Janine's Journey - July 2023 - Finishing Touches
Hi Subscriber,
Another month raced by, no new projects started but that doesn't mean I
haven't been busy.
I have been working on finishing things before we go on holiday to
Canada and the Northwest Passage to Greenland. (Yes I do have a thing
about the polar regions). I have been busy finishing my entries for
QuiltWest (The big Quilt Show in Western Australia), finishing
everything for the Teacher Accreditation Program and finishing other
projects.
I must admit I hate doing the finishing things like bindings, hanging
sleeves or mounting on stretched canvas and neatening the back.
I suspect it probably has something to do with the hand sewing involved!
In my enthusiasm to start the next project these things often get left
until I absolutely have to do them.
Well with QuiltWest, this month was that month when I couldn't put them
off any longer -yuk
As most of my work gets mounted over a stretched canvas I am normally
not too concerned if the back it is not perfect but entering quilt
shows is a totally different story. I am surprised how much of a
perfectionist I am becoming and felt quite disillusioned about how they
looked.
I seriously considered withdrawing them!
With the new machine I didn't realise I needed to recheck the tension
after winding each and every bobbin even when using the same thread.
The sky on the big Antarctic scene ("Window to Paradise") looked great
from the front but not so the back.
Bottomline is it had to come out .....so the day before it was dropped
off for judging, here I am unpicking a large area of dense quilting and
then that morning requilting it with correct tension.
Nothing like leaving it to the last minute....time will tell if it was
worth the effort but at least I felt better about it.
_____
Banksia Flower 2
For my workshop I did another mosaic banksia as a sample (and to take
photos so I could put together a step by step Handout).
I didn't want it to be exactly the same, so the background on this one
is more brown, tan and mustard.
The basic design is the same then I decided to mix it up more with the
quilting. I decided to have a go at Trapunto.
Trapunto is a technique to enhance certain part of the design with
extra batting to make it puffy and stand out more.
I started with using a thin layer of wadding behind the design and just
stitching the flower spike. The excess batting around the outside is
cut off.
Then for good measure (because I didn't really know what I was doing) I
did another layer of polyester wadding over the flower spike and leaves
and again cut off the excess.
It made it look a bit like an octopus from the back!!
Finally I put batting over the entire back and quilted the background.
Image 5260184
Image 5260181
For the background quilting I went for pebbles as on this one I wanted
something curvy to contrast with the rectangles of the flower.
With all the trapunto the flower spike was sticking out a bit too much
(I was a bit over zealous) so I quilted a couple of lines down the
spike.
I'm really happy with how it turned out and actually prefer it to the
green background version. What do you think?
Image 5260180
Image 5260202
_____
Mosaic Banksia Workshop
A small group of enthusiastic and talented students attended my Mosaic
Banksia workshop. It feels really weird calling them students,
especially when some of them are excellent teachers and far more
experienced than me!
Anyway it was a productive day with the prep work of a detailed handout
paying off. In spite of being nervous I thoroughly enjoyed the day and
think their results look great.
I have now completed all the other requirements and are officially a
WAQA Accredited Teacher.
Now to put together some workshops both in person and online.
Image 5260178
Image 5260175
_____
Piped Binding
The Cape Leveque quilt was made for the teacher accreditation but as I
also entered it in QuiltWest I wanted to be proud of it.
I learnt a lot making it and were conscious of some of its short
comings on the design front. I now realise why pieced quilts generally
have a border to take in account movement while quilting!
Anyway I decided it needed a bit extra so went for a piped binding.
That meant more techniques to master. I made the piping using a Perle 8
cotton thread so it wasn't too pronounced. The piping gets sewn to the
front of the quilt. The binding is placed on top of the piping but gets
sewed from the back, using the previous stitching line as a guide.
Finally the binding gets hand sewn on the back.
I think it ended up rather effective.
Image 5260185
Image 5260183
_____
Mounting over a stretched canvas
More of those finishing things I have been putting off!
"Bombora" has been patiently waiting to be converted to a stretched
canvas. As it was already the size of the canvas it was to go over, it
was just a matter of removing the old binding and replacing it with new
binding that was wide enough to cover the canvas. From the front it
looks like normal binding with mitred corners but instead of being hand
sewn on the back of the quilt it is stapled to the back of the canvas
frame.
If you haven't seen it before "Bombora" was made early last year and
was part of the 2022 Coastal Threads exhibition. It is only small at
only 30 x 30 cm (12 x 12 inch). It is a fabric collage with thread
painted details on a sun dyed background based on photos we took at
Gracetown, WA. The spray is hand stitching with a thicker decorative
thread.
It has now been listed on my website here
Image 5260200
Image 5260198
While I was mounting pieces "Morning Glory" and "Banksia Flower" also
got the stretched canvas treatment.
"Morning Glory" is listed here
and "Banksia Flower" here
Morning Glory
Morning Glory
Image 5260197
_____
Rope Wrap Bag
It was good to get another project finished.
I had been wanting to do a rope wrapped bag for some time but never got
round to it. I was really happy when we did them at the Contemporary
Textile Group and made some good progress on the day, but didn't get it
finished it.
It sat there taunting me while I had more pressing deadlines....finally
this month it got finished.
Image 5260173
Image 5260174
_____
Screen Printing
Another one of those techniques I have been wanting to try.
At Contemporary Textiles we had a play making stencils using glossy
paper.
I can't take any credit for the bird print, that is a proper screen
designed by the wonderful Jennie Abbott. Still not sure what I am going
to do with it but I will eventually use it... I promise Jen!
Image 5260176
Image 5260177
_____
Upcoming Events
QuiltWest is this week!!! It is part of Craft Alive Perth
We are setting up tomorrow and it is open August 3 - 6 at Claremont
Showgrounds. I will be there all day Thursday and Friday then fly out
on holiday late Friday night. Pop in and say hello.
Palette Fremantle (1 Freeman Loop, North Fremantle WA 6159) are having
an exhibition to raise money for the Stroke Foundation. It is an
exhibition of small scale artwork (max size 40 x 40 cm) from August 10
to Sept 3.
I will have 4 pieces in it - Bombora, Morning Glory, Banksia and Blue
Fan Coral. You can find more info about the event here
I nearly forgot to mention, that yet again, I was unsuccessful with my
penguin pieces not getting into Art Quilt Australia.
Not really a surprise based on past experiences.
_____
I'm not sure what will happen with next months newsletter as we aren't
due home to early September.
Well that is about it for now, I really must get this sent as so much
to do before we go away - minor things like packing!
Take care
Janine
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