutting and ironing.

New look website

Just spent the best part of the weekend redesigning and updating my website. Technology is not my favourite thing but with masses of help from Hans, we got there in the end without too much bad language! Have a look www.theartofquilting.co.uk.  Happy Bank Holiday!

Festival of Quilts

I went on Saturday with my boyfriend Hans and my friend Marilyn and what a fabulous show. My personal favourite was the Snake Goddess quilt by last year's best in show winner, Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga. This didn't win anything this year (shame!) though she did win the Pictorial category with another stunning African-inspired scene. The winner's list will be posted on the Twisted Thread website in due course. www.twistedthread.com.

I was absolutely delighted to get a Highly Commended for my own Pictorial Entry 'Genoeg Ganzen' - Dutch for 'Enough Geese'. The background for the piece is a silk/hemp blend I bought at a Farmer's market when I lived in France. The geese are made from a piece of Den Haan and Wagenmaakers' Dutch chintz fabric (google them, fabulous fabric, quite dear but worth it!) with the one seam method, meaning the edges are on the bias so can be curled over and stitched down cathedral windows style. They are also 3D and are padded with wadding to give them further dimension. The silk/hemp background was shaded with markal sticks before being freehand machine quilted.

The name was provided by my Dutch boyfriend - I like the alliteration as well as the sound of it with the gutteral Dutch 'g'. The inspiration came from driving home to the West Country in winter and the sun setting behind the bare trees. Ooooh! Still thrilled to bits about my 'Highly Commended'!!! :-D

Felted piece "The Westering Sun"

Finished! I was going to embellish it further but then decided that the little skein of geese in the sky was enough.
I've done a second workshop with the lovely Tracey and that piece - based on a night sky - is now awaiting stitching treatment. If you're interested in doing a felting workshop in Somerset, just send me an email and I'll pass on Tracey's details.