January Cushion of the Month for IPS

Our Cushion of the Month project is going strong, and it's so nice to see all the various interpretations of the previous patterns at our virtual meetings. I'm hoping to see some January cushions at this month's meeting, too.

For people leaving in more continental climate this interpretation of January might seem strange, but in Ireland, this is what January looks like: there may be half a snowflake, but spring flowers are certain to pop up here and there. I have a snowdrop bud in my garden at the moment, and Dublin botanic gardens posted their first snowdrops back in December.

As usual, I made the sample with Moda Grunge fabrics, using the basic machine appliqué technique and free motion quilting. The quilting echoes the flowers with drop shapes.

I took the photos in my daughter's room, as the cushion fits well in its colour scheme; and sure enough the cat had to take part.

Here are all the cushions up to date:

To finish, here is a photo from the botanic gardens a couple of years ago; unfortunately, we can't go there (or anywhere) at the moment, but looking forward to visiting again some day.

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creation by Nina Marie

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Christmas on the Cards

 A little Christmas post on Christmas Day.

This year's Christmas challenge at IPS Eastern branch was making a fabric postcard to be sent to a care home resident. I made a few and sent some to friends and neighbours too.

After posting the cards on Instagram I was also invited to take part in a fabric postcard exchange by some Russian quilters, and I made a special New Year  themed one for my exchange partner in Moscow.

It took some time, but the card arrived safe and sound, almost at the same time as her card came to me:

So, this is how I dived into the world of textile postcards and started to discover its possibilities. If you haven't tried them before, there is a little tutorial on IPS website, and Instagram is full of inspirational examples.

Forgot to show the backsides - here I got to play with some of the decorative stitches on my machine that I do not normally use for anything.

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

December Cushion of the Month for IPS

 The December instalment of our "Cushion of the Month" project just had to feature Christmas symbols, and although there are many, I picked holly and poinsettia as the whole thing was going in the botanical direction by now.

I plan to make all the samples with Moda Grunge fabrics, and as the holiday edition needed some shine and sparkle I used Moda Grunge metallics for the appliqué; red and green provide the perfect seasonal contrast.

I'm using stylised simplified shapes in Art Deco style, but the addition of berries makes this appliqué a bit more fiddly that the others. I still think they add a lot of interest, but I made a note in the instructions that buttons can be used to represent berries.

The quilting is in angular leaf-like shapes to work with the appliqué.

Previous instalments:

October cushion

November cushion

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

November Cushion of the Month for IPS

A quick post to catch up: I wrote before about the "Cushion of the month" project we are doing at Eastern branch of the Irish Patchwork society, and this was the November instalment.

November not having any holidays with recognisable symbols (I know Americans have their turkeys, but we are not in America) I found it hard to pick one seasonal thing. Finally, guided by the maxim "When in doubt do flowers", I opted for a chrysanthemum, one of the latest flowers you can see in November.

My sample cushion picks up the golden colour of the sofa, so it may become a permanent fixture in the living room, regardless the change of seasons.

The quilting is black on black (and so hard to photograph), in the shape of petals/leaves/feathers to support the shapes in appliqué itself.

Linking up to Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina Marie

Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

October Cushion of the Month for IPS

IPS Eastern Branch committee has come up with a brilliant idea to start a "Cushion of the Month" project for the members, in order to provide a sort of virtual connection while we cannot have our monthly meetings. I was asked to create the patterns and was really excited to do it, although I can feel the weight of responsibility, too. As curve piecing is not everybody's cup of tea, it was decided that the patterns should be appliqué featuring some seasonal highlights for every month. So, October = pumpkin, doesn't it?

I wanted to bring the same stylised Art Deco vibe into these patterns as in my recent quilts, and the colour contrast plays a big role in that - nothing like black background to make (almost) everything look classy. For my sample I used Moda Grunge Metallic, which has just the right combination of dress up and dress down.

I'm looking forward to seeing how other branch members interpret the pattern while I start working on the next month's sample. Speaking of which - choosing a symbol for November was not as straightforward, what would your choice be? I'll show mine when the November pattern is released.

Linking up to Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina Marie

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Mad Tea Party

“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.”
“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

This is The-Big-Quilt-Of-The-Year for me and it turned out a bit more hectic than planned, but I think it's still a true rendition of the theme :))) Two of the previous posts show the background piecing and raw-edge appliqué in progress.

The idea was not to literally illustrate the text, but rather play with the familiar imagery and take the"crazy" part to the extreme, combining and transforming the various elements to the point of dizziness. The cups gradually turn into hats, gateaus into chess pawns, petals into cookies and milk drops, the cake plate serves as a clock (and a melting one, too).

I abandoned my beloved vivid colours for a softer vintage palette plus dark outlines and"hatching" inspired by Tenniel's illustrations. I have very few patterned fabrics, especially with this kind of chintzy vintage patterns, so I collected some bits and pieces specially for the china in this quilt.

The space and time are warped and everything is shrouded by the smoke of the caterpillar's hookah.

Of Flowers and Letters

This project lies at the intersection of two of my interests - quilting and lettering. I heard about the #36daysoftype challenge in Instagram several years ago, but didn't have the time then, or the year after, or... until this year, anyway.

The commitment is to design and post a letter or number every day for 36 days, the reward is to enjoy all the beautiful, quirky, mind-boggling, sweet or provocative interpretations of the same letter posted by artists, calligraphers, animators, illustrators from all over the world.

I only found out that it started on the day that it started, so I didn't have the time to make a couple of entires in advance or even to think through my concept and it emerged gradually through the first couple of days. I think D was the first really nice one.

The concept, as it developed, was Art-Nouveau inspired illustrated initials with floral motifs. Three fabrics for each letter: a pastel background, relatively dark letter, and a lighter tint of the same colour for the flowers of leaves. Detail and stems were added with a thread, which more or less matched the main colour. The appliqué was done on Pelmet Vilene with the help of Bondaweb, then free-motion quilted.

I did the initial sketches in Procreate on my iPad, several at a time, whenever I had the time, so the process of making the letter itself did not take long and could be fitted into most days. I fell back a couple of times, but then caught up making two or three at a time.

Unfortunately, I ran out of Pelmet Vilene before the end of the project, and not just anywhere, but right after I completed the letter X. None of the scraps left was big enough to cut one last 6 inch square.

Obviously, I knew it was coming, and I had ordered more, but that was the beginning of the strict lockdown and the shop closed even its online operations, so the order was left to hang there for several weeks. I finally received my materials when the instagram challenge was over, but I still completed the last letter and decided not to go into the numbers this time.

So, here they are, all of them:

It's Always Tea Time

Just a few glimpses of appliqué on the Mad Tea Party quilt before I start quilting.
The first part shows the background piecing.

Keep on stitching, but don't forget your tea breaks!

Linking up to:
Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Tips and Tutorials Tuesday - 3D Aloe Plant Appliqué

Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl used to run a special linkup called Tips and Tutorials Tuesday, which is still a great collection of useful resources on her blog, so if I'm going to publish a tutorial, why not do it on a Tuesday?

 

My Funky Succulents quilt is, essentially, a reimagined Succulents Sampler just to show a different possible layout for the 3D appliqué. I made it before teaching a workshop on this technique, but in it I decided to replace the snake plant with the aloe for a change. So, the aloe was not covered in the workshop and to make up for that I shot step-by-step images of the process; it's about time to get them out.

So here we go. Make your own cute little succulent in a pot, it can be wall art on its own or a part of something bigger, and I hope it will give you ideas for more fun stuff. Best thing is - it's really really easy.