Thursday 20 November 2008

Musical Blues


Yes, another post! I thought that I would add another edition - and show you another entry that I made, for a different competition. This quilt is called Musical Blues - it was made for a competition of the same name - for the Spring Quilt festival. By entering the competition, I got a ticket to the show as well - and we attended it at Westpoint, Exeter. Keith and I went along, and I didn't get a prize, but at least my work was shown! I had decided a couple of years ago that I was going to make a quilt using musical fabrics. The problem was the pattern. I doodled during a meeting, and came up with an idea. I decided to use colours and bias binding / satin ribbon to show certain symbols. You can see the piano keys, and next to it is a block to show the sharp symbol. Next to that is a block showing 2/4 time. Under that I have tried to show bars, with an angelina fibres to show a crotchet rest. On the very left is a block to show 2/2 time - the triangles. Under that is a block - 5/4 time, and then a natural sign. The block next to it shows crescendo and diminuendo signs - interlocked. At right angles to that is a stave with an angelina treble clef, and a double sharp sign. The bottom row shows wavy stave with a quaver, and my attempt at a bass clef sign. Next to that is a block with 3 colours - to show 3/8 times.
I quilted it using free motion quilting, and quilting the names of different colours of blue together with names of dance rhythms. I also quilted musical terms into the piece as well. I used sequins to dot the 'i's in the piece. The name of the challenge was 'Rhythm and Blues'.

Catch 22

Hi there!
Today, as I'm off school due to a viral infection, I thought that I would put a bit more on this blog. I've chosen one of my 'darker' pieces today - Catch 22. I did this as an entry for the Quilting Arts calendar competition 2008 - so was making it is 2007. I really quite like it, although I suppose it looks fairly freaky. Here it is to show you what I mean:
if you've never read Catch 22, I suggest that you do so - I've read it many times - it was a set text for A Level English. I shall now explain the quilt to you. The face is a yellowish shade, that is always just short of being jaundice. One of the yes is a black eye, and this ties in with the feathers in the cap. One of the officers was obsessed with black eyes and feathers in his cap - everything was either good for him or not. The red pennants are for another officer who was obsessed with marching, and desired to win them at the Sunday parade every week. The foot is the one from the Monty Python cartoons - I consider Catch 22 and Monty Python to be alike in the zany-ness. The toes, and the gums are painted purple - because that was the cure for all ills in the camp - to paint toes and gums with gentian violet solution. One of the characters wanted apple cheeks - so my quilt has apple cheeks. There are reels of Egyptian cotton, as Milo Minderbinder was buying and selling Egyptian cotton - the cotton is from the King Tut collection. The m&m packet (image printed on treated cotton) signifies m&m enterprises (Milo Minderbinder again). The letter with all the words blanked out shows the letters that Yossarian censored while he was in hospital. The mouth is dark inside, because of a description of someone in the hospital - the description goes: "The colonel was gorgeous. He had a cavernous mouth, cavernous cheeks, cavernous, sad, mildewed eyes." It was the best way to show the cavernous mouth. One of the officers who sorted out rooms for the soldiers on leave - and he lost an eye by someone throwing flowers during a parade. The cat is sleeping on someone's face - Huple's cat sleeps on Hungry Joe's face. There is a sack of potatoes with the 'Dove' soap in there, for the time the squadron was poisoned when cakes of soap were mashed in to the potatoes. The flies are there in the eyes for the flies in Appleby's eyes, which Appleby can't see, because he's got flies in his eyes. How can you see the flies in your eyes, if you've got flies in your eyes??
The eyes are wobbly ones and on zany spirals, because that is the effect Catch 22 has on your head! Finally, the 'person' cut in half is Kid Sampson, who was cut in half by McWatt - who decided to fly low - as usual.
All of the items in the quilt are my lasting memories of that book. It didn't get any where with the challenge - and I suppose it is not so surprising as it is rather gruesome. However, it was conceived and made at a time when I was suffering with depression - quite severely.
Why did I stick with it, and why have I shown it to you? All the quilts are a part of me, and this one used many new techniques - Angelina film, printing on fabric, using Heat 'n' Bond to create moulded flowers, and fabric painting. I did quite enjoy making it, and I think it shows some of the lighter side of the book, the grim nature of it, and the zany-ness of it too! Not bad, for a quilt 24 inches square.

Sunday 2 November 2008

I almost forgot!

Just a very quick note - Tuesday is a special day - mum and Caro fly off to Singapore and then New Zealand - and I get my quilter's cupboard - I ordered it in July - and it's arriving - and that means that I've got to sort out my sewing room to make sure that there is room for it! I really must go and cook tea now - thai style vegetables this evening, with quorn. And then some sewing - or cutting out fabric at the very least!

Happy in my room!

Happy in my sewing room - a place where I can get creative - and for those of you who haven't looked at the Westdene Changes site, here it is again. It looks a bit different now, as I have the quilting frame at the end where the TV is in the photo. Yes, this is a room just for me, where I can indluge myself in fabric - and frequently do!

Sew (I like that - sometimes I think I'm so clever!), you want to know what I've been up to recently. Well, I've spent an obscene amount of time over the past two days looking at facebook. But in the mean time, I have made a quilt for my cousin's baby, I've finished a bag - one that I started in February - did a course at Step by Step - it was a course called Strip and Flip. I've also made placemats and a table runner, and have started cutting pieces for advent calendars, and looked for the fabric to make Christmas stockings. This photo shows the quilt I made for Thomas - my cousin's baby. I pieced it while we were still in the flat, and decided on pastel colours as I didn't have any other fabric in the flat that I thought was suitable. The pattern is probably one that people will recognise, as I have made several other quilts in the same pattern. I had a couple of charm packs in the falt with me, so I used them for the quilt. I had a jelly roll that I used, and I just had to cut the strips to the right size - decided by the size of the inner blocks. I made it more or less an 'I Spy' quilt - one to help learning. Oh dear - that must be the teacher coming out in me. I quilted the quilt using the quilting frame, which was great fun. I've got several others that need to be quilted, but I feel that I must dye the backing fabric first. I will have to take some more photos of other projects so that I can show them off as well. That will be all for the moment - I have to cook tea, and get some sewing done too.