2019 Wk 14 Chertsey Friday

For a change I wasn't teaching at Chertsey on Friday - I was one of the students instead!

Marion who does these lovely landscape weavingings lead the class instread

She warped the frames for us and we learned pigtail knots, ane which way to weave depending on right or left handedness and how to meet and greet one colour to another horizontally, and how to wrap a length of wool to make it easy to weave.  Thank you Marion!  We didn't get far on the day but I'm looking forward to seeing them next month for show and tell

 

 

 

 

And speaking of show and tell, here are some finished or nearly finished wall hangings from last month

 

After that, I went on to sleep out!!  Taking part in a fundraising event for Windsor Homeless Project

My bloggy friends have been really generous in sponsoring me - thank you all VERY VERY much xxxxx

Success and a Crafty Consequence

I'm delighted to report that the lighthouse embroidery went exactly as planned

It stitched well

Lined up perfectly with the horizon

And fits the top of the tower just so

Phew!

Yesterday I popped round to Lynn's with the bags for her sister Ann.

She had emailed me as to how much she owed me, but I took a deep breath and asked for a swap, or even a partial swap . . . Lynn works mostly with clay, and makes the most amazing things.  she had an Open Studio event a few years ago and I fell in love with (actually lusted after) a, um, *building* with a bright blue and a bright green glaze made from glass from a sherry bottle and a wine bottle!

She spent ages this afternoon telling me what she saw as faults in all sorts of creations (her 20+ inch lighthouses are fabulous) then offered me *the* building I remembered from two years ago

Plus a beautiful potted plant (just look at that one red and white flower!)

And tried to give me money as well!

I am so in love with this!!  Brian and Niki think it's wonderful too, and have decided it cant just go on the grass - it needs to be on the table where it can be seen.

Niki says "I'm not dissing your bags mum, but that really wasn't a fair swap, you'll have to make her loads more bags to make it a fair swap"  I think she's right!

The List and the Lighthouse (Long!)

Yesterday's 'off list' making was almost certainly avoidance tactics - avoiding the Lighthouse Quilt.

The Lighthouse Quilt is specifically requested by my father.  Not just "A" lighthouse quilt, but a quilt depicting the Cape Flattery lighthouse in Washington please thank you very much.

I blogged about starting the quilt, and some photos of the lighthouse here. I made some units for the house and the tower and about 4 months ago it looked like this

It then got put away, but as I've a week off school I knew I should really clear the work table and do something with it.

I didn't like that one building was at an angle, and I didn't like the darkness of the windows and doors, the tower's light section was completely wrong and obviously some sort of land was needed!

I asked Mr Google for some help and found a whole new way of procrastinating!  I found better photos of the lighthouse and the island, Tatoosh:

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/line3406.htm

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/31321617

And a lot of interesting articles about the Washingtom State History page about the island,  the Wiki page for the lighthouse, and article from Lighthouse Friends dot com, and some articles by Heather Bowers whose great grandfather was the lighthouse keeper there for 32 years.  The Lighthouse is no longer manned, and is being returned to the Makah tribe.  The island is virtually untouched by development, and is of interest to the archeological researchers at the Makah Cultural and Research Center, as well as to a variety of universities and environmental research groups. (Links more for my futue reference to save finding them all again)

I also found a few very helpful photos:

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bowers/light/cflight.htm

 

 

http://www.thelighthousepeople.com/washington/cape_flattery.html

 From www.USCG.MIL website

These helped me get a better idea of the layout of the building, and I could see obvious mistakes in the initial layout.

I changed the building so we were looking straight on, I redid the windows and doors: (I know the previous versions were more like the original, but I preferred this lighter look.)  I have removed the tower's light section and will embroider that direct onto the fabric later, and I auditioned green grass and sea grass fabrics.  I also changed the light tower so it came out of the roof,

 

I then looked  more closely at the pictures and realised I didn't have to choose between the two grasses - I could use both

The next job will be to start preparing the applique pieces.  With serendipitous good timing, Katy posted some applique suggestions this morning, and I happen to have some fusible interfacing, and am now stitching each building part to the interfacing.

(But I've just realised the main building part still needs two windows, so I shall do them first!)

Bright Forest

As I was going to sleep last night I had an idea how to arrange the black and bright trees that I won from Block Lotto in December

Astonishingly, I still remembered it when I woke up this morning!  I would have finished earlier had I not stitched one drop of trees upside down, but it now a quilt top, on a fleece blanket, ready for binding when I'm next in the mood for binding.


Ta-da!!!

I also finished the binding on the Landscape for the BQL swap.  If another member likes this, then I will get to choose someone else's wall hanging, and if no-one likes this, then I am very happy to keep it :-)

a bit more exciting

A while ago I made this, thinking maybe for the BQL skinny wall quilt swap.  I made this one because the first one was too small, and this one is actually no better (they are supposed to be about A3 size)

This evening I was 'helping' Brian finish Lisa's floor, and the landing floor (this means I was on call for hooving and an extra pair (LOL) of hands when needed) and I decided to have a go at another skinny hanging.  I haven't really enjoyed free motion quilting as I've had problems with tension, but I had a new foot that I hadn't tried and figured I'd give it a go, and I could always hide the back!

Well it went really well, so I kept going, and now I have this piece.  

It's pieced and quilted (all raw edge applique), and the back of the quilting is as neat as the front - yay, I love my new foot :-)  The scene is based on the one I did for my Aunt's 90th, but doesn't have the cottage and the boat house on it.  As this is meant to be night (I ran out of day-time-sky fabric LOL) I think the yellow cottage would look out of place, so for now it's just a moon lit beach.  If you click on the picture you can see it enlarged, and one more click will zoom in further.

Anyway, the point is that I have started this for the swap, and whilst I would be disappointed if neither of the other two were picked by anyone, I'd be gutted if this one wasn't, but that's because I love what this represents, and really why should anyone else be interested?

Ho hum.  I shall ponder this while I sleep!

My favourite Quilt (for Amy's Quilt Festival)

I started blogging in order to join in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival last May, but I was too late, so this time I am going to be organised and early! Thank you so much for arranging this Amy - I love looking at other people's quilts and blogs, and hope that people enjoy looking at mine

The quilt I want to bring to the festival is this one ...














that I made for my Great Aunt's 90th birthday earlier this year - It is the family's summer house in Oslo harbour as seen from the sea. This yellow cottage and the two red cabins are a familiar landmark to anyone leaving Oslo by boat.










The cottage is much loved by my Great Aunt and the rest of the family. This was my first landscape quilt, and my first real attempt at free motion quilting, I loved making it, partly for the memories it brought back, partly for the joy of creating and partly for how much I knew she would appreciate it. 10 months on, mum and I still get random phonecalls to tell us what another friend said when they saw it, or that she has noticed some new detail!

An Uncle asked if I would be able to make him one for his 70th, but I think he will have to wait for his 90th!

Details in detail:

The sea wall, the tulips, the sea and the sand with free motion
quilting (FMQ)










The cabins and the cottage were done my machine embroidery:
designed from a photograph they were added to the quilt after
all the detail had been finished - a bit nerve wracking hoping
nothing would go wrong!











The flag was made on my embroidery machine as a free standing lace design (stitched onto water soluble stabiliser). it was stitched down along some side only so it could 'flap'. (It is missing from the photo of the whole quilt, no idea why!)

Nesodden Beach Cottage, Oslo, Norway

This is the first landscape quilt I have made, and although I have done machine embroidery (and design) for nearly 4 years, the free motion quilting took me right out of my comfort zone! I love this quilt partly for the image itself, and the memories of childhood summer visits to the cottage, but also for the random phone calls I get from the Great Aunt who calls to tell me that she has seen something new, and how much she loves it :-)