Today...

Today, I've put my chartreuse fabrics on the floor, next to my other quilts from the Colorplay series. I always like to see how they all look together before starting to work on the new quilt...
I've got a design, more or less... (I already changed it several times).
Then I started to cut out the fabric pieces and I pinned them to the design wall, but I didn't stitch anything yet.
Instead, I played with my fabric paints and got some nice results.
There are at least two prints that I really like, but I don't think they would fit in the quilt I have in mind.

Almost ready to start sewing

Here are the fabrics and threads that I selected from my stash the other day...Next are the results of my dyeing session of yesterday.
Most of these fabrics are less green and more chartreuse in real, but I gave up trying to get the colours right in this photo.
Yesterday, I had to go to my (local) favourite art shop, and I couldn't resist buying a few of these tiny fabric paint jars that might prove useful in the next days...
Back to the drawing board now!

Do you like chartreuse?

I think that, now, I do...
Yesterday, I chose some fabrics in my stash for the next Twelve by Twelve quilt.. I didn't have enough chartreuse, so today, I spent a few hours playing with my dyes.
More pictures tomorrow. Now, what I need to do is go outside in the garden, as it is just too nice and sunny to stay inside.

More chartreuse inspiration

for the next Twelve by Twelve quilt...

Two pictures taken in Japan last summer,
and then a picture showing that Easter is already in the shops.

Comfort quilts for Japan

A message from Naomi Ichikawa, editor of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin:

I start to announce to the quilters to send us comfort quilts for the
people who are suffered. I would like to do it to the world quilters.

We will deliver the comfort quilts to the people who are very difficult situation.
Could you please help to announce it to the quilters?
We accept any size of quilts (baby to adult), new or unused.

★Please send the quilts after the end of April to:

Naomi Ichikawa
Patchwork Tsushin Co.,Ltd
2-21-2, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku,

Tokyo,
Japan 113-0034

I will appreciate if you help me.

Naomi

Please, do not send the quilts now as there is too much confusion. Thanks a lot.

Japan

Please keep the people of Japan in your thoughts.

We are very sad and we don't really know yet what is the best way to help.
There are some links about how to donate online here, here and here.

We've had news from almost all our friends and, fortunately, they are safe. I also heard, from Jan, that Keiko Goke who lives in the affected area is safe too.

Chartreuse

Our new colour scheme at Twelve by Twelve is "chartreuse".
I found a picture that I really like...I took it in Kyoto last summer and I can already see a few ways to make good use of it.
But of course, this word, chartreuse, always makes me think of Stendhal and his novel "La Chartreuse de Parme". I don't think I've got the book here. My copy must still be somewhere in my parents' house. I feel like reading it again.

Book Release Celebration

To celebrate the publication of our book "Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge", we are having a little giweaway on our Twelve by Twelve blog, until March 13th.
If you would like to have a chance to win a copy of our book, just pop over to our blog and see what it's all about!
Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Françoise Jamart

Pour fêter la sortie de notre livre "Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge", nous vous donnons la possiblité, jusqu'au 13 mars, de gagner une copie du livre.
Si vous voulez tenter votre chance, il vous reste maintenant à vite aller faire un tour sur le blog Twelve by Twelve pour voir de quoi il s'agit!
Bonne chance! :-)

(Et si, après avoir visité le blog Twelve by Twelve, vous avez besoin de plus d'explications en français pour pouvoir prendre part au tirage au sort, laissez-moi un commentaire ici sur mon blog avec un moyen de vous joindre par email.)

Snoozing at the beach

As soon as I saw Deborah's colour scheme (Brown, sage, blue), I knew I wanted to do a beach quilt, and I also knew which pictures I would use as inspiration. I like the seaside very much, but here in winter it is so windy and cold that we don't go very often and I miss it.
I had to do several dyeing sessions before getting the soft shades I had in mind for this quilt. I then sewed a very simple beach view.
Next, I wanted to depict the seagrass growing in the sand dunes where I like to go and rest sometimes in the afternoon. I made a freezer paper stencil and printed the grass using oil paint sticks.
I found the marks were a bit weak. So the last step, after quilting, was to go over those marks with machine stitching.
Here are some close-ups...
I also wanted to add some hand embroidery, but I kept wondering if this quilt really needed anything more. So, after taking the photos (better safe than sorry), I added some tiny hand-stitched grass blades. But, really, I don't know if I'm going to leave them. (Pictures of this another day of the week, most probably.)
And now, I'm off to the Twelve by Twelve blog to see what the other Twelves have done with this color scheme.