Wednesday, 10 December 2008

An epiphany?

I was working on a challenge quilt for TQS when I realised just how much I enjoy working with fabrics. I have been doing so much lately with mixed media which, when used on fabrics, really changes the feel of the fabric and quite frankly does not make them enjoyable to stitch. I also began to feel that my individuality is suppressed when working on some of the techniques in earlier blogs and what I end up creating begins to look so much like everyone else's work. I have decided that from now on I will concentrate upon creating pieces that are primarily fabric. The other techniques that I have acquired will not be wasted as many of them lend themselves to gift making.

The quilt that I have just finished is in memory of my two beautiful cats, Heathcliffe the larger one and Fawzi the little one. They were such good pals and both died in December months. The background is strip pieced and heavily quilted with the window frames and the cats appliqued afterwards. If you look carefully in the bottom right corner you can just see a robin behind Fawzi - he never was a very good hunter, always waited for Cliff to bring things in for him to play with. Cliff was a prolific hunter but never never killed anything except once when he caught a rat - was I grateful that he didn't bring that one in alive!








These are my two boys in real life. Cliff having taken over the old Landrover and Fawzi as a baby.






































Having bought some Moonshadow Mists and Ranger Paintsprays for my mixed media work I decided to try them out on fabric to see what sort of effect they would create. They have worked out quite well and apart from making the fabric only slightly stiffer I think it is a good option to use when I don't want to have a dyeing session. The effect of the Moonshadow MIst does not show well on the photos but it gives them a subtle shimmer. I tried it out on both Pima cotton and Kona cotton and was surprised at the difference in intensity. I don't know whether they would wash but as most of my works do not get washed it does not really matter.

Pima cotton



For some reason the server is not responding to the Kona cotton image so I will try to edit that one in later. In the meantime I now have to go to work. Only today and two night shifts and then no more until December 28th so lots of time to play.

Got home from work and blogger has decided to co-operate so can now post the image of the Kona cotton


Kona cotton

7 comments:

  1. Hi Maggi

    Your quilt is beautiful. I often find it liberating to realise that there are some arts/crafts that I don't enjoy. I then know that I no longer have to collect materials for those textile practices and can focus on the things I do enjoy.

    Monica

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  2. 'OOOOOO', Maggie your quilt is beautiful and in memory of your two very loving cats. Its so sad losing a family pet but they do leave us with such wonderful memories. Returning to fabric. I to have had a simular experience over the past few weeks, I have discovered I really dislike gouache flat design work, and its been so nice to return to weaving and the use of some wonderful yarns. xx

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  3. Maggi,
    I love your quilt,and as I am an animal lover too, I can well appreicate how important this quilt was to you. Great Job!
    Micki

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  4. Maggie,
    The quilt is just beautiful. We love our animals too. So sad when they pass away. I so enjoy looking at your art and craft work.
    Kathryn

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  5. Your quilt is lovely, i know what you mean about not enjoyingsome techiniques. I am enjoying working with mixed media at present, but my first love will always be textiles I think, but absolutely NOT quilting - I just admire everyone else's quilting! Cheers, Robin

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  6. What a lovely quilt. Hope you enjoy your break from work

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  7. Love the cat quilt and those Moonshadow sprayed fabric samples are beautiful. It is good to come to a decision about which techniques to continue with and which to put to one side. I am still a butterfly brain and flit from one to another. I sometimes wonder if I will ever 'find' my own way of working.

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