Around the world Blog Hop

Greetings from a sunny, windy, wet, in other words typically English, South Devon in the UK. This post is a little different as I was invited by Sandra, from the wonderfully named 'musings of a menopausal melon'  (click here to see her blog and learn about that title) to take part in an 'Around the World Blog Hop'.  The idea is to give a window into different creative worlds. Here are my answers to the 4 questions that this Blog Hop poses.

What am I working on?

What I am always working on is catching the many fleeting, often fantastical ideas floating around my head and trying to ground them in some kind of textile reality. I have to admit I am not too faithful to any one 'work in progress'. Several are always vying for my attention. So, just now...

Going to Pieces

Having just finished 'Cosmic Split' I wrote how I felt both satisfied and bereft. One viewer suggested I was suffering from the quilters' equivalent of a hang over and the cure was a new fabric fix! I looked at my piles of discarded fabric - discarded because I wasn't happy with the dyeing, the colour was wrong, there wasn't enough, I'd got bored with that project and moved on to another...

What I need - I thought - is a fabric rescue mission!

So I selected a number of blues, teals and mauves...

Going to Pieces - WIP

...cut them into strips, sewed them together, cut, sewed, cut, sewed... and added a splash of gold...
This is going to be single bed size - big for me and my little old 160 Bernina with it's 7" throat! Lots of empty strips to fill with FMQ though!!

The 101 Free Motion Quilting Cameos

This is an on going project to create a 101 6 inch square 'Cameos' showing some of my FMQ ideas and designs.

Going for Gold

Cosmic Split - detail

After all my trials with metallic fabric, I now have quilt a collection of gold cloth waiting for a chance to shine! Ideas are definitely in the queue, but waiting whilst a bit of a metallic pause takes place.

More Free Motion Quilting

Learning Curves in 9 Squares

Another 'Learning Curves' is definitely in line - this time in 12 Squares. The border fabric is already dyed, the thread ordered. I'm avoiding making the quilt sandwich and marking up - both jobs I do not enjoy. But this is coming soon.

How does my work differ from others of its genre ?

That has to be my quilting!

Quilting Samples

 I love dyeing my own fabric, playing around with thickened dyes, printing, stencilling, doodling... 

Stencil using name Hilary Florence

Home-made stamps, rollers and needle-nose bottle

Negative and Positive stencil

But thousands of quilt and textile artist do this and many of them better than me. My quilting though, I think I can claim, is really my own unique style.

Why do I create what I do?

I never made a conscious decision to start quilting. A book on dyeing for quilters fell into my hands - and I fell in love.  There followed a 3 year battle between my reason - but you don't quilt, you don't dye and you don't sew, so what is the point? - and my heart - but the colours, just look at those colours! Heart won, the book was bought and the kitchen soon festooned with colourful pieces of cloth.

My first quilt - much loved, much used

So what else are you going to do with a lot of hand-dyed squares, but sew them up into a quilt top? And sewing my first quilt together with 50 odd small buttons, convinced me it would be easier to learn to FMQ. So I did, and quilting became a very serious hobby for the next 15 years. 

If I fell into quilting through a love of colour, it was a love of pattern and another fall - literally - that then pushed my quilting up to the next level.

Square Spiral - 2nd Prize Wall hanging British Quilt and Stitch Village 2014

That fall - just over a year ago - badly broke my right arm and shoulder. The bones, healed, I didn't. In February this year, the seemingly inexplicable arm aches, leg aches, headaches, nausea, sore throats, dizziness and endless, all-invasive exhaustion were diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME. I lost my job, my career, my income, most of my social life and I'm hoping not to loose my home. What holds me together whilst my life is falling apart, is the stitches that I put into my quilts.

Square Spiral - detail

My quilting now gives me not only pleasure, but also purpose. Oddly enough, it has also sharpened my focus and spurred me on to develop my FMQ, start the 101 FMQ Cameo project, enter quilt competitions and start this blog. And what has come out of that, and is now definitely part of the reason I create what I do, is the meeting of fellow quilters on line, and some of the wonderful conversations I've had.

How does my creating process work?

Day Dreaming, Drifting, Doodling...

I spend a lot of time letting my thought drift through clouds with castles in the air where all is viewed through rose tinted spectacles. Show stopping quilts are in abundance, a bit vague but always brilliant and technical problems do not exist. These are what I call my 'Mental Masterpieces'!

At other times it is a pencil I let drift across a page and wait for a shape, a curve, the beginnings of a pattern to crystallise, to develop and create a new FMQ pattern.

Bottle Jam - detail

Doing...

Doing is my biggest inspiration. In attempting to drag my Mental Masterpieces down to earth, the inevitable unforeseen problems create a lot of changes, but also present a lot of new possibilities. These feed my day dreams and are Incorporated into a whole new family of Mental Masterpieces - MMs

Nine Lives - detail

Seeing...

It doesn't have to be much, the shape of a leaf seen on a country walk, a line or a splash of colour seen on a quilt blog - seeing and looking at art, nature and the every day world is always sparking off more day dreaming. And so the cycle goes on, feeding itself...

And on to the next Hop - August 25

And now it is time for me to introduce the next quilters who have agreed to participate in the blog Hop and give you a window into their creative world. Due to the holiday season, they will be posting in two weeks time on Monday 25 August. Many thanks to them for agreeing to participate and I do hope you go and enjoy their work.

The first is Heather Pregger from Texas. She does the most wonderful piecing and her colour schemes are a treat for the eyes. She is deservedly having great success with her quilts in shows. Go and see her work here.

One of the wonderful things about blogging is creating new friends on line. I love the exchanges, the insights into life into different countries, watching each others' creations come into being. One such friend I have made is Teresa at Third Floor Quilts. Another quilter who has just been juried into a show at Houston. Check out her work here.

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Anything goes Mondays @ http://marelize-ries.blogspot.co.uk/

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

Fabric Tuesday @http://quiltstory.blogspot.co.uk/    

Sew cute Tuesday @ http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/ 

Let’s Bee Social @ http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.co.uk

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays  @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Really Random Thursdays @ http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/

Needle and Thread Thursday @ http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.co.uk/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.co.uk

Friday linky party @ http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @  http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk   

What is in a name?

The last few posts have been all about black and white  so I thought it was time for an injection of colour.

Here is some printing done with another stencil made with a fabric soldering iron. See my post 'stencils, soldering irons and inattentive mothers' for the story  here. 

I decided to use the letters of my name for the design. All the letters are right - but not necessarily in the right order! I needed to overlap the letters to make a good design, and since 'Hilary' is shorter than 'Florence' - which went on the 2nd line - there was a bit of jiggery pokery to fit all the letters in.

Of course, making your stencil this way, means you actually end up with two stencils - the positive and the negative of your design. Here, I have started with a yellow negative stencil, overlaid with a positive in red.

In the next example I have added some dark blue to the mix and inverted the stencil so some of the letters are upside down.

This time I've only used the negative stencil, but turning it through 90 degrees to give both horizontal and vertical text.

Here, I have first used the positive stencil - again overlaying horizontally and vertically - then gone over with a sponge roller.

I really like this last one. I've used both positive and negative versions in a kind of checkerboard pattern.

All the prints are done with procion dyes thickened with manutex.

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

P.S.

I have become a convert to linky parties. They are a great way to see and be seen. Please find below a list. I may not link to all every week, but I do link with some most weeks. Please go and have a look at all the lovely work there.

Anything goes Mondays @ http://marelize-ries.blogspot.co.uk/

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

Fabric Tuesday @http://quiltstory.blogspot.co.uk/    

Sew cute Tuesday @ http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/ 

Show and tell Tuesday @ http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/

Let’s Bee Social @ http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.co.uk

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays  @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca

We did it Wednesday @ http://www.sewmuchado.com/

­­­­I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Really Random Thursdays @ http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/

Needle and Thread Thursday @ http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.co.uk/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.co.uk

Friday linky party @ http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.co.uk/

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

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

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

A sensuous curve too far

Now for a free motion quilting interlude - which is another way of saying that I could never stick to one thing at a time. Somehow the ideas in my head queueing up to get out are too impatient to wait their turn. Impatience is great for creativity but not too good for finishing things in a hurry! I usually have several things on the go at once.

Time for a bit of procion paper play

Procion paper play is all about thickening up some procion dyes with manutex and printing, rolling, painting, dribbling, splashing them about on paper. Anything goes really. It is a great way to explore, experiment and play with no goal in mind - just discover what come out.

Bottles are a gift for quilters - all those sensuous curves. I've been meaning to explore exploiting them for ages. A clear out had left me with a pile of old folder dividers and I decided I could up-cycle these into masks and stencils. I perfect opportunity to make something for nothing and feel virtuous about reducing my rubbish. The idea - gleaned from an article on making stencils - was to paint them in acrylic to make them waterproof. I expected them to curl up when the first side was painted. I expected them - as per article - to lie flat again when I painted the reverse side. Not so. My stencils, not having read the article, decided to corkscrew. I know that I wanted sensuous curves, but that was taking things too far!

It was also quite time consuming, messy and used up a lot of acrylic paint - and probably cost a lot more than simply cutting them out of acetate. Ah well - I tried.

Here are the un-corkscrewed stencils, weighed down by stones to keep them flat...

stencils made from painted dividers - weighed down to stop corkscrewing

and the masks.

masks made out of old dividers, waterproofed with acrylic paint

This first one uses a couple of the masks and stencils, apply the dye with a sponge roller. Sponge rollers are very dye hungry and soak up a lot of dye-paint, but I do like the texture they give.

Procion paper play - bottle masks and stencils

detail

For this one I've limited myself to just one bottle shape. It's done with a brayer, which gives a totally different texture. It looks thicker, glopier, much more messy, but therefore there is more textural interest. I used electic blue and mustard yellow, which I think give a lovely colour combination. Areas under the mask were of course white, and I've gone over these with lemon yellow.

Blue and yellow bottle procion paper play

Blue and yellow bottles - detail

The last two from this session are cheerfully chuby. Again the sencil and mask give the postive and negative shape. I've used the sponge roller again and given a bit of extra colour with a light rolloing of magenta. I might give it a colour wash at some stage to colour in the white.

Cheerfully chubby bottles in yellows and organges with a bit of magenta

Detail

Back to the quilting next.

Thanks for dropping by.