Six trees

My recent quilt for the theme trees. Background is hand dyed pieced strips. The trees are made from mulberry bark darkened with a bit of paintstik.

 

 

INDIGO 4

 

'BLUE FLOWERS'

 

Some of my Indigo tie dyeing reminded me of flower heads. This inspired me to create a flower arrangement. I used raw edge and needle turn applique. The grey iridescent tulle, high lighted with paint, was an ideal representation of a glass vase. The stems are hand made bias binding. The piece was machine quilted using variegated rayon thread and embellished with buttons and glass beads.

 

BAMBOO IV

As a photography student at the University of Arizona, I worked on a series of prints incorporating the interpretation of certain dreams.  I designed "Bamboo IV" with that thought in mind:  to create a piece with the interpretation of a dream of bamboo--which is essentially a good dream representing the strength and flexibility of the person associated with the bamboo, a good education, a long life and a full age.  Somehow, though, adding words to the quilt seemed to detract from the design and make it seem more like an illustration in a book rather than an idea.  I printed the picture of the head on fabric and happened to set it down on a piece of the red background fabric and the whole image just seemed to snap into view.  I must admit that I haven't yet dreamed of bamboo, which is strange considering all of the time I am spending thinking about bamboo, but I have caught myself daydreaming while I am looking at my bamboo plant.  The bamboo stalks are made from some Carol Bryer Fallert fabric that I embellished with Shiva sticks.  To be fully appreciated, this quilt should be seen in sunlight.  The colors are quite extraordinary!

Frances

Swedish Textiles

So here is the next one, this time it is based on Swedish textiles. In the Dalarna area of Sweden there are many textile museums and I love the bags that the women wear hanging from their waist.
This is made using hand dyed woollen felted fabric, and stitched using a thick top stitch thread.
Gillian

Indian Lady

I made this quilt a few weeks ago and then forgot to put it up on the website.
I made a drawing from a piece of Indian textiles that I bought in India and had a thermofax screen made.
I painted the background, block printed using a small wooden block, then appliqued the lady.
I then screen printed using my thermofax along the edge and added machine stitch.
The "shisha glass" patterns along the edge are made using sweet papers.
Gillian

Thought Bubbles. 

I’ve been looking at a couple of postcards of Miro paintings – really abstract ones - this is part of one of them.  I really like the counterchange in the shapes as they are crossed by line. Well this piece is nothing as complex as Miro’ work – but my step in that direction!  Of course with my theme of circles I needed to use circles and soon enough they turned into thought bubbles.  Working on these pieces I am discovering how hard it is for me to work to a particular size, trying to make sure I fit what I want to make into that particular size and shape when I so often normally just let a quilt grow until it’s done!

 I’m pleased with this one – in particular with the ‘binding’.  I knew I didn’t want a traditional binding on this, and after a conversation with Laura about what can and cannot be used to finish the edges of quilts :) I found this, a soft fluffy cord that was surpisingly easy to stitch into place, I like the rough appearance to the edges. The background and the cord are my own hand dyed indigo.  Also most of the fabrics in the bubbles are my own hand dyes – except for the crackle pieces that are from Ghana.  Threads are a mix of metallic and rayon. 

 

 

So - number 4 complete before the end of August - feeling rather pleased with myself for that!  The next one may not be so easy - Sept and Oct are busy months.

Magie

Under the surface: Coral

Continuing with my series 'Under the surface' I have moved on to look at photographs of coral reefs as a source for the final three pieces this year. As usual I started with with white cotton and dyed a deep blue. I then used discharge paste to  take out some of the dye, then over dyed and discharged again to try to create the different depths of the sea around the coral. Finally a stronger discharge paste was used to take out all the colour to create the coral. Thickened dye was used to create the colours of the coral.    On reflection I am sure I could have achieved a similar result by using fabric paint rather than this long discharge and dye process but I like the transparency of dyes over paints. The piece was machine embroidered to get the detail of some of the coral  with rayon threads before sandwiching it all together and then quilting the sea around the coral.  

30 Quilters' Mews

30 Quilters' Mews
The first three quilts for this year I feel are rather sombre and serious, so for the next three I wanted something more light hearted and frivolous with brighter colours, which is really more what I enjoy, both to look at and to make.
I would love to live in a street of quirky houses with like-minded people living nearby. I had to include some text to fit in with my theme of letters and words. Raw edge appliqué and fused materials, with free motion quilting.

I have had some computer gliches (mostly the operator's inability!) but at long last I think I am up and running with the blog. My quilts are all up to date so here is the third one in the series of People, Places and Patterns. 
Whilst travelling in India a few people that I met made a big impression on me. It may have been their stoicism or fortitude in the face of adversity or it may have been their craftmanship and skills.
This piece is called the Bead Maker. His skill and ability to take a bead through a series of processes to make a beautifully shaped and coloured item was a treat to watch. I have integrated the image of the beadmaker with block printing which ia another traditional Indian way of adding pattern to cloth.
Pat Archibald

More Faces From the Past

I have finished this last piece for a few days now, but have not had time to post it on the blog. It is part of the ongoing series of faces from the past. This particular  figure is from the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral. I  reduced the photo I had taken to a drawing and then created a gocco screen in order to make the print ( and that wasn't without problems. I had stored the screen material in a place that is subject to a lot of heat in summer and the plastic has started to come away from the mesh, so that my screen is flawed, but as I haven't got the time or the money to get new mesh, i shall have to live with it! Gocco screens are similar to thermo fax screens but these days it is very expensive to get the bulbs to expose the screen as the company stopped making them)

The copper bands are actual copper tape, which I purchased somewhere in the past which i have cross stitched onto the surface ( it did have adhesive on one side of the tape but I thought I had better  make it more secure than just relying on the adhesive) and the rest of the piece has been machine stitched.