I've used recycled velvet for the background and am "stitching" the fabric with a soldering iron at the moment.

I've been making some traditionally pieced quilts over the holiday period. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to make functional items from time to time. One was a double bed size quilt made for my son in a very simple rectangle pattern, the other is a little cot quilt with a contemporary feel. I also finished a king size quilt which was a block designed by Katherine Guerrier many years ago. She had displayed it at Malvern one year and I was asked to make a copy. Unfortunately the client had no idea of the time taken to construct it and the cost of fabric so I declined to make her one, but out of interest made a block in order to calculate how long it would have taken. One block grew in to many and it sat folded up on a shelf for quiet a few years until I decided to get it long arm quilted by Midsomer Quilters. I am delighted with the result and can now use it, not feel guilty that I didn't stitch it and get on with new more challenging projects for 2014.

The sun prints I painted in the summer are now stitched and mounted. Some are hand stitched and others are machined as well. On this one I machine stitched a line drawing of the skeleton tree that I can see across the valley from my shed. It has actually got a few more leaves now - must have been all that rain earlier on in the year. I shall be showing them at an Exhibition at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth at the end of this month - Twilight - I will post a flyer with details later.
I also further stitched my "Fifty shades of brown "moth piece. The background was quite dominant and by adding lines of running stitch in the background I think it looks better. I decided to continue the design into the border. I have now mounted the piece on a light coloured linen.

I recently undertook an interesting workshop at Ruskin Mill Nailsworth with the eco - dyer India Flint. We collected found flowers and foliage, wrapped them in between layers of wool or silk and simmered in a natural dye bath of leaves ,bark foliage and tea bags.  The resulting cloth was stitched together to make a record of our collecting - a Wayfarer's cloth. The resulting shades of brown, purple, soft maroons and interesting patterns reminded me of the subtle colours of moth wings.
I stitched my cloth with a flurry of moths.

This is the Journal Quilt for May using the theme "In other words". The quotation "A Good Book" is by Milton and is from the Everyman series of books that I used for recent Ledbury piece. I found a rather lovely scrap of printed fabric in the style of William Morris which was perfect for this piece. The illuminated letter A has a stenciled background and reverse appliqued on top of red silk. The reverse A has the letters appliqued over the top. The edges are free machined with a buttonhole type stitch.

These shapes are taken from Japanese calligraphy. My friend and Japanese embroiderer Jackie Hall, was given an old early 19th century screen with exquisite embroidery on it. The back was even more interesting for me as it was lined with pages of Japanese calligraphy. The script may be called grass script and the writing might have been lists of gifts given.