Steampunks on the BBC

The BBC are catching up with the Steampunk subculture.

Photo above - me & small friend in an alternative 1886/1996.

Really scrappy scrap quilts

Utility quilts and quilts that use up lots of scraps in a very random fashion are some of my favourites, both to look at and to make. They are like abstract art, with so much to engage the eye.

The top above, less than 1 metre long, was made using scraps left over from my "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match" blocks. It isn't quilted yet and I plan to machine quilt it, with a variable grid, like the one used in my "O-neesan" quilt below. Although the centre is wedge-shaped, the bottom doesn't actually curve - just an illusion caused by hanging the quilt top over clothes on the front of my wardrobe!

To start making patchwork like this, I find it is best to begin by sorting out the scraps by size and start piecing using the smallest ones. It is more economical that way. The quilt is made in sections, like Log Cabin blocks, working outwards from the centre, just adding strip pieces. The JQB one looks quite complicated, because most of the strips are made up of squares and triangles - anything leftover - plus there are quite a lot of strips cut across stripe patterns. Every so often, I trim the "block" edges straight, though not square. Once I've got several large pieces, I start trimming and fitting them together.

This kind of random spiral is used a lot in old Japanese patchwork dating back to the Meiji era (late nineteenth century). Which makes me wonder if the Meiji patchworks are inspired by Western crazy patchwork which was apparently inspired by Japanese designs - or were the Western ones inspired by Japanese patchworks? "The Japanese Exhibit in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition inspired the crazy quilt with its asymmetrical art". Click here
and here - there's lots more info on the internet.

Here is a typical Japanese fukusa (gift cover cloth) made with a "crazy" technique -


It was recently sold by Ichiroya. They classed it as kiribame, which is usually used to refer to "inlaid" patchwork like this, so I'm wondering if they are using that word to refer to all patchwork which has some kind of paper inside (like English paper piecing) or a foundation paper/fabric. Unfortunately, kiribame is also used to describe inlaid metalwork, so researching the topic gives a lot of false leads.

"Jelly Roll Crumbs" is a less complicated version of a crazy scrap patchwork. Having all the scraps the same width (ends of Jelly Roll strips, so 2 1/2in wide) made patchwork easier. The middle is just one big random Log Cabin block.

And "Lulea Blockhus" (Lulea Log Cabin) uses a block based approach to make the top, with the block centres being the only regular sized piece.

Planning? Not much really. You just have to jump in and get started, then start playing around and arranging the pieces you have made until you like the effect.

A neat idea for displaying miniature quilts

This was mentioned on a miniature quilts forum today - http://www.mini-mum.com/pages/howtodrapequilt.html Seems a much better idea than the tinfoil layer method.

"The Big One" in Wrexham...

...turned out not to be as big as we expected (in terms of visitors), although the Glyndwr banner was. Still, we had some good company, a nice warm venue and an easy getin/out. I resisted the temptation to display the cushions in the basketball hoop.

The quilt hanging up behind us is "New Year's Eve in Yamagata City", a quilt I made during November and December 1998. The vivid orange fabrics are wool "mosurin", little girls' kimono fabrics from the 1960s/70s, bought at Obiya, my neighbours' shop in Yuza-machi in 1992. It is a good design for showcasing some special fabrics in the squares and also for using up those festive/winter fabrics in a non-Christmas way. There's a pattern for this one - click here and scroll down.

To compensate for the blurriness of the photo of me, I've given it a watercolour effect in Photoeditor. Oddly, that has changed the colour of the sashiko stitches to black. I autobalanced the colours first, which brought up the orange in "New Year's Eve..." to the max. It really is that bright in real life!


Some of Thursday's kimono went off to their new homes!

Saturday craft show reminder and MORE KIMONO!

With perfect timing, a box full of kimono and haori arrived this morning. These are all quite vintage (1950s and 70s) but lovely fabrics, good colours (better than I expected) and very wearable patterns. There are some lovely purple kimono and haori, an excellent 1950s meisen kimono with a bold pattern and some beautiful michiyuki (kimono coats). I've had a quick look through and the condition is very good, with few marks for their age. Ideal for wearing casually or for "kimono reform" - using the beautiful fabrics for remaking into one-of-a-kind clothing.

I'll have the pick of these on sale on Saturday, at "The Big One" craft fair in Wrexham - check my diary blog for all the info.

Tower restoration at All Saints Church, Gresford

Gresford Craft Group has held its summer exhibition in the Church for two decades. At the moment, the fifteenth century building is having some restoration work carried out on the tower - I spotted this story about one of the new carvings on the BBC's website.

I'd often wondered if some of the original carvings on the tower were based on the locals of the time, also those at St Giles Church, Wrexham!

Super Strips workshop today

We had a good workshop at Gresford, everyone getting along very well and making the centres in record time. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera, so I will have to update the photos when I can. Debbie's traditional Christmas patchwork, in red, green, cream and lots of gold metallic, looked sumptuous, while Margaret's batik roll panel, using one of the Fabric Freedom roll cuts, was very fresh & summery. Hopefully, I will see both of them on Tuesday night and I can take photos then.

Margaret and Pat used the same roll cut. It was very interesting as their centre panels are quite different. I've seen this kind of effect before, with two tops made from the same roll at different workshops, but never side by side. There is so much variety in a roll, even if the same person used the same roll twice for this quilt it would probably come out very differently. Here are some photos from previous workshop tops made using a rainbow batik roll (I think these were Fabric Freedom too). The first one was made at the Jersey workshop in June 2009.

The second one was made at Gresford a month later. Yes, these really are the same rolls! The first quilter wanted a colourful effect and used cool colours for one set of strips and warm for the other, keeping darker and stronger colours for the outer sections. The second quilter decided to have lots of warm colours in the centre, with both light and dark tones included, and kept the cool colours for the outer parts.


Rosemary made her top using a "roll" very similar to the Bali Pop I used for my quilt centre (below) - mine is in Kiwiberry colourway while Rosemary's is in Mulberry, which is slightly more subtle. The Bali batik fabrics from Hoffman are lucious colours and the fabric is very high quality. It is a shame that these handcut rolls aren't as accurately cut as Moda Jelly Rolls, so a little fudging is required when sewing them together. Not what you would expect of Hoffman fabrics at all - they are usually noted for their product quality. With the high thread count of Bali Batiks, the odd scant seam allowance doesn't hurt.


I was persuaded to open up my new batik roll - this one I bought at the Malvern show in October. It is gorgeous and I can't wait to start making another workshop sample with it. The colours reminded me of the autumn foliage as I drove down to Malvern for the quilt show, but everyone else decided it had a very African feeling to it.

Four of the quilters today were using Fabric Freedom rolls and we noticed that the strips are slightly wider cut than the Moda Jelly Rolls. Luckily for this design, it doesn't matter if the strip cut isn't perfectly 21/2in, although it is easier if it is at least evenly cut. I'll see how my Fabric Freedom batik roll works out!

Quilts came home today

My Kona Bay 2009 challenge winner, "Butterfly Dance", and my Batik Beauties entry, "Fish and Chips" both came home yesterday, in time for show and tell at Chester Ps & Qs last night. As usual, I never got to show the completed quilts to my own groups, because they weren't finished until the last possible minute.


It is always nice to have quilts come home after touring. Grosvenor Exhibitions did a great job on the packaging, with loads of bubble wrap (which has gone to be recycled for packaging at our local Cats' Protection charity shop).

Next year's challenge is "Cherry Blossoms and Maple Leaves" for the Oriental Fabric Challenge (formerly the Kona Bay Challenge) and "A Batik Landscape" for Batik Beauties. You can get entry forms from Grosvenor Exhibitions. There's plenty of time left to plan and make your entries - the batik challenge has a set size of 1 metre and the other challenge a minimum size only (it doesn't have to be large) - so why not have a go?

Events before Christmas

I'm busy working on another book (more details soon!) but there will be a workshop on November 22nd, and I'll be at two craft fairs before Christmas - check out my diary blog for more information.

A sashiko sampler

This sampler was made by Vivien Finch, who attended one of my Introduction to Shonai Sashiko workshops a while ago. She very kindly sent me the photo. It just goes to show what you can do with even the smallest sized samples of sashiko. The way she has arranged it, using a Japanese print fabric for the sashing and borders, is very much the kind of thing that my sashiko teacher, Chie Ikeda, and Peaceful Heart Quilt Group's leader, Reiko Domon, would do to show off a nice collection of samples like these.

Vivien wrote "As you can see, I kept on going and added to the little squares we did in class. I am now quite hooked!" Well, sashiko is just a bit addicitive...

Lovely!

Rapper in London

On Sunday, Thrales Rapper hosted a dance afternoon at the Prince William Henry in Southwark - click names for relevant links and dance photos for dance videos, where I've been able to find any (from other venues - there may be some upload). From outside, it looked like a normal Sunday afternoon -

Inside!
Thrales Rapper, in the afternoon sun -


Gaorsach - all the way from Aberdeen for the weekend (dance tour with Thrales on the Saturday) -

Mabel Gubbins (from Oxford) -

Warwick University Rapper (sorry, no video links found - if you have one, please let me know) -

Camden Clog - fantastic dancing!


Hawksword -

North British -

Mummer's play -


There were several other sides but I didn't get photos of everyone, as the pub was packed. An afternoon of great British pub entertainment & culture, within walking distance of the centre of British government - the MPs & ministers don't know what they missed! They should put next year's event in their diaries and improve their cultural credentials...

My Thames panorama -

In the morning, I went to Tate Modern for the first time. Far too much to see in a short time, so we looked around just one gallery, Material Gestures. Room Six, Gerhard Richter's "Cage" series is amazing.

Turkey Red mania - fabric solution

Tonight I spotted 1 1/2 yards (as half yard pieces) of this fabric in Dot Sherlock's (Quilter's Needs) bargain bag at Wrexham Quilting Circle's meeting - photo above. It is the best yet for replacing the geometric brown/beige "carpet" print in the Turkey Red quilt. Should have looked through Dot's stuff first!

Here's the original quilt fabric - pattern is different, but the geometric edge to the paisley pattern in the one above has a similar feeling.

Sashiko and patchwork workshops last weekend

Members of Heffle Quilters worked hard on Saturday's workshop, making panels for the Kinchaku Bag. The sashiko workshops give the illusion that it isn't really hard work but everyone achieves so much, learning how to mark and stitch patterns like shippo (seven treasures), nowaki ("grasses") and asanoha (hemp leaf). I heard today that one of the quilters has already finished her bag, while two of the others are almost done, so I'm looking forward to seeing some photos of their pieces soon.

Bedfordshire Quilters chose the Japanese Circles and Squares patchwork workshop for their day on Tuesday. This design makes very economical use of seven fat quarters and one eighth. It doesn't have to be Japanese fabrics, as one of the quilters showed with her super selection of animal skin prints in stripes and spots.

Seeing all the lovely fabric combinations chosen by various quilters is one of the fun aspects of teaching this workshop (and another reason I have more than half a dozen workshop samples in different fabrics, as I enjoy trying out something new!)

This lovely pink and green selection included fabrics with very thirties-style Japanese designs. Once the blocks are made, they can be set out in more than one way, so it is then time to experiment!

Turkey Red mania - update

Do you think the fabric in the photo above would work better as a substitute for the kelim-like patterns on the one below?


It is "Bombay" by Kings Road, slightly rearranged in Photo Editor, but the pattern could be achieved easily by piecing. I found it on the Twin Orchards website.


Would it work better than the one I originally planned, "Midnight Magic"? Opinions please!

OK, neither of them really look like the original, but there is simply nothing like it out there in any reproduction quilt fabric ranges I know. I have tried to find something that has a similar colour range to the original, but "Bombay" is more geometric than "Midnight Magic". Perhaps there is a fabric with a square motif pattern that could be used on 45-degrees? I considered piecing something with a printed stripe, but I haven't found anything that would work for that yet... unless this would - fom the Family Tree collection by Windham Fabrics. Stripe turned through 45 degrees first -


Then the image "stitched" together, followed by the original -


Maybe this would work with a different stripe...

Turkey Red mania - a new project

As part of the Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009 Grosvenor Exhibitions quilt shows, a selection of antique and vintage British quilts belonging to various private collectors (all well known in the quilting world) toured alongside the modern quilts. Jane Rollason curated the exhibit, if I remember correctly, with some of the quilts coming from her collection. One of my favourites is this extravaganza of Turkey Red prints (above), a quilt from the collection of Pippa Moss, made in Newcastle Emlyn. I like the quirkiness of its fabrics, arranged in a traditional symmetrical medallion format but veering off into asymmetry where one fabric is substituted for another. The big part of its appeal is, of course, those Turkey Red fabrics.

Pippa has kindly allowed me to show you some photos of it here, so (hopefully) some of you might see why I liked it so much! I've added links via the fabric swatch images too, so you can track them down if you like them.

Seeing the Turkey Red exhibition at the Quilt Museum in York reawakened my taste for this solid, pure red. Earlier this year, I collected several quilt fabrics in a Turkey Red print style, from the Quaker Quilt range by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics. As it says on the selvedges, they are inspired by the Heritage Centre of Lancaster County Collection. A fat quarter bundle from Rustic Angel at Quilts UK, Malvern, in May was my starting point, adding several other prints from the same range from Hancocks of Paducah's summer sale (sadly, no longer available from them). The colours and motifs are perfect, with only one problem - all the prints are quite small. They would be fine for some miniature Turkey Red quilts (perhaps a 1/12th scale quilt or two there?) but not like the large, bold prints on Pippa's quilt, which also have touches of blue in them.

Recently, a new range called "19th Century Reds" has appeared, and this has a paisley almost exactly the same as the one across the top and bottom of the Newcastle Emlyn quilt, even including those blues.


I was encouraged to look out for some other fabrics that would work with these, and the new "Rouenierres" collection by French General for Moda looked promising. However, like many of Moda's vintage inspired fabrics, many of the reds are toned down for a faded look. If there is one thing that Turkey Reds don't do it is fade like that (with the exception of items like the bathing costume in the Quilt Museum's exhibition).


There are a lot of reproduction fabric ranges produced for quilting at the moment, but sadly there aren't a lot of quilt shops in the UK that specialise in them - The American Quilt Store do specialise in reproductions and Rustic Angel have quite a lot, mixed in with their American country style. Despite having a good look around at Malvern on Sunday, I didn't spot much that would work. Rustic Angel had this print, "Midnight Magic" by Exclusively Quilters, which will. I saw a fabric that would have worked perfectly for the brown geometric panels at the top and bottom of Pippa's quilt in a sale last summer, but when I tried to buy some it had sold out. Although this isn't a geometric design, it has a similar motif size, colour and overall weight to the design. If anyone knows of a fabric that is a better substitute, please let me know - this has been a difficult one to find in a modern equivalent and I would love to find something that had the tesslated squares on point effect of the original (I thought about piecing this section to look more like the original, but decided that wouldn't be appropriate).

This is the print I am going to use for the outer strips. Although it doesn't include those blues in the original chrysanthemum design, it has a similar feeling of boldness in the design. I considered using "Paquer Turkey Red" from the Rouenneries collection, but it really needed some colour in the floral design, even though the motifs were fairly similar. This is from Moda's "Portobello Road" range (remember, you can click the swatch pictures to get a shopping link). I found this, and the following three prints, on eBay.


Two paisleys, for the narrow borders inside the outer columns - the first is "Cambridge" by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Brothers and the second is "Collections Heritage" from "Collection for a Cause" by Howard Marcus for Moda.



For the large square section inside the medallion frame, also from the "3 Sisters Favourites II" collection, also from Moda -

Windham's "Folklore" range has this print, which I will use to substitute for the feather print at the bottom of the side strips.


At least the patchwork will be quick to do!

I can't decide yet what to do about quilting. The original seems to have been quilted from this side, but the busy prints mean the quilting pattern is almost illegible. I don't know if it is any more visible from the back. I can see that there are leaves and scrolls (perhaps hearts) quilted in white thread. If I can't decipher anything much, I may devise a simple quilting pattern in the Welsh traditional style, and quilt using white coton a broder, big stitch style.