On the design wall

Another project on the design wall...

I can see some pagodas in this shibori fabric.

I think I've dyed those fabrics for one (or two?) of the 2012 Twelve by Twelve projects.

This is how it's looking now...

I've started putting the quilt top together.

The Tree of Life

I made this quilt last year for the Quilt Whisperers challenge which was initiated by Georgina Chapman and is based on this children's game. Several European groups took part in the challenge and all the quilts were shown at the 2014 Loch Lomond show in Scotland.
The basic idea is that the first quilter in the group receives a photograph and has to make a quilt inspired by that picture. She then sends her quilt, without the photo, to the second quilter who makes a quilt inspired by the first one. When she's done, the second quilter sends her quilt to the next one, and so on, until the last quilter. Of course, each quilter only sees one quilt. She doesn't know what the others have done. The results are often very different and surprising.
In Belgium, two groups of 10 quilters took part in the challenge. The quilts were shown at the National Show in Enghien 3 weeks ago.
Here's a detail of my quilt...

And here's the statement I wrote at the time I made the quilt: "I decided to keep the bridge and the tree, and to go for a colourful abstract landscape inspired by some of the quilts I made with the Twelve by Twelve international group. All my fabrics are home-dyed. I designed the tree and the bridge from pictures I took during my travels in Japan. While I was working on this quilt, sadly my mother passed away. The tree and the bridge then took an even stronger symbolic meaning for me, as the tree of life and a bridge of transition. The Japanese sign き, which reads as "ki", means tree and also spirit. "

From the studio

I started quilting the little scrap quilts that I did last winter. (Or was it in autumn?)

The larger quilt is going well.
I printed the last pieces of fabric. And today I finished piecing the top. Saturday, I dyed a large piece of blue fabric for the backing.
I'll try and prepare the sandwich tomorrow.

I also did some cross stitch embroidery that will be used for a surprise gift. (No picture, it's a surprise!)

And then, a collaged postcard made with some of my gelli prints.

Last week, I spent a lot of time in the garden, cleaning pots and planting new flowers. I forgot to take pictures, but it's great to be able to work outside again.

Searching for Roy G Biv - Orange

I know it's one day late, but here's my contribution to the Roy G Biv challenge.

Go have a look at Jennifer's blog to see the other contributions to the challenge.

And I can't resist adding one more photo...

Not exactly orange, but so cute... A beautiful painting my GD did a few days ago...

Pink

I've been obsessed with the colour pink, more precisely the colour of sakura. One of the ways to say pink in Japanese is to use "sakura colour" 桜色 (sakura iro).
I can see a sakura quilt in my near future. I still have lots of pink fabric, but I needed to dye some blue for the sky. I did a few small pieces, and two larger ones. That should be sufficient for the quilt I have in mind.

The colours are brighter in reality, but today is a pretty dull day and I can't get the colours right.

I also did a few monotypes, on paper. Pictures will be for another post.

Stitching

I did a lot of stitching lately. I wanted to overdye a few fabric pieces.

I chose another blue, cobalt blue, for the second bath. I believe the first one was cerulean blue. (I did the first layer a long time ago.) I'm using cold reactive dyes.

I am still trying to use the green/blue fabric in a quilt. But really, it isn't working! Here's a little peek at my design wall.

Maybe it needs to be overdyed too. I think I'm going to try a very dark blue.

My blog post in Japanese last week was just a little test. I intended to explain it earlier, but in the meantime, I got an awful back pain and didn't feel like sitting at the computer... Anyway, the idea was to see how Japanese script looked on my blog. No, I don't intend to blog in Japanese. Not yet ;-)
I simply wanted to add a page to my blog with some kanji I'm trying to memorize in order to be able to "read" my Japanese magazines more quickly. I call it my "Japanese glossary". Of course it is a work in progress and it is still very short at the moment.
And just in case you wonder, the title of the post means "kanji", and the phrase means "it's raining today" as you might have guessed from the picture.
Today, it is sunny. Here's a little pic I took this afternoon in my garden...

More snow

We had a little more snow this morning. It's still freezing but that shouldn't last very long anymore.

Here are some results of the snow dyeing experiments I did last week.

The colours are not very deep. I guess I didn't let the fabric cure long enough. Below are two pictures of the fabric before washing.

Except for the little red spots, I rather like these kind of  flower patterns.
The other results were disappointing.

I must admit that I was a little careless about the preparations. But that's ok, it was a nice experiment  and the fabrics will be printed or overdyed.

If you want to see really nice snow dyed fabrics, you should visit Julies' blog, here.  Btw, she is responsible for tempting me to do these experiments. Merci Julie!

About fabric printing, I plan to make another quilt with my "wagashi" leftovers.

A sunny day

I took advantage of yesterday sunshine to dye fabric for my next Twelve by Twelve piece. The theme is "Mythology". I know more or less what I want to do, but I was missing some fabric.
I already had a little dyeing session a few days ago but I wasn't happy with the outcome. The colours were not deep enough. I think it was too cold inside and outside.
Yesterday was just fine and this time I'm quite pleased with the results...
Now, I just have to find some quiet time to sketch out my ideas and start sewing.

A few weeks ago, little GD did this little piece...
and I worked on my new shirt, using the Misti Liberty fabric that I bought last year in London.
I still have to sew the sleeves and find matching buttons. But first, I must concentrate on that Mythology quilt!

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.

More grisaille

I dyed 12 pieces of fabric in grey yesterday. This one is my favourite...
It reminds me of this picture I took a few years ago in Beijing hutongs.
Here are my other dyed pieces, nicely ironed.
Last week, I bought 4 or 5 very large cotton bedsheets in a thrift shop, and this is what I used as fabric for my dyeing session of yesterday. I am always amazed at how well this old fabric takes up the dye.
I have probably abandoned the idea of adding a dash of pink to my grey fabrics. Now I'm thinking green and yellow (or gold)...
Most probably because of this picture...
My biggest problem with the fabric piece at the top of this post is that it's about 20x20, which means I'll have to cut it up if I want to use it for the 12x12 challenge.

Some news

Two weeks ago, after posting my 12x12 "Spice" quilt, I decided it was time to sew the next pages of my Colorplay-inspired fabric book.
I cleaned up the studio and sorted my hand-dyed fabrics. Then I started to work on the "Eggplant" page... Two weeks later, I'm a bit embarassed to say that my table is still in the same state...
In the meantime, I wasn't completely idle... I took care of my little GD for several days, and I sewed a few "useful" items for the home and for myself, but I didn't manage to find the energy to do any creative quilting. Anyway, yesterday, at last, I crawled back to the studio and selected some grey hand-dyed fabrics for the next Twelve by Twelve Colorplay challenge.
The same fabrics with a few chartreuse pieces...
Note to myself: I could also add a dash of pink!
I think I'm back. :-)

Sunset Tide

A few weeks ago, I was sitting beside an estuary in Wales on a nice and quiet evening. The tide was out and there was an almost perfect symmetry between the far away mountain and the shape of the foreground rock. I did a quick little sketch because I knew I had to make a quilt out of this.
Back home, I did more sketches, simplifying the landscape until I was happy with it. This became my Spice quilt.
Here are some details...
I've had a hard time photographing this quilt. The colours seem to be changing all the time.
And, of course, today is the reveal of the Spice Colourplay challenge on the Twelve by Twelve blog.