Challenging Colours & Fabrics

Indian Sari Series #1: 2010  (Started: 2004)
Garden in the Amber Fort

On display at the Australia Day Exhibition 2011

I wanted a simple block to highlight several ikat handloomed fabrics I had discovered in Nehru Place.  And feature those bold colours so loved in India!  I found an interesting design for a background in a bamboo sampler design that I adapted.  It was interesting because the plaid increased incrementally over the length of the quilt.  This seemed a great place to make a start.  I also deliberately chose an asymmetrical design – I guess that’s the Japanese influence coming out too. 

Preparing my fabrics wasn’t easy as I only had a bucket in my shower to wash them.  Here I learned about renegade dyes…. And then later about fussy cutting! The quilt went together quite easily and as always the ever-reliable Hopkins & Martin ensured my rotatory cutting was less wasteful and more accurate.  The main feature for this whole “set” of quilts however, was always going to be that fab ikat fabric.  Don't even ask about the choice of yellow - it just seemed to work...

Close-up of fabrics, quilting & those prairie points

With a few bulges...line dried

Finally I used a sarong I’d purchased in Kathmandu as backing.  The colour red has special significance especially to married women in India & Nepal.  The whole thing was machined and I managed to eventually locate some wadding to baste it together. (Wadding is not something needed in Delhi’s warm climate, although there are traditional quiltmakers – just not quilts similar to the ones we were making.)

For those interested (& as it’s quite fashionable at the moment) ikat is a resist “tie & dye” process where threads are dyed in a specific pattern before being woven to complete the design.  Here’s a few descriptions of the ikat process to follow up on:

Here's a simple description of ikat or a more complex one with lots of detail to follow up on.

 

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 119 x 140cm
Block Sizes: various
Cut in: 27^th Jun 2004
Pieced & Basted: Machine Pieced 2004; Basted 2005
Quilted: Machine & Hand 2010
Quilt Type: Own Design
Quilt Finished: 2010
Exhibited: Australia Day, 2011
Collection: Home# 042
Pattern Name: Various
Pattern Source: Own Design
Fabrics Purchased: India 2004
Fabric Design: Ikats
Fabric Style: Handwoven Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Cotton Batt
Backing: Cotton Sarong

Luminary Assets

Rosy Autumn: 2010  (Started: 2000)

Our King Parrots felt right at home

We (four of our RLI group) had somehow lucked in with a place for a day’s workshop with colour master extraordinaire, Kaffe Fassett.  We assembled (nervously) at the Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre on 18^th June 2000, with great hopes that he could teach us his best colour secrets in only a few hours. 

Our homework had simply been to assemble a collection of blowsy prints in either autumn or spring colourways.  We had even been told not to be afraid to tea dye various selections to have them “fit” better and  warned off overly “matching” our selections too.  I chose a tawny rose selection - autumn colours that I probably wouldn’t have normally selected in a combo of bright reds, rusty oranges and eucalypt greens.

The pattern, Tawney Rosy, was in Kaffe’s book “Patchwork”.  It involved placing our fabric selections into a simple formula that allowed us to develop our eye for colour selections. (I’m not sure I was really convinced it would work at the start!)

• Fabric A: bold large scale florals
• Fabric B: smaller scale prints
• Fabric C: neutrals including stripes, plaids, tone prints or toiles

These fabrics were then chopped up into different sized blocks (see his book for the recipe!) to be ready on the day to play.  

An explosion of colour

And play we did!  If Kaffe thought you needed another fabric to “improve” your set, he would happily delve into a neighbour’s stockpile.  We learned how to share – and consider our selections – shaking up the usual suspects.  Both Kaffe and Brendon Mabley made the day very challenging yet most rewarding.  By the end of it we had a top pinned (to a flannel sheet) ready to machine. Go Rinny!

I finally had my quilt basted by Dec 2001 but it took me a couple of machine quilting classes (Lee Cleland & Kim Bradley) and lots of practice to give me the confidence to take on the quilting.  It was some 9 years later, (2010) before I felt that I had the right pattern & technique to finish!   Now I look back, I believe one thing that held me back was that no matter what I did to the quilt, I felt it was always going to be a KF quilt.  Eventually I chose a simple an autumn leaf design (that I made up myself) and even managed a decorative label to finish it off. 

King Parrots - two males, one a rare albino; 

This is my label.  I guess you knew that!

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 169 x 172cm
Block Sizes: 9”; 4.5”; 3”
Cut in: 2000
Pieced & Basted: Machine 2001
Quilted: Machine 1995
Quilt Type: Workshop
Quilt Finished: 2010
Exhibited: Dangar Island Australia Day 2011
Collection: Home# 038
Pattern Name: Kaffe’s Nine Patch, Rosy Autumn
Pattern Source: Kaffe Fassett’s “Patchwork” p68
Fabrics Purchased: Group Choice
Fabric Design: Prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Thin Poly Batt
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
I still can’t believe how fortunate we were to get places at a workshop on mastering simplicity, colour and style with this amazing textile artist and his clever assistant. You just couldn’t do it now!  It is always worth the effort to challenge your perceptions, understand your limitations and learn from master artists.  I can see the true value in experiencing shared learning.  An experience not to be forgotten!

An Inspiring Legacy

Honey Bees Legacy: 2010  (Started: 1999)

Inspired in 1997 by the book "Legacy", Erica and I set out to one day make a Honey Bees quilt.  I used a pattern from Ruby McKim’s “101 Patchwork Patterns” rather than the one used by Talula Gilbert Bottoms.  She had made hers between the years of 1890 to 1910 (so that’s a relief – I was so slow doing mine!).  

We enjoyed the “Legacy” story written by Nancilu B. Burdick about her family, amazed that one woman, her grandmother, could have achieved so much given living conditions in the US at the time.  Barbara Brackman, a tireless author and historian, also offered an amazing array of patterns, historical information and blogs in the Civil War and other genres.  So much to choose from!

I had wanted to do a Honey Bees for ages so Burdick’s book was timely and proved to be motivational. I decided on an antique colourway and as luck would have it, Civil War style fabrics were becoming popular at the time.  Eventually I started making the blocks (1999) and although determined to make a hole in the growing stash, still managed to run out of my chosen prints before completing enough blocks.  So began the hunt for more fabric, or something similar, if I could find it. 

Sadly the colours don't "sparkle" in my photo.  Honey Bees set on point. 
(That's sunlight hitting the quilt not a stain!!)

Erica & I found and shared a rather nice fabric – an antique look was important to me and in Jan-Mar 2000 we got cutting and I had the extra I needed to finish piecing my top.  It took a couple of years to piece it up with all the machine work and hand applique but by 2003 it was basted and ready to quilt.  I didn’t take it overseas with me, so I didn’t finish hand quilting it until April 2010.  (I noted in my diary that I took it to the Randwick Quilters April Meeting.)  Needless to say, Erica had completed hers long before!

I should mention the quilting design which I found in an edition of the Quilters Newsletter Magazine, (a Nov 2003 edition, the design on p.75 is called "Whirlwind - very handy). 

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 128x 168cm
Block Size: 12”
Cut in: 1999
Pieced: Hand & Machine Pieced 2001
Basted & Quilted: Started Hand 2003
Quilt Type: Personal Choice
Quilt Finished: April 2010
Exhibited:  Australia Day 2010
Collection: Home# 037
Pattern Name: Honey Bees
Pattern Source: Ruby McKim, 1962 p119
Fabrics Purchased: From my stash
Fabric Design: Antique look
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Hobbs Poly Down
Backing: Cotton

Lots of quilting with a pattern I found in
QNM (details above)

Lessons Learned:
My stash was starting to get out of control and I was determined to use it up.  One of the big lessons from this however is that the pattern you choose and the quantity you need rarely match the number of fat quarters left in your stash…  Of course, you can waste hours looking for those missing fabrics, but they’ve long since been discontinued.  Having read “Legacy” we really appreciated how much easier it is for us today.  How lucky are we with shops brimming with treasures that take your breath away?  And masses of on-line options with even more eye candy!  Even so, the bulging stash beckons and in true pioneer spirit, what I have on hand is used.  Of course, that didn’t stop me from adding a few little extra pieces to the collection – just in case I find the time to one day make up those quilts that live in my head.

Debra at Vintage Crafts & More kindly posted this Honey Bee
from Ruby McKim's book.  It's the pattern I used for my quilt.

Isn't it Always a Journey?

Ugly Twisters: 2010  (Started: 1999)

Hanging at Dangar Island Australia Day Quilt Exhibition 2011
(Margaret's bright hexagon flowers are on the right) 

This is a quickie strippy I did with Judy Hooworth at Maroubra with the Eastern Suburbs Quilters 28^th August 1999.  I can’t remember the exact details but somehow recall we had to bring our uglies with the intention of slapping them into something likeable…..  

It really was fast to piece but needless to say I didn’t like the resulting top (can you really make uglies attractive?).  Mind you, others in our workshop were more successful in creating attractive tops – perhaps I was trying too hard…  Eventually I added an outrageous border to pull it all together.  This improved it very little!  It’s rather a shame because I put together a pieced backing that I thought was rather nice. 

Finally by the end of 2001, the top made it to my pile needing backing & basting!  This was the start of my roundup in 2003 in prep for

a. my much anticipated new Bernina (read life-saving machine quilting), and

b. as part of my “clean up” of the UFO pile, which regrettably, I am still working through!

But still this top lingered, unloved.  Needing finished quilts to display for our 2011 Australia Day exhibition, I made an effort to get this one completed and have to say that I am finally at rest with this project – it doesn’t look too bad now.  I stitched a cable pattern in the wholecloth strips (hand quilted with sashiko thread) and machine quilted various feather cables in the pieced strips.  It looked quite good hanging up.  Maybe those uglies are finally growing on me…

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 142x 142cm
Block Size: 5“
Cut in: 1999
Pieced & Basted: 2001
Quilted: Machine & hand 2010
Quilt Type: Workshop
Quilt Finished: 2010
Exhibited:  Australia Day 2011
Collection: Home# 033
Pattern Name: Simple 4 patch
Pattern Source: Judy Hooworth
Fabrics Purchased: Stash
Fabric Design: Mixed & Uglies
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Cotton
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
This was a nothing ventured, nothing gained workshop.  We all had fun and relaxed.  It is too easy to get caught up in “overthinking” projects wanting them to work out perfectly – every time and instantly…  This quilt slowly evolved, benefiting from a little time in the UFO box and improvement in my quilting skills.  Fresh eyes, either your own after being well rested, or those of a friend willing to say it like it is, can turn around an ugly.  Time spent in reflection is never wasted!

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same.  Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”  Don Williams Jr (poet & songwriter)