another sunday, anther burnt quilt...

sorry for the quality of the photos - still using the phone... this effort is another burnt quilt - this time i used big swathes of fabric instead of little chopped up bits, then the organza layer, free motion quilting and zappo... the other difference is that i used lutradur as a base - i painted it with purple and black fabric paint and let the blowtorch zap holes in some parts.

i quilted circles and spirals in the middle and then a mix of fronds and claws across the rest of it. the colours are more intense in real life and the shiny, melted synthetic was reflecting like mad.

it was great fun :)

burnt quilt

here is the small burnt quilt i made yesterday - it's closer to A3 than A4. The base is a piece of old felted jumper with layers of synthetic, ribbon and sequin waste, covered in 2 layers of organza (a deep rose pink and then black) free motion quilted and then attacked zealously with a blowtorch. the photos are a bit blurry i'm afraid as they were taken with my phone and i haven't mastered the focussing bit but they give the general impression


and here is the painted lutradur - i think i will give it a wash of deeper purple with some undertones of black - the plan at the moment is to use the lutradur as a backing although i think it will need something else as well to add body

actual creative content....

but alas photos are still in my phone (and they won't be very good)

i am just starting to create again - the last few weeks have seen some tentative steps back to that headspace (hallelujah!)

today i made my first burnt quilt for months - the inspiration struck as i was driving along so had to quickly pull over and make some rough sketches. i had forgotten where my burning fabrics were so it took some rooting around and brain racking before i remembered that i had put them neatly away in a box under my bed. i could last remember seeing them shoved in a shopping bag behind the sofa......

last week i had a go at making annabelle's mosaic-looking squares. this method is a variation on one taught by dijanne cevaal and is absolute magic. you sew strips of fabric or ribbon or whatever onto a foundation and then cut 45 degree squares - which is where i came undone as maths has never been my strong point and the 2 inch squares i thought i was making turned out to all be 1 and s small something.. which was ok from a construction point of view as it doesn't matter how big the pieces are as long as they are all the same size. but i was completely mystified by the mistake and couldn't work out how on earth it had happened until a friend took me aside and explained Pythagoras' theorum to me in words of one syllable and with pencil and paper.

i had a lovely time buying ribbons in reds, purples and oranges and alternated them with strips of red japanese silk. i sewed them onto a foundation of stiff interfacing painted purple. and it is now in the marinating awaiting further inspiration stage.

i also finished the random kimono quilt - well finished enough to use - i'm still not sure if and how to bind it as it is bumpy around the edges. jumping in and just sewing is all very well but it makes the finishing a lot harder :) i ended up machining a herringbone stitch in red thread just along the seam lines and because i had just thrown it together there were quite a few seams with many layers of fabric. so i broke quite a few needles and i don't think my machine has quite forgiven me.

photos when i download the phone - possibly tomorrow