Quilting bug

The watercolours are on temporary hold at the moment. I had hoped to keep them up and do some quilting too but my room is covered in tiny fabric squares and triangles, my clothes are covered in threads and there are uncut fabrics and books all over the floor. I start off with good intentions but somehow it's just not possible to make a quilt - even a mini one - without it looking like a fabric bomb has gone off in the house!

I've decided I might be able to get two single quilts out of the fabric I'm using (a habit we adopted from our time living in Norway, where they sensibly use two singles instead of fighting over a double duvet!) and I want to get most of the cutting and piecing out of the way. Using Paul's room to set up my watercolours didn't work out as it's north facing and absolutely freezing in there now!

Even before this quilting bug got a hold, I'd been keeping an eye out for a couple of years for this book by Philippa Naylor. It always seemed to be unavailable but it suddenly showed up on Amazon with only 3 left in stock so I grabbed it while I could.

There are a couple of reviews complaining about the fact that it's not a 'how to' book, but it's everything I hoped it would be. Personally, I hate curved piecing so I won't be needing any techniques, but I was fascinated to hear about Philippa's life in Saudi Arabia and how she came to design and make her beautiful quilts. The book reveals even more than I hoped - being a curious sort! - and has lovely clear photos of her quilts, including my favourite -

which bizarrely is the only one of hers not to win a prize. Even though it doesn't show exactly how she pieces her quilts, it gives quite a lot of information about their construction so one can work it out. But I seriously doubt she has anything to worry about from anyone trying to copy her work - her quilts take months and months to make. From dyeing the fabric to quilting and beading, these are real labours of love and all have her signature style. For me it's a gem, not because I want to do what she does, but because it's one of those books that inspires and energises you to get on with your own work. Yes, well, just a soon as I've finished all this cutting, that is! I want to do some smaller things and get my beads out...and I need to do some free motion stitching again...So many ideas, so little time!

White cliffs of Dover

Seen from the air on the way back home. Luton may not be terribly exotic, but you do get wonderful views over Paris and London on the way from Geneva. Sadly, a bit too misty for decent photos on the day but it was lovely along the coast.

New fabrics

The photo doesn't do justice to these luscious fabrics at all, but I found these things in a lovely little quilt shop only a few hundred metres away from where Paul is staying! He may find his Mum visiting more often than he had bargained for! I don't know what triggered it, but the quilting bug suddenly seems to be affecting me again. I more or less completely stopped since I began writing this blog except for making a small wall quilt last year. I'm enjoying the watercolours but perhaps I need more variety now. I tend to focus exclusively on one creative activity for long periods at a time and I do feel that is the best way to improve, but maybe it's time to change that habit in order to keep the creative juices flowing?

The only trouble I have with quilting is that I get 'ideas overload' after a while. I find playing with fabric, beads and threads so inspiring that I get so many I don't know what to do first. I've now decided on the colour scheme and the pattern for the fabrics on the left. They're Modas, a collection of autumnal colours called Summer's End and I plan to do a single bed quilt, a scrap 'Jewel Box' with them. The fabrics on the right are batiks, my favourite, and my mind goes into overdrive with those! The two packs are called Bali Pops, 40 strips of batik fabrics 2 1/2" wide which will be perfect for the mini paper pieced quilts I love doing. But, with all those fabrics and colours, the possibilities are endless! I'll have to start keeping a notebook of ideas and filter them out otherwise, like spinning plates, they will all come crashing down and I'll end up doing nothing! I already have two other colour schemes worked out for two bed quilts as they are older (but gorgeous!) fabrics I'd like to use up. As every quilter knows though, no matter how big your fabric stash, when you get out your fabrics to make a quilt, there is always at least one colour that you don't have that you absolutely must have to make that next quilt!

Planes, trains and Milton Keynes

Back to Blighty again, but this time I flew to Luton and back from Gatwick. The only time I've been to Luton was in 1982 but I can't say I remember it. This time though, I planned to get on a train to Milton Keynes and change from there. I was absolutely amazed to find that there is no train service between Luton airport and Milton Keynes and I had to get a coach! (I have an aversion to them, perhaps from seeing too many upturned in ditches on the news!)  I took a bit of a dislike to Milton Keynes too - a decaying concrete jungle drawn with a ruler with an obvious attempt to hide it all behind trees. Normally I'd say trees are a good thing, but when you're walking and there are so many you can't see if you are heading for a shopping street or a motorway, it's a bit ridiculous! Other than the fact that the journey was a bit of a trek, it was actually very enjoyable. Paul has settled in to university life very quickly and the weather was incredibly warm and mild for the time of year.

I even managed a sketch while I was on the plane! We were stuck on the tarmac waiting for a slot so I drew what I could see out of the window. I liked the lettering and the dark fuselage of this cargo plane. The shading was darkened and smoothed out later with a tortillon. Drawn in my little Green & Stone sketchbook.