Dyeing in the Lud Valley with India Flint - Part 2

But wait... there's more... We moved swiftly onto the fabric, stitching all the pieces we used with our personal marks so we could identify them easily when they came out the cauldrons. A genius idea - otherwise there really would have been tears before bedtime!

Considering the similar technique used in the dyeing it was amazing the variety that was achieved. Different fabrics took up the dyes differently sometimes achieving radically different results from the same plant material.

This piece is one of mine, showing again the long eucalyptus leaves from Golden Bay. One of the things I have really noticed since doing the workshop was just how many gum trees there are in New Zealand. They are everywhere! Offering untold dyeing opportunities. I just love the shapes, colour and fragrance they impart on to the fabric.

It was a simply magical 5 days. At the end we wrote India  little note asking if we could do it all again in 2014.... which after due consideration she and Judy said yes to. So in a couple of weeks I am looking forward to a return workshop and another visit to the wonderful Lud Valley.

There are number of my fellow stitchers returning from last year for the workshop - I feel that we are something like the godwits returning after the long winter for another blessed summer experience.

Clearly this is a tale to be continued.....

Dyeing in the Lud Valley with India Flint - Part 1



 

In late January last year I was incredibly lucky to participate in a workshop with India Flint in the beautiful Lud valley, just outside Nelson. It was 5 perfect days of blue skies, creativity, surprises, experimentation, great company and unbelievably fantastic food. None of us could have asked for more. It felt like a true indulgence.

 

The setting was perfect. We were hosted by Judy Keylock and her family on their property in the Lud Valley which is fully organic and where Judy has been planting extensively for dyeing potential. It was nothing short of idyllic.

 

The firepit for the dyeing cauldrons was set up outside Judy's studio. 

 

We started each day outside around the circle of Queen Anne's Lace taking in the beauty of the environment and reflecting on the potential of the day.

India showed us some of her fabulous textiles as she introduced us to the possibilities of using leaves to mark cloth. They were even more breathtaking in the cloth than they look on India's blog and fabulous books, which I have spent many many hours pouring over.

 

 

 

The workshop was called the Wayfarers Wanderbook which focused on using the materials in our immediate environment to record out experiences in. Before starting onto the fabric we made watercolour paper books - here they are in the cauldrons, complimented by my shadow.

 

 

The marks varied between the bundles depending on the quality of the paper.

These were some of the page inserts I made for my book marked with eucalyptus that I had gathered when we had been holidaying in Golden Bay a few days before the workshop started, not exactly the immediate environment but special to me.

Then we moved onto the silks and wool that we had bought for dyeing..... more in the next post....

 

From little acorns grow mighty Oaks

Early in 2013 one of our oldest friends (and his gorgeous partner) had their first child. Naturally it was the cause for great celebration, as all new children are (or at least should be!). The first time father was 50 - my husband and I drew a deep breath....

Coincidentally Pete was an attendant at our wedding, just as David who I made the quilt for in March had been, so of course I started stitching. We went up to visit Pete, Catherine and the new baby, Oak, at the first opportunity. They live very near the top of the North Island in Paihia (we live at the very bottom of the island) so the visit didn't occur until April. Unfortunately the quilt wasn't ready so we took cushions for Oak - one with sailing ships to represent his father the boatie and the other with Union Jacks to represent his mother's heritage. I can't really imagine giving a non textile present so was pleased to be able to give these.

While we were visiting my boys took to referring to Oak as "mum's favourite drug". It appears I may have demonstrated signs of "cluckiness".... surely not....

Oak arrived a little early so he has a big name to grow into and I decided that he should also have a big quilt. I used the same round the world pattern that I had used for Sophie's quilt but used more boyish fabrics and lots that referred to his parents interests in the sea and the environment. It probably goes without saying that it also featured oak leaves which introduced the orange tones to the quilt. It passed muster and will keep him covered for quite a few years to come.

One of Oak's aunts had given him the most lovely eco dyed woollen shirt which was made by Helen Millen from Marlborough. It was fabulous! Another thing I need to try my hand at....

And this leads to a whole other story which I am yet to tell - my fabulous workshop with India Flint in Nelson....

Hello 2014! Starting with a recap on 2013....

Well it seems that last year I fell off the blog-o-sphere. This year I'm going to get back on it!! I blame pinterest and the ipad I bought myself early last year.... easy trap to fall into. However I did manage to keep stitching while I was off the air and I thought that there was no better place to start than with a recap of what I haven't posted about.

Having just been through the photos I took last year, in an effort to work out just what I did do and make last year I've realised than one of the downsides of not blogging is that my memory of what I made is hazier and also much less thoroughly photographed. Given than one of the major reasons I do this is to actually keep a log for myself on what I'm creating (and usually then giving away pretty quickly) it made me realise it's a habit I really need to keep up.... so

In March last year I had a wonderful weekend in Christchurch with friends I had been to school with to celebrate a 50th birthday - at this point I will hurriedly add that I am by far the youngest! One of our party was over from England for the celebrations and the last time he was here I had told him I would make a quilt for him to celebrate his civil union. 

Of course the hitch was I found out he was coming to the event only three weeks before hand. I had to get my skates on! First and foremost I wanted it to be a masculine quilt so I reached for a pile of my kimono fabrics.

I also wanted a quilt that reflected something of New Zealand. David has lived in London for several decades now and although he visits home every few years he still misses NZ and particularly the bush and the song of our native birds. This fabric features Saddlebacks on flax flowers.

Above all the quilt had to be simple so I could meet my deadline. I recalled a Denyse Schmidt quilt that I had long admired and used this as a starting point. Here's what I came up with.

David loved the quilt - in fact I don't think he quite believed it as he was starting to give me a hard time about when he would ever get his quilt and so I disappeared inside to get it, calling his bluff. He was speechless! This next photo is the back of the quilt. I called it "Into My Arms" from the Nick Cave song. 

I know he loves the quilt and it gives him a lot of comfort when he is missing home. I like knowing that at times when I would like to be able to give him a hug that he can wrap himself in it and know it carries my love and ongoing friendship.

 

Stay tuned  for more updates - and Happy New Year!

 

Scrappy Trips

A couple of weekends ago I went to our first Guild retreat for the year. It was a last minute decision for me - we have had a summer seemingly without end and I wasn't sure that I really wanted to spend a weekend inside quilting when I could be enjoying yet more sunshine without a hint of a breeze. What won me over was the prospect that, if I put my mind to it, I could probably just about finish a quilt for the new niece that was due to arrive shortly into our wider family.

I had wild ideas of making up a quilt pattern that I'd been holding onto - however it is always useful to read instructions properly before starting on somewhere new, especially if you are away from home. I had nothing to make templates from so I needed to think quickly.

I'd seen lots of the Scrappy Trips Around the World quilts and the tutorial from Quiltville 

and thought I could probably remember, off the top of my head, how to make this. So off I set.

  

I had taken lots of soft colours with me so I started cutting these into strips and sewing

and before I knew it I had enough blocks to start playing with. So many options

so much fun to be had,

and best of all, so quick. Just after lunch on Sunday I put the final quilting stitches into the quilt.

And a week later Sophie Grace made her appearance over in Townsville. Perfect!

Friendship is the backbone of life

I'm pleased to report that although I've been sadly missing from this blog, I have not been missing from my sewing room. I've been having a highly productive summer - as ever I seem to perform well to a deadline, and this has certainly been the summer of deadlines.

This has been the summer that I have become the parent of a school leaver (one down, two to go) and it's therefore been the summer that my daughter and her friends have prepared for the transition from school students to university students. Many of her friends  have chosen to go to universities outside of the city we live in. It's a big transition for all considered - for the students and for their parents.

For some I've been able to help them on their way with a quilt. This is the third of what I am increasingly thinking of as part of my university series. You might recall that several years ago I made a quilt to remember a special friend who had died of breast cancer - I wrote about it here.

This quilt is for her eldest daughter - it uses a number of the same fabrics I used in the quilt for her mother and a similar pattern based on an idea from Kaffe Fassett. I think of it as a related but different quilt, just as Alice is related but different to her mother.

When I gave her the quilt Alice was stunned speechless, not something I have often seen from her. It was lovely to be able to send her off with something special, but the reason that she raced to the 'top of my quilts to be made list' was due to an off the cuff comment she had made a month or so earlier to my daughter when they had been out together.

My daughter had told her that we were making a quilt together for her friend who was having chemotherapy and Alice's response stunned us both - she asked if she would have to wait until she was ill before I would make a quilt for her.

Needless to say, I didn't think that was necessary and she raced to top of the list. The label carried the same words I stitched onto her mother's quilt - Friendship is the backbone of life. 

So that's three quilts that have gone off to universities with new owners - two to Dunedin and one to Christchurch. A good output for a summer - and there are still more to come.

Searching for Sunshine

It's been a busy few days here since Christmas. We had a lovely couple of days catching up with family and friends over lots of great food. The weather then took a turn affording me the perfect excuse to hit the sewing room. I wound up sewing just the sunshine I was seeking.

 

Last month I bought this wonderful Valori Wells fabric, planning that it would be the main feature of a quilt for one of my daughter's friends who is heading off to do a Fine Arts degree.

 

 

However quilts do seem to have a mind of their own in my experience. I've been looking at various modern quilt sites to find some ideas for some quick quilts as there are a couple I want to make for close friends who are heading away to University over the next few months. I really liked the Lemon Squares quilt pattern by Faith on Fresh Lemons blog and decided this would be just the thing - bright, clean and speaking of sunshine.  



 

 

 

It sewed up quickly and best of all almost all of it came straight out of my stash with only some additional white fabrics needed to add to what I had.

 

 So the focus fabric was re-purposed as a border,

once the central blocks had been framed by a thin border of pencils, designed by Kaffe Fassett. Not only were their colours just right but of course it was a natural choice of fabric for someone embarking on Fine Arts.

This rather vibrant print will be the backing - I picked it out for the colours. They compliment the front well. The funny thing is that the more I look at it the more certain I am that I've seen this fabric before in the home of the very person who will soon own this quilt - I'm almost certain her mother has bought this fabric and shown it to me.

 

As I say, quilts do seem to have a mind of their own.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all.

Let's look forward to lots more creativity and colour in the year ahead.

Hope and Christmas Wishes

I didn't really show you the label on our collaborative quilt but have been told that I should talk about what my daughter wrote on the quilt, and the hopes that went with them. The quilt recipient is one of my daughter's team mates from Waka Ama, which is a sport they both love, of Maori outrigger canoeing.

My daughter chose two whakatauki, traditional Maori proverbs, to use on the label which carried all her hopes for her friend.

He toka tu moana, ara he toa rongonui

Your strength is like a rock that stands in raging water - this affirms an individual's strength and courage.

 

He taru kahika

Walk on, as it is only summer rain falling - It is only a small adversity, so don't let it be a hindrance.

I think she picked particularly well, but I will admit that I am a rather biased mother, as we all tend to be.

My annual activity has been reaching fever pitch - I've been making my yearly Christmas decorations for friends. I know we all do it, but I do wonder why I don't start these earlier - one of the great imponderables. Even with the best intentions I'm sure I'll repeat the exercise again next year.

Four years ago I made black hands - it was not long after my dear friend Denys had died and I had no cheery words that year to embroider on decorations so I chose hands instead. One of my friends gave them the nick name "the hands of death" so this year I decided it was time to make some more with a more cheery disposition to keep them company.

I'm really keen on them - especially the one's with tatting and linen buttons on them. I will be making sure that I keep one of these back for myself. They are of course part of my continuing series of 101 things to do with an old doiley!

So the Christmas tree is up, most of the presents have been wrapped and work has finally ceased for the year. I'm starting to feel that the end of year wind down is almost upon us.

Best wishes to you all for a peaceful and happy time this holiday season, full of joy and hope.

Collaborative Quilting

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that our guest Morepork eventually left us and my daughter and I were then able to get onto the new project that had been our plan. One of her friends is currently having chemo so of course we decided that a quick collaborative quilt was in order to cheer her up. We couldn't get started until her end of year exams were over and time pressure has been on us to get it done.

We picked a pattern by Valori Wells called Olive Rose which is one of her free patterns available on her blog. It uses some large scale fabrics in very big pieces so goes together quickly and looks effective. The quilt is 60 x 80 inches.

Of course I didn't have any of the fabrics Valori had designed for the project but pulled together some that we felt worked well together and that my daughter was certain would appeal to the eventual owner.

My job was to cut the fabrics and to plan layout in consultation with my daughter, while she pieced it together. This basically took a couple of afternoons - quick by any measure.

I then gave her a drawing of what I thought the back could look like with some fabrics we had at hand - this is what I gave her

and this is what she turned it into. Nothing shows our differences more. I would have just started piecing and kept going until it was big enough - she worked out the measurements of all the required pieces so I could cut them. She has a strong maths background - mine is rudimentary.... need I say more!

Of course one of the best parts of working together like this was that I could contract out the bits I don't enjoy - like the pinning!

Here's her masterpiece of a back, complete with label.

 

And here's a small view of the quilt complete with binding. I did most of the quilting in the interests of a speedy finish.

 

We delivered off the quilt on Monday and the owner was delighted. She has spent much time over recent years telling me how much she likes my quilts - and it clearly paid off as a strategy. It was lovely to see her smiling and with it wrapped around her shoulders.

And that's what makes quilting so rewarding! I have a feeling this won't be the last of our collaborative ventures but I sincerely hope it's the last quilt I make for a friend facing chemo. I know I've said this before but I can only hope not to have to repeat myself. Hope is a powerful emotion, so who knows - maybe this time it will work.

Messenger from Hogwart's maybe?

He's really starting to look rather settled in. There is some thought that once he's out of the room that a search for the letters from Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be undertaken by our boys...

 

He really shouldn't linger near the pie box though - my husband is starting to have dangerous thoughts! Check them out here

Foiled Again!

Today was to be the start of a new collaborative quilting venture with my daughter. We have a quilt we need to get onto for a friend of hers....

 

However when she went up to the sewing room to get started we discovered a visitor in the sewing room - a morepork, which is a native owl in these parts. Even though we live very close to the centre of Wellington we regularly hear them calling at night. They sound exactly the same as their name. 

 

He terrified my daughter and was in turn, I am sure, very frightened himself by her arrival. We have no idea how he got in there or how long he's been there.

As he's nocturnal we are waiting for the sun to go down for him to move on. I don't like the thought of trying to drive him out...

So the new venture will just have to wait for tomorrow, but I pleased to finally have confirmation for the muggles that I live with that I truly am the magical one in the family.

Still Quilting

I'm steadily working away on my quilting at the moment. I wanted to do something quite detailed on this quilt, which is why I'm experimenting with doing this quilt in segments - quilt as you go. There is no way I would even contemplate attempting this on a king size quilt that was all in one piece. Just too much bulk to wield around and too much turning of the quilt.

 

The pieced blocks are being quilting to echo the lines of the tilted crosses so that the crosses will pop up above the surface a bit more. The solid blocks are being quilted either horizontally or vertically, depending on their colour. It all adds up to a lot of turning of the quilt but it is so simple in the narrow bands it is currently in.

The first segment is completed - 25% of the quilt, not counting the sashing. At this rate I should have it finished sometime in 2015....

I've always been quite keen on fine tightly spaced quilting, as you can see from these small sample pieces....

Again - not ideal for a king size quilt....

But you get the idea - I like lots of quilting. No doubt that's why it takes me so long. Just as well I enjoy it!

Happy quilting to you all.

There be dragons and sea creatures this way

We had a few days away last week over the hill from Wellington, in the Wairarapa. Our timing could not have been better. Even through the weather was less than spring like, the Greytown Arts festival was in full swing giving us plenty to look at and to stow away for inspiration.

The highlight for us was the Great Tape Art project which Erica Duthie and Straun Ashby worked on steadily over the weekend. The created a fabulous mural on the side of the supermarket, all from blue builders tape. Do have a look at their website to see some of the other wonderful murals they have created.

We paid it several visits over the weekend so we could see it developing. They did life size portraits of a number of the local residents, telling their stories.

 
It was magical.

And then, with some sadness, we helped take it down at the end of the weekend. Of course our lads found this to be a particular highlight.

Over at the church fair we came across this wonderful creation - the Cinema for the Poor. Wonderful pictures were wound through telling tall tales of adventurous lives on the high seas.

All overseen by an angel - "On the last day the trumpet shall sound and forgotten souls shall rise up from their graves and tell their never heard before stories"

It was magical.

Unsurprisingly I was also rather impressed by these rusted feathers on a very large moa in the main street of Greytown

and by the paint on the front door of the house we stayed at in Martinbourgh. I'm sure the owners plan to paint it but I loved it just as it was.

There's nothing like a few days away to bring a spring to the step!