Feb - May journal quilts

I decided to go back to doing Contemporary Quilt Group journal quilts again this year.  They are 10" square this time and have an additional aspect which must be included.  in this set it was circles.  The next four need some lettering in, and the final 4 buttons. 
Some people have tried to hide a very small or not at all obvious circle somewhere but I tried to put as many circles in this one as I could.  There are circles of sweet wrappers under strips of organza, machine stitched down with more circles and circular scribbles.

 This one has circles printed over it using things like a cork, an empty party popper, thread reel, pencil end, card tube.  The concentric circles are done using a drawing pin stuck upside down with masking tape on the sewing machine.  The sandwich is pressed onto the pin and revolves neatly with the stitching.  Shift the pin across for the different sizes.  A bit cheaper than those gadgets you can buy.  I started cutting back layers (there are fabric scraps trapped under rusty calico), but found it really hard to cut away my nice printed circles, so stopped!

 This one has transfer painted circles applied with zigzags and swirly background quilting.

 This has more choc wrappers flattened and stitched.  The main circle has some foiling across it and black net, with patches of purple net under,  cover the whole

Talking of grandchildren . . .

. . . here's what the 3 eldest ones in Scotland made with mum's birthday sewing machine, on a recent visit of grandparents carrying supplies of fabric bits.  Amazing!

 And what DD had wanted the machine for - making some cushions.  I showed her how to do appliqué with bondaweb and zigzag stitching round, and free machining for the flower centres.  Also how to put a zip in.  She and her eldest DD have since made annother, with one big flower, all by themselves!  Clever girls.

Journal Quilts

 I didn't join in with the official Contemporary Quilt Group journal quilts challenge this year, just wanted a break from it.  The local CQ group i go to, Infinity, encourages the jq thing by picking a theme every 2 months for us to work to.  Last year i used the themes and did 2 quilts for each.  this time I wasn't going to do even those, but, ideas started arriving, so i did something for all 6 themes in the end.  Guess which is which.  No prizes.  Emotions, birds, jewellery, pockets, doors, plants.  They are 7" x 10"

I wanted to try out the narrow strippy lines, with something shiny, and used lamé, which is a pig to stitch, especially such narrow bits:

Woven strips with some sides left open to insert something:

Pieced, quilted and painted.  Acknowledgements to Margaret Ramsay for her articles in Workshop on the Web:

Bondawebbed straight strips, curved as you press them down. We had marigolds growing in pots and the early shoots looked rather like this.  Though DH said the plants look like butterflies, so i am thinking of painting them, a la Linda Kemshall and will put another pic up if i do.

Autumn leaves and transfer paints . . .

 . . but a nice wintry sunrise to get the colour appreciation going, taken from our front door steps, about 8.30 - ? -ish.  This beech tree supplied the leaves that appear in some of the postcards that follow.

  This idea of printing with real leaves is always around in my head.  It was revived recently because one of my Christmas presents was a subscription to Design Matters TV, run by Linda and Laura Kemshall.  I'm really enjoying looking at all the video workshops provided.  One of them is on using transfer paints / disperse dyes.  These are the ones you paint on to paper, then when it is dry you can iron the colour off onto fabric.  These dyes are picked up primarily by polyester, so a polycotton mix, or any true polyester fabric are the sorts to use.  The colour comes out the strongest on the latter. 

I laid the leaves down as a mask, and ironed colour over.  Some colour comes off on the leaf, so that can also be transferred.  I had painted my papers with a mix of colours, using a sponge often to get a textural look.  Then it was a question of thinking of different ways to free machine stitch the backgrounds after outlining the leaves and veins, then make them up into postcards.

A Stitch in time (just) for Christmas . . .

What can Gap do that Grandma can't? Well, probably stop the edges rolling up! This is my version of a stripy scarf sold in the aforementioned establishment. I think the mistake was just doing it in one layer of stocking stitch, which always rolls itself up, doesn't it? But a tube, in DK wool would be too thick . . . so, dilemma. Well granddaughter has a small neck so it works ok for her. A puffy heart stocking filler each for the daughters and grandaughters who were here at Christmas. I have 4 more to do for those who weren't. If they are reading this, hey, you are not forgotten, I will make some more, for you! One side . . . .

. . . the other side . . .

Last 2008 journal quilts . . .

. . . for the Contemporary Quilt group challenge. This is for November, though it has no significant link with the month. It is the last theme too from the Infinity group JQs which we have been making bi-monthly - Buildings. Picking up on something I did for some of the 2007 JQs, I found a UFO and made part of it into this.Now this is December, and thereby hangs a tale, nearly of woe. I have this recipe for the most fantastic, succulent Christmas pudding you have ever tasted. And I couldn't find it! Disaster! Put Christmas on hold! Then I thought of asking a daughter to whom I'd given it 2 years ago. She had it still pinned up in her kitchen! A very narrow escape. So then the idea came to me - put it on the journal quilt, then at least I'd know where it was. So here we are. If you can read it you can try it out, with the compliments of my family. It is done with free machine stitching and felt tip pen, the last, and rather hasty, of my trying out different ways of colouring fabrics on the JQs this year.

Birthday book . . .

. . . Janet Edmonds: Beginner's Guide to Embroidered Boxes, Search Press, was a present from a daughter back in July. So in spite of other pressing tasks I had to try something out and came up with this small variation on the first one in the book. I've done it 4-sided instead of 5.

It is made with felt, pelmet vilene and bits and pieces fabric with sheer overlays. Free machine stitched. I think it is rather cute and will have to make some of the other shapes in the book eventually. I can handle this sort of 'soft' box but not the sort where you have to lace fabric over stiff card, though I do admire those when I see them.