2021 CQ Journal Quilts : INDIGO January to April

 I've been making  Journal Quilts every year  since 2003 ( and with Contemporary  Quilt  of QGBI   since 2007) .  This year  they are  to be of a  theme and shape(s)  of your own choosing  but designed  so that at the end of the year they  can be joined together in some way  for possible exhibition.   My favourite / most successful   set of  JQ's   is from  2013 when I chose 'Indigo' as my theme  so that is what I've chose to revisit  but deciding on size/ shapes  took a lot of pondering on graph paper!  I decided in the end on  a combination of : 8 x 8", 10 x 10" , 8 x 10", 10 x 8"   which  I hope will give me enough scope for experimenting.   So far I'm on track , having completed  January  to April  and  May's the current piece of ' trainstitching' 

January ( Jellyfish Bloom ) is wet bulb thermometer wicks stitched onto shibori dyed section of old quilt.

 February ( Hidden Depths)  is monoprint of net on silk layered with indigo dyed wadding and linen tablecloth , kantha stitched.

 March ( StitchResistRipples) Stitching back into a piece of Mokume ( 'woodgrain' ) shibori was almost as time consuming as doing the stitch resist ! Combined with a monoprint and a small scrap of Ndop stitch resist indigo from Cameroon.

April ( Thunderbolt Pier ) A couple of years ago  the ' Edgy Stitchers' ( CQKent)  had an outing to Chatham Historic Dockyard  as inspiration for  our exhibition later in the year.  This is  a recycled sample based  on photo of 'Thunderbolt Pier' , manipulated in Photoshop, printed on fabric  and  fused  to background of quilted silk arashi shibori.

CQ Suitcase Collection : Indigo Hill Arches ( Henry Moore)

 The ' Suitcase Collections ' of Contemporary Quilt  are very popular and give the opportunity for all kinds of groups or individuals who borrow them  to see a  diverse selection of work.   I submitted  pieces for 2 previous  collections and  for the latest,  'My Favourite Artist'  I chose  Henry Moore. 
So difficult to choose a favourite artist, I like so many! I had intended to do a piece based on the  paintings of Wilhelmina Barnes- Graham  as I'd done  several exercises inspired by her work as part of online class with Elizabeth Barton on  Abstract Art for Quiltmakers . But with the deadline looming, I decided to  cut-down and re-use a piece I made several years ago based on depicting multiple viewpoints of a sculpture.

The Henry Moore sculpture that inspired me , ‘Hill Arches’ ,was part of an exhibition at Kew Gardens in 2007. At the time I as working there as a botanist and I loved having access to these sculptures over many months, able to view them in different lights and viewpoints.  I made several journal quilts exploring ways of  interpreting  a 3D piece in 2D textiles( see below)  I liked how the sculptures and their environment interacted and the marks on many of the bronzes reminded me of stitches.

Two black and white images  of  'Hill Arches' sculpture by Henry Moore  were combined in  Photoshop. This was inkjet printed using 'poster printing' function to split an image over 4 A4 sheets onto hand dyed indigo cotton and silk treated with 'BubbleJet Set'.  Machine quilted with variegated threads, hand stitched with cotton perle thread  

CQ AGM, Journals Quilts and an indulgance

 

Yesterday was the annual meeting of Contemporary Quilt in Central London, an event I look forward to eagerly each year with its opportunity to catch up with so many quilting friends. I picked up my copies of the 'Horizons' Catalogue ( Thanks Hilary), thrilled to find mine is on the front cover!

This was a very successful exhibition  and it's about to go to the Prague Patchwork Meeting.

 

The afternoon talk was by Elizabeth Tarr, not a textile artist I was aware of,  she works a lot with indigo (particularly on paper), now buying Chinese shibori pleated skirts from Slow Loris rather than dyeing her own. A lot of the pieces she showed on slides was very dark and difficult to photograph- the example she'd brought with her showed better the richness and depth she achieves. With indigo  I go for marks rather then the intensity she aims for - just shows how versatile a dye it is, more determined than ever to set up a vat this summer.  She did a whole series around painting' Las Meninas' by Velazquez of the Spanish Infanta, admitting this style of painting wasn't really her thing but adapting images from it to tell her own stories. It made me think of the courses I did at the National Gallery,  finding links to pictures in all kinds of unexpected ways which I am still processing.  

 



Bringing small quilts to the meeting was my incentive to finish off some journal quilts: 2 based on my surroundings at Rydal ('Rydal Colours' and 'Rydal Beck') and 1 an  experiment with all kinds of red marks: pen, stitch and finger painting!

Finally a wander around Covent Garden indulging myself  in London Graphic Centre with a box of  100 Fabriano Medievalis  cards as used on 'Human Marks' class. I'd told myself that I could easily make them myself from watercolour paper but actually because they're mould-made with a  slightly thinner area on the fold, they work much better in  handmade books of  marks. I'm planning to take some ( along with colour catchers, paints and threads ) when we go to Crete in  less than 4 weeks.

A productive afternoon

 I took the afternoon off today to make the most of  the weekend while Ian is at his parents to get 2 pieces of work underway for  Festival of Quilts. I concentrated today on my entry for CQ challenge
 ' Horizons' ( 50 x 150cm).   My aim was to create the background on the old red quilt I used for 'red flotsam'  to use some of the results of my screenprinting experiments from a few years ago.

 I became quite an expert on ripping 2 inch masking tape into raggy strips!

 

 Sample after first lot of  masking tape and painting with blue and red acrylic paints.

 

2nd lot of making tape applied then 'unbleached titanium' acrylic paint.

 

 Taped

 Painted

Tape removed

 

 Reasonably pleased with the first half  of the full size piece. Maybe a bit too regular , I'll  try to create more variety for the second half.  Loved the mass of coloured making tape I peeled off!

While I'm waiting for the paint to dry, time for a final play with my 'half way between ' indigo piece  - need to finalise the size by the end of May if I want to enter it in FoQ! Off to bed for an early start  tomorrow!

Packing for Summer School

Last day at work before Contemporary Quilt Summer School with Jo Budd on theme of 'Microcosm to Macrocosm. We were asked to bring an item with sufficient colour, texture and interest to work from . I instantly thought of the piece of wood I found on the Thames tow path on the way to work (and which my work colleagues were rather unimpressed with  when I came in brandishing my trophy). I've had to rethink my bag from the planned  small trundly suitcase  to large backpack  to accommodate it - see who I can demolish in the tube when turning round!

We'll be painting and dyeing so was  looking through my stash for white or plain  when I came across this wonderful piece of African damask batik which I shall sneek in my bag. I don't usually do much deying ( apart from Indigo ) although I like to use other peoples, especially when it  has the added benefit of supporting livelihoods.

Choosing Circle Compositions

  A                              B

C                                 D

The Contemporary Quilt Journal Quilt Challenge this year is for a 10 inch square but there's also a theme for each 4 months: circles, text and buttons (I know I'm going to struggle with that one!) 

For circles I straight away thought of Petri dishes at work - I've taken loads of photos over the years for potential inspiration but not done anything with them apart from small  quilts/cards  for  staff and students leaving the lab. 

I've altered them quite a lot in Photoshop ('find edges' filter) so I could start to see them as shapes and not worry too much if I place a section upside down ( still a bit difficult- I visualise the plants falling out! ) I've printed out 3 images and chopped them up and rearranged them in different combinations.  I could do all 4 and that would be them done but not really in the spirit of experimentation! 

So, which to choose from the above? Or none and start again? Or have some of the curved shapes overlapping  rather than getting cut off at the straight edges - just thought of that -I'll have to go and print out some more!  

Grass Cuttings

 I took a quilt into work today and hung it on the wall - it looks at home above a spreadsheet of 140  threatened mosses needing conservation action. I moved desks a couple of weeks ago after nearly 15 years in an office that also serves as the tea-room. Somehow I never felt like hanging anything up there  but now, despite being  tucked into a corner of the main lab, it feels a more personal space. 

The quilt is  titled 'Grass Cuttings', companion piece to 'Grass Clippings' (below) which was selected for 'Fabric of Nature' exhibition at Nature in Art Museum and Gallery, Gloucester in 2004. It then went onto Festival of Quilts in 2005, and Yusa-Machi in Japan in 2006.

 They were both made from the scraps leftover from a double size bed quilt started in an Alison Schwabe workshop at 'La Maison du Patchwork'. Now I've got my Pfaff Grandquilter that may even get quilted and put into action!

I was so pleased with the effect of these 2 scrap quilts that I attempted the same technique when CQ had the 'Fissures' challenge. But it never got off the ground - far harder to manufacture scraps than you might think!

CQ Summer School - Indigo

Back from a very enjoyable and productive weekend at Alston Hall on Contemporary Quilt Summer School meeting up with friends old and new. I had chosen to do class with Edwina MacKinnon using indigo and potassium permanganate on theme of 'sea and sand' and having access to an indigo vat, I'd done a bit of preparation stitching lines in cloth (my train sewing projects) and seaming fabric tubes for pole wrapping.
I hadn't used potassium permanganate before (at least while not at work) - it was very straight forward and produced some interesting colours, particularly on silk
I was very pleased with the results from the pole wrapping, producing some lovely marks. The stitching results were a bit disappointing - I thought I'd gathered them up well, but obviously not enough although the blue on blue subtle markings I'm sure will prove useful. Just not sure worth the effort. I'll show some of my stash in another post.
Alston Hall is a lovely venue with glorious views over the Ribble Valley , friendly and helpful staff and very tasty food. We thought the meringues were spectacular until we met the banoffee pie.....Picture all these ladies saying 'I shouldn't really' and tucking in with gusto. Dyeing, painting and stitching is such hard work.

There were lots of photo opportunities - this door into the beautiful walled garden was striking
I however prefer a bit of weathering - revisiting my favourite fence post (I'll be very upset when they get round to repainting it!) and discovering the door to the glasshouse. Hope they don't renovate it too soon

Bexhill Breakwaters at Quilt Museum

As the 'Breakthrough' Exhibition by Contemporary Quilt has now opened at the Quilt Museum,
I can finally reveal my entry displayed there "Bexhill Breakwaters"


It is 60cm square, based on photos and sketches of Bexhill-on Sea last year , constructed from an old Durham quilt, stitched and painted, with inserts of old Japanese Kasuri fabric.
I made lots of preparatory materials including the handling sample required and a 'toile' to solve problems along the way. I'll share more about the process in next few posts- good practice for the Gallery Talk I'm giving at the Quilt Museum on the 28th April!