Journal Quilts

Of course it would be easy if I had lots of ideas and the ability to transfer them to paper and then fabric. However, having taken the plunge to join in with the Journal Quilt project I am trying really hard to plan my projects and to think the designs through before starting off blindly and then finding it just doesn't work!

There is a poplar tree growing in my neighbour's garden and it's not really a thing of beauty, but growing up it and wrapping around it is an old Wisteria. This is actually growing in our garden, but as it was here when we came, we can't really take any credit for it! I find myself looking at this tree every morning when I'm drinking my early morning tea and I have become fascinated, (DH says obsessed!) with the way the wisteria twines around the trunk and branches. It was quite a picture in the recent snow as you can see, so I decided to use it as a design source for my January Journal Quilt. In fact, if I have gone so far as choosing a theme, I think this will be it.

So I have been hard at work trying to get the first little quilt finished, but as usual

didn't like the first attempt and abandoned it to be resurrected in another project  later. Likewise attempt number two, but the third attempt seems to have been successful and I've now uploaded it to the Contemporary Quilt Group.

Am I enjoying it? Yes, but still a bit scared that my efforts are a bit amateurish! More practice is needed!

In at the deep end!

So, as if I haven't got enough to do, I'm embarking on a new venture in addition to the spinning, weaving, embroidery....... etc.  I've always been interested in patchwork and quilting and somewhere up in the attic
is a cardboard box of bits of left over fabric from dresses I made for myself and my Daughter in the 1960s and 1970s. The plan was that when I retired, I would use these bits to make a lovely quilt which would be  a reminder of those lovely heady days and might even be of historical interest! Well I have retired, and the box remains beneath it's layer of dust with it's contents intact! I now have a stash of fabric that it will take several decades to use up, so the heirloom quilt will have to wait!

Back in 2005, I wasn't intending to start quilting, but the train journey from Kings Cross to Leeds takes around two hours and having dozed off for a while I noticed that the girl who had been sitting opposite me had left her copy of British Patchwork and Quilting magazine on the table. I was bored by now and picked it up and that's how that journey led to this quilting journey that I'm now embarked on!

There was a pattern  in the magazine that took my eye, based on a nine patch block. So, not having a clue what that meant but thinking it looked pretty, I decided to make one! I had plenty of fabric that I had dyed myself and the result was not too bad for a complete beginner.  It made an ideal play mat for my little grandaughter and  I was very pleased with it. [Shame about the redeye!].

My next effort was much more complicated and was my own design. I had been to the Harrogate Quilt show with a friend and saw some fabulous fabric with cats and dogs in lovely bright colours which I just had to have. The fabric was designed by Laurel Burch and was so eye catching that I knew Isobel would love it too.

As I am not renowned for my forward planning or working out the design beforehand, the quilt was a bit cobbled together and I only just had enough fabric to complete it! It now lives on Isobel's bed and is very much loved, even though it is full of mistakes and would not win any prizes for technique!

Have I learned my lesson? Well I would like to think so but can't promise. I am hoping that joining the Contemporary Quilt Group will encourage me to develop some good habits such as measuring accurately and planning ahead!

Possibly wishful thinking! We shall see!!!