I'm a Loser!

Okay, let me just get it out of the way first.  I didn't win a single bloody thing!!!!  Four prizes and I got nowhere!  What a disappointment.  Never mind, next time I'll heed Alan's advice not to get my hopes up.

 I am not sure what upset me more, that I didn't win anything, or where they had put my quilt.

First off, the show was not at all what I was expecting.  I thought it was going to be a proper display.  Instead it was a very crowded large stand, where people were taking classes.  The quilts were on the wall of the stand, and on a frame, which sat a few feet in front of the display wall.  We eventually spotted my Recycle quilt on the frame.

When Indifferent Quilts Go Bad

 Not all quilts work and this is a case in point.  I started it YEARS ago, yes that's right, years.

I had painted the sea and sky fabrics and knew that I wanted a coastal scene.  The composition was based very loosely on a picture, that I have long since lost.  I think I started it with no clear idea of where I was going with it, and quickly became unfocused.  I ploughed on, thinking that I would regain focus.

Things went from bad to worse when I thread painted the palm trees.  They look great, but I should not have done this directly onto the quilt top, as it caused puckering around the trees.  Instead of just stopping there and giving up, I thought I could make it all come right when I quilted it.  Of course it didn't come right.  So I put the quilt into a corner and left it there, for years.

He Did Wot???

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Unc has been out and about again.  He has in fact been filming at Pinewood Studios, as an understudy to a man in a commercial (can't tell you what apparently).  In case you don't know it, it is a huge film studio, where I believe the Bond films are made.

I had an email from Unc saying that he was walking to the car park at Pinewood, when Brad Pitt drove past (I've paused for your screaming to die down!).  They met up in the car park and exchanged words with Brad and one of his kids.  On reading that, I dashed off an email asking him to get a photo of Brad and his autograph.

Now I must take time to tell you that I have always told Alan that he is my temporary husband, and that when the real one comes along, Alan is out the door.  It is understood between us, that my real husband is in fact, Brad Pitt (well, he will be once he leaves Angelina).  We will skip over the parts where Alan asks for Brad's phone number to ask him to come get me sooner rather than later.

RECYCLE

This is my 'glutton for punishment' quilt, i.e. my second competition entry!

If Only We Had Planted More Trees, Part II

So here finally, is the finished quilt.

Competition Quilt in Progress - Part 1

I have been working on a quilt to enter a quilt show here in Bangkok in June.   I was quite excited until I read the theme of the competition:
Eco quilt for the environment.  
Get the green back.
Turn over a new leaf for the environment.
Show the power of nature through threads of cloth and needlework, for a better tomorrow.

If you don't already know it, that is a theme that is sure to send me to sleep.  I know it isn't fashionable to say it but, environment?  Yawn!

After a lot of brain storming, and a huge amount of fantastical ideas on Alan's part that far outstripped my talent, I came up with my idea, 'plant a tree'.  Yeah yeah, hackneyed beyond belief, but falling asleep whilst watching an Inconvenient Truth, had not set me up for anything more challenging!

Drying the painted fabric.

Getting Ready to Quilt

This is another one of those, 'if you don't sew, look away now' posts.

Machine with its integral flatbed, which I rarely use as is too small.

One of my dreams (well, one of the very many, along with Brad Pitt knocking on my bedroom door and Godiva asking me to be their official chocolate taster), has been to own a flat bed sewing table.  If you don't know what that is, it is a table that your sewing machine drops down into (usually by some sort of lifting device (see, I'm really technical today).

You might ask why I would need one.  Come on, someone ask, I feel like I'm alone here!  Well the simple answer is, the type of quilting I prefer (free motion), needs the quilt to be moved in all directions, at a regular pace.  That isn't easy at the best of times with a large quilt, but when trying to sew on the very small bed of a sewing machine, it can be very difficult to achieve, as you have more of the quilt to support as you sew.  Now a quilt may not feel heavy to you, but believe me, when you have to hold that weight, with your arms at a certain angle, and then move it around in a fluid movement, it becomes very heavy, very quickly.  An extended flatbed supports more of the quilt.  Simply put, it becomes less tiring on your neck and shoulders, and the quilt is easier to move.