Art Gallery Cushion.

Ok, so I haven't made a cushion fit for a gallery, but I have made one with some Art Gallery Fabrics. (Carnaby Street by Art Gallery Fabrics) 

I have just finished it this morning, complete with binding, which I have never done before...

I did curve the corners but next time I would curve them even more. 

....and a zip centre back.

I googled how to insert piping on a cushion and also how to insert zips.

So now it's soooooo easy when you know how. The house will be coming down with piped and zipped cushions.

But alas it's not a happy ending...........

I need to introduce this ^ 

to this ^

..............!

Evan's Quilt.

I got my small quilt finished and delivered to little Evan, a very special patient who has been in the ward I work in for over 9 months.

The good news is that he is possibly being discharged home this week. This is obviously absolutely fantastic for him and his family, but we will miss him so much from the ward. He is such character, and full of personality with lots of smiles, and frowns, and staring matches, and trying to talk going on all day long. Our wee sweetheart.

I kept adding a few borders around the original layout which brought it up to quite a decent sized cot quilt.

It was washed and tumbled before I gave it to Evan's mum Jenny.

I think she liked it. She's into patchwork, and crafts, and knits a lot. She is responsible for my lovely sheep that I have in the car....

I have had such a busy week, with absolutely no sewing done at all. My daughter Beth turned 18 on Thursday, so we had a big party for her in the house on Friday night.

I have only just recovered this morning I think. Last week was spent organising things and worrying about it, and the weekend was spent tidying and cleaning, and sleeping it off. 

There was also an epic visit to the bottle bank with all the empties.

So party weekend over, it's time to start Christmas shopping.

When will I ever sew again?

Well I might try an hour later on..

xxxxxx

Small quilt for a small person.

Flipping Heck, I havent been on here for a month. I am not a very good blogger. But then I haven't had anything very interesting to blog about. All work and no play.

Last week I decided to make a small quilt for a very special small person I know.

I bought this fabric at the Festival of Quilts and it has been looking at me for months wondering what it will be turned into.

The fabric is Scamper by Birch fabrics.

birchfabrics.com

Now over the past few months I have been finishing off Beth's quilt....

.... and I got pretty fed up making every block exactly the same. ( this quilt still needs quilted and bound but I don't even really like it anymore and keep putting off finishing it) Bad girl!

So for my small quilt, for the small person, I wanted to work more freely and decided to kind of grow it on the design wall.

Sorry my lighting isn't the best .

So this is where the quilt is at now. I have 3 more borders to add then get some wadding and choose a backing fabric and binding fabric.

When it's all finished it will measure about 36 inches by 43 inches.

Perfect for a cot I think.

On a completely different note, my daughter had her school formal a few weeks ago...

Beth and Ryan

And my son Rowan turned 16

Rowan

Back onto quilting again, my mum finished a lovely quilt a few weeks ago...

....and Lucy passed away one night. 

Lucy.

xxxxxooooo

Hands Across the Border

During the week my mum and I visited the Hands Across The Border exhibition at The Island Arts Centre in Lisburn.

Here are some of the exhibits....

Valerie McKeown, Lets Celebrate.

Irene MacWilliam, Wonder of Nature

Cathy Little, Wild Daisies

Anne French, Flower for the Living

Sharon Mount

Sheila Cleary, Birds Fly

On the way out of the exhibition these fabulous paintings were hanging in the foyer..

Aren't these fantastic? They are part of a community arts project, and I just think they are so free, and so inspiring, especially the first one.

Very Inspiring!

xx

Printing with Paula Rafferty.

Yesterday I spent a not so relaxing Sunday at a Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild workshop covering the basics of printing, taught by Paula Rafferty.

I had a ball. Who needs relaxation when you can...

Wear old clothes, get impossibly dirty nails, drink coffee, chat about sewing and people listen, and learn a few new things.

Here are some photographs I took yesterday. Unfortunately I wont be able to identify everyones work because there was so much going on and there were pieces everywhere.

This is mine, screen printing using oil pastel as a resist on the screen.

I printed this screen about 10 times onto one long continuous piece of white cotton.

These prints will be a great foundation for some machine stitching, and maybe some more printing or applique. I could also cut it up and re piece it.

Irene's piece.    

Martha screen printing.

Some of Paula's work. For the long piece she has used discharge paste over a thermofax screen.

Beautiful prints using transfer paints.

Irene MacWilliam's very simple but effective screen print using an oil pastel resist on the screen.

Two of Paula's home made stamps, using very fine wooden sticks, almost like match sticks.

This was my table with my papers prepared for transfer printing.

I used a feather stencil as a rubbing plate and rubbed over it with a back oil pastel. Then the transfer paint was painted over it in some cases, and over the background, leaving the feathers white, in some cases.

I loved the effect. I have used transfer paint a lot in the past but not with a resist on it.

Here are the prints on polycotton...

The one above is on Evalon.

Evalon again here .

This is definitely going to be the starting point for me in my next wall piece. 

I love these feathers!

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of Paula herself.

Here is a link to her blog.

paularafferty.blogspot.com/

Or google Paula Rafferty for images of her fashion and textile work.

xxx