A Picture for Sunday - Robin

Every gardener's friend.

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Free Motion Mavericks - Week 65 - Free Motion Sunset

 

 

Hooray, it's finished! 

 

This is the first of two quilts that I shall be entering into the annual 12 x 12 exhibition at Midsomer Quilting.  It has taken me about a month, and today I put in the last few stitches. Although it only measures 12 inches square, it seems to have taken an awfully long time.  Because the colours in the variegated threads are so subtle I can only work when the daylight is good, which can't be guaranteed at this time of year.  Also, because the picture is built up by such a gradual process, it is best to leave it for a few hours, or days, and mull over what to do next.

 

 

For instance, here it is yesterday morning on a coat hanger on the kitchen dresser, after I had squared it off and before putting the binding on.  After a good long stare and a cup of tea, I decided that the reeds in the foreground should be slightly taller and in a darker thread, so I added more.  The foreground definitely needed to be brought forward. 

 

 

 Once the binding was on I hand-stitched the birds - three buzzards high up in the sky...

 

 

 ... and a flight of ducks breaching the horizon.
 

Where there are ducks, there has to be water.  Putting in the reflections of the bushes and the colours of the sunset was tricky.  I take my hat off to Linda.  She made me make the effort.

 

By far the most difficult part to do was the cloud.  It went through a stage of looking very scribbly.  Because the thread is variegated it is impossible to predict where the most prominent colour will end up.  I always end up stitching over colours that stand out too much, and eventually have to rein myself in to prevent a build up of bobbin thread on the back.

Selecting the material for the binding gave me a dilemma.  None of the plain colours that I had were right, so I opted for a brownish, greyish and yellowish batik.  Once it was on I thought I had made a mistake.  It looked too busy, and I put a line of dark stitching just inside it to divide it from the picture.  The thin dark line calmed down the busy effect.



Once I hung it on the wall, I saw I had made the right choice, because the colours of the binding blend in perfectly with the colours in the house.  This is where it is going to live, just between the kitchen and dining room.

All the free motion quilting was done on the 1945 Singer 15K treadle.  The machine in the photo is my 1927 Singer 99K, which I used for stitching the sun and for the binding.

I am so glad I have finished this quilt!  Now I have to make another quilt for the exhibition before the end of the month, which is going to be completely different.  Quicker and easier, in other words.

Here goes for week 65..

Many thanks to everyone who linked up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.  What a coincidence - I dashed off to Wales for a few days, and while I was away Heulwen and Hoffi, the Welsh girls linked up!

The project in Week 64 that really caught my eye was Hoffi Coffi's little zip up bag - wonderful quilting!  Zips are one of my pet hates, so she got maximum points from me as soon as I saw the picture.  Then I read on and saw the latest example of her genius for recycling, so I had to give her even more points.  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 and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thurs
and 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 - Yellow Rose

The yellow of this rose made it stand out on a dull rainy day.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 64 - Lots of Lines

Over the past couple of days I have been busy sewing lines.  With frequent changes of thread, the colours are gently graded, and I have now got to the top of a rather colourful sky.

Meanwhile, down at the bottom of the picture, things are a bit trickier.  Quilting water can be a bit hair raising, especially now that Linda has thrown down the gauntlet and put reflections in a lake.  If the water turns out looking peculiar I shall just have to fill it with reeds and call it a marsh.  We shall see.  The joys of working with variegated thread.

Here goes for week 64..

Many thanks to everyone who linked up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.

The project in Week 63 that really caught my eye was Alison's baby quilt - such beautiful colours and a lovely classic design.   Having made a few baby quilts in the past few weeks, I can vouch for the fact that doing an all over free motion quilting design on a pieced quilt isn't always plain sailing, and Alison did a great job!  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 and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

A Picture for Sunday - Low Tide

Mud looking dramatic.  Beautiful, almost.

Vintage Book Review 2 - Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont

No book deserves the title "The Needlewoman's Bible" more than this one.  It is the size of a pocket bible, measuring 5 and a half inches by 4 and a half...

...and is an inch and a half thick.

It has been translated from the original French into several languages and there must be many thousands of copies still around. 

It even has its own angel bearing the DMC company motto.

It has more than 800 pages, so it has a silk ribbon (and now rather fragile) bookmark.

There are thirteen (or should I say XIII) beautiful colour plates scattered throughout the twenty chapters, which deal with absolutely everything a Victorian or Edwardian stitcher could possibly need to know: plain sewing, mending, lace making, trimmings, embroidery...  Whether you were a housekeeper mending worn out areas of knitted garments, or a skilled embroiderer working on silk or velvet or with gold thread, this book was written for you.

There are over 1100 engraved illustrations, which, although tiny, show a remarkable degree of detail.  I particularly like the disembodied hands with the neat frilled cuffs that float through the pages to show you how to work the thread.  The hand positions shown are sufficiently clear to enable you to learn a skill from scratch or broaden your expertise in a particular craft, for instance...

... tatting...

... netting...

... or knitting. 

Having been an avid knitter in my younger days, I had never encountered or felt the need to do double crossed casting on with a threefold thread.  Somehow it sounds as if there is cheating involved.  However, once you have cast on, the book gives an impressive array of stitches to choose from, including the gloriously named Double English on page 285, which sounds like an entry on a hotel menu ("Ooh yes, I'll have the Double English"... visions of a full English breakfast with two fried eggs).  Those who prefer a lighter, more continental start to their day need only refer back to page 284 for the Brioche pattern. 

The ubiquitous hands also show some interesting little gadgets, including a winder or lace turn (I'm still trying to work out the theory behind that one) and this rather marvellous cord wheel.  I own up.  I want one.  Next time I decide to make my own cord for braid I won't need to stretch yards of stranded embroidery cotton across the room to loop it round a dining chair and twist it with a pencil.

This little book is an absolute gem to be treasured by anyone with more than a passing interest in needlework.  Its only drawback is that none of us will live to the age of 487 and have the time to perfect every wonderful craft it describes.

If you want a closer look at this book

It can be viewed online here or at Project Gutenberg.

Alternatively, the relatively recent reprint of the book entitled The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework is easy to find if you make an internet search.

Finally, I have found a very brief, sad and intriguing biography of Therese de Dillmont.


Linking up with Connie's Blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 63 - Time for Some Red

                         

Ever got fed up of blue?  I have.  This week's theme has been red, starting with a variation on last week's tea time crib quilt.

There are tea pots, jam pots and tea cups in the dark frame around the centre...

... and the beige and greys in the paler frames are livened up with pieces of a very subdued floral print.

For some reason the combination of prints was difficult to quilt.  I kept losing track of where I had been when doing the meandering, in particular on the red, cream and blue border print.

Strawberries made an appearance in the binding...

... and the backing features the twelve days of Christmas, so there are plenty of little pictures for a baby to inspect.

Meanwhile, there has been progress with the free motion landscape, which now has a big red orb in the sky, which I stitched before I saw...

...this big red orb in the sky - the blood moon!  We had a completely cloudless night, so I stayed up to 3 am and watched a truly marvellous spectacle and took loads of fuzzy pictures.  It was the first (and will probably be the last) time I have seen the moon turn an amazing shade of deep salmon pink.

Here goes for week 63..

Many thanks to everyone who linked up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.

The pictures in Week 62 that really caught my eye were these ankle boots by Maartje.  I have been following her paper piecing patterns coming together and was looking forward to seeing how they would look once free motion quilted.  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 and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts
and 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.