Making Memories
A very long time ago, (it seems like a hundred years or so ago,) I got married, and this year we found ourselves celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. As a treat for putting up with each other for so long we booked a holiday we had talked of for many years.
We flew to the very north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle and took a rather luxurious ferry for a six day trip south to Bergen. We had the most amazing time, and saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world during the six days (see here for just a few of the thousand or so photos we took) but one of the highlights was seeing the Northern Lights
I knew that one day this image would be made into a quilt, and even bought the Kona solids from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep quilting (Cindy was amazing, I emailed her this photo and she sorted the colours for me). And the fabrics sat on my desk waiting for me to start.
The push came when Fiona at Celtic Thistle opened up a Holiday Memories virtual quilt competition.
So I cut and stitched and pressed and cut and stitched and pressed, and unstitched and stitched, and unstitched and stitched, and then pressed and embroidered and finally finished. It finished about 26.5 x 18 inches - as with most of my patchworks it chose the size it wanted to be - nothing to do with me!
And here is my version
I decided to use mostly black as the nights were really dark. The couple watching the lights were machine embroidered black on black, but I tilted the stitches at different angles so they would show as two people rather than as one.
It is difficult to photograph as there is so much black. Below is a screen shot of the embroidery of the couple. It's not really based on Brian and I as obviously we are not in our own photos, but I think with artistic licence it could be us, we were there after all!
I used Bargello to create the staggered effect, and also to echo the vertical lines that were suggested by the lights themselves. I then FMQed more almost vertical lines in three shades of green and in black to sort of drag each band of colour up into it's neighbour's band
The inspiration for using Bargello for this was this quilt made by Eldrid Røyset Førde who blogs at Kameleon Quilts. If I was to make mine again I think I would use more shades of green rather than just the three
Eldrid made my all time favourite quilt, Blue Night, and she emailed me some much appreciated suggestions of things to see while we were on our trip, so it seemed very fitting that the style should be inspired by her too
** Pictures 'borrowed' from Eldrid's site, permission has been requested **
We flew to the very north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle and took a rather luxurious ferry for a six day trip south to Bergen. We had the most amazing time, and saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world during the six days (see here for just a few of the thousand or so photos we took) but one of the highlights was seeing the Northern Lights
I knew that one day this image would be made into a quilt, and even bought the Kona solids from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep quilting (Cindy was amazing, I emailed her this photo and she sorted the colours for me). And the fabrics sat on my desk waiting for me to start.
The push came when Fiona at Celtic Thistle opened up a Holiday Memories virtual quilt competition.
So I cut and stitched and pressed and cut and stitched and pressed, and unstitched and stitched, and unstitched and stitched, and then pressed and embroidered and finally finished. It finished about 26.5 x 18 inches - as with most of my patchworks it chose the size it wanted to be - nothing to do with me!
And here is my version
I decided to use mostly black as the nights were really dark. The couple watching the lights were machine embroidered black on black, but I tilted the stitches at different angles so they would show as two people rather than as one.
The ship's railing were created by black satin stitch.
I used Bargello to create the staggered effect, and also to echo the vertical lines that were suggested by the lights themselves. I then FMQed more almost vertical lines in three shades of green and in black to sort of drag each band of colour up into it's neighbour's band
The inspiration for using Bargello for this was this quilt made by Eldrid Røyset Førde who blogs at Kameleon Quilts. If I was to make mine again I think I would use more shades of green rather than just the three
Eldrid made my all time favourite quilt, Blue Night, and she emailed me some much appreciated suggestions of things to see while we were on our trip, so it seemed very fitting that the style should be inspired by her too
** Pictures 'borrowed' from Eldrid's site, permission has been requested **
Fringe Festival
I'm typing this post on my phone whilst sat at Windsor Baptist Church doing my stint for the Fringe Festival. It's lovely to see my quilts on display rather than folded in a drawer
And it's lovely to see some of the art work created by others:
Finishing at the Fringe
So while I was "working" at the fringe festival earlier in the week I had plenty of time to sew while I was chatting to visitors
So this I-spy got bound
So this I-spy got bound
And photographed
Friday Foliage
Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with mums and children from Oakfield School. We have been working on a wall hanging to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary later this month.
The school is called Oakfield for a big oak tree in the field that is part of the playground, so we took the tree as our inspiration. Fifty leaves, and fifty inspirational words, six owls to represent the six head teachers, and one tree.
Today I brought in the embroidery machine and the embroidery design software on a lap top. "A" took a basic leaf design and with a brief lesson created the whole name of the school in embroidery
(for more info of what "A" had to learn, and images of his creation, click here)
. . . While the mums stitched leaves and owls to the wall hanging
The school is called Oakfield for a big oak tree in the field that is part of the playground, so we took the tree as our inspiration. Fifty leaves, and fifty inspirational words, six owls to represent the six head teachers, and one tree.
Today I brought in the embroidery machine and the embroidery design software on a lap top. "A" took a basic leaf design and with a brief lesson created the whole name of the school in embroidery
(for more info of what "A" had to learn, and images of his creation, click here)
The other children each had a go at programming the embroidery machine to stitch their own name . . .
. . . While the mums stitched leaves and owls to the wall hanging
And this is our achievement to date:
Random Roundup, and a Reminder
Just a few random thoughts, and pictures.
First a reminder that the voting for Fiona's Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition is now open. Just click here and you can vote for your favourite mini quilt in each category - just click on the heart above the one you like best
As well as celebrating my birthday over several days, pressies carried on arriving too - I was so spoilt! Jackie sent me this fab notebook, and a hexi necklace,
and I got a voucher to visit the Shard, and to have afternoon tea at Tower Bridge, lucky me
And as our church harvest festival is today it seems appropriate that the field behind my house was being harvested yesterday: I heard the combine harvester and took a pic before it got into sight, it was taking a while, so I went and put the kettle on
Before coffee
After coffee!
First a reminder that the voting for Fiona's Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition is now open. Just click here and you can vote for your favourite mini quilt in each category - just click on the heart above the one you like best
As well as celebrating my birthday over several days, pressies carried on arriving too - I was so spoilt! Jackie sent me this fab notebook, and a hexi necklace,
and I got a voucher to visit the Shard, and to have afternoon tea at Tower Bridge, lucky me
And as our church harvest festival is today it seems appropriate that the field behind my house was being harvested yesterday: I heard the combine harvester and took a pic before it got into sight, it was taking a while, so I went and put the kettle on
Before coffee
After coffee!
Tuesday's Toy
I bought myself a new toy - Hobby Craft were advertising the Sizzix Big Shot reduced to £50 (usual price £74 I think). I couldn't get to the store before the end date, but when I looked on the website I could get it for the same price, with free P&P, and if I signed up for the newsletter I could get a further 15% off, so for just £42.50 . . .
My new toy
The *slight* drawback is that I don't have any dies - until now I have been sharing with Jackie, so she has a machine and all our dies. I have had two sent to dad in Florida, and am waiting for Niki to visit him next month, but until then I have to look and plan
My new toy
The *slight* drawback is that I don't have any dies - until now I have been sharing with Jackie, so she has a machine and all our dies. I have had two sent to dad in Florida, and am waiting for Niki to visit him next month, but until then I have to look and plan
Handful of Hexie Quilts
Do you remember the Huge Hexi flimsy?
I blogged about it here. The 3m square flimsy was given to one of the ladies at Chertsey Museum, but no one had a use for it. Finally we chopped it into six pieces, all 1m x 1.5m, and various people took them home to quilt and finish
Well a few hours chatting to the family and watching TV over the last week or so, and I have a handful of them ready to go to charity
I blogged about it here. The 3m square flimsy was given to one of the ladies at Chertsey Museum, but no one had a use for it. Finally we chopped it into six pieces, all 1m x 1.5m, and various people took them home to quilt and finish
Well a few hours chatting to the family and watching TV over the last week or so, and I have a handful of them ready to go to charity
Sizzix Shopping
Well done to all who guessed that I couldn't possibly wait until middle of November before I used my Sizzix machine. I just happened to be passing Hobby Craft a fe days ago, and somehow this cute owl die happened to fall into my basket
I have to do some learning with these things: I guessed he would need a charm square, but he needed a bit more, so some bits got missed off.
I cut four initially, thinking I could then swap the body parts around to get multi coloured owls, but I'm a bit confused as to why a "cut" makes dents for two eyes, but only cuts one eye, and only cuts one wing
I did sacrifice the pink body to get more arms and eyes, but it seems a strange design decisions - can any of you seasoned Sizzixers explain?
I have to do some learning with these things: I guessed he would need a charm square, but he needed a bit more, so some bits got missed off.
I cut four initially, thinking I could then swap the body parts around to get multi coloured owls, but I'm a bit confused as to why a "cut" makes dents for two eyes, but only cuts one eye, and only cuts one wing
I did sacrifice the pink body to get more arms and eyes, but it seems a strange design decisions - can any of you seasoned Sizzixers explain?
Dressmaking Day
A few days ago mum came up for the afternoon and evening, and I got her to help with some UFO dressmaking projects. I'm not one to following instructions very well, and I'm not very impressed with the pattern instructions, but I love the look of the top so started it a year (or maybe two) ago
I did the grunt work (stitching and ironing) while mum did the matching and pinning and the understanding which bits go where, and which bits I hadn't cut enough of
So now she's left me with the finishing off that I can be trusted with
(I sent Jackie a copy of that first pic, and she was very complimentary about the state of the table - this is the rest of it, we only cleared enough to work on!!!)
I did the grunt work (stitching and ironing) while mum did the matching and pinning and the understanding which bits go where, and which bits I hadn't cut enough of
So now she's left me with the finishing off that I can be trusted with
(I sent Jackie a copy of that first pic, and she was very complimentary about the state of the table - this is the rest of it, we only cleared enough to work on!!!)
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