Very Scary

Someone broke into our house last night while I was on the computer posting yesterdays bird. OK, they didn't exactly break in - they pranced through my UNLOCKED dining room door. I did hear a sort of clumpy sound but exercised my usual ostrich coping strategy when I hear a funny sound at night. After about 2 minutes of being an ostrich I decided I really did hear something and I should look into it. I first noticed how damn cold it was by our front door (just off the dining room). I turned the outdoor lights on and made sure the front door was locked and made a mental note that glass doors and lots of windows are poor insulation. I went back to the computer and felt a definite draft that even an ostrich couldn't deny. OK now my heart is beating fast. I went back to the front door and noticed my dining room door was wide open and my family room door was slightly ajar. Yikes! The wind must have blown it open. No wind. I wandered through the house a bit to see if I felt a presence. I didn't. But I did decide I would be safest outside so I stood outside in absolute stillness and silence for 5 minutes until I started shivering. Should I call the police? Should I wake up my husband to help me check the house? Should I check the house myself. No. No. and Yes. I am not brave I am an idiot! I found nothing and felt nothing weird so I went to bed. Pillow over my head. Cell phone on the nightstand.

I woke up (5am)to my husband yelling (I wear ear plugs to bed) "Where's my wallet"? Right away, straight from a deep sleep I said "The person who came into our house last night took it".

At first light I found the wallet and credit cards strewn about our yard. Only the Blackberry was missing. Very scary, especially considering our house is somewhat isolated and we have lots of windows with no curtains.

Anyway, to the quilting. It seems appropriate to post this scary Hawaiian applique. My tutor is quite happy that I tried so many ways to find a way to enjoy this technique. Satin stitch-too flat and factory like. Fused- flat and dead appearance. Raw edge-like this best. Needle turn applique- too many narrow and sharp corners, usually I like applique. I have yet to hand embroider one of the fused sections. This is one activity and sample that I happily bury in the strata of samples.

Very Scary Hawaiian Applique

Traditional Hawaiian applique is not for me! First of all, I blame the colour choice on Halloween - when I started this. The only thing I enjoyed about this activity was cutting out the 'snowflakes'. Even this I should have paid more attention to as my motif is very irregular from one quadrant to the next. My lack of excitement over this activity explains why it has sat with the last 3" of applique unfinished for 7 weeks!

Applique experiments:

1. Needle turn hand applique. I tried following the stitching line that we used to outline the motif and join the 2 layers of fabric together. It seemed like I was forever stopping applique stitching and taking out these basting line stitches. Once the stitches were removed there was no line to follow. I finished one quadrant using the needle turn method prescribed, and then decided to free myself to experiment with other options in the other quadrants.

2. I used the Kate Pasquini-Masopust technique of starching the fabric and ironing the shape over a piece of posterboard to create a nice smooth edge all ready to stitch. Of course the sharp corners and tiny pieces in my motifs were challenging but at least I could enjoy the hand work somewhat.

3. Heat n Bond fusing made for a very very lifeless, flat look. which would have to be salvaged with stitching or embellishment. Satin stitch makes it look factory made.

4. Raw edge applique was the closest I got to satisfaction. Once I trim the edges better, (need to get some nice sharp small scissors) I think it leaves the most interesting look.

This is one activity I would be happy to leave unfinished, but we have to do some echo quilting. I have heard that hand quilting is quite unpleasant on batik.

Now to get at my mola design which I am very excited about. The broderie perse ginkgo is also proving fun and I can't wait to get at the isometric exercise. I'm loving the photo I have chosen for the isometric colour exercise and English paper piecing exercise to follow.

Hawaiian Snow

I’ve started Module 3 of the City and Guilds Patchwork certificate online course. 18 or so activities in this module with lots of hand work. I decided to get a head start on one of the final activities knowing Hawaiian style quilting is not for me and there would be much procrastination going on at every opportunity. It was fun enough cutting out the snowflakes- certainly messy enough. The flakes I liked best were angular and detailed. I knew those would pose extreme appliqué problems. I felt I couldn’t select the simple and gently curvaceous one because it would be ‘too easy’.
I really like the overall effect of the white flakes on black. Before seeing this photo I picked Halloween colours, orange and brown batiks.
I read a little bit on the history of Hawaiian quilts. Quite fascinating! Here is a snippet summary. “Before the first contact with whites (haole), the Hawaiians were making a type of Quilt called a Kapa, which was made of fabric pounded from the bark of the Wauke (paper bark or mulberry) tree. On the top layer they would print geometric and snowflake type designs, with a thicker layer in the middle and a smooth bottom layer or lining. They were sewn with fibres gathered from nature and needles fashioned from shells or the rib of the palm frond. From http://www.hawaiianquiltartist.com/ Thank goodness the Kemshall’s don’t have us ‘fashioning’ our own needles from natural sources…yet! I shall post the Halloween Hawaiian block in a few days.