August Journal Quilt , end of summer and empty nest syndrome

This is the last of the Journal Quilts with text in. It wasn't the piece I intended to do, but was an opportunity to get to grips with my new printer make a little wholecloth quilt to fulfill the JQ brief and come to terms with the end of summer and return of youngest son to college. I've had this little drawing pinned on my wall for many years and the faces of the figures always make me smile - I think its the curly mouths! I had to define the lines a bit and then filled areas with more colour. I added a one inch half triangle border and repeated the little child figure which I think is Ralph. There is another tiny little figure on one of the planets and I wonder if that is his older brother - banished to the ends of the world!
I treated some old cotton sheeting with bubble jet set and then printed the whole design and machine stitched it. There were random pencil dots which I stitched with french knots. It still makes me smile.
I spent yesterday in the very hot exhibition room at the Bristol Guild. It was the last day and thank you to my friends who visited and also to all the other visitors who showed interest. The lichens designs and french knot embroideries seem to interest people which is great. I think I will make another large lichen applique hanging soon.

May Journal quilt 11th hour

Having agreed to produce a quilt a month for the Journal Quilt project this was an eleventh hour piece. I made it even worse for myself by using the contents of a " challenge" bag of fabrics and threads - pink is not usually me at all but I managed to complete this with a nice grey background - more me. This is the last of the circles theme. The next four pieces will have text in them.

Nine trees.

Another journal quilt for the month of April inspired again by the tree of life image.
Chocolate wrappers were bonded on the background, hand made khadi paper from Ahmedabad was mono printed with acrylic paint and the circles were completed with silk bonded with scrim rubbed with gold markal stick on the surface. The trees were machine stitched and the surface machined with a gold thread grid. The threads were left unstitched across the circles.

Kalamkari artist, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Visited this extremely skilful kalamkari artist in Ahmedabad recently. His work was beautifully delicate and lyrical.

Tree of Life journal quilt for March

This is the second little journal quilt I've done. For some reason the first February journal quilt has posted to a different blog. It can be seen if my website is accessed and you click on the link on the contact page. This is a mystery to me!
I spent a wonderful 8 days in India in February,mainly Gujarat, looking at a lot of textiles and art. This little tree of life piece is appliqued on silk which is first hand quilted, then machine stitched over the top of the applique. It was inspired by a wonderful Tree of Life window in Ahmedabad. I bought a lovely scarf made of two pieces of sari silk. One side is a single ikat type weave and the other is block printed. The whole scarf has then been stitched completely with rows of running stitch in stripes of two colours. I tried this technique on the background of my little tree.

February Journal Quilt

I decided to take part in The Contemporary Quilt Group's journal challenge. This year the pieces are 10 inches square. I found an old paper bag while clearing up the detritus from the kitchen table and used it to make transfer prints on poly satin and organza. The bag had a faded tree design with a flower head on it. Using the enlarged flower head image, I made a template to mask out transfer paint on poly satin and organza. The paper bag was also bonded on to muslin. Machine stitched, mainly. It reminds me of my favourite dusk, end of the day landscapes.
But - the snowdrops are out - the temperature has risen above 10 degrees.

Magritte the Quilter and Gaudi

A friend sent me a postcard of a painting by Magritte. L'Incendie, The Blaze. It reminded me of a tree I could see from my kitchen window across the valley in the last days of Autumn last year. I love the colour - so looking forward to some colour again after this grey, cold winter.
I dug out the embellisher and constructed the fabric with wool, snippets of sheer fabrics, appliqued cotton for the trees and machine embroidery.

The little blue panel is based on a section of Gaudi inspired mosaic. The fabric is dyed cotton, with reverse applique and hand embroidery.

Today I visited an exhibition of work by Bethan Ash at a local venue Prema, in Uley near Stroud.
The pieces looked so vibrant in the setting of the old chapel and were very well displayed, in two rooms. The pieces on the ground floor were mounted on the rich red painted walls which really enhanced the colour and pattern. Then we went to see an exhibition of paintings by David Tress in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. His landscapes are painted on thick layered paper with equally thick layers of paint. The effect is very striking. Some pieces are inscribed with a sharp implement to make disturbing marks across the image. The way he uses colour and light really gave me something to think about. I had a lovely day.