The Osborne Bull

One of the sights that I remember from my first visits to Spain when I was a child - a great big black bull looming over the landscape.  I was young enough to think it was real, just for a second or two.

This delightful quilt was hanging next to my stitched field at the Where in the World exhibition.  I roared with laughter when I saw it.  Unmistakeably Spain, in fabric.

The black silhouette of the Osborne Bull stands proudly at the top of a distant hill.

In the best naïve tradition it dwarfs the turbines of the wind farm on the hill in front of it.

It is a dry landscape, so the hills are bare, with just a few scrubby bushes...

... a tangle of weedy plants with some yellow flowers at the roadside...

...and also some tall grasses.

This is such a life-like scene of a Spanish road that I almost expect to see a few smashed hub caps in the verge.

Instead we see stones and a signature - M. Capper.

This quilt was up for auction, I put in a bid, and was thrilled when I heard that I had won.  Soon it will be hanging on the wall here at home.

Thank you Marion!

A Tale of Two Hats

The winter cardigan that I made was screaming out for a hat.  I had plenty of wool left over and the time and energy, so I cast on and started ribbing.

All seemed to be going well.  I knitted the brim, then worked a band of purple inside the brim as a way of saving on the random grey yarn. 

Because I was using a circular needle I was able to stretch the knitting to check for fit.  Every now and then I would have a few minutes in front of the mirror, with balls of wool trailing and the knitting needle waving around like a pair of antennae, wrapping the knitting around my head.

Then I made an interesting discovery.  Not being a fan of patterns, I thought I had made a fair estimate of how many stitches I needed.  I was woefully adrift.

The solution, I thought, was easy.  I picked up stitches at the edge of the rib and started knitting in the other direction until I thought it was wide enough, and then cast off.  It still wasn't right, so then I had to do the same thing all over again, picking up stitches from the other side of the rib.  

This meant that for the top, I had to pick up yet more stitches from the edge of the additional stitching before decreasing for the crown.

After all the improvisation, the hat turned out pretty well, so it deserved a flower.

Then I tried it on.  My husband, ever the diplomat, didn't say much.  My daughter was more forthcoming and said it looked like a tea cosy, especially with the flower, it was just too barmy.  My answer was I don't care how nuts I looked, I want a warm head.  

I had to admit defeat.  It was too small, the brim didn't cover my ears properly, and it kept slipping up to the top of my head.

Nice hat, wrong head.  I needed to find the right head. 

At New Year I took it with me when we went to visit my brother.  I insisted my sister in law, Mary Ann, who has a dainty little head, try it on.  Suddenly the hat looked a proper jaunty number on her, 1930s home made chic.  She chose a button from her mother's button box, and now the hat is hers. 

Meanwhile, I had already cast on a frighteningly large number of stitches and was working on hat 2.  Here it is, complete with deeper brim...

... no extra sections to pad out the rib, a satisfying halo effect at the crown...

... and just to wind my daughter up, two flowers.

This is the hat that keeps my ears warm.  I love it.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 169 - Just Piecing

Into the groove of sewing again (at last) after a winter knitting sabbatical, and now I have a couple of cradle quilt tops to show for my efforts.  I have used this fabric before, with shades of subdued blue and also with a red border.  This time I have concentrated on the green teapots and used greens to build up the colour range.  I also have the perfect backing fabric, so these should be fun-packed little quilts.  It is nearly two months since I have been near my treadle, and I am looking forward to getting going again.

Here goes for Week 169.

The project in week 168 that caught my eye was Bernie's scattered squares quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Where in the World?

Underground, in this case.

The theme for the annual 12 x 12 exhibition at Midsomer Quilting in December was "Where in the World?"  There was a great variety of scenes and techniques on show, and many of the quilts were for sale by auction to raise money for Dorothy House, a local hospice.

Whereas a lot of the quilts were like postcards, showing instantly recognisable views, this quilt was an exception.  Earthquake Zones, by Pat Gerrard, is a representation in fabric of a geological fault or subduction zone, vividly conveying the threat and tension of the earth's crust under stress.

Coming back to the surface, and starting with the scene nearest to home and gradually travelling further away, here is Clifton Suspension Bridge, by De Pickford.  The bridge is truly beautiful (as can be seen in this video here), a marvellous feat of engineering designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1864.  De shows it with balloons in the sky, which is a sight we can enjoy every year when the Balloon Fiesta is held in August.  

Just 12 miles from Bristol is Bath, and the next quilt takes us upstream to an older bridge across the same river.  Pulteney Bridge, by Jill Humphrey, is truly delightful in the way the reflections are shown under the arches and the quilting in the foreground depicts the water rushing down the weir. 

Now travel about 50 miles north northeast, and we come to the Uffington White Horse, shown in Hill Figure, by Kath Lordan.  Not only was I bowled over by the choice of subject matter, I fell in love with the subtle shades of green and the topographical quilting, recalling the sheep tracks which follow the contours on the sides of the chalk hills.

The next trip is about 85 miles north to the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham for the Horse of the Year Show.  Constantine, by Glenis Halfhide shows a drum horse of the Household Cavalry.  The detailed stitching brings both horse and rider to life.  I spent ages gazing at the amazingly tiny stitches of the lion and the unicorn on the coat of arms on the drum.

This quilt takes us to Germany.  A Small Town in Germany, by Lesley Irving depicts

a fascinating roofscape, with the distinctive steep roofs and stepped gables to be seen there.  The various shades of brown and brick red coupled with the shapes and textures give this quilt a wonderfully realistic feel, like looking out of an upstairs window. 

Now off to hotter climes.  Morocco, by Jo McKenna radiates warmth, both with the colour and the profusion of flowers.  The simple austere shapes of the houses contrast with the hills in the background and the exquisitely stitched plants in the foreground, and the patterns of the fabrics tie in perfectly with the composition.

Finally, we go way down south for Memory of South Africa, by Rholda Picot.  Rholda's note about the quilt says it all; "My South African block is inspired by the many women you still see in rural villages either cooking over an open fire or grinding corn.  As a South African now living in the UK this block is a reminder of what you don't see here!" 

A truly memorable exhibition!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 168 - May Landscape

Reality in thread - to my eyes anyway.  This is the first landscape that I have stitched from a photo, and it was an entirely different experience to the usual Never Never Land that I have always stitched before.  This time accuracy mattered.

The annual 12 x 12 exhibition at Midsomer Quilting kicked me into action last October.  The theme was "Where in the World?."  Some of the fabulous quilts on show can be seen here.

Although I was tempted to try a scene taken on holiday in Ireland or Spain, I decided to depict a scene only a few minutes' walk from our house.

I chose the photo I wanted to use and made a tracing of the horizon, trees, hedge and tractor tracks.  Then I machine stitched (with no thread) through the tracing paper, placed the tracing paper over the fabric and rubbed blue tailor's chalk over the holes to give a faint line of dots to use as a guide.

Once I had plotted the perspective, then I started to build up the colour with parallel lines of stitching.

The tractor tracks in the foreground were relatively straightforward, but the faint tractor tracks in the background to either side of the centre were particularly time-consuming.

To give the right effect, they needed to be underneath the yellow stitching.  I hadn't drawn guidelines, so I had to make frequent trips between the sewing machine and the computer to plot the ends of the lines with pins and then stitch the parallel lines by eye.

The next stage was to work on the rapeseed plants in the foreground, and then fathom out how to link the foreground with the background.  This had me stumped for a while, because in the background the crop is built up with horizontal lines of shades of yellow, whereas in the foreground there is a lot more detail, with changes of colour and direction.

The solution was to work a tightly packed scribble in yellow and green variegated threads over the foreground, taking it just into the background so that the middle distance blended in.

This scribble technique was also very useful for the tree at the left, which has young leaves just beginning to bud.  A thread with streaks of yellowish May green did the job perfectly for this tree...

...whereas the tall bare trees on the skyline needed a mixture of pastel and pale neutral shades.

Then I tackled the sky, filling it with horizontal lines of mainly blues and greys, making a streaky grey cloud to the left and keeping the right hand side clearer as a background for the birds.  The birds are hand sewn - just six quick stitches for each one.  I have decided that they are crows.  We get plenty of crows flying over, and even more jackdaws, but these look too big for jackdaws.

Here is a peep of the back.  For the sky I used blue or white in the bobbin, and for the field and trees a brownish neutral mix.

Now for the technical details:- 
The picture was free motion quilted with my 1945 Singer 15K treadle on natural coloured cotton backed with thermal curtain lining.  I used Gutermann Sulky Cotton 30 in variegated colours, and applied fray-check to the cut edges.

All it needs now is a good frame.  That's my husband's department.

And a title.  If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment.

And finally, many thanks to De, Chris and all at Midsomer Quilting for holding a fabulous exhibition in their wonderful new premises at Chilcompton.  Without them I am not sure I would have stretched myself to produce this landscape.  Furthermore, I would not be the proud owner of the two fabulous quilts that I successfully placed bids on.  I took plenty of photos at the exhibition, and shall be featuring several of them in a post tomorrow.

Here goes for Week 168.

Many thanks to Afton for being the first person to link up in 2018, showing her beautiful Arrow Head quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

A Picture for Sunday - Winter Sky

Frost and snow don't often grip this part of the country.  Rain, wind and occasional fog, with weeks of sodden ground, are the norm, and so far this winter has been no exception.  Dramatic skies over the Severn estuary relieve the monotony.  This was the view I caught yesterday afternoon.  Meanwhile there was a rainbow behind me.

Winter Cardigan - Finished!

Down on the kitchen floor is the best place in the house to lay this cardigan out for a photo, but the colour keeps coming out bluish.  Why?  Light and the physics of it all are well beyond me.

Anyway, here it is and I'm chuffed to bits with it.  The hand knitted made to measure Christmas present from me to me.  Just what I needed, a snug winter cardy.

The shawl collar looks narrow when the cardigan is laid out, but when it's on it is a great draught stopper.

Knitting the rib for the collar shows the random yarn off to best advantage.  Also, because long rows of rib are so unutterably boring, looking forward to the next streak of colour kept me going.

I struck incredibly lucky when I went out shopping for buttons.

I only took a ball of the random yarn with me when I went out, and it wasn't until I came home that I saw I had found the perfect match for the dusky pink stripes.

The purple edging reminds me of quilt binding, but the corners are fearsomely fiddly.  Mitred corners are falling off a log in comparison.

The stitch and mixture of yarns I used worked out really well, with the warm side on the inside (on the left) and the stripes emphasised on the outside (on the right).

Now I am just finishing off the hat.  Then the weather can get as cold as it likes.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.