Quilt Voices

Faith Ringgold and Alice Neel have probably done more to bring the work of women artists into the patriarchal dominated art world than any artists I can think of during the last half of the twentieth century.

Here is the link http://www.aliceneel.com/gallery/?mode=display&decade=7&painting=87 to the galleries on the Alice Neel website.  I suggest that you start in the 1920s and work your way through all the images until just before Neel’s death in 1984.  She never bowed to popular vision or demands.  She remained true to her own eye right to the very last.  Do seek out her self portrait painted in 1980.

Yesterday was the Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles meeting. A good day where we found out a bit more about each other. some amazing work being done! Good connections happening as we discovered who might be an expert in what we want to know about to accomplish something in our own work.

Kate Findlay showed some work in which she is experimenting with fibre optics. So, cool! I have had some ideas about lights in garments for sometime, but haven't had the time or even perhaps proper reason to focus on working how to start. This may call for a collaboration! Anyway, she has loaned me a book that she found helpful - Fashioning Technology - and passed on the title of another.

On the Been There, Done That table, I spotted a few interesting books. This time I actually had time between running things to have a look. Apart from Kate's book, the others in the photo are now mine! Ideas and Ideas!

And when I came home shattered, I found my thoughtful husband had fixed M'Lady's leg! So, now it won't be such an ordeal to photograph garments. No propping or taping or lying on the floor to get a photo that doesn't include the strange contrivances that are keeping her up.

This week has been a bit of a meeting week. But I have been able to get on with some sewing.

This fabric was passed on to me - almost as a challenge. What would you do with it? Normally I would pass this by altogether. In the first place, it is a bit (well more than a bit) of a shout "Look at me!" and secondly, I have managed to avoid doing much sewing of stretch fabrics.
But, if you think Christmas...maybe.

So, anyway, here is a fabric story.

...at the beginning of December I usually go to a Ladies Christmas Lunch. Believe me, this is about the only place where this fabric would go down well. I thought it would be fun to do a circle skirt. However, if you recall, I did the refashion contest in November and was finishing off in the wee hours the morning of 1 Dec. So, I didn't have enough brain left to make it for that weekend. especially enough brain to get my head around a circle skirt! Easy to sew and hard to do the maths and workout the layout.

Now that I am trying to use up some fabric, I figured I would get ahead of the game and make up this Christmas skirt now. During the time I was trying to get my head round the layout, I chopped the fabric at what I thought was the right place to make it. Well, it wasn't quite.

Eventually, I gave up trying to work it out and just did it by instinct. This usually is the best plan for me. If I over think it, it doesn't get done. The circle skirt came together well, but because of the chop thing, it was only going to be just the right length.

I was totally chuffed though that I worked out how to set the overlocker to the right settings for sewing this stretch velvet. Know I know why so many ladies love knits! (I still prefer wovens and more traditional methods of sewing.)

The other piece of the fabric was going to be plenty for a shrug I saw on the internet. I never did a shrug before and wasn't even sure one would look good on me, so here was this fabric - let's go for it! That turned out great! Although, in reality, if I sew it again, I will rework the pattern a bit to make it go round the bosum a bit more, but it works.

and that left about 1 yard. SO, I dug out the circle pattern I used for ruffles on Midnight Dance By Moonlight. I worked out that the bottom of the skirt was about 180 inches and somehow the maths seemed to tell me I needed 12 circles where the centre circumference was 12 inches. I can't remember how I worked that out. I managed to cut 14 circles - 2 for just in case. I split each circle to the centre, opened them up and stitched them together to make a ruffle, overlocked the outside edge and then overlocked the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt. Voila!

front
Not too shabby and used 4 yards of a questionable fabric! :-) and suitable for a Christmas ladies do.

back

Please excuse M'Lady's prop. She has a broken leg.

The latest Uncommon Threads challenge was Music. While at our retreat last fall,I played with some “birdie” fabric and lacy stuff that Merrilee brought, then put it away. How serendipitous! I pulled it out and created my challenge from what she gave me.

The dots are beads and the blue wings are hand embroidered with metallic thread. A real nightingale is just another brown bird, but with such a beautiful name I think it should be more colorful! My free hand machine quilting is getting better but still not what I want it to be.

The title, “A Nightingale Sings” is from the title of the song, “A Nightingale Sings in Barkley Square.” You should hear Nat King Cole sing it. Oh my! You can view the rest of the groups’ work here.

You just know you are in for one of those days when it starts with this:


The snow continued to fall here last night.  The snow mixed with high winds (60 to 80 km/hr) resulted in white out conditions and a bit of a wild drive to work today. 


Barbecue season and meals in the backyard seem so far away.



This truck is not going anywhere soon.


On the quilting front, progress is being made on piecing the blocks for Got Stripes and on attaching the binding to Fire Escape.


I am currently working on row 7 of 11 on Got Stripes.  Rows 1 to 5 are completely joined together.  Row 6 blocks are joined to one another but row 6 is not yet joined to rows 1 to 5.  I have just started working on row 7 - only one star block assembled so far on that row.


The binding has been attached to Fire Escape.  When I can steal a few moments, I work on hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt.

Yesterday I went up to Henley to see the Exhibition called Worn to be Wild. A friend told me about it near the end of November, but I have been so busy I didn't get up there. and it finishes today.

It was SO cool. Kate Plumtree has made costumes from different historical periods, using techniques and silouhette of the period, but with a twist. She assigned different animals or birds to each costume. So that you have a late Victorian with overtones of a fox, or Modern period hedgehog, and so on. It is fascinating. There were swatch samples you could handle to see how the fabric felt. Also there were photo albums with photos of the different costumes at different stages of construction.

You weren't meant to take photos, but I bought most of the postcards. The Tudor Badger postcard was sold out. Here are a few of them. Spot the fox getting into the rubbish bins? and the Kingfisher?

When I came home I looked up her website. She has worked as a Costume Maker for opera and West End shows. The photos on the far right of the page on this link are of the exhibit at Henley. I found out the exhibition will also be on in other places around the UK. If you get a chance to go to it when it is near you, make a point of doing so!

This is definitely the sort of thing I would love to do. But somehow you would need a sponsor to afford the materials and you would really need to do as she has done and arrange places for them to be seen.

A few more things for the Stash contest. I had saved this fabric from the box of quilting cottons my friend gave. I like the quirkiness of it. But what to do with it besides save it? So, I thought it would make fun carrier bags for food shopping. There was enough to make 3 bags.

They have gussets and inside pockets made from the bits of fabric you remove to make the handles.

The pattern for the bag was one I made by copying a plastic carrier bag! It really holds alot and sure is more sturdy than a plastic one.

For Christmas 2007, I made quite a few of these from different fabrics for my friends. I may make some more later on, as they are quite easy to do.

Part of this concept of using stash is also making space in my studio. I made a cushion cover the other day which got rid of a big puffy cushion. Another cushion has been lurking in here. It had pictures of the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. It was a bit of a funny from my sis in law a few years ago because it had a cow on it. (I used to collect cows.)

anyway, like the other one, I never got round to doing it because I meant to use it to show how you could just make up a simple cover. But as the course never happened, I never made it. SO, I was sure I had a bit more green brocade left from a Tudor lady costume. I had used some for a cushion in prep for the course. So, it would also go with well for another cushion to go in the lounge.

I used the simple envelope back cushion construction, only I turned the envelope part to the front. I put hooks and eyes to keep it closed.

and then sewed some random buttons from my stash on the outside of where the hooks are. The buttons are for show.
and so another 1/2 yard of fabric used, but also a puffy cushion for my lounge!

Still using up the stash. Somehow I aquired what seems like a large amount of striped lightweight cotton. Almost a seersucker. As I have a few ideas percolating about things with stripes, this was not a bad thing. However, the stripes/plaids box was becoming out of control. and did I really need over 10 metres?

anyway, it seemed like it would make summer weight pyjamas for my husband. When I unrolled it, I found it was pretty narrow, so I have used up 5 metres for the pjs. I haven't measured what was left yet.

I used his favourite pair and traced them off to make a pattern last Friday.

Yesterday I made the trousers and today I did the top. Not too bad a result! I hope he likes them.

I say summer pyjamas, but I am hoping he likes them well enough to wear in winter. He likes the flannel, but really he overheats. He still wears short sleeve shirts in the winter! Not me, I have layers and layers! If he likes these well enough, I have a good pattern now to make more. The favourite ones are starting to fray on cuffs and things.

So, since the one friend who is likely to get one of these and that I know reads the blog, is bound to see the ones other people get anyway...I may as well post them.
at any rate, I need to have them somewhere to link to for putting them up for the review.

They look nothing like the original plan. But if you are curious here is the original. You have to scroll down for the destructions. There was also something like it on one of the Quilting Arts DVDs. I did try the bits of the sewing which would make it more bag like, but it seemed too bulky and pouchy. and what would you do with a little cute pouch? put things in it and then fish around trying to get into it and find the stuff down in the corners? (oops, too many opinions clearly.) I also didn't sew the 2 squares together and turn through...which I tried. That made it even more bulky on the edges. I just overlocked the edges as you can see.

and opening it, you see the flaps you turn through to the inside are meant to work like pockets.
I hope they do.

What I think these bags will be good for is to put something like a sketchbook, a book or something like that in them. The little ones could hold those little tissue packs, with a blister pack of paracetamol and lip balm or something stuck in the 'pockets'
So, I am calling them bookbags.

Or maybe you have a better idea?

lessons learned? (besides 24 ways to resew a buttonhole?) yes it used up stash, yes I have 24 presents, but ...yes, I have used up my tolerance for sewing things which aren't garments or textile art. At least for now.

Yesterday was back to teaching after nearly a month off. So, it wasn't so bad, but it sure takes alot out of me. (I have fibromyalgia). Today it was the legs. Sometimes it is the upper back and neck which can set off a migraine. It is a bit scary sometimes because if I am standing alot - like when I was cutting all the bags last week, the sides of my thighs go numb and then the rest of the legs start going and I have to sit down to get the feeling back. But anyway...

Today was meant to be my take it easy day. So, lets do the buttonholes for the bags. Well, I spoke too soon about the buttonholes. E-V-E-R-Y single one of the buttonholes on the 24 bags I made were resewn in some way or another. sometimes the thread broke, sometimes the stitches skipped, and whatever else you could imagine. I put in a few different needles, used a variety of threads, changed tension and all sorts. It took me all day.
this is what it was doing...sometimes not so bad, and I hand sewed over the gaps.

but when this happened, it was really weird, I could start the sequence all over again on top of it and the right side would stitch out just right!

So, I finally took these photos and since it was near closing time, I will wait and phone SewMaster tomorrow and then email the photos to them to see what they think.

on a brighter note: DH has a new allotment. It was really overgrown, so he has spent several weeks in spare moments working on it. He has it nearly all dug over now, so I was invited to go see it on Sunday afternoon.

okay, it is a bit of earth, but it was quite up to knee height when he got it. His bit stops at the fruitcage.
then we went off for a walk with the dog, which is also one reason my legs hurt so much today.

This week it has been very windy. I mean VERY.

So, I saw a bit of unusual colour through the textured glass in the window near the front door.
A red ballon! Still going strong.

Before I got the camera it was actually caught in the rose bushes. Eventually it blew to the other side of the path and stayed in a different bush for a while. and then went on to other adventures somewhere else.

Not Molly commented on the greenery I posted the other day, comparing it to what it is like where she lives in the Rockies in America. Well, when I took the dog for a walk I was very amazed to see this!

Yes, a full blown Hydrangea blossom amongst the faded and dead ones from last year!

83 Napkins

Talk about serendipity!! Yesterday I was cleaning out the laundry/storage room and found a laundry basket full of 83 napkins bought years ago at estate sales and yard sales. Don’t ask me why I bought so many; I don’t remember! There were 84 to be exact, but a mouse had chewed one up. I decided to wash and iron them and store them in a better place. While they were in the washing machine I entertained myself by surfing the web and found Paula Kovarik’s blog where she has been free hand quilting napkins for pillow tops. Wow! There’s a thought and her’s are beautiful. Then while the napkins were in the dryer and I was still surfing, I foundSewCalGal doing a 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Another thought – I could use the stained or worn napkins for learning and “perfecting” my free motion quilting. It’s turned out that ironing 83 napkins was very meditative. I had lots of thoughts about what I might do with those napkins. Maybe some small art quilts or dye them. I’ve learned that no fabric is too precious to cut up. 2012 is going to be full of fun stuff!

Buttons have been done on the blouse. I forgot how nicely my machine does buttonholes. So, I will be less likely to delay doing them now!
front view

The front neck gapes a bit too much. I didn't pick it up on the dress I made with the big buttons because I thought the buttons were too heavy and pulling it forward.
Basically it is because it is too wide in the upper chest area. I did work that out when checking the dress fit again before the New Year. But it was a princess line cut and easy to adapt the pattern. For this one, I have taken the shoulder dart in more on my block. for the yoke, that means folding out the excess, and the dart is rotated to the yoke seam. I didn't have enough fabric left to recut the yoke. However, the blouse will still be allright to wear in the summer.

a back view

I love the fabric! It feels very drapey and cool. I didn't sew the waist darts like I normally do, it has made for a very comfortable fit. I am going to try the reworked yoke version in different fabric. I am going to try a bit more of a v at the front opening in order to do a continuous neck and buttonstand application with the overlocker. I just need some quick blouses at this point. Some time in the future I can do some with all the time consuming proper techniques.

Today I was going to do buttons on the blouse I made yesterday. But I managed to avoid it. Oh well.

Instead, I cut out 3 reusable carrier bags.

and have traced and measured and manipulated my husband's favourite pj's to make a pattern.

Tracing the sleevehead.


So, on another day, that might have been the thing I avoided! anyway, in looking at the fabric I have, I realised I have a good length of a lightweight stripe that would do for summer pj's. If I make him a pair of summer pj's, that will use up fabric!

Buttons tomorrow?

My Mother-in-Law gave me some money for Christmas. Just enough to get this new book I had heard about. It is done by the same people who did The Tudor Tailor.

First glances show it is going to be very exciting! It has all the research and visual images. and then it has the layouts and making up! The period is Early Tudor. One I quite like. Maybe I can make up something one of these days! or at least make up something modern inspired by and using ideas from what I get in the book.

Yesterday I got the bags to the nearly finished stage...just need to put on the fastenings. I also adapted my bodice block to make a yoked top. I have a few RTW (ready to wear) tops I like, and this one is based on the idea of one of them....with the advantage of fitting everywhere and not just making do. I have some airforce blue crepe fabric I have cut it from. So it is next on the sewing list.

okay a bit of production sewing going on.

These have been edged and the beginning stitches to form the folding for the bags. There are gubbins there for about 21 bags! Good way to reduce the stash. I have reorganised the boxes these fabrics live in so I should be able to look at what is there and get it out to use in the future.

You may realise by now that I revert to chop, chop, sew, sew when things don't seem to be done in a logical manner. I made up the first one according to the directions, but when you fold everything round, the inside pockets were all floppy. So, I have redeveloped the directions so they don't.

Also, I decided I don't want to close them with a drawstring! They look quite smart without. So, I am developing a different closure.

These were made with fat quarters (yards - which should mean 18 in square) - some of which were very badly cut - so skew-wiff that I had to cut 15 in squares. Also, some were fat quarter metres, which made 20in squares. The majority were about 17 or 18 in square.

I do think the drawstring closure might work with a much larger size. These smaller ones just look like a little pouch when gathered up...not very inspirational for working out what to put in them. But if I change it, I can think of quite a few different ideas for what to put inside.

Not sure if I mentioned, but I thought I would do a few more of the sew along contests on Pattern Review this year. The current one is about reducing your stash.

I have a lot of fabrics that have been given to me over the years, some I picked up from leavings of members of our Offcuts group. I have decided to use as much of that up as I can, so I can have a bit more room. There are other shelves which are a bit too full. This way I can even have space to rearrange things. But also, I can feel a bit more free to get some fabric to make things I have chosen from start to finish.

So, at the moment, I am busy trimming fat quarters, pairing them up, and beginning to make some little bags I can use for gifts over the year. They will go in the present drawer. I have a couple friends who need to go in hospital soon, for once I will have a nice gift for them! I better not show you too many close ups, in case some of the readers here end up to be recipients at some point!

However, I also made another cushion cover to go in the lounge.

I have had the cushion for ages, since I made the other cushion cover samples for the course that never happened. I had reserved this one for talking about ways to make openings for the cushion to go in. As I was checking out fabric for the bags, I realised the toile de jouy fabric would go with the black and green which I had used on a few other cushions.

I am always amazed at the New Years fireworks centred round the Millenium Wheel or London Eye.

I don't know if it was new this year, but there were alot of shots with Big Ben.

and then I realised they were shooting fireworks out of the openings above the clock! Wow. How much fire protection did that need?

Here are a few more photos of the London fireworks...with me in my comfy lounge.




Even the crowd with their lit mobile phones add to the image.
But, who would dare go stand in that sort of crowd anyway? It is beyond my comprehension.

After spending most of December long arm quilting for others, I was looking for a fun project that would be quick to finish--a reward project.  This project is a quilt that can be cut out and put together easily in a weekend.

When I took this one off the shelf to work on it, it took a bit to remember what fabrics I had decided to use where on the stars.  Only some of the fabrics for the star blocks had actually been cut.  Further confusing the situation was a navy blue batik fabric that I had also purchased at the time I bought these fabrics.  At the time, I thought I might make the star points navy blue.  I remember not being able to decide between the brown and the navy blue.  I ended up buying both fabrics and decided today to go with the brown.

Happy New Year to everyone. May it be happy, healthy, and prosperous.

I’m terrible at keeping New Year’s resolutions but I can think I can do it this year. I’m trying to clean up my fabric stash and throw out what I’m sure I’ll never use. When I see some pieces I say to myself, “What was I thinking?” What you see here is only about 1/2 of the stash. The resolution is to make three large to large-ish scrap quilts.

 One  quilt will be from blocks given to me by my old quilt group in Florida, The Cover Lovers. One year we gave each other quilt blocks for Christmas. At the time none of them seemed to go together. Maybe they still don’t but my challenge is to make it happen. I have a couple of ideas but I’m open to any suggestions. Seeing the blocks in a photograph I can already see that some rearranging needs to be done.

The other two quilts will also be scrap quilts. One for a blue person and the other for a hot pink person. The blue has begun.

Sometimes you need a project that provides instant gratification on a finish to jump start the creative process.  I also wanted to make use of my existing stash. 

I have been saving a group of Debbie Mumm fabrics for years--at least 10 years--waiting for just the right pattern to come along.   

Terry Atkinson's pattern,  Fire Escape was just the ticket to showcase my stack of Debbie Mumm aqua and red fabrics.  This pattern uses only 5 - 1 yard cuts of fabric plus one contrasting fabric for the lap size (60" x 72") quilt.

My garden at Christmastime.

Yes! The holly has berries!

Daffodils coming already!
Sure prefer it to all the snow!

These bloomed this week.

From bud to fully open

and even a poppy!
The polyanthus has been out for a few weeks. I see the snowdrop leaves are coming, too!

Oh, I love England in the winter!

This year was a very special Christmas for our family.  All 12 of the members of my family were able to celebrate together on Christmas Day!  We did have to wait for two members of my family to get off work before we could eat our turkey dinner, but the important thing was that we were all able to be together.

We had a few days in Yorkshire with family.
My sis in law loved her tablecloth set! no photos though.

Spent time with MIL. At 91, she is an Amazing Lady who still does courses thru university and other learning providers in York, even though she doesn't get about so well.

Some photos of things that went with Christmas at home.
A variety of biscuits - which I mentioned in one of the last posts. Including wonderful ones from a recipe Angie at ReOrsa gave me...from Lichtenstein!

2 trees this year. Perhaps to make up for only having lights last year?

No, the little one is what we use for the Mince Pie at the shops event, and my husband decided it needed more than one day out of the loft each year!


The trees are full of little treasures which have been given to me or that I made. For quite a few years I made about 15 new decorations each year.
The crochet afgan was made for me by my grandma who was very special to me.

if you received one.



Happy Boxing Day. We are heading to Yorkshire to family for a few days. A Certain Lad is stopping at home revising for exams. Pepper is helping. She loves having him here...he is in the kitchen eating about every 2 hours. Her idea of a Good Thing to do.

May your Holidays be merry and bright.

Like most of the rest of you, amongst other things, I have been doing things for Christmas.

Monday, we took down the Exhibition. It took a lot less time to take down! Janet from ReOrsa said we averaged 15 each day we were open. Which is pretty good for the time of year and the weather some of those days.

Today we found out we had a whole page about Whatever Floats Your Boat... in the South East Newsletter for the London 2012 Inspire Programme! They were reporting about the exhibition when it was in Slough and the various events which happened in conjunction with that.
Here is a quote from the newsletter.


After I took some of the work from the exhibit to the car, I took the time to wander round town before I went home. Something I seldom do nowdays. I couldn't seem to think of what I might want to buy! I did find something which I hope fits the general description of one family member's wants. I hadn't found fabric in the market I liked on Friday, but I found a very reduced king size sheet set. Which for all practical purposes is fabric with finished off edges.

Now to figure out where the making part will fit in!

On my way around town, I was drawn by a wonderful sound and ended up at the bandstand. The Swing band of a local school was playing. Very fun! They weren't restricting themselves to Christmas music. So anyway that was a nice break and just a chance for me to stop and enjoy. I finally went off and bought something so I could come back and put some change in their pot...and listen some more of course.
It brought back memories of listening to the band each Christmas when a Certain Lad was still playing his trumpet.

Then, Monday evening it was finishing the parcelling and Tuesday doing the posting. I never manage to send the parcels to America any earlier than the ones to people in the UK! I had expected a long queue, but only one lady was ahead of me.
So, now that they all will soon have their secret presents and I gave the ones for friends on Sunday and neighbours today...here is a photo of one of the sets.

Christmas Tree Serviettes!

Since then I have been baking. and baking. and baking.
The big thing I remember about Christmas from growing up was all the pies and cookies that we ( really - my Mother!) made. So, I always feel that is part of Christmas. Nevermind there were 8 in our family then and there are 3 now! but I am thinking of some people to share them with.

Off to bed. I am shattered. I have realised I have been on my feet nearly all day for the last 3 days. Yikes. I will be paying for it if I am not careful.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/nov/27/alex-hartley-nowhereisland-cultural-olympiad

For a woman raised on a farm who has lived a life of autonomy and entrepreneurship rather than functioning as a wage slave, this article has a lot to say about the state of today’s world particularly in light of the current economic mess.

Here’s another interesting article.  I hope the link takes you to the right place this time.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/2/

It’s a long read but well worth the time.

Just found two new books on making “simple” garments. It remains to be seen just how simple, but the designs are intriguing. Looking forward to trying a few.

I Am Cute Dresses by Sato Watanabe – 25 Simple Designs To Sew

Simple Modern Sewing by Shufu To Seikatsu Sha – 8 Basic Patterns to Create 25 Favorite Garments

Tomorrow another member of TVCT is looking after the exhibition, so I will be able to continue doing things with half circles which are still secret.

and the Slow Cloth I have been working on the last 3 weeks has come to a good stopping place for now. The orange chain stitch was the people wandering around the shops. Then a few of the trees in the town centre made their way into it. and today it was sections of the paving bricks along the walks inbetween the shops.

This is the upper mid-section of the length.

Not so cold today. I got the bright idea of tapeing the latch part of the door so it would stay unlatched! So, we didn't have the door open. However, this was the third week in a row they were trying to sort out the heat and even though the gallery was still cold, it wasn't as cold as the rest of the building! Janet came down to stand near the fan heater at one point so she could get warm again!

Hope to finish the half circles tomorrow.
I picked up some bits and pieces to do some baking next week.