Charity Quilt

The Castle Quilters meet every Wednesday at the Quad in Roscommon. Each year we make a quilt for charity, and I have to say I love the colours in this one for the St Vincent de Paul Society. We had the quilt professionally quilted and it looks amazing. Tickets are €2 each or a book of 6 for €10.

Trip around the world.

This is my piece from the workshop I took at the IPS this month. Cecile Flegg came down from Donegall to teach this workshop. I used fat quarters, batiks and marbles. I loved the way they came together almost like happy accidents. This was a very quick method and I'm looking forward to the final result. However this is on the back burner as I am working on my piece for our IPS exhibition next month. Cecile was a very nice lady and we all enjoyed working with her, and look forward to doing more workshops with her in the future.

Get your blogs on!!!!!!!

My Non Blogging friends are complaining that I'm not blogging enough, so girls here are some pics from my Paris trip. And a little encouragement to get your blogs going. Below are the beautiful arches at  "La Conciergerie". It was a former royal palace and prison. Marie Antoinette was condemned here.

This is the roof in a department store called Galeries Lafayette.
This one was taken from the boat under one of the many beautiful bridges on the river Seine.

First Screen Print

A few years ago I bought a screen printing kit by Daler Rowney. I finally found the courage to use it. However I did get a little help from a video I watched on DMTV by Linda and Laura Kemshall. Instead of using the acrylic paints that came with the set I took Laura's advise and used procion dyes.  I only made two prints as I was short on the thickening  ingredients.          Design Matters TV

 

This picture shows the colour being added to the flower, using markel paint sticks and some cheap tooth brushes. You also need to know how to use paint sticks, as they are not applied directly onto the fabric. I applied my freezer paper stencil back on top of the flower shape and applied the paint to the freezer paper and used  the brushes to pull the paint onto the fabric. A good stencil brush is also needed.

Here is is red one, its amazing how easy it is to achieve shading.  

You can see how different they look using different colours on the same image. 

I have added more background colour by adding a trellis and then stamping on top with a flower motif. Using fabric paint and fabric felt tips I coloured in the flowers and stems. A fine pen is also a good idea to outline the flower which helps to  add definition. I also refer to the Kemshalls book for technics.
The Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Color on Quilts

l

Workshop with Linda

Here is my bag I made at a workshop at the IPS in Galway on Saturday. Linda McMulkin gave a great talk and workshop in the afternoon. I used  some fat quarters I bought  last month when Linda brought her shop to our meeting. http://www.ragsforlinda.com/

Sketch Book

I am always taking photo's of birds in my garden to try and capture an interesting pose. Waiting for them to fly off, so I can get them in flight. So far the best poses are when they are still. I would love to do a sketch book page using the bird images. As I have never taken a class in drawing or painting I can always trace the shape first. I love the strength in his beak, unfortunately his eye is not clear.

Here is a page I created using a photo copy of a piece of fabric I have with some cows in a field of poppies. On the left I have cut out the head of a poppy and painted the leaves and painted some more poppies to the bottom of the cow page. I have not done many sketch book pages so I hope these will improve with practice

Quilting on the Horizon

This year I would like to improve my free motion quilting skills. Practice is probaly the best way to achieve this goal, so here is the first piece I want to share with you. I will also pass on tips I have picked up from other quilters who are happy to share.
This piece was only for testing technics from the The Painted Quilt book by Linda and Laura Kemshall. The cherries where stenciled using freezer paper and bleach and then couloured with paint sticks. I also tried out different methods of applying letters. As you can see I forgot about the word and added two ee 's instead of two R's. I used a varigated thread and  two different quilting designs. Please click the link below to watch Leah Day on You Tube. Giving advise on free motion quilting tools. I have bought these from her and find them very useful. You can also check out her web site for lots of advise and free motion quilting designs.  http:// www.daystyledesigns.com