Nov/Dec

Rising To The Surface.

Again I have in my mind an image of bubbles - these ones are rising to the surface.  Again I found circles in my fabric.  I could say I’ve gone full circle as I have once again used some of Musa’s fabric for this.  I’ve enjoyed using this theme during the year and finding different ways to work with Circles.  It has inspired a number of ideas to Rise to the Surface! 

Happy New Year to all - Magie

replacement

As my first quilt for 2013 decided to remain in it's hiding place, I had to make a replacement. It is roughly based on the same idea but a bit simplified. Here is the picture:

And now no quilt can go missing :-). They are all packed in the box ready to go to the post office.

Happy holidays to you all.

Leaves # 5

A bunch of leaves on a stalk was my inspiration. The fabric was hand dyed by me, and the leaves were embroidered by hand, then adding machine quilting.

 

 

 

With this piece I finished my series for the year 2013.

Shoshi

Bamboo VI

At last, the final piece in my “Bamboo” series.  After six excursions into the “bamboo” theme, I’m ready for a change.  This final piece is simpler than the previous three pieces but I have tried to incorporate some of the design techniques that I explored in my previous pieces.  I wanted to convey a feeling of playfulness and happiness with this piece so I chose commercially printed fabrics and bright colors to convey that feeling.  The piece is machine pieced, machine appliquéd and machine quilted.  I discovered many valuable things about color and design while doing the bamboo series and I'm looking forward to the 2014 series of quilts from all of us.

Suspended in Circles.

Another circle fabric I was given. This time I wanted to make the circles as spaces. I stitched them then cut them out and tried to finish the edge with satin stitch. no good! I couldn't get it flat and it looked awful so I unpicked the satin stitch. The edge went flat and I straight stitched over the frayed edges of stitching to hold them down. Then I did the same on all the circles. I cut the background with the lines of circles on the fabric not quite straight which gives a slightly wonky effect. The small things suspended in the circles are collected items from over the years. Alison

Circles Number 5
For this piece I began with the circle fabric given to me by a friend. Added the bark cloth and the turquoise batik. I cut up the large circle, stitched it down to the bark cloth and the rest just followed.
Alison

 

 

'VIRAL INDIGO'

 

In my stash I had a piece of tie dyed indigo Alison had given me. It had many small circular shapes in its pattern. I raw edge appliqued brightly coloured African fabrics on to these shapes. I quilted radiating lines out from the centre to the circles. I then painted the radiating shapes in silver. The circles and back ground were quilted using holographic thread. The overall design reminded me of a virus.

 

 

 



 

 

 

'BLUE MAN'

 

The Tuareg are sometimes called the 'Blue Men' after their long flowing indigo robes and head dresses. The indigo dye leeches out onto their skin, turning it  dark blue. The fabric also has a sheen that comes from being beaten flat with wooden bats to 'iron' it.

 

 

I

Leaves # 6

In this piece I used a synthetic net I recently bought in The Netherlands. It helped me depict a transparent arch and add 3D to the quilt. The leaves are made from hand dyed fabrics.

 

 

Now am going to finish Leaves # 5 and will post it soon.

Shoshi

Last one of 2013

Here is my last piece for 2013. It is based on Palestinian costume. Many of the costumes are made up of striped fabrics. Some of the gold stitching I have done was worked from the reverse - cable stitched. I added automatic patterns using a variegated thread along the stripes

Under the Surface : Reef 2

My last piece for 2013 developing the design of the sea anemones further. Again a discharged background using a range of agents, this time attempting to produce the rippling of the sea effect. Whilst the marginal difference in colour of the 'sea' can be seen it did not work as effectively as I had hoped. The 'rocks' were achieved through a hand cut simple silk screen and a standard Jacquard discharge paste.

I built the sea anemones up on the background by  layering over a sheet of silk organza. I stitched free hand the first layer and cut back the organza to the stitching line and then repeated the layers twice more to build up a more dimensional shape. I used dye paints to colour some sections of the sea anemones;  the intention was to achieve the see through - jelly like structures of the creatures. Finally I machine quilted around the rock formations of the reef.

Jean

   

Detail of stitching