needle felt challenge: July 2011

Orange again

The fabric is dyed.
I tried a few splotches of dye mixtures on paper before throwing the fabric pieces in the dye baths because I was not really sure about the yellow I was using.

In the next photo, the fabric has been washed and rinsed by hand, and it's waiting for the washing machine to be free. (I wonder why I always decide to have a dyeing session when there is also a lot of laundry to do!)

Anyway, I think I now have enough orange fabric for my quilt.
But I am still looking for inspiration
in the garden...

and in my studio...
This is a little experiment I did some time ago using C June Barnes' book, "Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art".

Next is a tiny weaving... (the colours of the threads are a bit lighter in real)

And now, I am going to play on the computer with the poppies pictures.

Orange

It's the new Colorplay challenge chez les Twelve by Twelve. I did some research last week, at the market and back home...

I don't have that much orange fabric in my stash. I think I'll have to do some dyeing one of these days.

Do you like appliqué? Especially Kim McLean's quilts? Do you speak Dutch? If yes, then you should visit this new blog that my friend Nicolette has started about two weeks ago. It's called "Kim McLean in Holland".

Some New Designs

It has been a while since I uploaded EQ project files and so I have three projects for you. All are in EQ7 format.

Click on the image to download the project file. I will also put a link on the projects are the left hand side of this blog.

Enjoy.

Armorica

I started dyeing grey fabric before really knowing what I wanted to do for this challenge. I got a few nice fabric pieces, especially this one that I thought would be perfect, except that it was much larger than 12x12. I thus had to decide which part of the piece I wanted to select for my grey quilt. (It wasn't the easiest part of the process!)
Then I thought it needed a little more contrast and I added a 3 inch band of darker grey on one side.
I machine quilted the whole piece with straight lines, trying to emphasize the movement I could see in the fabric.
Next came embroidery time! I had picked yellow and green threads for this because I wanted to take inspiration from this picture. But after several attempts, I had to admit that I couldn't find a green that would show well on both fabrics. I turned to a variegated red-pink-orange thread that did work much better.
I'm rather pleased with the result. (It looks better and brighter in real life.)
Here are two detail shots of the quilt.

And don't forget that you can see the quilts of the other Twelves on our blog.

Still trying to work and type with this dreadful bandage. Still the pain has gone just waiting for it to heal.

This is the best picture I could get of the quilt top I finished a week or two ago. This will be a lovely technique to teach in September.

I decided on a dark background for the strip pieced tumbling blocks. The light was OK but I preferred the dark background. One strip has been stitched the rest are waiting to be stitched.

I was working on a 20th Anniversary quilt idea for thr Electric Quilt challenge but I am afraid I missed the deadline so I will post the project file in a day or two for anyone to download. It is a pieced quilt .... more later.

I also took part in the EQ red and white challenge and will upload that project file as well.

Birds at the feeder

I took this photograph the other day of two goldfinch at the thistle seed feeder. They are beautiful birds. It was taken through the conserbatory window as they kept flying away when I opened the door to take pictures.

Back in the Studio

My apologies for the rubbish image, I can do better, but I am working in the outdoor studio - my log cabin in the garden - and it's difficult to take pictures. If I move oo far away I get the whole log cabin in.

I am currently working on a new to me technique. 3D designs using strip piecing. Tmblin blocks is my first attempt and so far so good. I am currently deciding on whether to use a light or dark background, dark is winning at the moment.

I week ago I decided to get into the studio in earnest. Cut out and finished the top of another quilt. It was nearly time to stop to get the evening meal sorted but I thought I would cut the strips ready to start the next project. Fatal mistake as the rotary cutter jumped the ruler and cut the side off my index finger. It is still bandaged and I am struggling a little but needs must and I really have to get the samples ready for class starting in September.

Now all the jam is made, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, rhubard/ginger, lemon curd, blueberry - quite a selection, and the allotmen just needs a periodic weeding, maybe I can spend more time in here being creative.

Thanks for dropping by.