The main reason I was at the ExCel last week was to help steward the Contemporary Quilt 2013 Journal Quilt Exhibition. It is a wonderful way to encourage people to get interested and have a go with textiles.
One of the letters I had sent in for making new banners has been used on this new horizontal banner.
They are still in the process of making a vertical one and doing a few other things. So, perhaps some of the others may show up.
Here is my 'Y'.
And I think this is all of the quilts. I may have got the order mixed. People were invited to send 2 out of their 2013 journals. I did offer, but somehow the email got lost. No worries though because 2 of them got an outing somewhere (Exeter?) last year.
Again apologies for photo quality. I think I still had it on burst and the quilts had very strong lights directed on them. I better check my camera is back to normal!
---And AH HA! I think I have worked out a trick to get photos to sit next to one another by messing about in the html!
Showing posts with label jq2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jq2013. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Map no.12 - Chester, Maine
The last 2013 journal quilt for Contemporary Quilt. These have had the theme of Maps and the size was 8"x12" landscape format. And it was finished around 8pm last night. So it wasn't even the last minute!
This was the hardest map because it is where my family live. But because I thought about it so long, it came together quickly. This map is not to scale and probably not quite accurate either. I did use proper maps to get the general gist of things, but it is more about memory than accuracy.
Part of the reason why it was hard to make this was because the life was hard. Coming to this place in Maine with no buildings, no running water, no electricity - 8 people in a trailer and all sorts of animals in a $9 barn we built with scraps of things from the paper mill. All because Dad wanted us to learn responsibility.
Okay, that bit worked! But no one else we knew lived that way. Milking 2 cows by hand before school every morning and then going up with a lantern to milk them again at night. Helping with haying on other farms so we could have some for ours...even though the temperature was over 100°F. Carrying numerous 5 gallon buckets of water to the cows in winter because they needed a drink even when the temperature was around -40°F!
And no female I have ever known, besides my sister with me, earned college money by cutting wood and selling it to the paper mill or to people who wanted wood for their wood stoves.
However, it has come full circle this year as A Certain Young Man is living there now - he wanted to! (I still don't get that part.) And yes, learning responsibility...because my dad can no longer do the hard work it takes to live there. So A Certain Young Man has been cutting wood, fixing holes in the roof, and shovelling snow and ice...and so on. And because he chose to, it is still an adventure to him and he is contemplating having them get some animals again!
The Penobscot River runs through this map mainly representing North Chester, with some of North Lincoln and Winn on the other side of the river where Route 2 or the 'Military Road' travels north accompanied by the railway track.
Our Land is on the far right (detail above) and goes right down to the river. The land below the road is pretty swampy though.
The bridge to cross the river is on the far left of the map. Various neighbour's homes are marked. Two different saw mills on the river side of the road and a large patch of veg farm marks the place approx. 1 mile down the road where I had my first 'real' job working for our friend's uncle picking fruit and veg. Other plots of land were also theirs and on all of these they also grew potatoes. (Maine is known for being potato country.)
This post is now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.
If you have come from there, you can also see another finish from this week.
This was the hardest map because it is where my family live. But because I thought about it so long, it came together quickly. This map is not to scale and probably not quite accurate either. I did use proper maps to get the general gist of things, but it is more about memory than accuracy.
Part of the reason why it was hard to make this was because the life was hard. Coming to this place in Maine with no buildings, no running water, no electricity - 8 people in a trailer and all sorts of animals in a $9 barn we built with scraps of things from the paper mill. All because Dad wanted us to learn responsibility.
Okay, that bit worked! But no one else we knew lived that way. Milking 2 cows by hand before school every morning and then going up with a lantern to milk them again at night. Helping with haying on other farms so we could have some for ours...even though the temperature was over 100°F. Carrying numerous 5 gallon buckets of water to the cows in winter because they needed a drink even when the temperature was around -40°F!
And no female I have ever known, besides my sister with me, earned college money by cutting wood and selling it to the paper mill or to people who wanted wood for their wood stoves.
However, it has come full circle this year as A Certain Young Man is living there now - he wanted to! (I still don't get that part.) And yes, learning responsibility...because my dad can no longer do the hard work it takes to live there. So A Certain Young Man has been cutting wood, fixing holes in the roof, and shovelling snow and ice...and so on. And because he chose to, it is still an adventure to him and he is contemplating having them get some animals again!
The Penobscot River runs through this map mainly representing North Chester, with some of North Lincoln and Winn on the other side of the river where Route 2 or the 'Military Road' travels north accompanied by the railway track.
Our Land is on the far right (detail above) and goes right down to the river. The land below the road is pretty swampy though.
The bridge to cross the river is on the far left of the map. Various neighbour's homes are marked. Two different saw mills on the river side of the road and a large patch of veg farm marks the place approx. 1 mile down the road where I had my first 'real' job working for our friend's uncle picking fruit and veg. Other plots of land were also theirs and on all of these they also grew potatoes. (Maine is known for being potato country.)
This post is now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.
If you have come from there, you can also see another finish from this week.
Labels:
CQ,
journal quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories,
Off the Wall Fridays
Friday, 13 December 2013
Map no.11 - finished
Things have calmed down a bit so I was able to finish the November map which was about Reading. I placed beads for the 3 different learning centres where I taught for New Directions.
The quilting has really made the roads stand out.
This post is now linked to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.
The quilting has really made the roads stand out.
This post is now linked to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.
Labels:
CQ,
journal quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories,
Off the Wall Fridays
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Map no.11 - stitched
This past week at meetings and one or two evenings watching some telly with my husband, I have stitched the map for November.
Now to finish layering it, add a bit more stitch to hold the layers and then bind it. This one is about Reading and extends to the places where I taught for New Directions community college.
I am still working on the piece I gave you a glimpse of, but I'm not ready to show more of it yet.
Now to finish layering it, add a bit more stitch to hold the layers and then bind it. This one is about Reading and extends to the places where I taught for New Directions community college.
I am still working on the piece I gave you a glimpse of, but I'm not ready to show more of it yet.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Map no.10 - suddenly developed and here it is
Last night when I hadn't enough brain to actually tackle a waistband, I thought I would see what happened with the map which has been peeking out at me amidst the blouses and other scraps on my table.
I did my City and Guilds Qualification in Hemel Hempstead. Nearly every week for 4 years. Through the traffic on the M25 at whatever o'clock in the morning. If you left at 10 past 7, you got there at 8:00 or so. If you left at 7:30, you got there after the class started at 9:00. So, I often took a nap in the carpark of the college. OR finished stitching whatever it was that was the current projects.
Apart from fighting the traffic on the various motorways on the way there. There was the daunting run the gauntlet experience of getting across the Magic Roundabout. So, I decided I would use the diagram of it in developing the map. I used the printer/photocopier to enlarge it.
when I went looking for what fabric, I decided to use this piece which was a mop it up blotter fabric from a Masterclass I did with Rayna Gillman at FOQ a few years ago. It was about printing your own fabrics.
So I fused the back and began to cut out the shape. I decided to use the roundabout as a design motif, rather than using the map of it as I have mostly been doing.
I found a background that was quite a bit more subtle than the surface designed piece. I liked the contrast of the grunge looking piece with one that seemed more elegant. In a small way, it represented the wide areas of interest in textiles I have developed as a result of the C+G (not that the course itself was particularly encouraging to someone who wanted to think outside the box! but we had a very good teacher for design who opened up worlds for me by showing anything was possible in design.)
Once I laid out the cut roundabout motifs, I fused them into place.
You can see that I chose to create more interest on the background. I decided to use other parts of the road system around the college. I used a map I had printed from the college way back on the first week so I could figure out how to get there. I cut away sections leaving the roads around the college. Then I used it like a stencil inside the open space of the roundabout motif using a silver gel pen.
I thought some of the outside spaces could do with more, so I used the section of the road system which included the roundabout and some of the roads I took to get there. I traced them with both metallic and opaque gel pen colours.
and then for just a bit more, I used a very small version of the roundabout to create star-like motifs in other gel pen colours.
And then stitched it. and found a similar colour fabric to the background for a binding. and it was already done by 10:00pm tonight! I usually hand stitch the binding at the back, but I thought I would just experiment with machine stitching from the front. Okay, it works and is quicker, but I prefer the hand stitching as it is tidier.
So there we are! October's map before the end of October! are you in shock?
I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.
I did my City and Guilds Qualification in Hemel Hempstead. Nearly every week for 4 years. Through the traffic on the M25 at whatever o'clock in the morning. If you left at 10 past 7, you got there at 8:00 or so. If you left at 7:30, you got there after the class started at 9:00. So, I often took a nap in the carpark of the college. OR finished stitching whatever it was that was the current projects.
Apart from fighting the traffic on the various motorways on the way there. There was the daunting run the gauntlet experience of getting across the Magic Roundabout. So, I decided I would use the diagram of it in developing the map. I used the printer/photocopier to enlarge it.
when I went looking for what fabric, I decided to use this piece which was a mop it up blotter fabric from a Masterclass I did with Rayna Gillman at FOQ a few years ago. It was about printing your own fabrics.
So I fused the back and began to cut out the shape. I decided to use the roundabout as a design motif, rather than using the map of it as I have mostly been doing.
I found a background that was quite a bit more subtle than the surface designed piece. I liked the contrast of the grunge looking piece with one that seemed more elegant. In a small way, it represented the wide areas of interest in textiles I have developed as a result of the C+G (not that the course itself was particularly encouraging to someone who wanted to think outside the box! but we had a very good teacher for design who opened up worlds for me by showing anything was possible in design.)
Once I laid out the cut roundabout motifs, I fused them into place.
You can see that I chose to create more interest on the background. I decided to use other parts of the road system around the college. I used a map I had printed from the college way back on the first week so I could figure out how to get there. I cut away sections leaving the roads around the college. Then I used it like a stencil inside the open space of the roundabout motif using a silver gel pen.
I thought some of the outside spaces could do with more, so I used the section of the road system which included the roundabout and some of the roads I took to get there. I traced them with both metallic and opaque gel pen colours.
and then for just a bit more, I used a very small version of the roundabout to create star-like motifs in other gel pen colours.
And then stitched it. and found a similar colour fabric to the background for a binding. and it was already done by 10:00pm tonight! I usually hand stitch the binding at the back, but I thought I would just experiment with machine stitching from the front. Okay, it works and is quicker, but I prefer the hand stitching as it is tidier.
So there we are! October's map before the end of October! are you in shock?
I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.
Labels:
CQ,
design development,
journal quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories,
Off the Wall Fridays
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Map no. 9 (Warning - scroll to the bottom if you just want to see the map)
On Monday after I submitted my piece for Water, Water, and while I was wondering 'what now?' I thought I may as well get on with the next map. It was meant to be for September - it would at least be started in September!
I decided to do a map that was still related to my time at college. The first place I went to was digs in West Springfield...and then later I had a job for a couple years at a Steak House restaurant - also in West Springfield. I had already selected the area I wanted to depict, so next was to consider how to do so.
Most of the other map Journal quilts have had a lot of pre-planning for the design. This time I thought I would just see how things developed.
First I found a random piece of fabric I had used as a sample of some tie and dye techniques. But the dye came out quite pale blue.
And the story...
I started college in January and about 2 or 3 days after I arrived, it was the worst snowstorm the North East of America had had for some time. Some places had to call out the National Guard to clear the roads because the snow had come so quickly that people were stranded on the roads in their cars. and then there was so much snow, the cars were covered. So clearing had to be done by hand. So, the pale blue would work to reference that.
I think if I had been able to get directly stuck into lessons and events at college, I would have been fine. But because it was a small college and because everyone was housebound, there I was in a strange place all on my own. I was studying theology at the college, so I began reading the Psalms. So much of it spoke to my situation...left alone, surrounded by strangers and being fearful about everything. Psalm 27 became my favourite. Time and again in the years to follow as I went through one thing and another - growing and becoming an adult - I connected with the expressions and cries of David the Psalmist.
So, the map. I used the main roads of West Springfield and the street where I first lived.
I traced them onto the fabric using a light box. And then I decided to write out Psalm 27 across the map.
Lately, because I was searching for fabric with script like I used for the first Ramshackle House and for the Horizons piece, a few people have suggested I write on fabric myself. Up to now, I have found it difficult, because many of the fine permanent markers bleed into surrounding areas. So, I decided this was the time to try something out.
I ironed the fabric to freezer paper to support it and keep it from moving around while I wrote on it. Then I used my DR Pilot drawing pen with no.1 tip and wrote out the Psalm. I didn't have a plan, only to make it rather journal like.
The writing worked rather well. Not sure how permanent it will be, but for this it works.
I kept the text to the sides because I thought I might decide to do something different in the centre. I wrote across roads when I came to them but only to the point where you could still work out the words even though some letters were missing.
At this point I decided to write the last verse of the Psalm again larger in the open space I had left.
I have always thought it interesting that David felt it necessary to re-state the waiting bit... how true to life! So many times we have to learn and re-learn a lesson! (Or I do anyway!) It took me quite a few years to get to the point where I was courageous and didn't get in a flap, but rather waited to see what God would do. (Okay, sometimes I still have to learn this again about something else that comes along!)
Then I sandwiched the quilt and set the machine to Free Machine settings and began to 'colour in' the roads and the bits of river which were in that area. So far so good.
Except even though it was sandwiched, it could have done with stabiliser, so it was rather puckery.
Then it was Tuesday and I went to a meeting in London. In the evening, too tired to try anything complicated, I decided just to stitch the top layer to the wadding using thread that would blend in...(while I watched telly.)
This helped to control most of the puckering. I decided to go over the centre verse with black stitching on the machine.
Today between other things and still not having much energy for much else, I did quite a bit more stitching.
And so now I am at the binding stage. As it has shrinkled, I will probably lose some words under the binding, but I think I am okay with that. It is not so much about seeing all the writing as it is about it having a journal look and a main thought to focus on.
I was tempted to do the binding in the same pale blue, but seeing this photo posted, I think it will be brown to visually connect with the roads. By the way, the roads are brown because that was the colour of my uniform at the steakhouse.
And if you got this far, well done! and Thank you. I should be able to get the binding on tomorrow.
I decided to do a map that was still related to my time at college. The first place I went to was digs in West Springfield...and then later I had a job for a couple years at a Steak House restaurant - also in West Springfield. I had already selected the area I wanted to depict, so next was to consider how to do so.
Most of the other map Journal quilts have had a lot of pre-planning for the design. This time I thought I would just see how things developed.
First I found a random piece of fabric I had used as a sample of some tie and dye techniques. But the dye came out quite pale blue.
And the story...
I started college in January and about 2 or 3 days after I arrived, it was the worst snowstorm the North East of America had had for some time. Some places had to call out the National Guard to clear the roads because the snow had come so quickly that people were stranded on the roads in their cars. and then there was so much snow, the cars were covered. So clearing had to be done by hand. So, the pale blue would work to reference that.
I think if I had been able to get directly stuck into lessons and events at college, I would have been fine. But because it was a small college and because everyone was housebound, there I was in a strange place all on my own. I was studying theology at the college, so I began reading the Psalms. So much of it spoke to my situation...left alone, surrounded by strangers and being fearful about everything. Psalm 27 became my favourite. Time and again in the years to follow as I went through one thing and another - growing and becoming an adult - I connected with the expressions and cries of David the Psalmist.
So, the map. I used the main roads of West Springfield and the street where I first lived.
I traced them onto the fabric using a light box. And then I decided to write out Psalm 27 across the map.
Lately, because I was searching for fabric with script like I used for the first Ramshackle House and for the Horizons piece, a few people have suggested I write on fabric myself. Up to now, I have found it difficult, because many of the fine permanent markers bleed into surrounding areas. So, I decided this was the time to try something out.
I ironed the fabric to freezer paper to support it and keep it from moving around while I wrote on it. Then I used my DR Pilot drawing pen with no.1 tip and wrote out the Psalm. I didn't have a plan, only to make it rather journal like.
The writing worked rather well. Not sure how permanent it will be, but for this it works.
I kept the text to the sides because I thought I might decide to do something different in the centre. I wrote across roads when I came to them but only to the point where you could still work out the words even though some letters were missing.
At this point I decided to write the last verse of the Psalm again larger in the open space I had left.
I have always thought it interesting that David felt it necessary to re-state the waiting bit... how true to life! So many times we have to learn and re-learn a lesson! (Or I do anyway!) It took me quite a few years to get to the point where I was courageous and didn't get in a flap, but rather waited to see what God would do. (Okay, sometimes I still have to learn this again about something else that comes along!)
Then I sandwiched the quilt and set the machine to Free Machine settings and began to 'colour in' the roads and the bits of river which were in that area. So far so good.
Except even though it was sandwiched, it could have done with stabiliser, so it was rather puckery.
Then it was Tuesday and I went to a meeting in London. In the evening, too tired to try anything complicated, I decided just to stitch the top layer to the wadding using thread that would blend in...(while I watched telly.)
This helped to control most of the puckering. I decided to go over the centre verse with black stitching on the machine.
Today between other things and still not having much energy for much else, I did quite a bit more stitching.
And so now I am at the binding stage. As it has shrinkled, I will probably lose some words under the binding, but I think I am okay with that. It is not so much about seeing all the writing as it is about it having a journal look and a main thought to focus on.
I was tempted to do the binding in the same pale blue, but seeing this photo posted, I think it will be brown to visually connect with the roads. By the way, the roads are brown because that was the colour of my uniform at the steakhouse.
And if you got this far, well done! and Thank you. I should be able to get the binding on tomorrow.
Labels:
CQ,
design development,
journal quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories
Monday, 2 September 2013
Map no. 8 - Orange Street, Springfield
Pulling another one of my last minute sessions on Saturday, but I got the Journal Quilts caught up by the deadline.
This map is about the place where I lived in my last 2 years at college. Orange Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. I lived with Joanne and her daughters Nicole and Misty...and Morris the cat. Joanne's parents Mr. and Mrs. Gentile lived downstairs. The last year I was there, my sister Debbie came to the same college and also lived with us.
For technique, this is my version of a map idea by Terry Aske in a recent issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. For mine I cut each 'block' of houses from a different plaid or stripe fabric and fused them into place over a street grid that was cut from a pale stripe fabric and fused onto calico. Just to highlight the idea of 'Orange Street' I covered the appliqued fabrics with orange satin stitch.
This map is about the place where I lived in my last 2 years at college. Orange Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. I lived with Joanne and her daughters Nicole and Misty...and Morris the cat. Joanne's parents Mr. and Mrs. Gentile lived downstairs. The last year I was there, my sister Debbie came to the same college and also lived with us.
For technique, this is my version of a map idea by Terry Aske in a recent issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. For mine I cut each 'block' of houses from a different plaid or stripe fabric and fused them into place over a street grid that was cut from a pale stripe fabric and fused onto calico. Just to highlight the idea of 'Orange Street' I covered the appliqued fabrics with orange satin stitch.
Friday, 30 August 2013
Map no. 7 - Belem
Here is another finish.
This map is about Belem, where I stayed the summer I went to Brazil. There was a lot that I learned, plenty of experiences. One of the main things that stuck in my mind was the contrast of housing areas where people lived. On one end of a street were large houses with plenty of garden. As you went quite a ways further down the street it became dirt road. Then you carried on even more and came to a swampy area where there was a boardwalk and on either side were houses built on stilts in the water. Teaming with people.
In researching this recently, I learned these are favelas - although the term is for any slum area, not just the areas on water. So, this map shows the Favelas in the dark green. I stitched beads to write the word Favela on to that portion of the map. It is in another shade of green, you discover it by surprise. Just a reminder that there are lovely people living in the rickety houses perched over the murky waters.
This map was transferred using matt medium on a reversed image. I used fine point Sharpies to make the streets stand out again. The streets in the Favela area are not so straightforward due to the random characteristic of the houses.
I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you are coming here from her blog, I also finished a couple other Maps this week. These are my journal quilts for 2013 with the Contemporary Quilt group. You can see it and the rest of the maps if you follow the link.
This map is about Belem, where I stayed the summer I went to Brazil. There was a lot that I learned, plenty of experiences. One of the main things that stuck in my mind was the contrast of housing areas where people lived. On one end of a street were large houses with plenty of garden. As you went quite a ways further down the street it became dirt road. Then you carried on even more and came to a swampy area where there was a boardwalk and on either side were houses built on stilts in the water. Teaming with people.
In researching this recently, I learned these are favelas - although the term is for any slum area, not just the areas on water. So, this map shows the Favelas in the dark green. I stitched beads to write the word Favela on to that portion of the map. It is in another shade of green, you discover it by surprise. Just a reminder that there are lovely people living in the rickety houses perched over the murky waters.
This map was transferred using matt medium on a reversed image. I used fine point Sharpies to make the streets stand out again. The streets in the Favela area are not so straightforward due to the random characteristic of the houses.
I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you are coming here from her blog, I also finished a couple other Maps this week. These are my journal quilts for 2013 with the Contemporary Quilt group. You can see it and the rest of the maps if you follow the link.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
York - Map no.6 finished and a brag
Binding sewn down on the York Map.
My Mother-in-Law lives in York. So I have enjoyed 26 years of being able to go and wander the streets. So full of history that you could almost touch the atmosphere.
Someone like me walked here 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 500, 1000 and even 2000 and beyond. Amazing.
Map no.7 should be done by the end of today.
*********
Something to brag about.
Luana Rubin and Bonnie McCaffrey included my 'Cloud Puppy' in one of their videos about the Festival of Quilts! This particular video is looking at unique things happening with Art Quilts. So that is cool! You can listen right from the start, or move along to where mine starts around 2:06. Luana talks about the piece above mine first, but it is worth listening to, because the inspiration for it is also Dragons. If you haven't been following, the 'Cloud Puppy' is my attempt to go large with my series of Dragons and Fire Creatures.
My Mother-in-Law lives in York. So I have enjoyed 26 years of being able to go and wander the streets. So full of history that you could almost touch the atmosphere.
Someone like me walked here 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 500, 1000 and even 2000 and beyond. Amazing.
Map no.7 should be done by the end of today.
*********
Something to brag about.
Luana Rubin and Bonnie McCaffrey included my 'Cloud Puppy' in one of their videos about the Festival of Quilts! This particular video is looking at unique things happening with Art Quilts. So that is cool! You can listen right from the start, or move along to where mine starts around 2:06. Luana talks about the piece above mine first, but it is worth listening to, because the inspiration for it is also Dragons. If you haven't been following, the 'Cloud Puppy' is my attempt to go large with my series of Dragons and Fire Creatures.
Labels:
Around Britain,
Cloud Puppy,
CQ,
Festival of Quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
York - Map no.6
Almost done. Just need to stitch the binding down.
One of my most favourite places in the whole world!
One of my most favourite places in the whole world!
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Map no. 5 - finished
I showed this Journal Quilt in progress the other day. It has actually been in progress for a couple months, but I had so many other things that took priority.
But now it is done.
This is the text I put with it.
Carrying on the Map theme. This is about Salamanca, a town on an Indian reservation in Western New York. For a period of time I lived in a school building which had been converted to flats.
My favourite memories of living there was the visits to a Seneca Indian lady called Rose. Rose had contracted polio when she was young. This already had caused physical problems, but one day as a young lady she woke to find she could no longer turn her head. She had some arm movement but for the rest of her life laid in a bed depending on others. But Rose was not downhearted. Even though I went to read to her, I was the one who came away encouraged and challenged. I hope to be as much of an encouragement to others throughout my life in spite of limitations I face.
But now it is done.
This is the text I put with it.
Carrying on the Map theme. This is about Salamanca, a town on an Indian reservation in Western New York. For a period of time I lived in a school building which had been converted to flats.
My favourite memories of living there was the visits to a Seneca Indian lady called Rose. Rose had contracted polio when she was young. This already had caused physical problems, but one day as a young lady she woke to find she could no longer turn her head. She had some arm movement but for the rest of her life laid in a bed depending on others. But Rose was not downhearted. Even though I went to read to her, I was the one who came away encouraged and challenged. I hope to be as much of an encouragement to others throughout my life in spite of limitations I face.
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Journal Quilts
This week I am also working on catching up with the Journal Quilt maps for the Contemporary Quilt JQ project. I got quite behind with all the other things I was doing the last few months. So I have to get these 4 done by the 31st August or opt out.
The first 2 are nearly to stitching stage. I will tell the story of this one when I get it done.
This one and the next one have involved a lot of work in Paint Shop Pro.
I may just have to go with simple for the others. - shock!
However, 2 of my the maps from the beginning of the year are going to be in the display at the ICHF show at Exeter in September.
One is My Neighbourhood and the other is Vianapolis.
The first 2 are nearly to stitching stage. I will tell the story of this one when I get it done.
This one and the next one have involved a lot of work in Paint Shop Pro.
I may just have to go with simple for the others. - shock!
However, 2 of my the maps from the beginning of the year are going to be in the display at the ICHF show at Exeter in September.
One is My Neighbourhood and the other is Vianapolis.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Map 4 - W VA
Here is Map 4 complete.
This map is a section of West Virginia in America. I have ignored North- South direction altogether on this one. If you want to skip the story and go to the making, just scroll down to the ******!
The year I turned 21, I came to England in the summer. On my return, I went to live with my grandparents in Belington, West Virginia. While there helping them out, I also had a job helping in the Primary grades in a private Christian school in Elkins.
The rest of the story of this map is about family history.
In the past few years I have been doing some research of ancestors. I have actually found it easier to discover info on my dad's people because they are from the same area in West Virginia, and West Virginia gives a bit more open access to records online.
Another reason is that one of my 2nd cousins (or something) has researched my grandmother's side - her grandfather was my grandmother's brother, and much of her research is found online. We also had a 'great' uncle who was a local historian and who had a column in several local papers. Some of his stories come up when you do a search, so there is information available beyond when West Virginia became a state. (They split from Virginia over the slavery issue, choosing to be a Free State.)
In fact, I have been able to go right back to when members of both my dad's father's people and my dad's mother's people were part of the same group who came together from the 'crowded' part of Virginia to settle the areas around Elkins. (Or as one record put it, "they needed elbow room after the Revolutionary War was over". And as each of them had around 10 children at least, it didn't take long for them to fill out the steep sides of the mountains there!)
So, the map has notation of Flanagan Hill near to Blackwater Falls; Middle Mountain where others started; Dry Forks/Red Creek where Wyatts, Wolfords, Flanagans, Carrs, Smiths, Raines, and other families all were part of the same community; and Bowden where my dad was born.
I have also noted Droop Mountain, where Thomas R Williams, my dad's Great Grandfather, was wounded in the last major skirmish of the Civil War - and Beverly next to Elkins, where the wounded from that battle were brought. And from where at some point, he met Sarah Curtis, clerk in a shop, and stayed in West Virginia! Thomas Williams had left Alabama to go to Ohio and join up under the newly formed 2nd West Virginia Regiment. I can't be sure, but to me this would imply he, too, was anti-slavery and that his beliefs ultimately brought him to 'join the family'.
******
And so about the making.
I traced the roads onto freezer paper using a large marker. Then ironed onto fused green fabric that looks a bit like what can be seen from Google maps.
I wanted the roads to show through the green bits. So I cut out each section of the green fabric.
Then I trimmed the 'road' from it.
I positioned the pieces next to each other a bit like a jigsaw.
And when complete, it was fused in place to the yellow fabric. I used 'balance marks' to allow me to line up the pieces properly.
Then I stitched the roads. and round the edges of each shape, removing the paper one piece at a time.
After I sorted the border, I wrote the names of the places which are of importance in my family history. And stitched a small button to mark the position of the different places.
Along with the making of the map, I feel I have developed a way to work which I can translate to some of the other things I am working on, like the Cloud Puppy. I have a good idea how to stitch him now.
I am linking to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.
This map is a section of West Virginia in America. I have ignored North- South direction altogether on this one. If you want to skip the story and go to the making, just scroll down to the ******!
The year I turned 21, I came to England in the summer. On my return, I went to live with my grandparents in Belington, West Virginia. While there helping them out, I also had a job helping in the Primary grades in a private Christian school in Elkins.
The rest of the story of this map is about family history.
In the past few years I have been doing some research of ancestors. I have actually found it easier to discover info on my dad's people because they are from the same area in West Virginia, and West Virginia gives a bit more open access to records online.
Another reason is that one of my 2nd cousins (or something) has researched my grandmother's side - her grandfather was my grandmother's brother, and much of her research is found online. We also had a 'great' uncle who was a local historian and who had a column in several local papers. Some of his stories come up when you do a search, so there is information available beyond when West Virginia became a state. (They split from Virginia over the slavery issue, choosing to be a Free State.)
In fact, I have been able to go right back to when members of both my dad's father's people and my dad's mother's people were part of the same group who came together from the 'crowded' part of Virginia to settle the areas around Elkins. (Or as one record put it, "they needed elbow room after the Revolutionary War was over". And as each of them had around 10 children at least, it didn't take long for them to fill out the steep sides of the mountains there!)
So, the map has notation of Flanagan Hill near to Blackwater Falls; Middle Mountain where others started; Dry Forks/Red Creek where Wyatts, Wolfords, Flanagans, Carrs, Smiths, Raines, and other families all were part of the same community; and Bowden where my dad was born.
I have also noted Droop Mountain, where Thomas R Williams, my dad's Great Grandfather, was wounded in the last major skirmish of the Civil War - and Beverly next to Elkins, where the wounded from that battle were brought. And from where at some point, he met Sarah Curtis, clerk in a shop, and stayed in West Virginia! Thomas Williams had left Alabama to go to Ohio and join up under the newly formed 2nd West Virginia Regiment. I can't be sure, but to me this would imply he, too, was anti-slavery and that his beliefs ultimately brought him to 'join the family'.
******
And so about the making.
I traced the roads onto freezer paper using a large marker. Then ironed onto fused green fabric that looks a bit like what can be seen from Google maps.
I wanted the roads to show through the green bits. So I cut out each section of the green fabric.
Then I trimmed the 'road' from it.
I positioned the pieces next to each other a bit like a jigsaw.
And when complete, it was fused in place to the yellow fabric. I used 'balance marks' to allow me to line up the pieces properly.
Then I stitched the roads. and round the edges of each shape, removing the paper one piece at a time.
After I sorted the border, I wrote the names of the places which are of importance in my family history. And stitched a small button to mark the position of the different places.
Along with the making of the map, I feel I have developed a way to work which I can translate to some of the other things I am working on, like the Cloud Puppy. I have a good idea how to stitch him now.
I am linking to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Map 4 - making a start
I spent some time in the last few days doing the research for Map 4. Today I had a chance to make a bit of a start. I have pasted sections together on the computer and then cropped, rotated and then enlarged the printed map. The roads are what I want to concentrate on, so I have gone over them with a marker. Then I will use the light box to trace the pattern.
What I intend to do is work on this one in a similar way to how I was doing the dragons. I will cut out the shapes from a green fabric with fusible on it (for the wooded mountains of West Virginia). Then I will fuse the pieces to another fabric. I am thinking about yellow, as the original map used yellow for the road system. but I may use black and stitch yellow running stitch onto the roads.
When I get it done, I will relate the story of the connections this area has with my past.
I am going to link these maps to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you have come over from there, I am using the label jq2013, so you should be able to scroll down and see the first 3 in the series which I managed to complete this week.
What I intend to do is work on this one in a similar way to how I was doing the dragons. I will cut out the shapes from a green fabric with fusible on it (for the wooded mountains of West Virginia). Then I will fuse the pieces to another fabric. I am thinking about yellow, as the original map used yellow for the road system. but I may use black and stitch yellow running stitch onto the roads.
When I get it done, I will relate the story of the connections this area has with my past.
I am going to link these maps to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you have come over from there, I am using the label jq2013, so you should be able to scroll down and see the first 3 in the series which I managed to complete this week.
Labels:
CQ,
journal quilts,
jq2013,
maps,
memories,
Off the Wall Fridays
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Map 3 - Ohio, the Early Years
Here is Map 3 complete.
This is map of the Barberton, Ohio area where I began my school years. I was able to locate photos of the various schools I attended.
I started Kindergarten at Norton Primary School. I remember getting chicken pox (somehow connected with a memory of going to the zoo with school?) and then the rest of my siblings - at that point 4 of them - caught it. 2 of them became so ill they got pneumonia and had to go into hospital. My youngest brother was a baby and nearly died.
I finished Primary School at a different primary school from my siblings because as a 'baby boomer' there were too many my age to accommodate at the one school. So, I went to Loyal Oak School from 1st to 4th grade.
While researching information to set the locations on the map, I discovered Loyal Oak School has been knocked down! Sort of shakes you a bit...For instance, I remember watching the return of one of the first moon missions on television with the rest of my year group. I also remember getting praised for an counter change art project I did using organic shapes, which was then displayed on the wall in the corridor.
I remember the first grade teacher was Mrs. Stamp and our classroom was in the basement. My grandmother fell about laughing and I was so indignant because she thought I said "Mrs Damp in the basement"!
In 5th and 6th grade, I went to Norton Intermediate prior to our family moving from Ohio to live in Maine. Here I started flute lessons. and because I struggled so much to read the board and the science film strips, my parents were finally convinced I needed glasses. Then the whole world opened up. I could see birds on the tops of the buildings!
I also included the position on the map where we went to church, Sunday School and a youth club called Awana. Crusade Baptist Church, Copley, Ohio. I made some life long decisions there which I have never regretted. Some of those decisions eventually led me to England where I intend to stay!
I used the computer to add photos to a map of the area. I included smaller images for a 'key'...
2 of these are photos of myself with my siblings in the front garden of our small house on Barber Road.
"The Big Kids"
and "the Little Kids"
Looking back, the Big Kids, Little Kids thing was really a nominal difference as there was only an 8 year difference between the youngest and the oldest (me)!
The map was printed onto calico covered with Ink Aid. However, I hadn't considered what would happen as it was loomstate calico and painting the wet solution onto the cloth caused it to shrink a bit too much - 8in became more like 7in.
The printer wasn't too sure about printing that length of fabric (it started at 13in). It buckled in the printer and picked up ink from something. The word 'Ohio' was added to cover the blotch! Because of the size issue, I trimmed and mounted the map onto hand dyed fabric having colours similar to the map. The map was machine quilted with cream thread.
This is map of the Barberton, Ohio area where I began my school years. I was able to locate photos of the various schools I attended.
I started Kindergarten at Norton Primary School. I remember getting chicken pox (somehow connected with a memory of going to the zoo with school?) and then the rest of my siblings - at that point 4 of them - caught it. 2 of them became so ill they got pneumonia and had to go into hospital. My youngest brother was a baby and nearly died.
I finished Primary School at a different primary school from my siblings because as a 'baby boomer' there were too many my age to accommodate at the one school. So, I went to Loyal Oak School from 1st to 4th grade.
While researching information to set the locations on the map, I discovered Loyal Oak School has been knocked down! Sort of shakes you a bit...For instance, I remember watching the return of one of the first moon missions on television with the rest of my year group. I also remember getting praised for an counter change art project I did using organic shapes, which was then displayed on the wall in the corridor.
I remember the first grade teacher was Mrs. Stamp and our classroom was in the basement. My grandmother fell about laughing and I was so indignant because she thought I said "Mrs Damp in the basement"!
In 5th and 6th grade, I went to Norton Intermediate prior to our family moving from Ohio to live in Maine. Here I started flute lessons. and because I struggled so much to read the board and the science film strips, my parents were finally convinced I needed glasses. Then the whole world opened up. I could see birds on the tops of the buildings!
I also included the position on the map where we went to church, Sunday School and a youth club called Awana. Crusade Baptist Church, Copley, Ohio. I made some life long decisions there which I have never regretted. Some of those decisions eventually led me to England where I intend to stay!
I used the computer to add photos to a map of the area. I included smaller images for a 'key'...
2 of these are photos of myself with my siblings in the front garden of our small house on Barber Road.
"The Big Kids"
I am on the left.
and "the Little Kids"
The youngest is in the middle.
Looking back, the Big Kids, Little Kids thing was really a nominal difference as there was only an 8 year difference between the youngest and the oldest (me)!
The map was printed onto calico covered with Ink Aid. However, I hadn't considered what would happen as it was loomstate calico and painting the wet solution onto the cloth caused it to shrink a bit too much - 8in became more like 7in.
The printer wasn't too sure about printing that length of fabric (it started at 13in). It buckled in the printer and picked up ink from something. The word 'Ohio' was added to cover the blotch! Because of the size issue, I trimmed and mounted the map onto hand dyed fabric having colours similar to the map. The map was machine quilted with cream thread.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Map 2 - Vianopolis, Brazil finished
Here is Map 2 complete.
40 years ago I went on my own to Belem, Brazil to visit missionary friends of my family. I had my 13th birthday while there. During the stay, we travelled a 3 day journey by coach to a small town in the central part of the country. (The coach itself was a real experience as it was somewhat primitive - the toilet was an open hole letting waste out onto the road!) This is the 2013 town map, the mission land is still able to be located, but I have been unable to tell if they are still the owners.
The streets and plots for housing are outlined with Pentel gel roller for fabric. I used a copy of the map and cut out all the little rectangles to make a stencil and marked the lines with pencil first.
I have positioned the map with North at the bottom and South at the top because I think the shape resembles a bird. To further connect the map to Brazil, I have coloured in the plots/blocks with the colours of the Brazilian flag using Triplus fineliners. It sort of resembles the colourful birds which can be seen in the rainforest.
The story and some memories have been quilted into the background using cream thread. This includes memories of a visit to a farm where sugar cane was crushed using an oxen powered press to obtain the juice.
Similar to this photo from South American Pictures.
After the juice was boiled down, the raw sugar was put into hollowed logs and buried in the ground for a certain length of time to 'flavour' it for brown sugar! I tried some which had been boiled down further to make sweets which were very good.
Here is a link to an interesting article which explains the process a bit better than I understood it as a 13 year old!
40 years ago I went on my own to Belem, Brazil to visit missionary friends of my family. I had my 13th birthday while there. During the stay, we travelled a 3 day journey by coach to a small town in the central part of the country. (The coach itself was a real experience as it was somewhat primitive - the toilet was an open hole letting waste out onto the road!) This is the 2013 town map, the mission land is still able to be located, but I have been unable to tell if they are still the owners.
The streets and plots for housing are outlined with Pentel gel roller for fabric. I used a copy of the map and cut out all the little rectangles to make a stencil and marked the lines with pencil first.
I have positioned the map with North at the bottom and South at the top because I think the shape resembles a bird. To further connect the map to Brazil, I have coloured in the plots/blocks with the colours of the Brazilian flag using Triplus fineliners. It sort of resembles the colourful birds which can be seen in the rainforest.
The story and some memories have been quilted into the background using cream thread. This includes memories of a visit to a farm where sugar cane was crushed using an oxen powered press to obtain the juice.
Similar to this photo from South American Pictures.
After the juice was boiled down, the raw sugar was put into hollowed logs and buried in the ground for a certain length of time to 'flavour' it for brown sugar! I tried some which had been boiled down further to make sweets which were very good.
Here is a link to an interesting article which explains the process a bit better than I understood it as a 13 year old!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)