Bubble Wrap - free motion quilting Cameo 11

Bubble Wrap - free motion quilting Cameo 11

This is a real textural piece. First, each chain of circles is echoed. This in itself looks good. Filling in the gaps with more 'circles', which of course become more ovals as the space changes, gives a richer, denser texture.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Square Division - free motion quilting Cameo 10

Square Division - free motion quilting Cameo 10

This is great to use for pieced squares or diamonds. It can be made square, as here, or easily elongated a bit to fit more pointed diamonds. A half drop repeat will cover the whole surface, where as a simple repeat, as here, creates a negative square which becomes part of the design.

Enjoy.

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Stampede - free motion quilting cameo 9

Stampede - cameo 9

This is a motif I use quite a lot. On mass, as here, I thought it looked quite like a lot of cross-eyed cattle stampeding - hence the name!
It isn't really symmetrical, although it looks like it. By following the continuous line, you can see the first 'horn' echos back, then stretches out to form the second horn, and the echo bring you back to the centre for the 'S' to make the eyes.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Strata - West Country Quilt Show Part 2

The Second of the Quilts that I entered into the West Country Quilt Show 2013 in the small wall hanging category.

Strata -  Shown at the West Country Quilt Show 2013

In this quilt I really enjoyed playing around with continuous line free motion quilting. The undulating tracks open and close, altering the density of the pattern and increasing the texture of the piece.

I wanted a kind of slate appearance, so used a piece of cotton I had dyed in charcoal with a flush of pink (which doesn't show up well on the photo).

Strata - detail - free motion quilting -hand dyed cotton

Strata - detail - free motion quilting -hand dyed cotton

Strata - detail - free motion quilting -hand dyed cotton

 I had this piece of pink-dyed material which as used as the back, partly because it picked up on the pink tones of the front, and partly because I don't particularly like the colour, so was happy to consign to the back. However, several people have told me they prefer it to the front!!

Strata - reverse side

 The colour contrast is obviously better and it show up from a greater distance, but I do like the the subtlety of the grey.

Strata - reverse side

I had high hopes for this piece and i did get a 'good' for machine quilting and originality, but everything else was the dreaded 'statisfactory'. So, back to the drawing board. I will post a picture of the winner of the machine quilting prize next time, and it is really, really fantastic. Onward and Upward.

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Frosted leaf - free motion quilted cameo 8

It is time for the next cameo.

Frosted leaf - free motion quilted cameo 8

Leaves are a never ending source for quilters. This stylised example is very adaptable. Here it is shown in a simple repeat, which also gives a nice negative shape. It can also work very well with a half-drop repeat.

Detail of Soliloquy showing Frosted Leaf

Here it is used in Soliloquy. I think here you can see the lovely curve this design gives - and how it can be adjusted in size with each repeat.
Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Soliloquy at the West Country Quilt Show 2013 - part 1

 I decided for the first time in my life to enter a quilt in competitive show - and what better place to start than my local one - the West Country Quilt Show.

You know by now that I love playing with pattern - not just creating new continuous line quilting patterns, but also playing about with each pattern, expanding it, shrinking it, distorting it - in short, anything but an exact repetition.

Soliloquy at the West Country Quilt Show 2013

Soliloquy grew out of a practice piece I was doing - white on white. I wanted to try white on white because it is such a quilting tradition, but i was also toying with the idea of quilting first, then dying, letting the dying be dictated by the quilting lines. Everyone who saw the piece loved it white and howled when I suggested colouring it. The problem was, how ever fascinating the quilting was close too,  from a distance, it just looked like a piece of white fabric.

So I came up with the idea of creating a single inset in a neutral tone. I wanted it to be simple but elegant, to draw people in from a distance so that they could see all the pattern work closer to.

Soliloquy - detail

I've added some close ups to show the quilting. The curved spaces both echo the idea of the inset and give a variety of stitch density and texture.

Soliloquy - detail 2

 When the space gets very narrow, particularly white on white, I really can not see what I am doing. I also find the quilting foot  gets in the way adding to the difficulties. In these situations, I try to do the shape by feel. I also try to comfort myself, if I can not see what I am doing, then hopefully neither can anyone else but with a digital camera's ability to zoom in, I may be kidding myself!

Soliloquy - detail 3

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, no I didn't win a prize. I did get a judges comment of 'Interesting design. Good machine quilting'. I got a 'good' for piecing, machine quilting and design - everything else was classed as 'satisfactory'. (The classes are -needs attention - satisfactory - good - excellent) Without knowing what the other quilts got in the way of comments and marks, I really can not judge if this is good for a first attempt or not. I do have a negative emotional response to the term 'satisfactory', which feels just OK enough not to complain about - and therefore totally forgettable. You don't notice what is just satisfactory. I've been trying to think of a term which could be more encouraging - 'promising' maybe, or 'shows potential'. Can anyone come up with a more satisfactory term than 'satisfactory'?

I'll show my second entry in part 2

Thanks for dropping by..

Hilary Florence