JOURNAL QUILTS 2015
2015 Theme - 6 x 12 inches.
JANUARY JQ: BIRCH 1
Birch trees have always been special to me. Here I’ve tried to reduce its glorious trunk to essentials without abstracting it.
The trunk is a piece of disintegrating up-cycled silk organza bonded to a cotton ground. Matchstick quilting with a walking foot (very tedious) helps the trunk to stand out. Lines on the trunk used embroidery thread. Zig-zag edges.
I feel it needs more but thought it would do me good to stop and ponder minimal!
The trunk is a piece of disintegrating up-cycled silk organza bonded to a cotton ground. Matchstick quilting with a walking foot (very tedious) helps the trunk to stand out. Lines on the trunk used embroidery thread. Zig-zag edges.
I feel it needs more but thought it would do me good to stop and ponder minimal!
FEBRUARY JQ: BIRCH 2
The intention was to use pieced and bonded scraps to create an abstract of birch bark. Once I’d assembled some they made me think more of the open canopy of birch trees so I stitched a leaf on top. So much for abstraction! Matchstick quilting around the motif used a walking foot. The leaf was free motion quilted, edges zig-zagged. Steam-a Seam-Lite is great for repositioning scraps directly to the wadding.
MARCH JQ: BIRCH 3
This birch was created in Bernina Version 7 software and stitched out with an embroidery unit. An excuse to use my new-to-me machine! The text relates to a birch in a childhood garden. The ground is an up-cycled warm-up cloth already quilted. Edges zig-zagged.
Text: Was I born under a Silver Birch? Its canopy shaded my pram, soothed my sleep. It's magical presence remaining still.
Text: Was I born under a Silver Birch? Its canopy shaded my pram, soothed my sleep. It's magical presence remaining still.
APRIL JQ: BIRCH 4
A second go at digitising a birch trunk for stitch out with an embroidery unit. This time the closed object tool created one object instead of the series of open elements topped with satin stitch I used in March. I’m unsure which approach works best, but this month was quicker to complete. I like the maxi hoop, which saves re-hooping larger designs. Of course it would have been quicker to free motion instead – but I’m fascinated by machine embroidery!
Text: Betula Pendula*
Tall lady in my childhood garden.
*Silver birch
Text: Betula Pendula*
Tall lady in my childhood garden.
*Silver birch
MAY JQ: P IS FOR PALATINO AND PERSEPHONE BOOKS
I spent an enjoyable afternoon with friends mono printing paste papers (plenty of info. & recipes on the web). These are generally used in book making as endpapers.
Sections were selected, bonded to muslin and coated with acrylic wax to stabilise the paper. Layered with wadding and backing then stitched into using the design for ideas.
The connection to printing is emphasised in the title of each piece, printed in the relevant font on the journal quilt.
Palatino is reputedly one of the top ten used typefaces, named after a renaissance calligrapher but designed in 1948. Persephone Books use fabric designs for lovely endpapers.
Machine quilting plus French knots..
Sections were selected, bonded to muslin and coated with acrylic wax to stabilise the paper. Layered with wadding and backing then stitched into using the design for ideas.
The connection to printing is emphasised in the title of each piece, printed in the relevant font on the journal quilt.
Palatino is reputedly one of the top ten used typefaces, named after a renaissance calligrapher but designed in 1948. Persephone Books use fabric designs for lovely endpapers.
Machine quilting plus French knots..
JUNE JQ: E IS FOR EUROSTILE AND EVERYMAN BOOKS
Eurostile is a linear font designed in 1962. Everyman Books are renowned for their distinctive endpapers.
Machine quilting plus couched and hand stitched yarn.
Machine quilting plus couched and hand stitched yarn.
JULY JQ: M IS FOR MONOTYPE CORSIVA AND MARBLING
Monotype Corsiva is a lookalike font, based on renaissance calligraphy, designed for Microsoft software. Marbling is a well-used decorative technique for endpapers.
Free motion and combined decorative machine stitch plus couching.
Free motion and combined decorative machine stitch plus couching.
AUGUST JQ: S IS FOR SANVITO PRO AND THE SCHMOLLER COLLECTION.
Sanvito Pro, designed in 1993, is named after a scribe from the Italian Renaissance. It aimed to capture the liveliness of the written hand for more formal typefaces. The Shmoller Collection of decorative papers is housed at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Free motion quilting plus couched and hand stitched elements.
Free motion quilting plus couched and hand stitched elements.
SEPTEMBER JQ: BUD
A sample stitch out from Block 2a of ‘Finding Our Own Direction’, the self-help group set up by Tina Potter, which linked to the Committed to Cloth Book.
I combined two results from a cutting exercise and transferred to fabric by tracing then stitching from the reverse using thick thread in the bobbin. Design coloured with Fabrico pens. Further machine quilting, the addition of orange elements and zig-zag edging turned it into a journal quilt!
I combined two results from a cutting exercise and transferred to fabric by tracing then stitching from the reverse using thick thread in the bobbin. Design coloured with Fabrico pens. Further machine quilting, the addition of orange elements and zig-zag edging turned it into a journal quilt!
OCTOBER JQ: SHADOW AND REFLECTION
Another piece from ‘Finding Our Own Direction’ (see Sept).
A selection from a painted mark-making exercise was manipulated in Paintshop Pro then transferred to fabric using . It suggested a pier-like structure. I continued with the mark-making idea by hand stitching into the design where I fancied with Perle type thread but decided I must stop once I’d introduced eyelets!
Not sure that stitching really worked for me but enjoyed doing it.
A selection from a painted mark-making exercise was manipulated in Paintshop Pro then transferred to fabric using . It suggested a pier-like structure. I continued with the mark-making idea by hand stitching into the design where I fancied with Perle type thread but decided I must stop once I’d introduced eyelets!
Not sure that stitching really worked for me but enjoyed doing it.
NOVEMBER JQ: WORN STEP
Also from ‘Finding Our Own Direction’ (see Sept).
I’d been looking at texture in lace and taking images from around my home for Block 4.
I combined rubbings of lace done with Inktense Blocks and images of a doorway and worn step, stitched in black. The door is part of a former workhouse and the worn step, part of the gatehouse. The labels show the main categories of adult paupers in 1851 (Lacemakers*, Agricultural labourers, Servants). Lacemakers are one of these.
Edges zigzagged encasing black wool.
*Lacemaking (and needlemaking) were local cottage industries.
I’d been looking at texture in lace and taking images from around my home for Block 4.
I combined rubbings of lace done with Inktense Blocks and images of a doorway and worn step, stitched in black. The door is part of a former workhouse and the worn step, part of the gatehouse. The labels show the main categories of adult paupers in 1851 (Lacemakers*, Agricultural labourers, Servants). Lacemakers are one of these.
Edges zigzagged encasing black wool.
*Lacemaking (and needlemaking) were local cottage industries.
DECEMBER JQ: RED TREE
Sample stitch-outs for other projects put together here. They all explore the stitching potential of my Bernina 780.
The tree was digitised in the cross-stitch section of the Bernina embroidery software. The stacked stitches combine several of the machine’s inbuilt stitches. These are fun to do.
The single snowflakes are used to quilt the layers along with a few other straight-line stitches. Gimp was used to edge the quilt with zigzags.
I meant to add some hotfix crystals but forgot!
The tree was digitised in the cross-stitch section of the Bernina embroidery software. The stacked stitches combine several of the machine’s inbuilt stitches. These are fun to do.
The single snowflakes are used to quilt the layers along with a few other straight-line stitches. Gimp was used to edge the quilt with zigzags.
I meant to add some hotfix crystals but forgot!
