Journal quilt, November, the street where I live

I'm racing to a finish on the contemporary quilt group challenge now, having lost momentum in September. A real benefit of doing the design course at Morley is learning to resist the urge to plunge straight in to the mounds of fabric, and start designing at the sewing machine but instead to get some initial ideas sketched out on paper, or ideally of course in a sketchbook.  For once therefore, I can show the sketchbook and the stitched journal piece.

Raw edge applique, bonded applique, machine quilting, couched edge.  This was my first experience of using Heat 'n' Bond which gave a much finer finish than Bondaweb.

Very close to home. I have lived in the same street for 20 years. My children went to the school at the bottom of the road, my neighbours are great and it will take a lot to make me move. Our door is the only one with stained glass, designed by my sister's partner and installed by one of our neighbours.

This is straighter than it looks, but it was tricky to get a photo without a shadow.  Critiquinq this now, I think the 'doors" should have been longer and the "road" down the middle narrower.  Thank goodness it is only 8 x 12 inches.  

I was going to quilt in several of the requests that have come up during those 20 years, such as “ Can you sew my pantomime cow costume?” and “ Can you check my hair for nits” and “ Do you have a pie plate? ” but decided the space available didn't do them justice.

Off to new homes

Too many completed items are sitting in my sewing bags, giving no pleasure to anyone, and blocking me from getting on with anything new.

So last week, all of these went to new homes with the members of our book groups . Hope you are all enjoying them.

Home--made houses....crafted cards to come

Wet weekend, so lots of stitching done for the craft stall at our quilts group's upcoming biennial show .

Yet more houses, this time added to painted and fabric backgrounds.

Terrible photo, as daylight had gone by the time I had finished, and I was rushing to get a Sunday dinner on the table.

Combined with reading a very interesting article by Grayson Perry about the upcoming Quilts exhibition at the V and A , my multi-tasking was challenged.

Autumn and houses

Small scale stitching for now, trying to get in to the swing of two different sets of school timetables.

This is a journal for Richmond and Kew Quilters challenge, a mini-quilt for each season. Not surprisingly, this is autumn: leftover pieces of border from the current big quilt; the word, autumn, FMQd on; holographic thread fireworks; trapunto, embroidered felt pumpkins; freeform impressions of stags in the distance. I'm not sure if this has enough contrast over all, but it's OK.

Also some more stitched house obsession. This time in red and mounted on a natural linen frame.

Pastel houses

Pastel houses this time, very summery. I think I'm getting addicted to these.

Houses, thanks to Janet

I went to a great workshop with Janet Clare in January this year to learn how to do free motion pictures, without any marking. It was a lovely day and has led to several hours stitching away at little houses.

In March, I bought one of these fab pictures, and wondered if I could do something similar with the houses. These are my first two attempts. I'm not sure which colourway I prefer, and inevitably I now have lots more ideas brewing!