Festival of Quilts, Birmingham

Last week my husband and I was in Birmingham, England. On Thursday we visited the Festival of Quilts. I showed a quilt for the first time, my "Swan Lake". No prize on the Swan, but it was fun to partisipate. The show cantained more than 1300 quilts and I'm not sure I saw all of them!

Both the Show and the vendors were well organized, but it was the opening day and it was very crowded! I had a long shopping list and got most of it before my legs didn't want to walk any more... I was at a Quilt show and didn't buy a single fabric! But a lot for mixed media - Shiva paintsticks, foil, lutradur, watercolor vax sticks, painting ink for fabric...... The catalogue also gave me a lot of links to retailors. The only thing I didn't find, was a silk screen, but I have ordered one now.

Below is the winners of the pictorial group.

# 1

"Herd Mentality" by Ferret, Bournemouth

# 2

"Night Watch" by Olga Ovsynnikova, Moscow, Russia

# 3

"Hostas after the Shower" by Patricia Collinson, Bideford

New Shibori Dyeing

I'm just now in a Shibori II dyeing class at Quilt University. The teacher is as usual Marjorie McWilliams. This weeks lesson gave some pieces I'm really pleased with.

This one is first dyed with fuchsia and the with a green dye. The colors are even more brilliant in real life. I think this one will get some prints and then be quilted. All the pieces are about

18" x 44"

This one is just beautiful. It was first dyed with yellow and then overdyed with purple. There is so much wicking here and so many different colors. This is the nice thing with Shibori dyeing - you never know how it will look before you open it.

This one will also get some additinal prints and be quilted.

Here the fabric is pleated in a random way and the sewed over the pleats. Dyed with purple and left to dry completely before rinsing. A lot of WOW's here this week!

This is how the piece above looked after dyeing and before the threads were removed. I did som free motion both with normal stiches and zik zak.

Dress finished

My dress is now finished, and I'm quite happy with the result! It's simple, but very "me".

It was not a fabric for beginners, but I think I did it worse. I'm very electric and to avoid all the sparkling, I put conditioner in the rinse. It made both the velvet and the habotai silk (for lining) VERY alive!

Kjolen min er nå ferdig og jeg er ganske fornøyd med resultatet! Den er enkel, men veldig "meg". Det var ikke et nybegynner stoff, men jeg tror jeg gjorde det enda verre. Jeg er veldig elektrisk og for å unngå all gnistringen, så hadde jeg skyllemiddel i vannet. Det gjorde både fløyelen og habotai silken ( til fòr) VELDIG levende!

This is the front. Slightly wider at the bottom.

Dette er foran. Den er litt videre nederst

Down at the back there is a "fan" with quite a lot of fabric.

Nederst bak er det en "vifte" med ganske mye stoff.

The dogs wanted to be in the picture, too, so here they are. Emma to the left and Pippi to the right.

Hundene ville også være med på bildet, så her er de. Emma til venstre og Pippi til høyre.

Velvet for Dress

Our youngest son is getting married September 6. and for this I need a dress. I'm not at all a pastel kind of person and when I'm also a bit long from the waist and up, it's difficult to find something in the shops. And I want something special for the party. So I decided I would dye and sew it myself. The fabric is a rayon/silk velvet bought from Fabricdesigns.com (Marjorie McWilliams), a wonderful velvet that takes the dye perfect. I discovered the color and the pattern in her Shibori class.

This is the final result. A deep rust color with pattern in deep blue purple. The technique is called arashi shibori - you wrap and scrunch the fabric around a pole to get the pattern. It didn't go just as I wanted, but the result is fine. I'm only sorry you can't see the wonderful golden shine in the velvet when the light hit it!

Here is the velvet curing in a dye bath to get the rusty color. I had to use a tub to get all the fabric in. It's 5 yard of velvet.

The pole I have is about one yard and I didn't think it was long enough to get all the fabric on, so I scrunched it on my table. I also spun it to get out the water, I think that was a mistake. I applyed the dye for the pattern carefully, but the result got more blotchy than I liked.

Here the dye is applyed and I already saw that this wasn't going to be striped!

When the first attemped had cured and the fabric was rinsed, I gave the pole a try. And it was long enough. The velvet it scrunched very tight on the pole and new dye is applyed.

Here is a close up of the velvet. Since there was enough bloches on the velvet, I was a little bit too careful when I applyed the dye. I might have redone it once more, but I don't want to "kill" the rust color, so I'' say I'm pleased with it as it is. Now on to the sewing!

My new Studio

My studio is finally finished and I want to take you on "tour". It's not anything fancy, but it have a lot more space than my old studio.

Endelig er det nye arbeidsrommet mitt ferdig og jeg tenkte jeg skulle ta dere med på en "rundtur". Det er ikke noe spesielt, men det er mye mer plass her enn i det gamle arbeidsrommet.

This is what you see when you enter the studio. It lies in the basement and I have an entrance both from upstairs and from outside.

Dette er hva du ser når du kommer inn i rommet. Det ligger i kjelleren og har inngang både fra første etasje og fra utsiden.

Here is my Zone where I can read and relax. An old armchair got a new, loose cover.

Her er min Zone hvor jeg kan lese og slappe av. En gammel lenestol har fått nytt, løst trekk.

Here is my sewing table. The desk has follow me for many years and I didn't want to get rid of it. The only new is I have recessed (?) my sewing machine in the desk. It makes the quilting so much easier when the level is even.

The jacket on the wall is one I made to my youngest son 24 years ago. I got a week free to go to a batik class. I loved this jacket and I think it was the one piece of clothing that he wore the most. I also see that it is the first thing I quilted! There is some closeups of the jacket at the botttom here.

Her er sybordet mitt. Skrivebordet har fulgt meg i mange år og jeg hadde ikke lyst til å kvitte meg med det. Det eneste nye er at jeg har felt symaskinen ned i bordet. Det gjør at quiltingen går mye lettere når flaten er jevn.

Jakka på veggen er en jeg laget til den yngste sønnen vår for 24 år siden. i fikk en uke fri for å gå på et batikk kurs. Jeg elsket den jakka og det var det plagget jeg brukte mest på ham. Jeg ser også at det er den første tingen jeg quiltet! Det er noen nærbilder av den på slutten av dette innlegget.

This is my new design wall. Twice as big as the old one!

Dette er den nye designveggen min. Dobbelt så stor som den gamle!

This is my cutting board which I can move around if I need to. On the to is a ironing board. I have made this small one and one there is as large as the table. Both are made from Sharon Schamber's video. You find it here: http://sharonschambernetwork.com/free_area/free.html I like that they are quite hard and you can move them to where you need them.

Dette er klippebordet mitt som jeg kan flytte rund om jeg trenger det. Oppå ligger det en strykeplate. Jeg har laget denne lille og en som er like stor som bordet. Begge er laget fra Sharon Schamber's video. Du finner den på linken over. Jeg liker dem fordi de er ganske harde og kan flyttes til hvor du trenger dem.

This is from the room where I dye my fabric. Someone in a QU class came up with the idea of a whiteboard over the dyeing table. It's very useful because it is not easy to write with a pencil on paper with large gloves full of dye!

Dette er fra rommet hvor jeg farger stoffene mine. En dame i en QU klasse kom med ideen om å henge en Whiteboard tavle over fargebordet. Veldig nyttig, fordi det ikke er lett å skrive med blyant på papir med store hanske fulle av farge!

This is my storage room. It's so nice to have a place for everything. And all my fabrics are folded. We will see how long it lasts!

Dette er lagerrommet mitt. Det er så deilig å ha plass til alt. Alle stoffene mine er brettet. Vi får se hvor lenge det varer!

The other side of the storage room with my books, binders from QU, paints and other stuff.

Dette er den andre siden av lagerrommet med bøkene mine, permer fra QU, maling og masse annet.

Kjetil's jacket. Batiked and quilted in 1984!

Kjetil's jakke. Batikk og quiltet i 1984!

The back of Kjetil's jacket.

Baksiden av Kjetil's jakke.

Red Glow / Flora Rosa

Red Glow

!0 1/2" x 13 1/2"

26,5 x 34 cm

I have just finished Debbie Babin's class Textile Art with Pizzazz where we used her design Flora Rosa.It was a new experience to me to use another's design. In all the classes I've taken at Quilt University, we have made our own designs. We have learned about how to pick fabrics and how to use color, value and contrast to create pizzazz. Not an easy task! But with good help from Debbie Babin I have finished both my Red Glow and to mini quilts.

If you want to take Debbie's class, you can find it at http://www.joggles.com/ . I can highly recommend this class. Scroll down to online classes and you find Debbie Babins's name among the other teachers. A new class starts at July 16. She also has a class called Thinking outside the Take out Box.

Jeg har akkurat fullført Debbie Babin's kurs Textile Art with Pizzazz hvor vi benyttet hennes design Flora Rosa. Det var en ny erfaring for meg å bruke en annens design. I alle kursene jeg har tatt ved Quilt University har vi laget vårt eget design. Vi har lært om hvordan vi skal velge stoff og hvorda vi skal bruke farger, toner og kontrast for å skape pizzazz (enklest oversatt med energi). Ingen enkel sak! Men jeg har fullført både hovedprosjektet Red Glow og to miniquilter med god hjelp fra Debbie Babin.

Hvis du har lyst til å ta Debbie Babin's kurs, så finner du det på http://www.joggles.com/ .Jeg kan virkelig anbefale dette kurset.Scroll ned til Online classesog du finner debbie Babin's navn sammen med de andre lærerne. Det starter et nytt kurs 16. juli. Hun har også ent annet kurs Thinking outside the Take out Box.

Mini Quilt 2

6 1/2" x 7"

16 1/2 x 17 1/2 cm

This is the second mini quilt I made. It's finished with satin stitches. The flower is slightly differnt from #1.

Dette er den andre miniquilten jeg laget. Den er kantet med satinsting. Blomsten er litt annerledes enn nr. 1.

Mini Quilt 1

11 1/2" x 12 1/2"

29 x 31,5 cm

This is the first mini quilt I made. Both the mini quilts are exercises before we started on the Flora Rosa design. It was very useful to make these two before starting on the main project.

Dette er den første miniquilten jeg laget. Begge miniquiltene er øvelser før vi startet på Flora Rosa designet. Det var veldig nyttig å lage disse to før vi startet på hovedprosjektet.

Shibori

I have just finished the Shibori dyeing class with Marjorie McWilliams at Quilt University. Shibori is a very old Japanese way of dyeing, but you also find shibori in India and Africa. There is a lot of shibori techniques and some of them you need a lifetime to master. Theese techniques are among the easier ones.

Jeg har akkurat fullført et kurs i Shibori-farging med Marjorie McWilliams ved Quilt University. Shibori er en veldig gammel japansk fargeteknikk, men du finner shibori også i India og Afrika. Det finnes mange shibori teknikker og noen av dem trenger du et helt liv for å mestre. Disse teknikkene er blandt de enklere.

Here is three scarves hanging to dry and one is twisted and wraped around a dowel, cureing in plastic.

Her henger tre skjerf til tørk og ett er vridd og snurret rundt en stang og trekker i plast.

Arashi Shibori

This is an overdyed Arashi on silk velvet. My absolute favorite. I will dye more of this and use it in my dress for my sons wedding in September.

Dette er en overfarget Arashi på silkefløyel. Min absolutte favoritt. Jeg skal farge mer av denne og bruke det til kjolen jeg skal bruke i min sønns bryllup i september.

Suji Shibori

This is habotai silk twisted and wraped around a dowel.

Dette er habotai silke vridd og snurret rundt en stang.

Simple Knot Dyeing - habotai silk

This is one of the three scarves on the first picture. There is a huge difference in the color vaue on wet and dry fabric. Even if this is a very simple technique, it makes exciting patterns on the silk.

Dette er et av de tre skjerfene på det første bildet. Det er stor forskjell på fargen av det våte og tørre stoffet. Selv om dette er en veldig enkel teknikk så lager det spennende mønster på silken.

Simple knot dyeing - silk chiffon

This is another of the knot dyed scarves.

Dette er et annet knytefarget skjerf

Suji Shibori

This is another habotai silk twisted and wraped around a dowel.

Dette er også en habotai silke vridd og surret rundt en stang.

Nui Shibori

This is a sewn pattern on muslin. We dyed the dry fabric and I did not get enough dye into the seams. But a good experience.

Dette er et sydd mønster. Vi farget tørt stoff og jeg fikk ikke nok farge inn til sømmene. Men en god erfaring.

Nui Shibori

Here the pattern is sewn on habotai silk.

Her er mønsteret sydd på habotai silke.

Nui Shibori

This technique we called ghostheads. You place little rocks, beens or beads into the fabric and bind tightly arond each of them.

Denne teknikken kalte vi spøkelseshoder. Små steiner, bønner eller perler plasseres på stoffet og kyter hardt rundt hver av dem.

Crickle Arashi Shibori

These are the scarves lying on the bath tube in the first picture. Twisted and dyed. Then rinsed and twisted again and let dry.

Dette er de to skjerfene som ligger på badekaret på det første bildet. Surret og farget. Så skyllet og surret igjen og tørket slik.

Swan Lake finished!

Swan Lake

50" x 37 1/4"

127 x 94'5 cm

Finally the Swan Lake is finishe and I've got a pretty good picture of it. Good to be done, but also a bit of emptiness when a big projec has come to the end. Now I only hope it will be accepted in the juried part of Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. It would be a great victory! If not, it will be shown in the Portrait Quilt part.

I've tried not to overdo either the threadpainting nor the quilting on this quilt.

Så er endelig Swan Lake ferdig og jeg har fått tatt et ganske godt bilde av den. Deilig å være ferdig, men også en del tomhet når en er ferdig med et stort prosjekt. Nå håper jeg bare at den blir akseptert i den jurybedømte delen på Festival og Quilts i Birmingham, England. Det ville være en stor seier! Hvis ikke stilles den i avdelingen for portrettquilt.

Jeg har prøvd å ikke overdrive hverken trådmaling eller quilting på denne.

Detail 1

Here is a detail of their heads. I've used some of the decorative stiches on my machine, which is a Janome Jubilee 85. On her hood I used two different stiches together with freehand feather stiches. On the drapery in the background there is also two different decorative stiches.

Her er et detaljebilde av hodene deres. Jeg har brukt noen av dekorasjonssømmene på maskinen min, som er en Janome Jubilee 85. På hetten hennes har jeg brukt to forskjellige sømmer sammen med frihånds fjærsøm. På draperiet i bakgrunnen er det også to forskjellige dekorsømmer.

Detalj 2

Here is a bit larger picture. On his garment and her dress I've used some metallic threds to creat effects.

Her er et større bilde. På hans antrekk og hennes kjole har jeg brukt en del metallic tråd for å lage effekter.

Detalj 3

Here is a detail picture of their feet.

Her et et detaljbilde av føttene deres.

Backing

Finally a picture of the backing. This is NOT good! The color is not right. The fabric is a very dark bluegreen and the label is alsp blegreen, not turqoise! But had no time to get it better just now.

Til slutt et bilde av baksiden. IKKE et godt bilde. Stoffet er veldig mørkt blågrønn og merkelappen er også blågrønn, ikke turkis! Men jeg hadde ikke tid til å få det bedre akkurat nå.

Swan Lake prepared for quilting

Here is the backing taped down whith the front side down. It's wider than the top all the way round.

Her er bakstykket tapet fast med retten ned. Det er bredere enn toppen rundt hele.

I use two layers of flannel as batting since you don't want to much loft in a portrait quilt. It's taped down on the top of the backing and is also a bit wider than the top.

Jeg bruker to lag med flanell som mellomlegg siden en ikke ønsker noe som fyller for mye i en portrettquilt. Den er tapet fast på toppen av bakstykket og er også en del bredere enn toppen.

Here's the top in place and taped down

Her er toppen på plass og tapet fast.

Here's all the layers basted together both diagonally and horizontaly. It took 6 hours to tape it down and baste it. I know know exactly what Marilyn Belford says in her book:' Remove all the tape with whichever fingers are not sore.' Only my little fingers are not sore... And tomorrow it's time to begin quilting. I think I know how to quilt it, but changes in my mind may come in the process.

Her er alle lagene tråklet sammen både diagonalt og vannrett. Det tok 6 timer å tape og tråkle. Jeg vet akkurat hva Marilyn Belford sier i boka si: 'Fjern tapen med de fingrene som ikke er såre'. Bare lillefingrene som ikke er såre akkurat nå... Og i morgen er det tid for å begynne å quilte. Jeg tror jeg vet hvordan jeg skal quilte den, men jeg kan forandre mening underveis.

Backing for the Swan Lake

Last week I dyed the backing for the Swan Lake. I was quite sure I remembered the recepie, but so not. And I couldn't find the note from the background dyeing (I'll have to buy a notebook tomorrow). The first attempt got too green and I overdyed with a more blugreen color, but still to much green compared to the front. So I overdyed with pure blue and got a nice bluegreen that looks good with the front fabric. I was a bit afraid that my stamping was going to disappear since I stamped on the first dyeing, but it looks even better now with a darker color of the fabric.

The stamp is cut of a Speedy-Carve block from Speedball. It was like cutting in butter and I can recommend this one if you want to make your own stamp. I made the pattern from a picture of the ballerina's shoe and diminished it on my printer. I used the same Procion MX dye as I use for the regular dyeing, only mixed it with a printingpaste made of Sodium Alginate and water. I used a small brush to apply the dye on the stamp and I'm quite pleased with the result.

Forrige uke farget jeg bakstykket til Swan Lake. Jeg var sikker på at jeg husket oppskriften, men det gjorde jeg visst ikke. Og jeg kunne ikke finne notatet mitt der og da (jeg må kjøpe meg en notatbok i morgen). Det første forsøket ble for grønt og jeg overfarget det med en mer blågrønn farge, men fortsatt var det for grønt i forhold til framstykket. Så jeg farget over med en ren blå farge og fikk en flott blågrønn. Jeg var redd for at trykket på stoffet ville forsvinne siden jeg trykte etter den første fargingen, men det så faktisk bedre ut med en mørkere stoffarge.

Stempelet er skjært ut av en Speedy-Carve blokk fra Speedball. Det var som å skjære i smør og jeg kan anbefale denne på det varmeste dersom du har lyst til å lage dine egne stempler. Mønsteret lagde jeg fra ballerinaen's sko som jeg forminsket på printeren. Jeg brukte det samme Procion MX fargepulveret som jeg bruker til vanlig farging, bare blandet det med en fargepasta laget av Sodium Alginate og vann. Jeg brukte en liten pensel til å påføre fargen på stempelet og jeg ble ganske fornøyd med resultatet.