A Fragile Nature

Hello Dear Reader,

If you are new here, or haven’t read my previous posts you might not know that I’ve joined a group of quilters called The Endeavourers and that we were all working on quilts of the same subject - 'Nature'. 

For all the gen about my new friends at The Endeavourers visit HERE, and their blogs are listed at the end of this page, so you can see the wonderful quilts they have made!




Firstly I must apologise to Catherine, Janine and the other “Endeavourers” for being so late. I really underestimated the time my quilt would take, and unfortunately a recurring back problem has stopped me working as quickly as I would have liked.

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"A Fragile Nature"

In my last post I spoke about my inspiration for this piece and how I got started ... HERE. 

Well .... there has been this box of fabric paints lurking, unused, in one of our cupboards ever since I took part in a workshop for block printing. I had the idea that one day I would add to my block prints ..... but that hasn’t happened yet! Happily this meant I had fabric paints on hand to use on this project.

Progress on my quilt has been soooo slow, what with my dodgy back and then the light not being good enough. But also, when I decided to paint my design I didn't realise how long it would take me to find the right colours, and then as I progressed I found I could only see properly to paint in daylight. I was also scared to add to the painting in case I ruined my project.

Main piece on the left, Tester 1 on the right.

My first attempt became one of my test pieces early on(Tester 2). I'd made the mistake of painting on wet fabric! Of course it ran! So, when I wasn't sure how to paint the blue there was plenty of fabric to experiment on.

Tester 2

Tester 3

In all there were quite a few test pieces, which looked quite pretty, but when I started on my main project I couldn’t remember which colours I'd mixed together. 

I realise ..... now (thanks to Google) ..... the way to do it is to make a chart!

Anyway, thanks to all the practice, I now have some pretty little pieces which I am thinking of using to make a pencil case one day.

This is the flimsy after adding the final colours to the dormouse.

The next step will be to outline the branches, berries, and dormouse with machine stitch.

Here you can see the binding I've painted too!

To read a little more about my quiltlet I hope you would like to pop over to The Endeavourers.

But it is already time to think about the next project: due 1st May 2018, and the subject is:

Change/Transformation.

Oh help ..... any ideas anyone????

Hugs

Barbara xxx

The Endeavourers:

Catherine - http://www.knottedcotton.com   @knottedcotton
Janine – https://rainbowhare.com/
Nancy – http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com/
Carol – http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com/
Barbara – https://theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Ruth – http://benandcharlyscorner.blogspot.co.uk/
Gwen – https://textileranger.com/
Martha – www.weekenddoings.com
Julie – www.pinkdoxies.com
Tonia – http://allthingzsewn.blogspot.com
Kay – http://thecraftyyak.wordpress.com
Soma – http://www.whimsandfancies.com/
Fiona - http://celticthistlestitches.blogspot.co.uk/

Getting Started - Nature, The Endeavourers

Hello everybody, new friends and old!

Thank you for your sweet and encouraging comments on my introductory post for "The Endeavourers", I really appreciate them. I am trying to reply but please forgive me if I take a little while replying to all of you ..... most of my waking hours have been taken up with working out how to paint my "Nature" quilt. .... or maybe I should say quiltlet!


When I saw the title "Nature" I thought "Oh, that will be quite easy" ..... Nah!

I found my inspiration photo:

then thought a bit about what I should do, which led to this:

I started out with ideas of drawing the branch with leaves and berries, but soon realised that including leaves would be too complicated in the time I have left!

Then, it just so happened that, around the time I was deciding what to do I received an email from the Surrey Wildlife Trust with an article about Dormice .... problem solved, I thought! But I'm not very good at drawing, so this is my attempt ..... now to work out what colours to use.

First job was to sketch out my pattern:

Then I cut out a 16 1/2" square of muslin ..... but didn't realise that I hadn't pre-washed it, (I normally wash all my fabric as soon as I get it home!) hence after rinsing the fabric it is no longer a square! Oh, and then, I'm sure you know the process ..... after ironing, I traced my pattern onto the fabric.

I found some lovely fabric for a border too ..... sorry no photo yet.

Then, next morning, in a rush to get started I wet the fabric again and started painting! Duuh!!!!! Of course it started seeping!!!!

So last night I did what I should have done in the first place, and made a test piece ..... which turned out perfectly!

But by now I had to abandon my first piece of fabric and start sketching again! 

The next job is to paint a tester of the dormouse.

After my problems with the paint I don't think I have any hope of finishing in time for the 1st February, but I'll carry on trying!

I hope you will pop over to visit "The Endeavourers" and see what everyone else is making.

Wish me luck!




Hugs,
Barbara xxx