Catch up

First of all I would like to say hello to my new followers,  I seem to have gained some over the last month.  It would be lovely to hear what  you think. At this rate you will be bored to tears so I had better get on with it ... I haven't been idle, although I never seem to get anywhere. First of all I haven't given up writing my daily diary.

 Following an idea I picked up from a workshop I didn't attend at the NEC stitch show, I needle felted these moth brooches onto a pelmet vilene base, they're in my Etsy shop.

I have also stitched these needle cases for an Etsy customer, I hope she still wants them.

Meanwhile I am trying desperately to get to work on my final quilt for C&G which has to be based on appliqué work. I've been at it since the new year.  That is the good and bad point of working on-line, a flexible deadline means I have been able to accommodate family/health problems, but it also leaves me open to procrastination.  However I hope I am getting somewhere at last, thanks to lovely support from Linda Kemshall.  

I sent her this iPad drawing and the sketchbook pages exploring composition.

She liked this shape taken from a photograph of a gate at Luton Hoo Walled Garden. She and Laura also always say that anything you can draw in your sketchbook can be reproduced as a quilt...

I wasn't sure whether I had the skills to appliqué this shape. Lying in bed trying to sleep, thinking about quilting, as you do, it suddenly occurred to me to cut out the negative shapes, and appliqué them.

I made a double page spread in my sketchbook, using the cut outs and then made a larger version as a  quilted sampler.

I am hoping that my raw edge appliqué and sketchy free machine stitching will be an acceptable method for my final piece, as this reflects my style of drawing much more than beautifully sewn down pieces edged with satin stitch. I am really pleased with this little sample as I feel it is totally 'me'. I am aiming to use lots of rust stained fabric for the background.

There is still some planning and sampling to try out before I begin, so I really ought to get on with it, rather than writing this blog!!

April stretches ahead like a couple of blank pages, I wonder where I'll be when this is filled in.

Have a good week,

Jill