Finished at Last

 

I have achieved two milestones this week based around the same quilt.

I have finally finished my Gaudi inspired quilt which I have called Gaudi Star which is part of my Houston Exhibition and was previewed here in little bits and pieces a few weeks ago.

 

I was such a breeze to quilt on my Handiquilter Sweet 16 that I didn't want to stop

And the second milestone is that this quilt was also my final assessment piece for my City and Guilds Patchwork and Quilting Course Level 3 which I have been doing for over two years. And it has passed!

I am notoriously bad at finishing courses - even with the best will in the world so this one has been happening in the background and at a snail's pace forever. I am so lucky that my tutor Marie Roper has been a patient and encouraging person. I did the course through Linda and Laura Kemshall's Design Matters in the UK and can not speak highly enough about their inspiration and encouragement. I love their Design Matter TV as well and if you join up - please let them know that I recommended it - you'll love it.

C&G Assessment

My work on my City & Guilds Course has been a little sporadic due to the chaos that is my life but I was determined to do this one last week.
It was a cushion based on a landscape and I used some images taken from the air over Kalgoorlie when I taught there last year. I loved the contours of the old mines and the colour of the water.

This is the back view.

Here is a detail shot.

I was quite pleased with it and it also received good comments from my C&G Tutor.
Am now mid Module 8 of 10 Modules so the end is in sight. I have really enjoyed the discipline of this course - just wish I had more time.

If you are interested - some of these techniques will be included in my Textured Treasures workshop at Be Creative by the Sea at Coffs Harbour in July

Samples

Can't show you the finished Leaf Quilt yet because my eyes gave out last night before I finished the binding. Give me another day or two but thanks so much for your lovely comments.

Today I have been working on class samples and other things for my C&G course. Here are a few stamped and quilted pieces. I love carving stamps and them playing with them on fabric and I haven't even got to the beading yet! The inspiration was an aerial shot of old mines as I flew out of Kalgoorlie

Quilting Practice

I have (like hundreds of others) been following the 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs blog. Leah Day has been blogging for 105 days now and doing a really great job inspiring me (and many others) to just give it a try.

I have also bought her downloadable pdf and video (even though they are all available on the web) as I think it is important to give something back for her dedication and generosity. They are on special now too but only a few copies left I believe.

Anyway - here are some of my samples. I have prepared a pile of squares and start each sewing day with a new one. Certainly gets me in the right frame of mind.

And the top image? It is one of my latest City & Guild exercises - highlighting quilting with Shiva stick and leaf stencil.

Bag Done

I have finished my bag for my City & Guilds Module.
I stamped the hand dyed fabric with a stamp carved from a design of NZ carvings and then alternately quilted them as well as grid.

I added some beads for further embellishment including a large glass bead which I have had for ages as the closure.

This is the back view.

And the fabric - well it is one of the pieces that I did for this month's Monthly Metres Club and I loved the gradation from turquoise throught to pale green. There are still a few pieces left if you are interested.

Bag Underway -City & Guilds

I am making a bag for my City & Guilds course using images from NZ carvings as inspiration.



I have made some stamps and have played around with quilting and paints.

Here is a sketch of my idea for the bag which is now underway.

Rejeaneration

No it is not a typo just a play on words. I have been (finally) working on my City & Guilds course again and the latest activity was to create a patchwork piece using something recyled. It had to contain some identifiable basic elements of design like balance, harmony, contrast, movement etc

I found this little pair of child's shorts at a thrift store and loved the green zip so decided that they would be perfect for the exercise.

I love the way the fabric looked from the elasticised waistband once the elastic and stitching was removed. Doesn't it look like indigo shibori. I used the waist cord for additional decoration as well as the belt tags.

I broke 2 needles while sewing through the thick layers and freemotion quilted it (where I could) with green thread to accentuate the green of the zipper.

I think this might be a fun workshop. What do you think?

City & Guilds

No I haven't forgotten my course. It is just that I have been a little busy but I have been thinking about the next assignment.

The task is to create a 3D container using an architectural inspiration.
I have chosen Federation Square in Melbourne which I really like.

I love the triangular angles and if you look carefully it is made up of rectangular units which are really interesting.

Still in the planning stage but at least by posting my thoughts here I can continue to develop my idea. What do you think?

Off on my adventure to West Australia tomorrow and I will be posting my adventures - internet access willing

Connections

In my latest C&G Module, I had to consider different ways of connecting fabrics. I liked doing these drawings and painting them. I might play around with more.
If you click on the image you get a bigger view to see them more closely.

Boxes

I have made these boxes out of embellished paper for my C&G Course. I have been a bit remiss with my course work as I have been away for a while but I really enjoyed creating the paper and then making up the boxes.

I used large sheets of drawing paper which I covered in a paint wash and then rubbed them on bricks with crayons and then over the wire frame of a desk fan with Shiva Paint Sticks

Studio Organisation

I have been asking around for ideas on thread storage and have had quite a few interesting answers.

Lynda Thomson invited me to check out her blog for Studio Organisation.

Check it out for some great ideas and feel free to add your own.

I have been collecting Texture inspirations for my next C&G Module.

Figs

I am trying to be good and do something creative every day that is not just dyeing or painting for Dyed & Gone to Heaven (DAGTH to its friends). So today I painted some figs. To be truthfully accurate I painted one fig. Peter had brought me two as well as a punnet of raspberries. The raspberries disappeared too quickly to paint and I had already eaten the other fig so painted the same one twice and then cut it in half and painted it again.
Then I ate it! - YUM!

I have just finished Module 3 of my City & Guilds Course and Module 4 is all about Textures - my favourite thing after colour so I am 'A Happy Little Vegemite ' - well known Australian saying.

Shapes

This latest exercise was to take a shape and then create a fused design.
The shape is the glass on top of a door.


Unfortunately the shape is not actually symmetrical so when I cut out a template the reverse did not work as I had already put fusible web on the back so I had to cut out more.

Also I put the two different colours on differently but didn't realise until they were fused. But this is only an exercise so I would know what to look for next time.

Leaves

I mentioned in my last post that the current module in my C&G is about Shape. I have been focussing on leaves as there is an abundance around me in the garden at the moment.

One exercise is to use Paintsticks and freezer paper stencils. You won't be surprised to hear that I have a large set of (fairly untouched) Shiva paintsticks. See my entry regarding my stash of stuff. Great thing was though, while searching for the paintsticks I found my beautiful (yes untouched) set of 30 Caran D'arche watercolour crayons which I was sure I had bought on a trip to the US but just couldn't find. I remembered procrastinating for ages about which set to buy but just couldn't remember actually buying them. I am so relieved I am not going mad!

This repeating motif is a passionfruit vine leaf - still waiting for the fruit to ripen. Traced and cutout onto freezer paper and then paintstick rubbed around edge and brushed onto fabric with an old toothbrush.

Nice effect - some thoughts are percolating for future ideas.

Next a stamp was made with a piece of thin foam and glued onto a piece of cardboard and stamped with acrylic paint in a pattern.


I am currently wrestling with a Hawaiian applique exercise which I suspect is not going to be my finest work. I have greater admiration for you appliquers out there now.

Bricks and Hose

This is the bias strip exercise where I have recreated the brick pattern and then appliqued the hose over the top. Not quilted yet - will wait to see if I need to do it next module. Only a couple more exercises to do for Module 2 and then onwards to Module 3.


We have the 'grandkittens' staying over while my daughter has a party tonight. One disappears for the duration under the bed and the other one has found a comfortable spot too. Pity it means I have to hop everywhere....

Avocado Update

Remember the painted avocado which was then interpreted into a collage of small pieces of fabric.
Well here it is in its next incarnation. It had to be free motion quilted so I did a bit of thread painting with relative success. It is only a small pieces and I don't think I would like to do a large quilt using this technique but a very interesting exercise.


For those of you interested in my ongoing recovery. It is slow - my scarred face is healing and I have now used up all my prescribed pain killers so I guess they think I should not be in pain anymore. Unfortunately not quite and I still have three more days of self inflicted injections to endure.

Christmas Eve here and it will a very quiet one for us but I hope you all have a great day.

Not for me

Just finished this Drunkards Path block for the course. Then I copied the block segments and copied them and then played around with designs.

I am not really a hand piecer so I don't think I will be making hundreds to sew together for a quilt but the design exercise was fun.






Did my last bit of dyeing today for a couple of months. One more day to do last minute things then under the surgeons knife. I will be brave (I hope).