Monday 29 April 2013

Tula Pink and spider eggs


I finished stitching this quilt top on Saturday. It is made from Tula Pink's Salt Water fabric range. I bought the fabric on Wednesday so not bad going. I love the designing but I am not that keen on the sewing together so I have to just get on and do it.
I have planned the quilting so I am off to get the backing and batting this week.

I really love it, it came out just how I wanted it too.

Saturday was a very exciting day in our house. Do you remember the golden Orb Web spider we have living in the garden, well we have been calling it a he all this time but we were wrong. On Saturday night she laid eggs in a beautiful golden egg sac. Who knows how many we will have once they hatch!




Friday 26 April 2013

Orange is the new Black

My house seems to be full of orange at the moment.

 
Quince Jelly

 
Pumpkin

 
Pepino
 
 


Even this fabric from Tula Pink is pink with a hint of orange! The quilt is half sewn and I only got the fabric on Wednesday, being in NZ we have to wait a while for the new fabrics to get to us so the design has been waiting a while.

Friday 19 April 2013

Quilt Sketches



I have had this book for a while now and love it. Gwen Marston is coming to teach over here in July and is having an exhibition at the same time. I can't wait to see these sketches in real life.

Well yesterday I was making chutney so couldn't move too far from the kitchen as I had to stir the pot so I decided I would have a go at making some ' Sketches'.



The spotted fabric is my challenge fabric from Colour Quarterly, and the theme had to be summer. so these are the start of my challenge. I plan to stitch some words about summer over the top and mount them as a series of 3 small quilts. They are all about A4 size.

The colours make me think of ice-cream!

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Feet just have to be stitched




On a walk on the beach over the weekend I took these footprint photos, I have no idea how I will stitch them but I thought they were great and needed to be recorded. I will print them off, put them up in the studio and let the ideas come, probably in the middle of the night when all good thoughts are sorted! The summer is slowly coming to an end so our walks on the beach will get colder, I will keep my boots on but my children will still be barefoot so there may be more footprints to add to the thoughts.

Thursday 4 April 2013

A day with no colour


I have just stitched this class sample for a class later in the year. Its funny having a day with no colour. The technique is one I learnt at the Royal School of Needlework when I was training. You have 3 layers of fabric which you stitch together then cut back to create tones of white. When I was training we had fine net in the centre, I use organza when I teach this as it is really easy to cut a hole in net. At least organza is solid, so you can't get your scissors caught in a hole.



Monday 1 April 2013

Kiwi Bloke Finished


I have now finished Kiwi Bloke. He is just under 1m square. I used strips of the fabric I used for his face to bind it with. I was planning on using the background fabric but it looked too pale, it really needs a frame around it. I love it, so it will be pinned up in the studio until I send it off to the exhibition selection in a couple of weeks. I always start to wonder what the other quilts will be like, I wonder if Kiwi Bloke will have a friend!