Feathers to Foliage

It was meant to be all about feathers but our direction took a rather fruitful detour from feathers to foliage. Everybody in quilting loves feathers! We love the way the light bounces off the tear-drop shapes. So feathering is guaranteed to have a popular following. There is a certain progression that helps even the newest machine quilter gain confidence in creating the much loved feather shape. We begin with a simple pattern of hearts and loops. The loops help us to manoeuvre every-which-way around our quilt top. The hearts teach us to create the all important tear-drop shape. Put them together and you've got a simple line design that is going places. And it did go places, just not quite where we expected. 

We had the good fortune to have Lalla Ward as our 'resident Art Quilter' for this Retreat. And Lalla brought her sketchbooks and a lovely leaf book. When Lalla made the little leap from hearts to leaves we all wanted to have a try.. 

 There are literally hundreds and hundreds of leaf shapes all begging to be combined in all sorts of lovely arrangements. So we spent some time going from drawing on paper to drawing on fabric. Then we experimented with what the leaves would look like in different sorts of thread. 

 These photos capture a marvellous few minutes where everyone was happily drawing all sorts of leaves...

.

...moving the pens in the very same way that soon they would be guiding the sewing machine. 

In the end it doesn't matter what we draw. What matters is that we do draw all the time and in all sorts of places; envelopes, spare bits of paper, sketchbooks, rolls of paper from Early Learning Centre. Once we're confident on paper we can do it on quilt tops. Our Art Quilter frame transforms the sewing machine needle into a pencil. That means whatever we can draw we can quilt. Simple leaf shapes can be connected by loops and aimed in all sorts of directions to create an infinite variety of gorgeous quilted shapes. The possibilities are endless.

Retreat Reflections

 "This was the best retreat ever!" That's what Trudi and I said at the end of this Retreat. And then we chuckled because that's what we say every time.

We have similar goals for each Retreat. We want our participants to:

1. become sewing machine savvy
2. become fluent at doodling all sorts of line designs
3. be able to transfer the doodled designs to no-mark-hand-guided-free-motion-machine-quilting on the frame
4. and have the opportunity to audition lots of different threads

What really makes our retreats so fantastic is our participants. Although our goals for each retreat are similar the people change. Our retreats are very much centred on the goals, skills and talents of the people attending. Our retreats are small enough to be personal and to adapt and adjust the larger goals to individual needs and expertise. Everybody brings something to the table. Our retreats create an opportunity for all of us to bounce ideas and challenges off each other. This is what makes the experience so rewarding. 

The people who attend are a diverse group. One girl was collecting her frame and needed just enough information to get off to a good start. Others wanted some inspiration to get quilting again after a dry spell. Several girls were struggling with their sewing machines and needed help sorting tension and threading issues so they brought their machines along and we managed to get them running smoothly between us. Everyone was keen to see the difference that the right needles and threads made to the machine quilting process.We had traditional quilters and an art quilter. Some spent the entire weekend and some just came for the day but everyone worked together to solve the challenges and explore the possibilities of the tools we use for machine quilting.

So although we go into our retreats with similar goals, we come out of each retreat with the confidence that comes with a higher level of manual competence as well as new friends, fresh insights and wider horizons.

Marina Mamonova

Meeting Marina Mamonova was one of the best things about our Russian trip. Marina is a very famous Russian quilter. Before going to Russia I googled Marina and discovered that she had been to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts just last August. Marina had her own gallery of quilts and she made such an impression that people are still talking about her work!

In the photo above, we are holding up one of Marina's amazing quilts. This quilt has a postcard theme. Actually the postcard was a theme that ran throughout the event. This particular quilt is like a postcard laying on a lace tablecloth. The intricate detail of the postcard is held together by a fine netting. 

I've posted some images here so you can see the exquisite detail.

Below is a detail of the raw edge appliqué that Marina used to create the lace around the 'post card'. Some things are so beautiful that they break your heart. This quilt is one of them!

Here, Marina is showing us another of her quilts. This quilt has a more abstract theme.

I hope my Russian friends will correct me if I am wrong, 

but I think that the name of this quilt translates as  

 'The Birth of the Blues'

This quilt incorporates such a vibrant use of colour and movement. Marina again is using a similar technique as a fine netting is holding all the very small pieces of fabric in place. You can see this in the detail of the quilt below. 

Marina is truly an amazing artist. It was an honour to meet her in Moscow and get a close up view of two of her quilts. I have a wonderful story about a quilt that Marina brought to our Birmingham show that I'll be telling in a future post. 

A final note about the postcard theme. Marina was invited to the JUKI sponsored seminar to give a master-class about using the JUKI Exceed sewing machines for free-motion machine quilting. And the project was, you guessed it,  POSTCARDS! This made me smile because Emily and I had brought a stack of our heart postcards. Our post cards used a very very simple version of the raw edged appliqué technique which also uses netting. Marina has shown us what this appliqué technique looks like in the hands of a true master!

Back from Moscow

 Emily and I returned back from Moscow last night. The trip was just brilliant!! Here we are in Red Square  with St Basil's Cathedral behind us. It was very cold but we were so glad to be there that we didn't mind!

We were invited by the Moscow division of the JUKI sewing machine company to give a seminar on machine quilting at a Handicraft Fair in Moscow. Mr Kadiev, the general manager of JUKI in Moscow made the arrangements for the Seminar. He was a wonderful host showing us the sights and taking us to dine in traditional Russian restaurants.

Fluent in several languages, Mr Kadiev was a gracious and informative guide sharing insight into Russian history, language and culture. We learned to much and had such a wonderful time! 

 There is too much to capture in one post so tonight I'll just mention a bit about the Handicraft Show.

As soon as we walked into the exhibition hall we felt at home. The venues change but quilting is the same the world over! As ever there were many bright and colourful stands featuring crafts that ranged from cake decorating ...

 to familiar fabric...

 to weaving on a hand loom...

 and all manner of needlework.

Many stands sold needlework versions of  beautiful Russian icons.

 There was a fashion show and an exhibition of quilts. These two quilts were unusual in that they used authentic period costumes and real bags and rings and belts! More tomorrow...I need to go to bed, I think I'm still on Russian time!

March Feathering Retreat

There are still spaces available for our March Feathering Retreat. The January Feathering Retreat was our best retreat yet.

We're away in Moscow this week giving a Machine Quilting Seminar but you can find out more about the Feathering Retreats on our website and read some earlier posts.

Trudi Wood will be on hand to inspire us with her free form feathering technique

 We hope to see you there. We're away in Moscow at the moment, drop us an email if you'd like to come or have any questions and we'll reply when we get back Monday March 5th.

Bulk Buys - Big Discounts

A delivery from Superior Threads came in on Monday and I was busy trying to get the orders shipped out before our Moscow trip. I love opening the box and sorting through all the beautiful threads. It feels like Christmas!

Some gals have been taking advantage of our big discounts for bulk purchases. 

Buy 10 or more cones and get a 10% discount.

Purchase 20 or more cones and get a 20% discount. 

The discounts are a huge savings and make the best threads in the world more affordable. Anyone can take advantage of the discount. You don't have to own a shop or be a world famous teacher. It's just about the numbers! We put a new order through at least each month. Email or ring to get the discounts:

martha@machinequilter.co.uk
01526 378057
     

This box is heading up to the Isle of Sky. Wendy is going to be so happy!

Appliqué on the frame

Here's a tutorial for a fun technique we used on our Valentine Postcards project. My daughter Rosie will be showing you a way to raw edge appliqué directly on the quilt while it's loaded on the frame.

First, find a space.

Next, cut out a heart from some fabric and just lay it in position. We're going to use a fine sparkly netting to hold the heart in place.

Here you can see Rosie cutting out the netting. We found that the sewing machine foot would sometimes get caught up in pointy bits of the netting, so Rosie is cutting the netting in a rounded circular shape. We found that this worked best. We could go back later and trim the netting if we wanted to.

Then Rosie stitched around the heart shape. The first outline was the trickiest. Rosie is using a red Metallic thread from Superior Threads. It added an extra sparkle to the project.

But once the netting was stitched in place, it was easy to continue stitching round the heart and adding scallops or whatever.

This was Rosie's very first effort at raw edge appliqué. Doing the appliqué directly on the frame made it fast and easy. We think that the end result looked really pretty! We can't wait to try it again with perhaps leaves and flowers for Spring or eggs for Easter.