Sorry everyone - time has been so tight that there was not room for sewing and blogging and with the Horizons deadline sewing won!

But I can report that Horizons is finished - the quilt that I feel I have been working on for months and months for the Festival of Quilts Contemporary Quilt gallery.

And here is the finished quilt (hanging over the back of a door).



Here is the little 20 cm 'sample' for handling.

I need a time machine!

Failing that a sewing machine will just have to do (though if Pfaff or Juki could combine the two I'd be at the front of the queue for one!)

Meanwhile - the hearts picture (which does need a name!) has gone to the framers!  Hooray!  I have a good framer in Gosport (my home - not my home from home!) who is used to my pieces with things hanging over the edge!   It's in good hands.

Meanwhile - on horizons.   Yes, this quilting is OK.  Feeling chuffed.


But whoops - tension issues!  But we'll just have to live with it!


Placing the big arch and the left hand side is trimmed.


The wording is placed (trust me - that was hard! )


The end is in sight! Yay!

But I have the week from hell!  Hoping to grab minutes when I can!

... is still not enough.

Bother the need for sleep and food - though I do not begrudge Whippet X his walks.




So, if you read my last post you'll know that the clock is ticking and that I have to get a lot done in June.

Well first up the 'Hearts' poem is finished.


Now this is not the best photograph and infact I now realise that this photo is not quite the finished piece as I added more beading on the right hand side.  That's my hand on the left holding the paper.  I cannot prop it up to photograph as the hearts at the bottom overhanging the piece are getting a little battered.

If I can, I will take it out and lay it flat to take a final photo, but really this is ready for the framer and in order to keep it fresh I now need to handle it as little as possible.

Now, can I say I am really happy with it?  It's not quite my usual style, but is made with a person in mind and I think is ideal for her.  So yes I am.  It is safe?  It doesn't push any boundaries but it is also personal and un-challenging.  Ideal for a present I think.  I hope you like it.  Much more to the point - I hope she likes it!

The book wrap is on hold - that has a July deadline.  I can come back to that!

So what about Horizons!  Well, there has been some progress.




The sky at the top is machine quilted.




Threads are selected for the middle panel which I will hand stitch.

Quilting for the bottom panel has commenced, but I'm having tension issues!  But I am just going to have to live with them.  I cannot take the stitching out at the bottom - there just isn't time. And this isn't a competition.

I will be working on this now everyday until it is ready to go.  Deadline is so perilously close!!

Writing my last post made me realise just how much I've got to complete in June, so this weekend I cracked on with it.

First up is a 'Why Falling in love is like Owning a Dog'.

I am doing a reading of this poem by Taylor Mali in July, and decided that it would be lovely to give a version of the poem printed out to the couple in question as a present.

I started to research calligraphers, but felt the style wasn't quite right, and then I found a company that would print and mount a poem for you.  But it was a very bland presentation, and not right for me to give as a gift (if you see what I mean).

So and very last minute because it normally takes me months and months to plan any new work, I decided to do it myself.

First up the background.

I am using khadi paper with a lovely flecked texture.

Your can just about make out the hearts cut from freezer paper, which I stuck on and then I sprayed the paper with a brusho ink solution.



Then, using the 'waste' from the freezer paper I had used to cut the hearts, I added additional hearts with oil sticks and a stencil brush.


The next dilemma was the words.

I did consider using a thermofax screen and if I had had time this is what i would have done.  I would have made several background papers, and then done several print runs before deciding on the right one.  But I need to get this finished and to the framer, so in the end I discounted that (which in honesty would have been my preferred solution) and decided to print the poem on using a copier instead.

But my copier only takes A4 so I decided to scan the background paper I had made and then print an A4 sheet over the top.

This was tricky and there were several attempts at this, including which colour to print the actual poem (in the end I opted for dark green).


Now all I had to do was to decorate the whole and disguise the line of the paper with the poem (in the end I actually did not use paper but a printable synthetic fabric from Crafty Computer Paper.  It has a texture more akin to the khadi paper.)

More khadi paper and more brusho inks, then more stenciling with oil sticks and I had a batch of hearts to play with (these I had to leave overnight to 'dry' - the oil takes some time to loose it's stickiness.)


In addition, some of them I painted with a cheap glitter glue.  Gives just enough added sparkle.  Cut out, I had a little stash of paper hearts.

Then I stitched.

This is a design as you progress project, you understand.  Time is of the essence (it would be fine if it weren't for the Day Job - but bills have to be paid, dogs have to be fed etc.) so, no chance of a good play first.

Using a metalic thread, and a metalic needle though I still had problems (don't look at the back) I stitched the hearts down the middle and then folded them gently to give a 3D effect.


And here we are - not a great photo as you cannot see how some of the hearts overlap the edge of the paper.  You can also still see some of the lines of the second piece of paper with the poem on but I intend to add some beads to distract the eye away from that.  And in the flesh this is not so noticeable.

So nearly finished.

By way of a post script, I should add that the poem describes how being in love is like owning a dog.  I did consider dog imagery on the backgound paper, but thought it would be too hectic.  In the end I decided to keep it simple with the hearts.

I am pleased, but wish I had come up with the idea sooner.  Being on such a tight time table meant I had to make some decisions particularly with the printing of the poem, that with more time I might have done differently.  But I did not have that luxury.  Maybe that was good for me.  Not too much prevarication.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the studio:-

Book wrap fabric quilted...


Then blasted with the heat gun (so satisfying!)


And Horizons is mounted onto 'The Beast'.



 And, yay, quilting has begun!


Deadline is that it has to be 'in' by 1st July.  Which means finished a week before!  All ready to hang etc.


The question, dear reader, is will I make the deadline?