Earth Month is a time when environmental issues take centre stage. With that in mind we artisans were asked to step outside and let the colours and textures of nature inspire our next project!
For me it was a no brainer. I live in Swansea, South Wales, UK. The city is known as the gateway to Gower, which is an award winning 70-square-mile peninsula that is home to 25 beaches of all shapes and sizes. In 1956 it was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) for it classic limestone coast and the variety of its natural habitats, and it was the first such area designated in the UK (there are now 46!). The purpose of this designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape by meeting the need for quiet enjoyment of the countryside while also having regard for the interests of those who live and work there. The Gower Peninsula is one of the reasons Swansea University has such a good natural sciences department and the reason I moved here in the first place!
25 minutes from my front door is one of my favourite views. From Pennard Castle the sweeping views over the river to Three Cliffs is breath-taking and I never tire of it. Come rain or shine (and usually a lot of wind!) it is peaceful and beautiful and the colours are ever-changing. I used this as my inspiration to attempt my first ever thread-painting, and first ever free-motion embroidered landscape mini quilt.
I started by practicing the drawing and painting in my sketchbook, before drawing and painting the cotton fabric. I used Inktense watercolours and it is very different to paint on fabric than it is on paper! It took a couple of practise pieces until I got the hang of the paint spreading, and I still messed up the headland a little bit in the background as you can see on the pic on the left. I must admit that I left it as is because I was happy with the rest of it!
Then came the fun part of choosing the colours of thread! I use 50wt most often for quilting so that is what I went with, with a couple of other weights because of their shades. I again did a couple of practice passes and found it made a big difference to sew on two pieces of cotton fabric in the hoop, it gave a tighter and more stable surface with a lot less puckers than just one piece of fabric. Then I went wild with the sewing machine! I tried to start with the darker shade of each colour to build up to the highlights, I’m not sure if that is the correct method but I think it worked! I left the water, sky and background as just paint to allow them to fade a bit and let the textures of the thread as the ground to come forward. The list of thread was as follows….. in 50wt there was black (2692), grey (2625), light blue (2846), pale yellow (2123), mid yellow (5001), orange (5009), light green (2888), mid green (2890), dark green (5012) and variegated brown (4666). In 80wt there was brown/green (2370) and in 12wt brown (4012)
My husband and I visited yesterday to get some photos of the finished mini quilt (it measures 5 1/2” square) and it was a much duller, colder and windier day so the colours were no where near as bright as my inspo pic! I am still so pleased with how it came out and I’m all inspired, I’m really tempted to do the method again and try the same cliffs from the other angle so the famous ‘Three Cliffs’ can be seen.
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