Friday 17 October 2014

Free Motion Landscape - In the Fen Country




Finished within a week!  My first 12 x 12 quilt, which I have delivered today to Midsomer Quilting for their forthcoming exhibition.  

When I was at the shop some time ago and heard that the theme for the exhibition was music, I quailed; then it was suggested that I could start with the title of a piece of music and work from there.

A couple of weeks ago I did some serious thinking about choosing the music.  I knew I wanted to do a free motion landscape, and it would have to be an English landscape for the simple reason that I am totally familiar with the colours and the skies.  Therefore it had to be a piece by an English composer, and Vaughan Williams was top of my list.  Then I had to decide on which of his works to illustrate, and make sure the landscape was of the right part of the country.

In the end, I headed approximately 200 miles North East.  First of all I was thinking of the Norfolk Rhapsody.  This would mean a flat landscape (totally alien to me, I'm used to hills), which would need plenty of emphasis on the sky.  After bouncing around Youtube for ideas, I settled upon In the Fen Country.




This video was an absolute Godsend.  Not only did it give me the music, but a whole series of landscapes too - all very flat and wet.

The starting point was the horizon, with the church nestling in the trees.  If you watch the music video you should spot the picture that it is based on.



For the water in the foreground I changed the thread every now and again to give the shaded effect. All the threads are Gutermann Sulky Cotton 30 in variegated colours, and I used five or six different shades.




For the water in the reed bed I incorporated some green and brown tones.




To add interest in the sky there are hand stitched birds.  The three birds soaring high up look like buzzards - we often see them here, but I am not sure how common they are in East Anglia.  The flying geese just had to figure somewhere, and they fitted nicely into the space beneath the lower cloud.




For a day and a half it hung on the wall in the space usually occupied by the Flooded Fields landscape, above the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine that I used for putting on the binding.

I shall not see it again until the exhibition at Midsomer Quilting....

At the end of the exhibition it will go to a new owner after the auction in aid of Dorothy House.

Linking up with Nina Marie's blog Creations - Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Janet's blog Simply Pieced for TGIFF
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

18 comments:

  1. This quilted landscape is so impressive! I'm amazed at your talent. Thank you for linking up with TGIFF!

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  2. This is beautiful, Lizzie! I love it!

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  3. Beautiful! Simple and intricate at the same time. You certainly are a free-motion artist!

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  4. GORGEOUS! really, absolutely lovely!

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  5. Found you on the Crazy Mom Quilts link up. This is fantastic! Are you quilting this on the old Singer? Whatever machine you're using you certainly have mastered. It's just beautiful. And made for the enjoyment and to aid others. Perfect!

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    1. Thanks Karen! All my FMQ is done on my Singer 15K treadle.

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  6. This is beautiful. You have really captured the wet bleakness of the landscape: no mean achievement!

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    1. Thank you Marly! Not totally unlike much of Holland, I should imagine.

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  7. This is lovely - I like the way you switch your thread every so often. It is very effective (Iooking at the first picture you posted of this it took me a minute to work out whether it was the thread or whether the background had subtle colour variations).

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  8. So beautiful, you are certainly a very talented lady, and very good friends with your sewing machine!!!

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  9. This is gorgeous! I love the small and the tall grass along the river. You chose beautiful thread for them and quilted them beautifully. They are my favorite feature in this piece, as well as the flying geese.

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    1. Thank you France! The geese are incredibly tiny, and the very last thing I stitched, after the binding was already on. I'm really relieved they turned out well.

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  10. That is so beautiful. It makes me want to pull out (literally) my own Singer treadle and play with it. I think we have the same Singer, by the way. :)

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    1. Thank you Nicole. If you have a Singer 15, have a go!

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  11. What a beautiful piece and love your sewing machine! The quilting on the scene is perfect!

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    1. Thank you Connie!
      There's something really special about Singer 15s, isn't there?
      Love, Muv

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  12. Nicely done Muv! You are good.

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  13. Oh wow, this is beautifully done. The depth is wonderful, and the colors...! So soft and yet so riveting. I keep going back to look at it. It looks simultaneously joyful and peaceful, and I can just hear that music playing in the background. Also, that mesmerizing video (thank you for sharing) has given me several ideas for color schemes. Thank you for sharing, and congratulations on finishing your lovely piece in time for the exhibit!

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