Wooded Hills - free motion quilted Cameo 20

Wooded Hills - free motion quilted Cameo 20

This is another cameo that was inspired by the work of another quilter, namely Freida Anderson. You can see her work at www.friestyle.com/

Frieda creates some wonderful fused and quilted collages, often featuring leaves. One showed leaves or trees arranged on hills. I have done a similar arrangement here, using a very simple stylised tree. The trees quilted on their own were not particularly interesting, but it is the rhythm of the background quilting, the close lines echoing the curve of the hills that makes the piece hang together.

At some point I will expand on this idea, perhaps using a different design of tree in each square.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Stamping: funky foam, rolling pins and scrim = more procion paper play

More procion paper play, using a variety of home-made stamps. All but one use the turquoise/ rust colour scheme. These 2 days mix well to give a verity of greeny sludges.

This is just one overlapped and layered narrow stamp that I cut out of funky foam. I experimented using the soldering iron for this, as the design was quite fiddly. I wouldn't recommend it as the foam tends to bead. Also, I health and safety notice, I have no idea what fumes might be released burning through foam and I did this outside.

Another paper, featuring the same stamp. It also shows a line stamp that I made by cutting out uneven stripes to stick onto a cheap rolling pin.

Add caption

 More layering of various stamps. I've also added a bit of pseudo writing with a needle-noose bottle.

In these last 2 I've also used some hessian scrim as a printing tool.

Enjoy. 

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Tribal Sun - free motion quilting Cameo 19

Tribal Sun - free motion quilting Cameo 20

This cameo was inspired by the quilting on some cushions by Yoshiko Jinzenji. If you have never seen the work of the inspirational quilt artist Yoshiko Jinzenji, do visit her website at http://www.yoshikoquilt.com

The quilting created a variety of patterns using close parallel lines. It is quite a while since I made this cameo, and this is a technique I must return to. I find it very meditative and particularly enjoy creating the larger triangles. Any one of the 3 sides can be used as the starting point of the parallel lines, each side giving a very different result. You can chose whether to make the ends curved or straight.

Enjoy.

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Round Pegs and Square Holes - free motion quilting Cameo 18

Round Pegs and Square Holes - free motion quilting Cameo 19

I like the effect of this design. Perhaps it is the combination of right angles and circles, but it always makes me think of electric circuit boards and two pin plugs. I'm showing my age here and experience of a world that predates electric chips that fit onto a pin-head!

I think this one works best with a half-drop repeat. When combining lines of a continuous line quilting pattern to make an overall pattern, there is always the question of direction. Having reached the end of the line, the easiest thing to avoid stopping and starting again, is to turn the piece and go back. This means the next line will be upside down, which sometimes doesn't matter or is even desirable. The other alternative, which I used here, is to learn to quilt the design backwards. On larger pieces where turning is awkward, being able to quilt a pattern forward, backward and sideways is very  helpful. It is a skill worth practising.

enjoy

thanks for dropping by..

Hilary Florence

Stencils, soldering irons and inattentive mothers!

Procion paper play - stencils and rollers with thickened procion dyes

Quite a few years ago I went on a course for fusing fabrics together with a soldering iron - and did not enjoy it. No offence to artists who do fuse. In fact if you visit the website of Margaret Beal,  www.fusingfabric.co.uk, one of the great proponents of fusing, you will see some amazing work. However, as I said to my mother, working with a soldering iron was definitely not for me and not something I intended to do in the future.   

The only thing my mother remembered from that conversation was the word 'soldering iron' and guess what I got for Christmas?!! Well, this soldering iron has lain forlorn in my draw for years, but suddenly I have round a great use for it. It is wonderful for cutting through perspex to make stencils.

Here is the first I made - a sort of plant with berries. Not quilt successful because I didn't put in any bridges. So there a lot of loose bits flapping around in the breeze which allows quite a bit of seepage under the stencil. Still, I'm quite pleased for a first attempt.

It is amazing how effective it can be to restrict yourself to just 2 dyes. The first photo uses turquoise and rust, above and below uses turquoise and charcoal. I've also turned the stencil over and stamped with it, giving both a positive and negative print.

The second stencil is very loosely based on wisteria. 

Turquoise, violet and mustard.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Thorny Point - free motion quilting Cameo 17

Thorny Point - free motion quilting Cameo 17

I don't think I can claim that this is an original design. Many quilters and artists have used images of thorns or barbed wire to great effect in their work. I find it a very powerful motif and of course, by its nature, every time you quilt it, it will be different.

I quilt down one side, creating thorns of different lengths and angles as I go, then go back up the other side and complete them. In general in my quilting, I pre-mark as little as possible, but here, if you want interlocking, but not crossing lines in a good rhythm, in can help just to mark the line in first.

It works well as a single line, or a collection of interlocking lines to create a texture. The line can be vertical, horizontal or even curved.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Design Workout 3

just managed to de-glue my fingers from the latest 'design-workout'. You'll notice a change in colour scheme and an A4 format. There is no reason - again, I'm just using up old photocopies.Though  the odd word showing through adds interest don't you think?  Maybe is could double up as a workout for the imagination as well!

Just as a reminder, if you haven't seen previous posts, the idea here is to create a series of designs out of collaged squares and rectangles - not too much thought, just playing and producing.

Like Peas in a Pod - free motion quilting Cameo 16

Like Peas in a Pod - free motion quilting Cameo 16

Not like two peas in a pod, because these pods take a little more than two peas and as you know by now, I don't like my motifs to be that alike. Some individuality is good and 'consistently inconsistent' is a motto I live my quilting life by. First quilt the pod - which takes you back to your starting point at the top of the pod - then fill in the center with peas - which very conveniently takes you to the bottom of the pod, ready to start the next one. Make them as fat or as thin as you want and stuff in as many peas as you can - you won't have to shell them!

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

More Design Workouts

Here is the next batch of my Design workouts. I've chosen a different colour scheme, but still kept the colours close to each other.

You can see quite clearly that there is a lot of text. As much as text is popular in collage work at the moment, this is not a great design element. I am simply using up a load of photocopies, which I have given thin layer of cheap acrylic paint using a gelli plate. 

I haven't added any texture, or done any fancy printing. The name of the game here is quantity - cheap and cheerful, done quickly without much thought - but above all done!

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Ee -bah-gum - free motion quilting Cameo 15

Ee -bah-gum - free motion quilting Cameo 15

Essential a 'e' in a box, this is a very satisfying one to do. In a simple straight border it is very elegant. As you can see here, the 'e's can be squashed up or stretched out to go around corners or fit into small or large spaces. The two halves of the 'e' can be symmetrical or not. The choice is yours!

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Sherri Lynn and improvisational duet quilts

On the 2nd January I blogged about Sherri Lynn's forth coming book on improvisational quilts and her request for quilters to test run her design frameworks, or 'scores' as she calls them, the basis from which the improvisation design should grow.

For those of you who are curious about the outcome of my application to take part, I am delighted to say I have now received my 'score' to try out. Understandably it has to be kept hush hush for the time being - Sherri doesn't want all her ideas all over the net before the book is published! All I will say is that I have 'score number 5', along with another 10 or so quilters. The idea is both that we test run the instructions, but also, the hopefully diverse results will demonstrate the improvisational nature of the project. One or two of the quilts will be chosen to be published in the book.

Obviously I can't show you anything now, but I will record my process and show it in the blog when the book comes out at the start of next year.

It is quite an exciting project to be involved in and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Design workout

As much as I love free motion quilting, it is very time consuming. Even a small piece can take several hours to quilt and so doing trials and playing with ideas can be a long, slow process. I, as many others, find I learn best and get my best ideas from doing. Research also shows, that quantity, not quality (in other words, just producing work) in the end gives the best results.
With this in mind, I have given myself a design workout - in paper!

I've painted paper with acrylic to chop and stick, giving myself the following parameters.

• For the moment, I'm working with colours near to each other on the colour wheel.
• The shapes must be square or rectangular - ish. Any mathematician is now screaming at the screen that squares and rectangles - unlike my pieces - have 90 degree angles. Cutting free hand with a rotary cutter gives charmingly mild curves rather than mathematical precision - just how I like it!
• I've avoided diagonal lines.

The idea is to work fast without thinking to much and without being too bothered by the result. I have to admit, I struggle with this a bit and find myself pondering, trying out and changing. I know of an artist who does this exercise as a warm up - creating 15 collages in 15 minutes. I haven't got that drastic yet, but I hate to say I think that is just what I need to try.

Here are the first batch. (You will notice 5, not 15 and it took me much longer than 15 minutes!)

Enjoy.

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Finger Print - free motion quilting Cameo 14

Finger Print - free motion quilting Cameo 14

OK, this isn't exactly a design motif, more a way to use parallel lines, but what a way! Columns of parallel lines are much used to great effect by Laura and Linda  Kemshall  laurakemshall.blogspot.co.uk and lindakemshall.com
They are great for covering area and not detracting too much the terrific surface design that Laura and Linda are famed for.

They can also be used as the star of the show, rather than just the supporting cast. By gently opening out or closing each parallel (which, if you want to be pedantic, or course means it is no longer truly a parallel!) the columns can be made to twist and turn to go around just about any shape you want. Of course, you can also alter the width of the columns. Here, I've also altered the space between the columns, making them also gently open and close. So often, the un-quilted negative can be used to form an important part of the over-all effect.

The combination of all these variables gives a lot of room to play - and we haven't even thought about thread colour!

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Journal Quilt Competition 2014 - sneak preview

I have just posted a couple of entries to the Journal Quilt Competition 2014, organised by Grovenor Shows.

Beneath Our Feet - The Earth's Inner Landscape - detail. Entry into the Journal Quilt Competition 2014

 The theme this year is 'Landscape' and the exhibition of journal quilts will be shown at the Spring Quilt Festivals around the country, Quilts UK and Malvern 2014.

I am not sure what the etiquette is for showing competition quilts on line before the compeition/exhibition, so I've just giving a couple of detail shots.

My Inner Landscape - Around and around in my Mind. Entry into the Journal Quilt Competition 2014

Nobody who has been following this blog will be surprised to see I have managed to interpret 'Landscape' in terms of free motion quilting! It will be fun to see what others have come up with, but I anticipate there will be much variety.

Enjoy.

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Encore - free motion quilting Cameo 13

Encore - free motion quilting Cameo 13

Doesn't this just look like crowds of people jumping up and down going crazy for more? It is very forgiving and doesn't need to be at all symmetrical to look good. In fact, the more variation to the figures, the more fun they look as if they are having. I've done it quite tightly here, with my audience in neat, well behaved rows. It is very easy to open out for a much looser density and is a wonderful motif for awkward spaces.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Banana Bunches - free motion quilting Cameo 12

Banana Bunches - free motion quilting Cameo 12

May be Banana bunches isn't quite the right name for this one - may be Jungle Leaves? Anyway, it's another one that has many possible tweaks, each of which will give it a different character. Each 'finger' here, has a slight curved and slanted sharp cornered finish, which echoes the motif above. These fingers could be finished with a straight edge, or a rounded end, or a point. Each side of the central line could have three or more fingers. The fingers themselves could curl in or out. And so on.

That is the joy of doodling to create designs - there are so many possibilities and variations.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Sherri Lynn Wood and improvisational duets?

Sherri Lynn Wood is a quilter who uses improvisation in her piecing and quilt construction, or as she puts it 'improvises quilts as a life practise'. You can learn more on her blog daintytime.net. If you scroll back a bit, you can read how she applies her insights from a course in improvisational theatre to her life and quilts.

She is currently writing a book about her improvisational piecing and looking for quilters to try out her projects. Our styles are very different, but as a musician myself, (and a quilter who never follows a pattern!) I was intrigued and volunteered.

This post is manly for Sherri as she asked to look at applicants' blogs. Since I haven't been blogging very long, I thought I'd put up some past pieced pieces, to show when I am not dyeing, printing or machine quilting, I do actually do some piecing!

Sherri, if you get this far, I hope you enjoy it - as I hope the rest of you do too!

Catching the curve - a first piece in curved piecing

 This was one of my first forays into curved piecing, using an idea by Ann Johnston in her book The quilter's book of design. Slightly curvy strips are sown together to make blocks. Using a 'stack and wack' approach, the blocks are cut with  gently curving 'V' shapes before reassembling.

Blue and Brown Boundaries

 This piece basically uses 2 colours - a bright turquoise and a russet brown. The variations come from 'dulling' each dye by adding differing amounts of its complementary. I admit that there is a touch of gold which I did not dye!

The piecing is entirely improvisational - there was no plan at all. A real, have rotary cutter - will travel and make it up as you go along - approach. Each piece is outlined in a bias of the complementary colour and the pieces assembled in ever increasing sizes.

Cross-roads

Here is the next piece using the same technique. The dyes are a scarlet and charcoal and I've livened things up a bit with a touch of silver. This time, the bias insets vary in size and also have their own curves.

Sunset Trees 2

Autumn Trees 1

 Tray dyeing provides the backgrounds for a series I did on winter trees. Biased insets give the tree outline. Cutting the tree free-hand with a rotary cutter makes sure that each tree is unique. I've finished them off by quilting a free-motion leaf motif.

Nine Lives

This piece started off life as 'ten not quite green bottles, hanging on a wall', but the more I looked at the pieced 'bottles' (now the bodies), the more all I could see was cats. In the end, I gave in and appliqued heads and tails and 'Nine Lives' was born.

Nine Lives - detail

The cats' bodies and the blocks are cut free-hand with a rotary cutter. The quilting is meant to be a kind of stone wall. There are also a few mice hiding around - but not on this detail.

Improvisational piecing - work in progress

No curves for once. This is really inspired by using up scraps - with a splash of gold because even scraps can be special. I've got quite a lot more, so not sure yet how this will end up, but there will of course, be some quilting. I'll post about it when I get there.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence

Notan leaves and more Procion Paper Play

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Notan Leaf 1 - printed on paper with thickened procion dyes

I thought it would be great to start the year I hope to go on - namely with some creative fun.
I have played around a little with Notan - that is motives and patterns that balance negative and positive space. I made a few leaf stamps with funky foam, thickened some dye and off I went.

Grid stamped Notan Leaf 1

I've overlapped the stamp here to make a loose grid. The background overlaps but not the leaf itself. Extra texture is added with another stamp, made from rubber bands stretched across a base.

Overlapping Notan Leaf 1 stamp

Here I've overlapped the leaves in this one - not sure I like this.

Notan Leaf 1 multi-directional  overlapping

And pretty sure I don't like just overlapping in all directions

Notan Leaf 2

 Here is Leaf 2...

Notan Leaf 2 - mirror repeat

repeated and with mirror image..

Notan Leaf 2 stamp half drop repeat

different colour scheme and a half-drop repeat grid.

Notan Leaf 3 - simple repeat

 Notan Leaf 3 - very fiddly stamp to make this one, not just cutting out all the little bits of foam but sticking them on to the other side!

Notan Leaf 3 horizontal half drop repeat

Enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by

Hilary Florence