BLOG 240

BLOG 240 Sunday March 22^nd 2015

I have continued to work under pressure, building on last week’s flying start with the ‘Horse-in-a-wall’ quilt. At this stage, the horse is ironed on but the stones are just pinned roughly onto the dark background where they tend to curl, hence the exaggerated spaces between some of the shapes.

                                                          Building a wall

                                                               Pinned stones

 I decided to do a decorative edge along the top of the wall to add extra interest and to make it resemble the walls I habitually see in my native Cumbria.

                                                  Decorative top

 The pieces are now fused onto the background awaiting the next stage. I am very happy with the look of this piece of work, so much so that I couldn’t resist going on to start the ‘Dolphin-in-a-wall’ hanging. I drafted the pattern free-hand from the tiny doodle in my sketch book but the result was too small. As I couldn’t face redrafting it, I had it enlarged locally on a photocopier and here is the Master pattern, all taped together from about 8 different pages.

                                                              Master pattern

I chose colourful fabrics again, this time mainly jades and blues with some pinks/mauves. I have to say that this is my favourite section of the colour wheel so I couldn’t be happier working with these fabrics! Instead of tracing a working pattern this time, I traced from the Master pattern straight onto 36” wide Bondaweb (the wall hangings in this series will all measure 36” x 36” so the size of the fusible is ideal). The shapes just need to be cut out as I go and used on the fabrics to make the appliques. I forgot to trace on the WS of the pattern so my dolphins will be reversed!

                                                           Work station

Technique-wise, I number and roughly cut out the shapes as I need them and iron them onto the fabric, choosing the area of colour I want to use. Then I cut them out on the drawn line to the exact size and pin them onto the Master pattern.

                                                           Getting started

                                                    Progress

 

                                                                 Fish 1

As I will be able to sell pieces of work in the gallery, I have also started to make some small wall hangings. I am making these with kunin felt (the correct felt for the process so I am told!) which should be totally burnable with soldering iron and heat gun. Here are the synthetic backgrounds covered with sheers and waiting to be stitch with cotton thread. I will spend the day at embroidery tomorrow making progress on these.

                                              Kunin felt with sheers

 

And, just in case you have forgotten, this is what I am trying to achieve (mounted on a blue background).  So there’s a busy week ahead for me but I like having a focus for my skills and this very immediate way of working suits me fine.

                                   Stitched and soldered