Quilts from the Alhambra - Star Octagon

Star Octagon is another recurring pattern in Moorish decoration, used in tiling, screens and many other contexts. It adapts easily to patchwork piecing, only two templates being needed to form the pattern which is built up in squares.

In this version I've used a border fabric to add complexity to the design, as you can see in the detail shown below.

Festival of Quilts 2007 - Bob Adams

Apart from the pleasure of catching up with old friends, and of seeing new work by people whose progress I've been following for years, every FOQ holds exciting possibilities for encountering artists who may be well-established but who are new to me. This year it was the artist Bob Adams whose quilted textiles proved to be a revelation.

Do you know the story The Twelve Dancing Princesses, by the Brothers Grimm?
Blue Trunks, shown here with Bob's permission, immediately transported me into the magical landscape through which the princesses passed on their way to illicit rendevous with their dancing partners. It has a slightly eerie, unreal atmosphere; it is a landscape which we can recognise but yet makes us feel a little uneasy.

All Bob's quilted textiles are suffused with atmospheric light - the quilts in the series based on observations of the phases of the moon in particular reveal a truthful observation of celestial phenomena which is transcended and transfomed by the subtle play of light and colour.

As so often the case with textile art, illustrations cannot do justice to the work. The texturised surfaces add depth and complexity to the graphic images: seen 'for real', these pieces express the sheer pleasure and satisfaction which the artist finds in using fabric and stitch. In her book, The Work of Craft, Carla Needleman says this: 'The beauty of the object derives from the quality of the work that went into it. ' Bob Adam's textiles are beautiful, and beautifully crafted. Find out more about him on:http://www.bobadamsart.com/index.htmldamsart.com/index.html

Heritage Quilters visit The Brown House

Heritage Quilters of Carlisle visited The Brown House on 31st July. Here we are, inspecting some quilts in my attic work-room. This one is a Trailing Stars scrap quilt. Luckily, the appalling weather we'd had the previous day relented and the party were able to look at the garden as well. Somehow, interest in gardens and quilts seems to go together so most people who come to visit the one, also want to see the other!

Brown House Quilters - work in progress

It all begins round the kitchen table at The Brown House. Then they take their work home and come back with it all magically finished!
Sometimes they take it really seriously and work hard. But not always!
Notice that the work is fuelled by copious amounts of tea and biscuits.

Brown House Quilters - Sampler quilts

After many months of enthusiastic work, members of the group have got to the stage when all the blocks have to be arranged, ready for assembling the quilt tops. This isn't as easy as you might think, as anyone who has tried it will tell you. Every time you think you've got it just right, you think that a small adjustment will make it look more pleasing. When you've done that, something else comes to the eye - two dark blocks placed adjacent to each other don't look good, or some of the patterns would look better seperated, or....And so it goes on.


Chris laid all her blocks out on the floor while the rest of us stood round and offered comments - in fact, we agreed that she'd got it about right almost first time. The blocks will be set together with sashings and posts in light and dark blue.

Jennifer's blocks are on a pink and lilac theme, and she's so pleased with them that she says that she'll re-decorate the room for which the quilt is intended, to make it match the quilt!

As well as the traditional American block patterns used, we covered other useful techniques, such as appliqué, bias appliqué and English piecing over papers. Please note that most of these blocks have been sewn by hand using the American patchwork method. That's because most of the members of the group prefer not to use a sewing machine, enjoying the ability to relax in the comfort of an arm-chair while peacefully sewing!

Alice's Cushion

While we were on holiday, Alice beguiled a wet day by creating two patterns which, she thought I could make into quilts. I made the first one into this cushion.

This is Alice's original art-work on A4 card.

I photocopied it in monochrome and enlarged it to A3 size.
I marked the outline of each shape using a medium black felt pen and identified the colour on each one.

Then I traced each shape on tracing paper and cut it out. I used the tracing paper shapes as patterns to cut out the shapes in fabric.

I sprayed a piece of calico fabric with temporary fabric adhesive and laid out and pinned the pieces on it. Next, the panel was mounted on wadding and backing and pinned through all three layers. Finally, each shape was outlined with a wide zig-zag stitch which had the effect of anchoring the pattern together and at the same time quilting it. A border was added to make a good-sized cushion.

Quilts from the Alhambra

Another quilt in my series inspired by Moorish patterns, exemplified by those found on walls, screens, floors and, especially, tiles in The Alhambra Palace at Grenada. The six-pointed interlaced star is one of the simpler designs, easy to re-create in patchwork. Some of the more complex designs could be interpreted in appliqué - but the MOST mathematically complex are impossible to imagine in any form other than the original!

A detail is shown of the centre star. The pattern is created by the 'fusssy cutting' method - which is to say by choosing a particular element of a pattern in the fabric and cutting it out as many times as needed. The best way to do this is by using two joined mirrors - I just bought two mirror tiles from a DIY store and joined them with masking tape. Place the template (in this case a 60 degree diamond) between the mirrors and move them about on the fabric until you see a pattern you like. Mark the template to identify the exact place where it is to be placed on the fabric each time. N.B. that I've used a striped border fabric, which is ideal for this type of patchwork.

This detail shows the edge of the quilt with the border cut from long strips of the original border fabric. Another piece is used for the binding. Machine embroidery on the interlacing strips emphasises the directional nature of the pattern.

The quilt is intended as a wall-decoration and measures 30 inches from side to side.