It is about time we had a new quilt on our bed. 

I have been thinking about what to do for some time and have finally decided that it will be a quilt made of stencilled and quilted blocks.

I have made two largish stencils - each about 15" square cutout area, from traditional stencil card.  I am planning to use two plain background fabrics - black and lightish silver/grey.  I shall stencil white (with a touch of champagne gold) onto the black fabric and black (with a touch of silver) onto the grey fabric.

Allowing for a border around each block, I am going to need 36 blocks altogether to make a good-sized quilt that will reach the floor.

I am not yet sure whether I will just join them up or whether I shall put some sashing in between and, if so, what colour sashing to use?!

Watch this space.

I sometimes stencil with a traditional stencil brush as here, and sometimes use a small foam roller.  I have tried both for this, but in the end I usually find the brush gives a better and sharper finish, although, of course, it takes quite a lot longer.

The first block stencilled.  Now it needs to dry and then I shall heat set it with a hot, dry iron.
 

Close ups of the black on grey block and the white on black block after stitching.

Now I only have to make 18 of each and stitch them together!!!  I shall report progress.

I'm really into stencilling at the moment.  I cut a feather and made a few cards using scraps of fabric and fabric paint, then stitching into them.

More cards I have made recently.  The house is a screen print, but the rest are stencilled, sometimes over several layers.

I was thrilled (and staggered) to learn that my triptych "Chinese Journey in Three Parts" has won "Best of the World" in the 2014 World Quilt Show in New Hampshire.  It is an amazing accolade and I am so grateful!  

My husband's comment was "Perhaps you will now believe that you are quite good at this"!!!

The show tours the US, ending in January in Florida.  How I would love to be able to go there!

Work in progress.

Monty wearing his new jacket!

These are a couple of pieces of the paper before waxing.  They are about A4 size.

Below is what they look like after waxing.  Darker and with a bit of a sheen.

Textile artist Bobby Britnell and Janet Middleton of Starchild Shoes have collaborated on a project for the charity Hands Up for Uganda.  The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the work of the charity in Uganda.  You buy a piece of barkcloth and then decorate it in any way you like and return it to Janet.  She will make the cloth into a pair of shoes which will then be exhibited at the ICHF (International Craft and Hobby Fair) shows at the NEC Birmingham and Excel in London.  

This is what the project is about - and I quote from the website: 

Promoting the ancient art of making bark cloth, a traditional material to Uganda and other countries.

Growing more Mutaba (bark cloth) trees to facilitate the project and create employment.

Creating awareness about the Kisaabwa Project and 'Hands up for Uganda'.about the Kisaabwa Project and 'Hands up  for Uganda'.

Linking with artists, makers, enthusiastics, supporters in  decorating a piece of bark cloth.

Creating awareness that shoe making is still healthy and alive as a craft at Star Child Shoes.

Transforming the decorated bark cloth into art shoes.

Developing and promoting the craft skills in Kisaabwa.

Bringing all this together to share with a wide viewing public in Birmingham and London in 2014.

This is the piece I have made.  I made three simple stencils and printed them with acrylic paint at random.  I then stitched around the shapes.

Below is a picture from the facebook page of some of the shoes made so far.  Take a look at the  https://www.facebook.com/barkcloth2artcloth/photos_albums 

Judy Fairless came to Bristol Quilters this month and gave us a fascinating talk on her journey Along the Silk Road with lots of the inspirational photos she took along the way.  There was so much wonderful architecture and lots of fascinating people and places - inspiration and ideas for lots and lots of quilts.

She also gave us an excellent workshop entitled "Inspired by Matisse".  We looked at the work of Matisse, with particular emphasis on his later cutouts.  We all brought something along to inspire us and, in the morning, Judy gave us exercises with paper to build up our ideas for the actual quilt.  She talked about Matisse's use of colour although, of course, we could use our own ideas too. 

We used bonded applique techniques and then close stitching.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and certainly everyone achieved excellent results.  This is my attempt, based on a jug my son had brought back for me from India a few years ago.

I-phone cases for christmas presents.

A pile of book covers I made recently.  I wanted to do some screen printing, so I made a bird stencil from copy paper and screen printed onto various oddments of fabric that would be large enough to make into book wraps.

This is one of the book wraps opened out. 

I decided to make a jacket for my granddaughter, Maisie, who is 8 years old, but tall and slim for her age.  I have used a basic pattern from Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn and adapted it for Maisie.

This photo shows the fronts (and some of the lining behind) which I have cut out of blue denim and stitched with a twin needle, using orange thread.  The jacket has a curvy bottom.

Side front panels, also twin-needle stitched with added bobbles

Back view with lots of ribbon and embellishments.

The lining is pink with orange spots.