River of Dreams 2016 Quilt Show

So, yesterday I made a trip to Limerick to visit my first quilt show here which also has my first show quilt - "Pasque Flower". Here it is in the context of the show:

I was persuaded to pose for a photo with it, although I was dressed for the bus and not looking my best ;))

Now the bragging is done, let's talk about the quilt show itself)). It took place in the magnificent setting of the Limerick School of Art and Design. The gallery interiors are really imposing:

The quilts are mostly more or less traditional - pieced, appliquéd, hand- and machine-quilted, ranging in size from huge king-size (or more) to exquisite miniatures. The halls are also decorated with fun arrangements of patchwork birds.

Here are some of the quilts that caught my attention:

"Fuinneoga" by Karin Greyling

"El Dorado" by Monica Walsh

"Santorini" by Maureen Talbot

"Tickle my Fancy" by Ann McInerney

"Striped cubes" by Tracey Edwards

"Peacock" by Regina Moloney

The photos below show Tomomi McElwee's quilt from Modern Quilters Ireland Quilting Bee 2014, with has absolutely stunning quilting (every block is different):

"Bookshelf" by Tomomi McElvee

"Bookshelf" by Tomomi McElvee (quilting detail)

"Bookshelf" by Tomomi McElvee (quilting detail)

Another beautifully quilted piece, this time hand quilted. The photo is not that clear, but the quilting lines run around the polka dots and along the zigzags in the fabric.

"Whacky Tula" by Tineke Nuyten (quilting detail)

You'll never guess the size of this beauty:

"Flower Trellis" by Gwen Cottis

It's 11'' squared, actually! The strips in the central blocks are less than 1/2'' wide! There are a number of other beautiful miniatures as well.

This is by no means an exhaustive account, the show is really worth seeing while it's still running))

The lovely ladies "on duty" at the show were really helpful and one of them (the author of the magnificent peacock above) even drove me to the Limerick Quilt Center - a real treasure trove of fabrics and supplies. I stocked up on some sale fabric and then had to get back for the bus.

I didn't have any extra time time to wander around the town, besides it was drizzling off and on all day, but I did manage to take a couple of photos of the iconic King John's Castle:

Seashells on the Seashore - WIP

My beach quilt is in its final phase - quilting. I had the process planned from the very beginning and expected it to be tedious, but it is turning out harder than I thought, so I'm taking a little break to stand back and consider.

The idea is to make the sea creatures pop up from the surface, so I used the trapunto technique: first added a layer of batting to the top and stitched around the edges in the FMQ mode, then trimmed the excess batting around the appliqué shapes very carefully with sharp little scissors (though I did snip a couple of stitching threads in the process, I managed not to cut the top fabric...phewww).

I also added a few quilting lines on shells and turtles to add more interest to the large shapes.

Then I put together the sandwich with really fun fabric I chose for the back, basted and prepared to quilt. The obvious choice of quilting design was pebbles, but I also decided to strew around some seashells. Here is a little sample I made to try it out:

The hard thing with trapunto is that you have to stitch around the appliqué shapes yet again, at the same time trying to keep the pebbles looking natural in the small spaces between tentacles, legs and tails )))

Here is how it's going at the moment:

Not perfect, but thanks to the thread color which blends with the darkest spots in the background, the mistakes are less obvious than in the sampler above ;))

Linking up with Off the Wall Friday and Free Motion Mavericks - and off to do some cutting and piecing to relax))

Unbearable Lightness

My first hand-quilted piece is finished!

It has been a fun journey that started with a piece of fabric with bubbles on it, which I bought just because I liked the colors and for a long time could'n figure out what to do with. I didn't want to cut it up into small pieces))

The next step was playing with triangle-graphed paper, sketching some possible designs for English paper piecing. When I drew a couple of intersecting circles, they reminded me of bubbles and I immediately thought of that fabric. After finalizing the design and choosing the rainbow fabrics, I started the EPP. It's interesting to consider that all in all in this project I used freezer paper in three different ways, and each time it made the process so much easier. I think I'll have to write a special post about it ;))

Anyway, the finished EPP shape was appliquéd to the pieces of background and then I thought (as I wrote previously) that it had so much handwork in it already that it would be a shame to machine quilt it. Thus, I embarked on my first hand quilting adventure. I decided to quilt circles in variegated thread - another way to represent bubbles (which makes it a triple bubble quilt - I first wanted to name it Double Bubble, but the quilting ruined the pun)))

This photo has more shadows and so the quilting relief is more visible

Even while I was quilting I started looking for a suitable binding - something that wouldn't "promote" just one of the colors, but would have some variation and some fun in it as well. I had no luck in several shops until I decided to visit a sale at Fabric Matters, a nice little shop in the opposite end of Dublin from where I live))) The trip was well worth it, as I not only found the perfect binding for this quilt, but also binding for another WIP and generally stocked up on beautiful fabrics for planned projects at a discount, which just warms my heart)))

Here is another view with more shadows, to make the quilting stand out. See how the binding picks up the colors from the background? It has almost all of the colors in the quilt, except orange. By the way, the stitch that attaches the binding on the right side is the only machine stitch in the quilt, in the back the binding is hand-stitched))

I think I'll call it "Unbearable Lightness", though it's not final yet.

So, now I'll link it up to Let's Bee Social and Fabric, Thread and Yarn and on to work at another near-finish.

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The Road without End

One of my curved piecing samples is finished - complete with a sleeve.

I first wanted to quilt it all in simple curves like the hills, but the fabric in the road had a kind of cracked pattern, so I decided to support it in quilting, and then the central part of the road needed some grass. I don't quite like the quilting in the sky, it looks too busy for such a serene scene. Though in fact, in taking this picture I tried to make the quilting visible, whereas in fact it's not at all that pronounced as the quilts is hanging on the wall now.

The border is quite with more abstract curves and in a dark thread to set it apart from the main scene. I wrote more about the creation of this piece here.

Every time I was working on this piece - from the sketch to the quilting - there was one song running in my head, it's called "The road without end"and it comes from an old Russian film about Nicolo Paganini.

Linking this post to Off the Wall Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

Rainbow Rose QAL Week 3

Look what the postman brought yesterday!

A pretty pink parcel with my prize from the first week of the Rainbow Rose QAL - a lovely fat quarter bundle with a sweet note from Amy:

Thank you Ruth from Modern Quilters Ireland for organizing the QAL and thank you Love Fabric shop for the wonderful prize! This is Cotton Candy collection by Dashwood Studio and it has lovely colors (the dark one is actually more of a deep teal, though in the photo it looks more like navy) and fun modern prints. I am now thinking hard about a design that will do it justice. It will have to be something modern (and probably something Irish - do you think Irish chain is too obvious to consider?)))

This week's assignment was piecing the corners. I stuck to my layout with a minor change - having identified a lack of pastels I bought a piece of light yellow and another of light green (at a sale - bingo!), so I was able to use them. I am so glad that in this week's "theory" Ruth tackled the problem of value, exactly what I am struggling with)). 

So, these are my blocks (sorry for the photo quality, it was raining on and off the whole day, I did my best shooting them indoors):

And this is how it all looks together at the moment, the outer blocks, the two lightest circles in my value gradation:

Link this up to Modern Quilters Ireland QAL.

Ready for a beach party?

A final effort - and the appliqué is finished. It was a long and sometimes tedious journey for me, and I'm not quite pleased with how it is turning out, but I'm ready for the next step now.

I have already shown some of the making process here.

It's intended for the "On the beach" challenge at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Don't know about you, but every time I come to the beach, this is the scene I get to see)))

I wanted it to be a bright fun piece with a pattern emerging from the repetition of simple shapes in a gradation of colors - two-way gradation, actually.  It's 1.1 m squared, so the pieces are not too small to be comfortable for hand appliqué, although some legs, tails and tentacles were tricky for me (I know there are people out there who can handle the tiniest of pieces with sharp points, but I'm not there yet).

Originally I intended to use really dark background, possibly black, but when I saw this fabric at the Knitting and Stitching Show, it really reminded me of shallow sea water rippling in the sun, so I decided to use it. However much I love it, it's still a bit too light in value and it plays down the contrast between the background and the appliqué, to the point where the starfish are almost the same value as the background (I wasn't able to find any other fabric for them, all the others seemed either too dark, or too light or had too much grey or blue in them). My only hope is that the quilting will make the background a bit darker.

Although it's about time to finish it and I already have a quilting idea in my mind, I intend to get a couple of days off from it, to look at it on the wall to decide what binding to use, besides, I'm still not sure about the corners, probably they need filling in.

Here are some close-ups of the fun on the beach:

I like how this central shape is formed with two slightly different types of seahorse tails.

I put together the pattern basing just on the way the shapes look, and only when I finished the appliqué did I realize that turtles actually feed on jellyfish in nature, and these ones seem to swim rather avidly towards their prey))

Crabs were the most pain in the neck with their ten legs, thankfully there were only three of them)) In the end, I think they are my favorites, as these fabrics really kind of resemble the real crab texture and color (considering there are lots of different crab species, they surely resemble at least one of those;))

They seem to be directing a choir or an orchestra:

Which reminds me of:

Hope it puts you into the mood for some summer fun!

Linking up to Tweety Loves Quilting, Let's Bee Social at Sew fresh Quilts, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the river - do hop by and share in all the creative fun other people are having.

Rainbow Rose QAL Week 2

This week's assignment in the Modern Quilters Ireland quilt-along was to cut the background fabric and put together middle blocks. Reading Ruth's wonderfully detailed instructions about the color choices and the piecing process, I realized I have to finalize my fabric selection to make sure all the transitions were as smooth as possible, all things considered. To help me keep track of everything I made a sketch of the block...

And then glued to it little pieces of the fabrics I intend to use for each part.

In addition to the color gradient explained by Ruth, I put myself an additional challenge of a value gradient, which proved more difficult. The most problematic zone is yellow: although I have a few yellows  to choose from, they are all more or less the same value, because it's light color by definition, it's impossible to have a dark yellow, so creating a pronounced value gradient is tricky. I divided the block into 4 "belts" of different value levels: the innermost square is shaded (color plus a bit of black), the next is pure colors (the way you find them in a paint box), the next is tinted with a bit of white, and the final - with more white. The last one was the most difficult to find, as it turned out I don't have enough pastel colors, so I had to use the wrong side of fabrics a lot.

This little mock-up also helped solve the background dilemma: the outermost fabrics are about the same value as the light grey I was considering as an option, so it had to go and the white came out as an undisputed winner.

The background cutting was swift and uneventful)). Cutting triangles rather than squares was a bit trickier but still manageable. Here are my finished middles:

Don't you think they make a kind of nice block on their own ;))? 

Linking to the Fabric Thread and Yarn link-up

Throwback Thursday - The Sunny Sampler

When I came across the Throwback Thursday link-up in my wonderings through quilt-blogland, I thought it was a great idea, because I made most of my quilts before I started the blog. It would be fun to share some of them with the online community and I think it makes sense to start from the beginning - with my officially first quilt I made in a basic patchwork course I took at the Silk Road craft school in Kharkov, Ukraine.

I have so many fond memories connected with that course, my group mate Olya and our wonderful teacher Svetlana - it's impossible to recount everything, I'll just show you some of the blocks. 

Basically, in each 3-hour class we studied one technique, made one 30 cm block, and then could practice this technique at home, making another block or two.

We started with the simplest: learning how to use mat, ruler and cutter by cutting some random strips and piecing them together. They were intentionally "scrappy" not to stress out too much about precision in the beginning:

Two stitches I use for hand appliqué

I have a piece of hand appliqué which I have been working on for about three months (off and on), as I just feel too bored to do it for more than three days in a row)). As I took it out for another round, it got me thinking about the stitches used for hand appliqué, and I decided to run a small comparison and share it with you.

First of all I must register my frustration with a lack of clear and unambiguous names for hand stitches in English))) I had to choose the names which seem most recognizable.

When I do hand appliqué I mostly use the blind stitch (aka ladder stitch or slipstitch), however, in this current project (working title - "Beach extravaganza") I faced a problem - the background fabric was too large to handle conveniently, so I quickly switched to the more traditional appliqué stitch (I find that it doesn't have any special name in books and tutorials on appliqué, but to those who are familiar with clothes making it may be known as hemming stitch or fell stitch). It's a tiny and almost invisible version of the diagonal stitch.

So, here is a little comparative study of the two stitches for anyone facing a similar choice. And I have to stress that I use them both with appliqué pieces that already have their edges turned under with the help of freezer paper and/or starch or any other method, so the edge that you see is actually a fold.

So, let's look at each of the stitches closely:

Ladder Stitch (Slipstitch, Blind Stitch)

I find it easier to make when holding the background fabric with appliqué element pinned to it in my left hand, with the fingers below the fabric and the thumb above. This means that this stitch is best used for appliqué on a separate block or a small project (or the edge of a large one, as I did for this comparison).

Tie a knot on your thread and slip the needle from the wrong to the right side of fabric, so that it comes out in the background fabric but right next to the appliqué edge. Insert the needle into the fold (this is why it's good to hold the whole thing so that you can see the "profile" of your appliqué element) and move it inside there for 2-3mm (1/8 in), then bring it out of the appliqué and right into the background, move  it 2-3mm (1/8 in) underneath the fabric and bring it back up. That's one stitch that is done in one movement (with practice you can make several stitches without pulling the needle out).

If you stick your needle right into the fold of the appliqué piece, no stitching will be visible on the right side (that's why it's called blind stitch, after all), the piece will look like it's just lying atop the background.

Any minor disturbances in the fabric will disappear after pressing, and even further after quilting.

Here is a detail from one of my previous quilts, Waltz of the Flowers, with blind-stitch appliqué. You can see the line of quilting around the tulip, but not really any stitches that attach it to the background (except at the inner corners where I put extra stitches to prevent fraying).

There is one point, though, to consider about the blind stitch: it actually is a variation of the running stitch, which is widely known to be the least durable of all hand stitches. So, if you only quilt around your appliqué design, as I mostly do, you appliqué element is hanging by a thread, as it were, and there is a theoretical possibility that the stitching may get torn when handling the quilt. It hasn't happened to mine yet, but they are not yet that old (although the one above is on the bed of a four-year-old, which means no scruples in handling))). If anyone has any practical experience with that, please share in the comments.

Appliqué Stitch (Hemming Stitch, Diagonal Stitch)

The advantage of the hemming stitch in hand appliqué is that it can be done on the table, with your both hands on top of the fabric, which may be the decisive point when your background is over a meter square, as mine is in this case.

Tie a knot and slip your needle underneath the fabric (you'll only need to get underneath for the beginning and the end of your stitching), bring it out in the background fabric, but right next to the appliqué edge. Make a tiny stitch into the appliqué piece, perpendicular to its edge, catching just a couple of threads, feel your needle touch the table and slide it along the table surface for 2-3mm (1/8 in), then bring it back up, right next to the appliqué piece edge. In this method, I think, it's impossible to make more that one stitch in a go.

If you really manage to catch only a couple of threads, all you'll see on the right side is a row of tiny dots, which have their own charm and are for some people the definitive feature of hand appliqué. However, that also means your thread must match the appliqué color really well.

And here is another piece from the same project to showcase the dots))) If you step back a meter or two, you won't see them at all.

Being twice as dense and not as straight as the blind stitch, the appliqué stitch is more durable (after all, it's a variation of the diagonal or the whipstitch), though if your quilt is destined to peacefully hang on the wall that might not be an important consideration.

Summing up

So, here are they are side by side, can you spot the difference?

And the back...

And to sum it all up:

For those who have born with me thus far, a sneak peak of the company these two starfish guys are keeping:

So, this is my take on two stitches for invisible hand appliqué, both of which work great. It would be really interesting to hear what stitches you prefer for hand appliqué and what you call them. Please share your experiences and your thoughts on this))

I am linking this post to Off the Wall Friday

Fabric, Thread and Yarn Link Party

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop