Houses in the Distance

Stitching houses on a tiny scale can be extremely tricky.  I needed to start with some landmarks in the landscape, so first I stitched the roofs, then the walls.

As I am working from a photograph of a scene only ten minutes' walk from our house, I am trying to keep as close to reality as I can in the face of obvious limitations.  

The thread colours cannot convey the subtlety of the different shades of green, so I am mixing threads in the hope that the eye will mix the colours to the right shade when standing a few feet away.  This carries the risk of puckering the material and overworking small areas while the greater part of the landscape is still blank.

I have already managed to overwork the larger house on the left.  On the photo the white walls stand out, so I thought stitching them in white would be the best approach.  It wasn't.

I should have left the walls blank, as I did with the smaller house.  Now I know.

Free Motion Mavericks this week is at Andrée's blog Quilting and Learning and I'm linking up!

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.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 162 - Just a Detail

Under pressure, that's seems to be the only way I get these landscapes done.  The deadline I had for delivering the quilt was Monday, and I finished the sewing at about midday.  Then had breakfast.  Then got dressed.  Then pressed the picture flat and trimmed the edges off.  Then jumped in the car to drive to Midsomer Quilting, and arrived there some time before 3 o'clock.  

The annual exhibition of 12 x 12 quilts runs from 24th November to 18th December, and I had a sneaky preview of a couple of the other quilts.  It is going to be a fascinating exhibition!  This year's theme is "Where in the World?", and having stayed so close to home with my own entry, I am looking forward to seeing where all the other exhibitors take us.

With all the rush on Monday, I didn't get the chance to take decent photos, so until I get the quilt back, here is a detail.  The trademark three birds have made their usual appearance, and the sky has to be the fastest one I have ever stitched.

This landscape turned out better than I had hoped, and I have tried out a few new techniques, which made a great difference.  Next month I shall take close up photos and show how the colours came together.

Here goes for Week 162.

The project that caught my eye in Week 161 was Janine Marie's quilt for Vegas.  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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 161 - Almost There

Only a few hours' work left, which is just as well because I have a deadline.  There has been very little progress since last week because I have had a trip away with my brother, and getting back into the groove has been a bit of an effort.  I need to deliver this landscape to Midsomer Quilting this weekend for the annual 12 x 12 exhibition, so tomorrow I hope to have it all but finished.  The sky will be fairly straightforward, just plain with a few hand-stitched birds, but the trees could be a bit of a tussle.  Then I will have the fun and games of ironing it flat when it is done. 

Why do I leave everything until the last minute?  I knew the theme for this year's exhibition  almost a year ago.

Here goes for Week 161.

The project that caught my eye in Week 160 was Olena's autumn leaves 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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 160 - Joining Foreground to Background

Having followed the photo slavishly until now, linking the foreground of the landscape to the background calls for a slightly different approach.  There is a fair amount of scribbling involved.  The danger lies in getting carried away, so I add a little bit at a time, with frequent breaks to hang it up and see how it looks from the opposite side of the room.

Here goes for Week 160.

The project that caught my eye in Week 159 were Andrée's test pieces, comparing different waddings.  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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 159 - Tractor Tracks

Slowly the landscape is taking shape.  I have worn a groove in the floor walking back and forth between the sewing machine and the computer screen checking the photo of the crop of rapeseed.   Getting the position of the tractor tracks through the crop was crucial for the perspective.  In theory, all I have to do now is the equivalent of colouring in, except that it is not quite so simple. 

Today I have had a day off because there are a few problems to overcome. 

The degree of puckering is a little irksome, but that will rectify itself as I fill in the gaps. 

How I am going to stitch the rapeseed in the foreground remains to be seen. 

What bothers me most is that I have put too much yellow in the thin strip of rapeseed in the centre.  I shall either have to stitch over it in a lighter shade, and/or intensify the yellow slightly on either side of it. 

Sometimes I think life would be far easier if I just learnt how to paint in watercolours, but that would rather defeat the whole object of the exercise.  So I keep on sewing.

Here goes for Week 159.

The project that caught my eye in Week 158 was Jocelyn's Sew Spooky hanging.  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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Sarah''s blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 158 - Perspective

Every subtle shade in variegated thread helps build up the picture.  The trouble I am having at the moment is that the weather is rainy and overcast and the light is dreadful.  Everything looks a dull yellow under the electric light.  At least I have been able to plot the main lines of the composition and am thinking ahead as to how I am going to stitch the bits in between.  It is slow work.

Here goes for Week 158.

The project that caught my eye in Week 157 was LeeAnna's Van Gogh inspired 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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Sarah''s blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 157 - Anticipating Next May

Looking a bit dull so far, but next May my favourite field should be a sea of yellow.

I have chosen the photo I am going to use for the stitched landscape and have made a tracing to use as a pattern...

... and I have chosen the threads.

It is a bit daunting, so I shall only stitch a little at a time.  Let's hope I don't mess it up.

Here goes for Week 157.

The project that caught my eye in Week 156 was Andrée's black and white wall hanging.  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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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 with Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 117 - Creation, Day Three

Now finished and in the annual 12 x 12 exhibition at Midsomer Quilting, which runs from the 2nd to the 19th December, is my interpretation of this year's challenge.  After spending months without any inspiration on how to tackle the theme of Mystery, Myth or Magic,  I decided to dive straight into the Book of Genesis for the biggest mystery of them all - Creation.

The third day looked the easiest one to try, but having stitched landscapes in the past, this time I had a few interesting dilemmas and limitations.

Firstly, how should I depict the sky, referred to in Genesis as the firmament, a great dome that separates the waters above and the waters below?  A rainbow seemed to be the best solution, giving a natural arch, and by breaching the cloud it puts some water above it.  The sky above the rainbow is a single shade of dark blue, whereas below it I gave myself a free rein to use atmospheric sunset shades above a misty sea.  I wasn't going to let the fact that the sun wasn't created until the fourth day prevent me from using these colours; after all, light was created on Day One.

Next, I had to think about the land and the newly created plants.  I decided to keep the hills relatively bare, with just a hint of green to suggest grass, and put the emphasis on a few plants in the foreground.  Having used a rainbow in the background, a symbol of God's covenant in the Old Testament, the choice of plants was obvious.  The wheat and the vine symbolise the New Covenant, and the red flowers are there for just for the sheer delight of adorning the scene.  They are the lilies of the field.

All the free motion quilting was worked in Gutermann's Sulky Cotton 30 in variegated colours, using my 1945 Singer 15K treadle.  To give a little relief to the trunk of the vine and the wheat stems, I used my 1888 Willcox and Gibbs Automatic.  This is a chain stitch machine, with the chain appearing underneath the work, so I had to sew from the back. 

Because there is only one thread, the colour of the variegated thread changes more frequently than along a line of stitching made with a lockstitch machine.  This gave an interesting effect in the colours of the bark.

For the ears of wheat I sewed on tiny straw coloured beads, and added stitches for the spikes on the grains.

I bought beads in a nice plummy shade for the grapes.  These little bunches took only a few minutes to sew on.

The lilies of the field are each made up of three tiny dark red beads, which make me wonder whether they are in flower or have already gone to seed. I honestly don't know, but does it matter?  Let the viewer decide.

So that's my interpretation of Day Three.  I have also made a second quilt for the exhibition, representing Day One, and which I shall show next week.  All I shall say at this stage is that is completely unlike this quilt.

Here goes for week 117...

A big vote of thanks to LeeAnna for interrupting her Thanksgiving weekend and linking up her beautiful quilt of autumn shades .   If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

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 and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
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.