Spring Quilt Festivals Are Under Way!!

The Quilt Festival season has started!  I have seen the adverts in various national quilting and sewing magazines.  Three shows down and two more to go.  It was Ardingly in January, Edinburgh in February and this month has been Chilford.  Next month is Exeter and then onto Malvern for the Quilts UK Festival at the Three Counties Showground.  I have no idea how my quilts have done other than they were accepted to finish off at Malvern, as not all entries go to the end due to space allocation.

I am now working on the next small art quilt which is for The Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate in Novermber.  I am entering the themed section which is 'Beside The Sea' this year.  I have drawn up my ideas and selected the fabric.  It is a case of making the pattern now.  Will share images further down the line.

At home I have also been doing some dodgey rusting experiments on fabric.  I have trays of vinegar sodden fabric in rusty metal trays around the house and garden.  So far very limited results so I am continually tweaking.  No pictures yet as the results are poor!

Lastly I attended a workshop at Lanternhouse International last Tuesday with Creative Futures Cumbria's, Hank Williams.  It was for creative practitioners and agents requiring useful coaching skills for when working with teachers in schools.  It was brilliant to see how Hank worked but also a very useful networking session for me.  I met up with people I had worked with in the past before having my son, so it was great to be talking projects rather than baby stuff!

Spring Quilts Festival UK 2011 - Art Journal Quilt Entry

I have finished, sent and had accepted my two A4 art journal quilt entries for the Spring Quilts Festival UK 2011.  I am entering the Art Journal Quilt section.  The theme was 'Fantasy' and two had to be entered no bigger than A4.  It is a competition but will be exhibited at the various venues aswell.  I will get it back sometime in June. 

Going with the theme of  'Fantasy' I chose to do a Firebird and a Firebird Feather.  I felt this would give me freedom to be creative with fabric and texture.  I printed my own text onto sections to add deeper meaning and fantasy.  I used mainly silk but included cotton that I had dyed used procion dye and then embellished with acrylic paint.  Sections were appliqued and then free motion machine stitched. I used sequins and glitter thread to embellish the feathers. I quilted the silk background to the felt wadding using machine stitch too.  The backing is a black linen cotton mix that has a  3" sleeve and label.  A satin bias binding was used to finish it off.

I wanted to convey a deep yearning of love through texture and layers, the layers representing our lives and dreams which are never fully revealed.  The Firebird in many cultures represents deep longing and the wish for something better.  The Firebird Feather is often sought as it is believed an owner of such a feather could have three wishes.

Momiji Update & Furness Shoreline Quilters Guild Christmas Meeting

Checked out the blog for the Momiji Contest I had entered last month.  It seems they are well on the way to finding their final 10 dolls.  What gave me a bit of a thrill was that in the photo accompanying the blog was one of the judges marking some entries.  I could tell that my doll is the one at the end by the judge!  I know it does not mean anything of course but I was thrilled...as anyone would be!

http://www.momijicouturecontest.blogspot.com/

Last night my Aunty Anne and I attended the last guild meeting of the year.  Everyone had to take some food to share, a christmas card and a fat quarter of fabric for the secret santa.  The Christmas project was to make a table runner or placemats.  I did not have time to do anything unfortunately.  The entries are laid out so we can view and then vote.  I particularly liked the one that came third. 

We ate and drank, played quilt bingo and did a christmas carol quiz.  The average age must be 70 but I really enjoyed it.  I like talking to the ladies and gleaning lots of new sewing tips!  We were given the list of next years speakers too.  Quite a lot to look forward to!