JOURNAL QUILTS 2014
2014 Theme - Add a line
JANUARY JQ: ALLOTMENT 1
An assortment of previously dyed/printed fabrics bonded to wadding to evoke a sense of allotment and growth. Inbuilt machine decorative stitches, use of heavier thread in the bobbin and some hand quilting hold it together. Further applique, hand stitching & painted motif added.
I like the dark wintery feel of it and the ‘shoots’ repeated in different scale and media.
I like the dark wintery feel of it and the ‘shoots’ repeated in different scale and media.
FEBRUARY JQ: ALLOTMENT 2
Horizontal machine stitch together with a broken hand motif element form the required line. As before, an assortment of previously dyed/printed fabrics was bonded to wadding to evoke a sense of allotment and growth. Inbuilt machine decorative stitches, use of heavier thread in the bobbin and some hand quilting hold it together. Further applique, hand stitching & painted motif added.
MARCH JQ: BUTTERFLY 1
At a free class on the Colorcraft stand at the National Exhibition Centre this month I was directed to create a formulaic panel using various products. At 8 inches square it suggested a journal quilt so I tried to create similar texture and glitz on fabric. Once photographed and touched up a bit I printed the image on a Miracle fabric sheet. The American letter size is just right for these journal quilts at 8.5 inches (approx. 22cm) wide.
A cigarette card depicting a butterfly put in mind Mohammed Ali’s ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ so I applied this text written on sheer organza. Couched threads create vertical lines and echo the dimensional product used on the original. Bonded foil and items from the ‘bit box’ add some glitter. Machine and hand quilting adds texture. Although barely visible, a butterfly was stitched from the rear around motif.
This was fun to fiddle with but lacks satisfactory cohesion. Zapping the foiling with a heat gun to take it back a bit might be worth a try.
A cigarette card depicting a butterfly put in mind Mohammed Ali’s ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ so I applied this text written on sheer organza. Couched threads create vertical lines and echo the dimensional product used on the original. Bonded foil and items from the ‘bit box’ add some glitter. Machine and hand quilting adds texture. Although barely visible, a butterfly was stitched from the rear around motif.
This was fun to fiddle with but lacks satisfactory cohesion. Zapping the foiling with a heat gun to take it back a bit might be worth a try.
APRIL JQ: BUTTERFLY 2
I started with the same image as in March and played around with it in Paintshop Pro. The quote was added here. This time I used Transfer Artist Paper to put the design onto a textured furnishing sample. I like the effect of this. Tried to keep this one less fussy. Couching, paint and machine quilting added to the surface.
Text: …tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies (King Lear)
Text: …tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies (King Lear)
MAY JQ: SCRAPS 1
This 2nd set of JQs uses scraps and samples.
A furnishing sample, quilted freely in lines, was used as the backdrop for 3 tree outlines using couched oddments of yarn and ribbon. I see this row of trees, now 6 years old, from my kitchen window and watch them through the seasons. There are more than 3 trees, but these are the most regular. This journal quilt was an exercise to include as little as possible to convey the character of these trees plus the line requirement. The couching is quite chunky and textured.
Note: The trees represented here are Upright Hornbeams (Carpinus Betulus Fastigiata). There is now an Upright Hornbeam planted in Ros’s memory at the Bucks. Natural Burial Meadow.
Note: The trees represented here are Upright Hornbeams (Carpinus Betulus Fastigiata). There is now an Upright Hornbeam planted in Ros’s memory at the Bucks. Natural Burial Meadow.
JUNE JQ: SCRAPS 2
An attempt to capture something of the English landscape in high summer with near and far views. The panel is a hand-stitched collage of paper appliqued to a remnant of furnishing rep. Grasses and buttercups are free motion quilted over the top. Still unsure whether colouring the latter with paper/stitch was needed, though it was done to take colours out of the ‘landscape’.
JULY JQ: SCRAPS 3
All the tartan in evidence at the Commonwealth Games reminded me of childhood summer frock in a pastel plaid that I really liked but recall only vaguely. I tried to create something of it by freely colouring over a quilting warm-up panel with Inktense blocks. Displaying it on the cross made it more interesting. I resisted adding any more stitch!
AUGUST JQ: SCRAPS 4
Central assemblage was started in a Festival of Quilts class with Cas Holmes using baby-oiled, hand-distressed papers & fabric scraps plus hand & machine stitching. Completed at home and mounted on an unused pale monoprint with further hand/machine stitch. I prefer the printed ground to the plain rep I used in June.
SEPTEMBER JQ: HOME 1
This 3rd set of journal quilts tried to tick a couple of other boxes too:
-create various binding ideas for a quilt group session
-use images of some pieced wonky house blocks (for another group) and hand stitching samples (for a mark-making workshop) layered in Paintshop Pro for possible use in book making projects.
-create various binding ideas for a quilt group session
-use images of some pieced wonky house blocks (for another group) and hand stitching samples (for a mark-making workshop) layered in Paintshop Pro for possible use in book making projects.
This house block was manipulated using Brushstrokes then overlaid with a section of enlarged stitch sample at about 30% transparency. Printed on to cotton lawn (US letter borderless size) from Word. The result is dulled by the overlaid design. Minimal machine quilting around house. Free motion quilted text. One commercial striped fabric binding cut on the bias & 3 hand-dyed viscose bindings of different colours.
Text reads: Home is where one starts from (T.S. Eliot)
Text reads: Home is where one starts from (T.S. Eliot)
OCTOBER JQ: HOME 2
This house block was manipulated using Brushstrokes then overlaid with a section of enlarged stitch sample at about 30% transparency. Printed on to cotton lawn (US letter borderless size) from Word. The result is dulled by the overlaid design. Minimal machine quilting around house. Free motion quilted text. One commercial striped fabric binding cut on the bias & 3 hand-dyed viscose bindings of different colours.
Text reads: There's no place like home (John Howard Payne)
Text reads: There's no place like home (John Howard Payne)
NOVEMBER JQ: HOME 3
The house image Vibrancy setting was 40. Transparency for the overlaid stitch image was 40. Printed on to Letter size Miracle Fabric cotton.
Walking foot outlined image, Free motion quilted text. Commercial synthetic binding with dyed viscose Ric-Rac insert on 3 edges and inserted prairie points on the bottom edge.
Text reads: Home is where the heart is (Pliny the Elder)
Walking foot outlined image, Free motion quilted text. Commercial synthetic binding with dyed viscose Ric-Rac insert on 3 edges and inserted prairie points on the bottom edge.
Text reads: Home is where the heart is (Pliny the Elder)
DECEMBER JQ: HOME 4
Two house images printed separately onto cotton then bonded to the ground. Both had been manipulated using either vibrancy or colourize settings. Transparency of the overlay around 34%. Free motion quilting and (ironic) text. Bonded binding, cut with pinking shears, on 3 edges. Bottom edge is mostly continuous prairie points.
Text reads: Charity begins at home and justice begins next door (Charles Dickens)
Text reads: Charity begins at home and justice begins next door (Charles Dickens)
These last 4 quilts have served their intended purpose and, like a journal, show some of the things I focused on this autumn, but I prefer to play more freely! Luckily the pieced blocks already had an inserted ‘line’ under each house so I didn’t need to think about that too! I enjoyed this one most, possibly because it was the last, and think it the most successful of them.
