Threads that bind

Help is on the way .. Festival of Quilts 2019

Last summer I made my first entry into the Festival of Quilts, into the novice class - with my quilt ‘Help is on the way’. The red cross is a symbol of humanitarian aid. In this quilt I paid tribute to those men and women who volunteer to leave their homes and families, and risk their lives, in times of war or natural disaster, from wherever the call comes. Sadly we have seen this is in action many times since the original International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in 1863.
Only this week the British Red Cross has been calling for help to support the Lebanese Red Cross organisation in its response to the explosion in Beirut.

I was encouraged by the Judges’ feedback on my quilt to think about entering another quilt in 2020. There are many different categories in the competition, including Traditional, Modern, Contemporary, Miniature, and Art quilts, however I felt it would be good to have a focus for designing a quilt, so I opted for the Quilters’ Guild Challenge, which sets a theme for the quilts (it also saves having to decide which class to enter: is it Modern? doesn’t that also mean it is also Contemporary???). For 2020 the Challenge heme was 'Threads that bind. It is clear from the entries in past years that this can be interpreted as broadly as the quilter chooses, however I began to think fairly literally about it.

Central block - stitchwriting - the blocks we piece, the stitches we use, and the stitchers who use them.

I began by thinking about the Guild and the many lovely people I have met - although not all making the same kinds of quilts, and indeed not necessarily liking all the quilts they see, but all bound by a love of stitching and quilting. And of course threads are not just used for sewing quilts, many quilters also do dressmaking or embroidery.

We use all sorts of stitches, from simple running stitches to complex stitches that have a three-dimensional effect.

And not everyone who stitches uses fabric, there are many trades and professions that also use thread - from cordwainers to surgeons to taxidermists - and many others!

The lustre of the Oakshott fabrics in these simple tile blocks, contrasts beautifully with the matt finish of the Moda Grunge, but is very difficult to photograph well.

The overlapping strips of a Log Cabin quilt block form a pattern that can be seen across many crafts and over at least two thousand years (Rae and Travis, 2004). This traditional pattern continues to be interpreted by quilters of all persuasions and I followed in this tradition by using the Log Cabin as the basis of all the nine blocks in my quilt.

My blocks include simple tiles, traditional two-tone piecing and some more improvisational blocks .

Traditionally Log Cabin blocks have a bright centre - symbolising the home, or hearth. Throughout my blocks I chose to use reds and oranges that pop well with the blues that are the mainstay of the quilt.

I included a couple of very wonky log cabins, I love a scrappy quilt, and this block is a great chance to use the scraps left behind by the other blocks.

I was delighted to be shortlisted this year - encouragement to continue to learn new skills, and apply them to my own designs.

You can see my quilt (including a couple more photos), and all the others entered this year in the Virtual Galleries of Beyond the Festival of Quilts - and vote for your favourite!

Acknowledgements:

The variations on log cabins are my own work,  inspired by the writing of Janet Rae and Dinah Travis (Making Connections - Around the World with Log Cabin, 2004, RT Publishing), and Janice Gunner (Liberating Log Cabin, 2010, Attitude Indigo Publications) and a workshop with Sarah Humphreys (Quilters Guild Region 14, 2018)

My approach to stitchwriting has been inspired by Catherine Hill and Heather Chalkley. 

The quilt was made with a variety of fabrics, but the starting point were fabrics from Oakshott and Moda Fabrics Basic Grey Grunge range.

All piecing and quilting with Aurifil 50wt, for the the stitchwriting in the central block I used Aurfil 12wt cottons.