First - English paper piecing. Well, yeah, I see where you are coming from but.... oh sorry, what was I saying? I fell asleep. I've done a few samples in the past but whats with all that paper?! I can see handpiecing - in fact this quilt, which was one of the first I ever made, has all handpieced blocks. 
I thought it strange that the general response seemed to be that if you were handpiecing it might as well be over paper. I did have a good time handpiecing this Mariners star on a train crossing the German/Holland border last year though. I just haven't worked out what do do with it yet! I may well handpiece some blocks with fabric as I go - but what to choose?
I thought it strange that the general response seemed to be that if you were handpiecing it might as well be over paper. I did have a good time handpiecing this Mariners star on a train crossing the German/Holland border last year though. I just haven't worked out what do do with it yet! I may well handpiece some blocks with fabric as I go - but what to choose?
Secondly, cathedral windows - since I have this book I took another peek.
I wonder about somehow making the centres out of ephemera I find along the way? I just haven't worked out how to do it yet.
Then came the crazy quilting which actually was my idea too. Only I don't really like them. I mean I really like the idea of premade crazy blocks and making some more as I go along ( see above on handsewing foundation blocks). But, I don't like the Victorian mishmash of them - you know the, um, craziness of them. So I was thinking about how to do a sort of 'slightly on the flaky side' quilt, with lots of embroidery and some textural interest, but monochromatic and delicate rather than crazy. I was just working out how to do it when I looked up from my sewing machine and here was this picture.
Made by the fantastic Pollie Uttley it is a clay piece inspired by Indian textiles and ever since I bought it I have periodic thoughts about translating it back into fabric. What do you think?
5 comments:
well I was sure i had commented on this yesterday, maybe i just thought about it. I was going to suggest an embroidered quilt. I have the same problems as you with crazy quilting (which i wrote about at length a while ago) - but i do like the patchwork/embroidery combo. this design will be perfect - good luck.
I'm in your court as respects English paper piecing, and I pretty much feel the same way about cathedral windows and crazy quilts... although I like your idea of using found ephemera, and I love that that piece of art you showed. Personally, I'd say it's time to take up crochet or knitting! (but a lot of places won't let you take knitting needles on the plane, so that sort of defeats the purpose...)
Hope you can find something that feels right. I love "eastern" embroidery be it Thai, Pakistani, Turkish or whatever... Very "organized" but also space for ephemera...
The Indian thing certainly looks possible to make during your travels.
It reminds me a little of the travelers blankets Dijanne Cevaal makes, something like which can also be a possibility to take with you.
http://origidij.blogspot.com/2009/02/travellers-blanket.html
(Btw, I agree with you about english paperpiecing, to me it seems like just a lot of unnessecary extra work)
What I think is that you'll be returning from your holiday with yet another incredible piece of work accomplished. I love the idea of translating that sculptural piece into fabric, and doing it in a way that tells the story of your journey.
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