Elements

I'm almost embarrassed to post this after all this time. But a bit proud that I actually saw it through, though. I seem to be rather good at starting things with great enthusiasm when inspiration strikes, but then everyday life kicks inn and I get distracted by chores or new inspiration and another UFO has been born. That's what happened here as well: I eagerly joined Project Spectrum - Elements in 2009 all fired up with inspiration. Emily Dickinson's poem Wild Nights seemed to have it all - fire, air, earth and  water, and I decided to use the poem as inspiration for my quiltlets. They are only 8 x 12 " so I didn't think I'd be too owerwhelmed.

Fire was easy, the bed with flames and the beginning of the poem, hot colours and flame quilting, yes this was fun!

 

Air was next - light colours, a sea chart printed on organza, quilted air currents and fluffy organza clouds with pearl raindrops around the edge - yes I was on a roll!

Next in line was Earth and I was a bit baffled about how to illustrate "might I but moor tonight - in thee", but a boat in a safe harbour with brown and green hills seemed just right. I used brown and copper paintsticks and placed the fabrics on a basket to rub some pattern onto it in. The boat was coloured in with watercolour pencils and brushed with water to make the colours richer. A bit of brown wool around the edge finished it all off. So far, so good.
But then the doubts set in. Was the whole concept too cheesy? Using the poem like that? Disrespectful? So there it all stopped...

Until a couple of weeks ago when some friends and I started talking about those dreaded UFOs we all seem to have hidden away. I pulled the three little quilts out of hiding and decided to just go for it and make that dreaded fourth one. Water is my element after all, so how hard could it be? I didn't really stop to think, just did it - I used some water/sea-prints added a piece of folded and scrunched up Bali fabric to represent a boat, some beads and finished it all with a floral binding to represent Eden.

A few hours later it was all done. Not perfect, but finished. I stitched them all together adding some pearls in between and some ribbons and pearls for hanging and Elements was ready to go on the wall. Not perfect, but finished. And I got to try out some new techniques and ideas that I might use in other projects. Not too bad, after all.

Red and green

 No, it's not Christmas. I'm just a little late with my Project Spectrum project for May. Not a huge thing, just another mug rug. I just grabbed some scraps and stitched them together, cutting some gentle curves and slanted stitching lines. I included a green strip for interest and quilted it with green thread. The binding is from my jar of leftover binding scraps. The red one was too short, so I included a multi-coloured piece as well.

While I was in full swing, I might as well continue with June and a green mug rug as well. For this one I cut four rectangles of the light green and added strips randomly at both sides, leaving a strip of the green foundation in the middle. The rectangles were trimmed and stitched together and I quilted a spirally diamond from the middle.
I will keep looking for green inspiration throughout the month, before I start concentrating on blues for July.

Green inspiration

Some green inspiration to share today. I have been pinning green images to keep in the Project Spectrum spirit, where June is the green month. I had lots of ideas for May, but didn't actually get round to starting a red project until the very last day. I still have a bit of binding to stitch, before I disclose the result - a whole mug rug! Not much, I know, but still... And today I actually made a green one as well, so with a bit of hand stitching tonight I might just have something to show you tomorrow!

It's that time again

Project Spectrum is starting up again after a long break. I love that we are back to focusing on single colours this time,so we can scoot off in any direction we like.
I have no idea of what I want to make yet, but I guess it will be something quilt-related. I'm going to use some time to focus on the first colour - red - and gather inspiration first, and no doubt, an idea will pop into my head after a while. I love how such prompts as sticking to a certain colour or theme can take you off on paths you otherwise wouldn't have followed. What a perfect way to discover new things and learn something about your own likes and dislikes!

In order to keep track of the colours, I have made a simple little colour calendar - feel free to use it if you like. And the Project Spectrum logo in the sidebar will take you straight to the Flickr pool to see what everybody else is doing.

Dabbling

I seem to have been unable to settle down and DO anything lately. I was so eager to sew after I had got my fabric all sorted, but none of my marinating quilts seemed very tempting, so what does a quilter do? She starts a new project of course!
I had picked out three fabrics for a tablecloth a while ago, and wanted to try my hand at the "Disappearing Nine-patch" craze which seems to have gripped most of my friends lately. It soon turned out that the amount of fabric I had purchased was not enough for more than a little table topper though, so that too came to a rest. Then it occured to me that I have this Project Spectrum thing going. I finished the Fire quilt on time, and thought I would have plenty of time for Earth, but before I knew it we were well into June. It was actually almost finished by the end of the first week of June, but I didn't quite know how to finish it, so I started straight away working on Air. While I was doing that, it occured to me that some brown knitting wool couched along the edge would do the trick. It stil needs some beads or hand embroidery or something, but I'll get around to that shortly. I'm quite pleased with Air, though, which has puffy organza clouds around the edge.
Come August it is time to start on Water, so I must see what ideas I can come up with there. I'll show these two as soon as the embellishing is done.

Things seem to be picking up on the quilting front, though - I bought some more of the tan fabric for the tablecloth yesterday, so I can add a couple of borders, and that might just do the trick. And I received the most amazing and inspiring quilt book from Amazon yesterday. More about that later, let me just say that I can't wait to start making something new!

Dotty bag

It's done! You won't be hearing about this bag forever now - because yesterday I finished it! There was a lot more work involved than I anticipated. Of course some of it I brought on myself because I chose to quilt it to within an inch of its life before I actually started constructing the bag itself. And then the very heavy interfacing made it a bit difficult to work with, plus I had to try out a few changes that probably didn't make my life any easier... But it's done, and I must admit I like it.
One of my favourite aspects is the aforementioned hardware - I love the contrast between soft fabric and these huge carabin hooks and shackles - that's what they are called - when in doubt, check the packaging... Google tells me that they are pin shackles used for the rigging of boats, so there, now I know. And they can also be used for the rigging of handbags - I bet they didn't know that at the hardware store ;-)

So that's another project ready - what next? Too much time spent at the sewing machine lately means that the dust bunnies are taking over, so I'll have to spend some time with my hoover before I do anything else. Then it's on to the next project - Project Spectrum, Earth, is next in line, I think. I have been googling pictures of moored boats for this one -I'll see where that leads me. I must go have a look at my green and brown fabric to get some inspiration I think...

Hold on, hoover first, play later!

Fire

After failing too keep up with Project Spectrum last year, I decided that this year, with only four assignments it would be much easier...
Well, it has been *almost* finished for quite some time, if that counts!

Project Spectrum is all about celebrating the colours around us, and this year it has been tied up to the elements, and as you can probably guess from my pictures, Fire was the first one. I decided to focus on one craft this year, so I'm making four small quilts, 8 x 12". After a few quick sketches I ended up with a concept so the four "quiltlets" will tell a story together. I've chosen a poem as my starting point, and snippets from it will appear in all four pieces.
I wasn't quite sure about adding a binding - I thought the small format might be overwhelmed by it, but I decided to go for it, using a new technique I saw in a friend's quilt and that I have been eager to try: I stitched the binding on from the back, and sewed it on to the front by hand, adding a bead with every stitch. Not something I would like to repeat for a large quilt, but doable for this little one. I quite like the effect. It looks a little crooked and uneven in the pictures, but it is quite straight in "real life"!
We are way into April and the next element, which is Earth. My schedule is not as full now as it was in March, so I should be able to finish it by May. I have the idea clear in my head, so it's just a matter of getting those green and brown fabrics sorted and then there is that lovely Bronze Paintstick I just bought. "Next week", I promise myself...

Project Spectrum - Fire

Ever since Lolly started Project Spectrum a few years back, I was intrigued by the idea - to challenge yourself to create something within a limited timeframe using a certain colour. A good way of stretching yourself to work with colours you don't normally use. I jumped in with both feet first declaring that YES! this was something I wanted to take part in. I started eagerly and followed the scheme for a while, but eventually the flow of projects dried in to just a trickle. A new surge came last year when we were to use colour-sets, but life intervened and I forgot about it. This year, however I have every intention of following through. There are only four groups of colour this time, and even better, they are linked to an idea - the elements, starting with Fire, which gives great inspiration. I have been mulling it over for a while, but now I am ready to start. My Spectrum projects will be quilts, of course, and I have the general idea of what to include in all four quilts, although that might change somewhat along the way, but I intend to end up with four quilts that will be connected by a common theme. They will be small: 8x12",which makes it more likely that I'll carry through to the end.
I have gathered the materials for the first quilt, Fire and the construction is well under way - oh what fun I'm having!

New month, new projects

My Emily Dickinson sampler is finally ready for framing. I came across this pattern in Stitcher's World in 2000 and have been meaning to stitch it ever since. It took me a while to get started... It's not my usual style - whatever that is, but I liked the colours, and the excuse to hang an Emily Dickinson poem on my wall was another reason to choose this. I've been working on it on and off for quite a while - more off, than on, to tell you the truth, because the actual stitching didn't take that long now I come to think about it.

Finishing one project is the perfect excuse to start a new one, but which one, I wonder... There are so many ideas floating around in my head that I really need to tame them a bit. I have been playing with the idea of starting a journal to collect my ideas and maybe become a bit more structured about my crafting. This blog is a help of course, but there is something to be said for a book I can hold in my hand and scribble, draw and colour in. I have been collecting pictures for inspiration for ever, and sometimes make simple collages with them. The first thing I see every morning is this one - a framed collection of postcards from the V&A - one of my favourite places in London. Here are samples of wallpaper, tiles, fabric, tapestries and quilts and some embroidered waistcoats designed by Kaffe Fasset who also gets a lot of inspiration from the V&A.

Maybe I can get some inspiration here for Project Spectrum. The colours for June/July are red, black and metallics.
Talking about colour and inspiration - have you seen this Flickr Toy, the Palette Generator? It will give you a palette of colours based on any photo you upload. Great starting point when you want to sort out your colours for a new project, I think! Must go to play some more...

Love is all around

A new colour scheme for Project Spectrum this month: green, yellow and pink. How appropriate that I have just finished this baby quilt! I did one in blue and green earlier that worked out very well, I think. When I needed one for a baby girl I decided to use the same pattern, but I'm not quite sure about this one. I love the combination of pink and yellow, but the colours are probably too similair in value for it to work as well as the previous one did. Or maybe the pink fabric is too busy. With the blue one you really get a 3D-feeling with those squares and frames popping out, but not as much in this one, though. I still like it - nice colours and as you can see from the close-up, it's full of love ;-) and that's what a baby girl needs, right! The colour goes well with her name as well - Ruby. No jokes about "Ruby don't take your Love to town" please, though that song has been spinning around in my head while I've been quilting. Let's stick with "Love is all around"!
There's more pink in store for this month as well, as I'm happily quilting my Amy Butler quilt - yes, finally! It's been waiting in the wings for far too long, but I'm getting there now. It's a reversible quilt - both sides are pieced, so it was a nightmare to line up straight on my own. When shall I learn to ask for help? I spent Saturday at the quilt shop (where thay have large tables in the back room) helping a friend to layer and baste her bed sized quilt, and it was such a breeze, there being two of us for the job. Remind me that I ask for help on my next quilt!
I've been doing a lot of small projects lately, and that's not really "me" so it's about time that I get back on track - lots of lovely fabric waiting for the projects I have planned for them, and my sewing room is organized enough to have space to work, but not so much that it kills the creativity. I'm hoping to get a head start this Easter with a few days off from work. Just one more day at the office and my sewing machine and I are off on our next jaunt!

So far so good

I've been promising to post pictures of my scrap quilt, and here it is. The first twelve blocks are ready and I'm more than halfway on the next twelve. I decided to make it in batches of twelve at a time to allow for string piecing without getting too bored.There is something said for actually finishing some blocks so you can show them off - it makes it seem like you have actually accomplished something. The blocks are 11 x 11" and "extremely scrappy". I was worried at first, because I didn't really like the look of them up close, but laying them out on the floor and getting gut reactions from people around me has convinced me that I am on the right track after all. This was going to be a predominantly blue quilt (in keeping with Project Spectrum guidelines), and I think I'll use less of the contrasting greens, yellows and pinks in the last 24 blocks and then alternate them with the colourful ones I have made so far, to give a slightly calmer impression. I like how the varying widths of the strips set the blocks off from each other by not letting the seams match, while still giving the overall impression of big blocks.
The funny thing about piecing with scraps though - as I'm sure others have noticed before me - is that they multiply! I started with a full bag of strips. I have made almost 24 blocks and been ruthless about throwing out the smaller pieces and the bag is still full! How does this happen? The whole point here was getting rid of some fabric, but by the looks of it I can make several quilts from what I have left in the bag ;-).

The entire spectrum?

Well, I did say I was getting back on track, didn't I? I jumped into the Project Spectrum thing with both feet first when Lolly launched the idea in January and started my red and pink project right away. Plans were afoot to continue right on with the yellow, but that was about a month late, I skipped blue altogether (unless you count the turquoise) and the green was also a tad late, but here I am in August right back on track with the neutrals. I bought these just before I went on holiday, to knit some of the lovely "Beach Bunnies" from Simply Knitting, so that's what I'm going to start working on now. Yes, I know, there's the Clapotis and some other things, but a girl needs to have a bit of variety, you know? I bought the yarn at my local quilt and yarn shop at a stitch-n-bitch evening and told everyone what I was going to make. We are having a new gathering next Thursday so I thought it would be fun to have actually made them, and as the colours fit right in with this month's Project Spectrum, what better time than the present? Anyway, that's the excuse I'm using, LOL!

Now I know that the intention of the PS was to have a bit of fun, and it is not as if I'm feeling guilty about not keeping up, or anything ;-). In fact it has made me focus more on colour and where you find it. The Project Spectrum pool is a great inspiration, although I never made it as a member there - I was new toFlickr, and didn't find out how to join before we were a month into the project and then I worried it was too late, duh! If the project continues I promise I'll join the group ;-)