Painting the quilt

Well, it turned out that painting the quilt wasn't quite as scary or drastic as it sounded. I wasn't entirely happy with the way the quilt was turning out - part of the 'background' was too dominant; quite distracting.

I bought 'The Painted Quilt' by Laura and Linda Kemshall quite some time ago, and have been quite taken by their use of paint in their quilts. So I figured this quilt was the one to try it on. Unfortunately I can't show you the whole quilt yet - I'll do that when I can. Suffice it to say that, while others looked at it and liked it, I know that 'letting a quilt go' (to exhibitions etc) when I am not entirely satisfied would bug me for a long time.

So I painted. Not much, just enough to mute part of the background.

 

Although I can't help but wonder how it would have looked if I had kept on going... I have another 'failed' quilt in the back of my quilt cupboard, and now I'm contemplating taking the roller to that one, a little more drastically...

To the Third and Fourth Generation

Regeneration: Contemporary Quilted Textiles opens at Manly Art Gallery & Museum next week. Check out their eye-catching information page here. If the invitations I received in the mail are anything to go by, it should be an interesting and stimulating exhibition. I wish I could see it in person.

To the Third and Fourth Generation

(c) Ruth de Vos 2012
natural linen, cotton homespun, cotton batting, cotton thread
152cm high by 110cm wide
machine pieced, machine quilted, hand embroidered

Society is built on parents and grandparents teaching the children, who then teach their own children and so on through the generations. The nature of our society may be determined by how and what we are teaching our children. Are we teaching them well? Or can we be more proactive in the learning journey of our children in order to (re)build a healthy society?

Quilting my 'stitched and bound 2012' quilt

OK, so I'm cutting things a bit fine with this quilt. My own fault, of course. I have been working on an entry for 'stitched and bound 2012' for quite some time now. However, when the original quilt top was completed, Phil voiced what I was already thinking - that it should be kept aside for the other exhibition I am hoping to enter later this year (right when the baby is due). That was four weeks before the 'stitched and bound' deadline, which translated to four weeks in which to dream up, design, cut out, piece and quilt a new quilt. Add into that an ongoing cough, dislocated ribs, Easter, school holidays, morning sickness... oh, and an upcoming solo exhibition... and the going has been a little bit slow. 

 

I'm working hard at quilting it this week, and hoping that I can still complete it for the 27 April deadline. It doesn't help that this quilt demanded to be seed-stitched in the background (which means many hours of hand-stitching).

 

 But actually, sitting in my comfortable chair, hand-embroidering a quilt is possible the best way to calm the nerves and relax in the lead up to my exhibition. Better get back to it now...

Simple squares

 Even though I spend most of my sewing time making intricately pieced quilts,  as far as more practical quilts go, I still think you can't beat simple squares, especially when you have pretty fabrics to showcase. Checkout this beautiful work in progress by Red Pepper Quilts:

  

Read more about it on her blog: http://www.redpepperquilts.com/2012/04/workinprogress.html

(Image used here with permission)

It makes me wish I had a basketful of scraps to play with today!

If you've been visiting here a while you will have seen the various play quilts I have made over the years (one for each child), also from simple squares (albeit much larger than postage stamp size!). The quilts still get used all the time, especially for a DVD treat.

 

It doesn't get much better than snuggling under the blankets on a rainy day, watching Mary Poppins while we wait for Dad to come home from an extra long day at work!

Little Do They Know

I shared my 'school quilt' on my facebook page this morning, but seeing that many people have asked about this quilt over the last couple of years, I figured I better post it here too!

 

Little Do They Know

(c) Ruth de Vos 2012

127cm high by 250cm wide

Children can sometimes be hard-pressed to recount what they actually learned during the day. Little do they know just how much learning they are experiencing in every facet of their school day.  

This quilt was a year-and-a-half long project which started with obtaining permission from the teacher, principal, and parents of the students in Aaron's class to take photos of the children. Aaron's teacher let me join the class for various lessons over about two weeks, so that I could capture various aspects of their learning. The students were so diligent - they just kept right on working whenever I came!

Slow

It seems that there are various things conspiring to prevent me from blogging here as intended, lately. There has been a very little bit of sewing, but nothing to show you yet. There has been garage progress, but there's still a way to go. Everything is a little slow due to a dislocated rib (fixed on Friday, unfixed again this morning, hopefully fixed again this evening... I guess sometimes that's what it takes to force one to slow down. Never mind, I am thoroughly enjoying the cosiness of being inside on this first grey, rainy day for the year.

Also another little reminder that I am posting daily quilts onto my facebook page, leading up to my upcoming exhibition. All the quilts will also be added to my website and shop following the exhibition.

For some reason the quilts I stew over the most, turn out the best...

The quilt I've been agonising over is coming together rather nicely after all. Actually, I'm really happy with how it's looking now, and just hope it also works in the room for which it is intended. I'm looking forward to quilting this one too, but that's going to have to wait a couple of weeks.

 

So many things to do, and so little energy. I'm not asking for sympathy, though, because I know I am a sucker for punishment. See this....

 

...and this?...

That's my other work-in-progress - instilling some degree of law and order into Phil's workshop/garage. It's his birthday present from me this year. I love the chance to sort out and organise a good mess (and throw half of it away). The worst part has been completed - killing all the redback spiders and painting all the walls. When all the millions of aching muscles have settled down, the next step is to buy and set up some shelving. I know you don't come here for garage makeovers, but I'll show you the end result all the same when I get there.

Oh, and a big thankyou to everyone who has been checking out the quilts for my upcoming exhibition over at Facebook and leaving such lovely feedback. It means a lot to me!

to be a child: quilt reveal on Facebook next week

Only a month till be my exhibition opens! (See this post for the details). Starting next Tuesday, I will be revealing the quilts on my Facebook page, one a day. 'Like' my page to catch the quilts in your Facebook news feed.

The same day that I wrote my past post, about being tired, I finished my latest quilt top. And I love how it looks. Nothing like a sewing success to inspire one to get going on more projects. I've been procrastinating about this next quilt for some time now. 

 

Its a quilt for friends who recently moved into a spiffy new home, and I didn't realise how nervous I would feel about making a quilt for a specific family and a specific room. It's hard to describe, but it's certainly different than making whatever quilt takes my fancy (even though I have free reign to make what I think is best for this quilt). Phil keeps telling me to trust my artistic judgement. I hope he's right. Meanwhile, here are some of the pieces set out on my design wall.

Tired

Yesterday I put it to Phil that perhaps I shouldn't make any more quilts this year. (Phil looked at me in horror because he firmly believes that I am much nicer to live with when I have a quilt in progress. I try not to read too much into that :)). I didn't say that to invoke fear in my husband though. More as a general expression of how exhausted I have been. 

Normally I have no trouble getting going in the morning and tackle my daily list of things to do without really thinking about it. But for the last month or two, it takes all my willpower to get going in the morning, and the only reason anything more than the basic chores get done is because I am a bit OCD about crossing off lists.

 

There are so many quilts, or at least quilt concepts, that I'd hoped to get around to making this year, including a couple of large quilts to enter into a major international art quilt exhibition, and I'm starting to brace myself for the fact that I won't get around to many of them for a while.

 

 

Thankfully, it's all for a good reason, and I'm still living in the hope that some second-trimester-energy will kick in soon. Meanwhile, Caleb has been busy. Here is his list of suggested baby names:

He can't tell me what they are, though.

Thankyou

Thankyou for all your lovely comments and well wishes here and on Facebook! We're all rather excited; Caleb most of all ("Why is the baby STILL not coming out?").

Meanwhile, I'm thoroughly enjoying putting my new quilt together. More than halfway there now.

 

 

 And while I have been stitching, Caleb has been teaching Daniel how to play 'Scaredy Cat'. This is a great game for this age, although I did notice that Caleb took two turns for every turn that Daniel had... (They were playing so nicely that I didn't interfere).

 

 

 

The red trike

This trike features in the quilt I am working on at the moment. 

 

I've taken it inside, for drawing / photography / inspiration purposes. 

Actually, I have long dreamed of claiming this trike for myself and repurposing it as a side table for my books and a cup of coffee, something like this...

 

but it looks like I may be waiting a while yet.

 

I've been a busy beaver in the studio this week, and this newest quilt is all cut out.

I'm looking forward to piecing it together now, and hoping it turns out something like the mental picture I have of it...

Lovely printed material for everyone on my mailing list

 I picked up a package today. Shall we open it?

 

 Oooh! Stacks of colourful exhibition invitations ready to be mailed out to hundreds of interested (hopefully) people next month... 

And some posters for enticing and interesting still more people, hopefully. We are getting more than a little excited here, especially now that we have all this lovely printed material awaiting distribution!

If you would like to be added to my mailing list (I will only use this 3-4 times a year at the most, so I won't be bothering you too much) just click here to send me your address. I'll make sure you get an in-real-life invitation in the next month!