Amanda Jane Textiles posted: " Oast Quilters (a group which meets in Canterbury, Kent) set their members a challenge this year - to use the fabric below in a quilt: Sixteen members of the group (including me) took up the challenge. While I was thinking about what I would make," Amanda Jane Textiles
Oast Quilters (a group which meets in Canterbury, Kent) set their members a challenge this year - to use the fabric below in a quilt:
Sixteen members of the group (including me) took up the challenge. While I was thinking about what I would make, I received a postcard from a quilting friend in Switzerland showing a naïve, folk-art style painting of a Swiss village. As it happens, many years ago, I lived and worked in Switzerland for a winter season after leaving school and before going to university to study languages. Although I was based in a newly-built modern resort, there were plenty of traditional villages and hamlets in the area round about. Something about this fabric reminded me of a chalet roof covered in snow. So I decided to make a Swiss village in fabric.
This was the largest building, looking perhaps like an hotel:
The eaves and door were bonded in place and I used Inktense pencils to draw the windows and shutters before adding hand-quilting.
The second building used the challenge fabric for the roof:
This is the smallest of the three houses, again with a stripey roof:
In the background, I added forests of pine trees with a green Inktense pencil and stitched snowy mountains with quilting stitches in a blue thread. To suggest lower slopes where plants begin to appear through the snow, I added a fabric with a scattered ditsy print:
Here is the quilt on a quilt stand at the Oast Quilters meeting. The finished size of this quilted wall-hanging is 28 x 24".
It is well worth taking part in a challenge - even one with a 'difficult' fabric, because it forces you to think creatively and persuades you to make something different to what you usually do. You learn a lot and extend your skills!
There are very few available dates left this year for my in-person 'Quilt in a Day' class but there are sessions available in the new year. Book on the Classes page of the website here
The same is true for my in-person class 'How to use a Sewing Machine' - this could be very helpful if you have 'sewing machine' on your own present wish-list! Book via the Classes page on the website here
There are also three craft-based courses and a basic quilt-making course available on-line, which could be given as a Christmas present. All the details are in the Classes page of the website here
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt Patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here
Click the 'Follow' button to get a blog-post by email each Monday and click here if you would like the monthly newsletter with design and colour inspiration, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment