Just completed my last journal quilt of the year. I am glad this year is finished – I have found the colour theme difficult to get enthusiastic about. I think that has a lot to do with insufficient colour contrast for the way I work as well as a busy year. This means I haven’t really risen to the challenge very well! I need to think very carefully about next year’s JQ challenge and only do it if I feel I can do it properly.
I have enjoyed working with the fabric that I made by doing gestural marks on the floor ie from a distance. I will do more fabric that way. I also like the texture that has come from cheaper cloth than I usually used.
My granddaughter decided that she needed a crazy patchwork quilt. For complicated reasons, I decided that I would do her a cushion, not a complete quilt. Thank goodness – it is a lot of very hard work – well not so hard as exceedingly boring.
Last week we spent two days bringing the boat from Hilperton Marine after a service. Not ideal weather – very cold but clear and crisp. And icy!!
The photos below were taken at the bottom of the Caen Flight, the notorious set of locks as you come into Devizes. We were very lucky, The flight is manned by volunteers and as we were the only boaters stupid enough to be out, we had dedicated help. Thanks, Canal and River Trust Volunteers. I was very grateful.
Caen Flight ducks on ice 2Caen Flight ducks on ice 1
I made my October Journal Quilt a couple of weeks ago and forgot to blog it.
The blue patterned pieces are paper I made as a result of Isobel Hall’s workshop. I wanted to see how it would piece together and if I could do a bigger quilt. Whilst this one looks fine, I am not convinced these lovely papers will make a large quilt that I am happy with. It won’t bend well in a machine and of course, you can’t really press the seams – I forgot that you can’t iron the paper – well, unless you want a very mucky iron!! So I will stick to using these papers for book covers.
Blue Paper
Back to FMQ for November’s JQ. Yvonne and I had spent a couple of messy days large mark making, first on paper and then on fabric. The paper or fabric was on the floor and we had to work standing up – I got very messy feet!! The JQ uses the fabric which was done in black print paste dye. Unfortunately it is Kemtex’s black that washes blue – but I still like the results. They have a Japanese feel to them.
Not yet the end of unexpected results. I cut up the fabric into 6 by 11 inches patches and pieced it. My Juki had just come back from the “hospital” so I decided to try free motion quilting with it. I wish I hadn’t – it will never FMQ successfully as it jerks and pulls when you change direction – it is now off to the knacker’s yard. In case, you are considering a Juki, this is the Exceed F600 which is their most expensive domestic machine. I understand that the straight stitch only Juki is fine for FMQ. So I moved back onto my old Bernina to see if it was me – it is not. The FMQ I did with the Bernina is fine. Unfortunately, the large piece of fabric is now no good for a quilt so I have cut out a section of the Bernina stitched fabric to use for this month’s JQ.
chrisse textile stitcher 