quilting to a timeline

Above are the last week or so of quilting practice.  As you can see, I need all the paractice I can get.
I got a bit bored with these samples and decided to make it a little more interesting.

I decided to tke some simple sketches out of my sketchbook and do a related quilting sample.  Above left, I have a dragonfly sketch and some veins as a quilting pattern. and on the right a stylised pomegranate and some pebbling.  I have also included a word in script on each sample, too.

Above is the dragonfly sample finished.  I used a lilac rayon on top and a white bobbinfil on the bottom.  Although with thread painting I tend to want the bobbin to pop up at times, in quilting, I want it the other way, I would rather the top thread peeked through to the back a teeny tiny bit. 
Below are two pictures of the back.  You can see a little bit of spotting on the back. If I felt it was a problem, or it was for a show, I would loosen the bobbin a tiny bit, as the top is already quite tight.

Here is today's sample, the pomegranate.

Still a bit wonky, but reasonable. 

The thing which is surprising me, is that the handwriting is actually the easiest part of the quilting.  I remember watching some Linda Taylor videos where she always said that drawing your designs many times is the best practice and this has shown me how true this is.  Handwriting is something that I have been doing for a long time.  Other motifs are not as familiar to me and so are not as easy to quilt.  Laura Kemshall on design matters has also talked about being familiar with your subject especially through using a sketchbook.

Now why is this important to me right now?
Well, I am working on a piece that has lots of quilted text on it - Actually forty lines!

Can't tell you any more about that one right now.

But -
I have finished all the blocks for my recycled mixed media piece and will hopefully post them tomorrow.

Quilting every day

 This blog is supposed to be a record of my work and an incentive to do it.  Two of the things I think are really important in designing and creating my art are free machine practice and sketchbooks.  I am not as diligent in either of these two things as I should be.

I am going to try and do a quilting sample every day.  It is something I need to do, because my quilting is a little haphazard at times.  I will be doing a little four inch sample each day and will bind them with eyelets and rings into a little sample book I can use to refer to and to show.

Here are the first two pages, each bound differently.  I will also try and include lots of different bindings as well.  I could back to back the samples so two make one page, but I feel it is better to be able to see the back - and to include not so perfect samples like these.
My method so far is pretty simple

I draw the quilting lines with an iron off pen  with a little practice bit outside to start with.  In the first two, I only started to draw the pattern, since it repeated and I wanted to get to the stage of doing it without lines, however with this one there is no repeat.

Another thing I think I need to do every day is to take photos to use in my sketchbook, art book and journal.  My sketchbook is where I simply draw and paint.  My art book is where I encorporate mixed media and samples into little pieces of work and my journal is my notebook, where I record ideas, write notes to myself and generally nut things out.

So here are today's photos

This is an anemone or windflower leaf.  I love the edges of these leaves.

This is a dietes, or native iris, of which there are many in the garden.

I love this picture.  It is a grape vine leaf on our very overgrown fence.

Lastly, this is a very naughty blackberry, which has been poisoned, but keeps coming back, but the flowers are pretty.  I also like briar roses, which are similar, but pink.
There is a significant trend in my photos, isn't there, but this is what I see each day.

I will try to post on these two things once a week or sometimes every two weeks when things are really busy.  I will also try to include examples of using these two things, like quilting in pieces of work or sketchbook or artbook pages.

Swaps again

Here are a couple of swaps I received recently.  They were actually from June, but with all the world postal problems recently, have just arrived.

This first one is a hand embroidered postcard from Stitchin Fingers.  The theme was "Sundaes"  This one has lots of different fabrics, including sparkly stuff - beautiful.

This one is from LisaLizaLou Designs June swap.  The theme was "Beetles" This one is very detailed and dimensional and has lots of bling! Love it.

Here are the steps I went through to produce a quick  ATC recently.

I used one of my quilting warm up/practice samples and cut out a piece for an ATC.  My template is cut to 2.5 by 3.5 with an extra 1/8 inch all around.

Here is the piece cut out.

I added a piece of  lilac coloured netting.

And a heart cut from a tyvek and plastic sample.

Some beads (sorry for the terrible photo)

Next I fused a piece of stiff interfacing to the back (cut to the correct size) and trimmed the excess off the front.

I actually rounded the corners when I trimmed and did some blanket stitch around the edge.
I wasn't really happy with the edge, I felt it needed a more solid frame, so I wove some purple and gold threads in and out of the blanket stitch, going around some stitches twice to create a french knot type effect.

And here it is completed.  This type of ATC (or you could change the size and make a postcard) is very quick and easy to make and uses only a few scraps and odd and ends.

A change is as good as a holiday-try something new every day.