Stitchers Block

That's what I've had for the past few weeks, hence zero posts on my blog. I've pulled out all my material so many times lately looking for inspiration that the house looked like it had been ransacked. Still nothing jumped out at me. I had so many ideas running around in my head but nothing would take form. It's a frustrating process for me, starting a new project. I eventually found inspiration at the local op shop when I spotted two large batik tablecloths. The pieces are very faded in the middle where they were covering a table that was exposed to sunlight, but the draping sides have kept their colour. For a dollar each they were the bargain of the century and more importantly an idea had formed!


This is the first of a series of blocks based on a "Fantasy Garden" theme. I have used Jude Hill's invisible basting technique to attach all the pieces. The bird and the yellow flowers have been cut from the batik cloth. The clouds are the batik off cuts that were surrounding the bird and flowers. I loved the unusual shapes that appeared after cutting out the pieces. The moon is cut from an old silk tie (another op shop purchase).

Life is good now I'm stitching again!

Nine Patch experiment

Thanks Deb for the fascinating tutorial "Fibre Fossils" found here. I gave it a try with some success. I was unable to get the Golden Heavy Gel Matte that you use but impatient as I am I purchased Atelier Impasto Gel instead.

I stitched a sampler nine patch with various materials and threads.

Then hemmed and glued it onto a small stretched canvas. Waited 24 hours for the glue to dry then gave it one coat of impasto gel. It did "fossilise" quite nicely although the maroon material went very dark. Again 24 hours later I gave it another coat of the gel to get a slightly harder effect. I probably wouldn't have needed to do this if I had purchased the Heavy Gel! Anyway it was a good experiment and I'm now working on some more small pieces.

It's fun to play!

The Sun bird has arrived

Apologies, a bout of flu and several overnight visitors have kept me from my blog. I have been getting a few moments of stitching here and there.

A Sun bird landed on my quilt and dropped a few feathers along the way.


I've also been playing with a small nine patch which will follow shortly.

Reef Cloth finished

It's finally done, well almost, still have to put a sleeve on the back for hanging.

I had a wonderful day at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane yesterday and bought some lovely silk threads from Dale at "The Thread Studio" stand. Also picked up some dyed cotton fabric to use in future quilts.

A slow time

I have been remiss in not blogging for sometime. The house still feels very empty. I have been stitching to keep my mind of other things. The reef cloth has slowed for the moment but have some ideas for finishing it off very soon. I started on another cloth with no ideas of how it would turn out. Just started playing with some scap fabric and this is what has developed so far.



I might add a character (beast), maybe....

maybe a dog running across a patchwork field....

something will grow there.

Growing the reef

The reef cloth is slowly expanding and filling in. I've added another gorgonian fan (still not quite finished) and an orange starfish to balance the colour. I also kantha stitched the shell area at the bottom with a dark blue to take away some of the starkness in colour of the pale blue.

Sadly...

My baby "Twistie", died in my arms this morning, she was 15 1/2 years old and was suffering from Cancer. She must have known as we had her booked into the vet for later today to give her the needle.

I will miss her forever.