Festival of Quilts 2018 Warm -Up Challenge

I've been a bad , bad blogger , so involved with the process of drawing, doing a lot of thinking , using Facebook and Instagram   to post photos. But I do enjoy the reflective nature of writing and I 'mine' my own blog with search function tool to remind myself what I've done  over the years. So to ease myself back into  a more regular practice I'm returning to the many 'drafts' I'd started . This one was almost  straight compilation of Instagram posts last year. 

#foqwarmupchallenge

 In July 2018   the Quilters Guild of the British Isles   had a  warm up challenge for the Festival of Quilts on Instagram  with a prompt each day. It was great fun to join in and compare our love of  fabric and stitch   

#myfirstquilt

This is 'Parsons Prism' made in 1982  when I was at home unemployed after leaving university. With access to my mum's stash  of jumble sale finds and samples and offcuts from the Tootals shirt factory, I constructed this log cabin hanging inspired by  stained  glass. No rotary cutters in those days - the strips were  laboriously marked and measured then cut with scissors. Sewn on an ancient turned Singer and hand  quilted.

#fabricstash

One side of the  studio - there's more  out of sight, not to mention all the art supplies.  Some boxes of yardage  ( lots of indigo and African  fabrics )  but mainly  old quilts and recycled textiles  to repurpose and lots of scraps in trolley and African baskets 

#WIP

"Train stitching  2 " - scraps of  indigo and kola sewn to Japanese semi translucent kasuri kimono. 'Train Stitching 1 ( 'Wind Me in the Sea')   was accepted for 7th European Quilt Triennial exhibited first in Heidelberg  and  soon in Haslech, Austria .  Note the  travel kit - thread reels  are on elastic  to wear as bracelets,  I use a  Clover thread cutter and my thimble is also on elastic as got fed up of chasing it down the train carriage when I dropped it.   

#quiltcrush 

 This piece is 'bowl by Dorothy Caldwell which was just one of her wonderful works shown at FoQ 2008. The subtle diversity of fabric , wax-resist marks and stitch, masterly composition and sense of place I found mesmersising and I revisted the gallery several times . I was lucky enough to go on a workshop with her in Puglia in 2013 and she was an inspirational and generous teacher.  I  was thrilled to meet up with her again   at Open Studios  of Pauline Burbidge and Charlie Poulsen and buy a small piece of her work! 

#proudestproject 

I suppose the obvious #proudestproject  would be winning Fine Art Quilt Masters in 2017!! But the quilt that means most to me and wouldn't part with is  'Medieval Tiles' which took 7 years to make. Made from my own batik  based on  tiles in the British Museum and recycled fabrics from my mum's stash ( she was an early Quilters Guild Member) , I started it in 1987, the year she died. Hand quilted with around 50 different tile patterns. Also the largest quilt I've ever made!