Gather ye Rosebuds....
Yesterday I put in quite a few hours on my project "Gather ye Rosebuds". I cut and vliesofixed most of the pieces for the central figure in the design. It was quite fun choosing the colours as I went along. I am really pleased with the overall technique. I was also so pleased that I went to the trouble of designing on computer using Corel Draw. It was painfully slow at times and it took me over a month in my spare time to do it. The end result is a design I can use again, if needed, and it can be scaled up and down to any size, with any size outline. I will use this technique again, and I think having done this quite complex design, anything else will be relatively easy to do.
Here are some pictures of progress to date

Today I thought more about the idea of making quilt "books". I thought of all the ways you could make a book from small quilts (about A3 size would be good.) You could use pieces of wood and wing nuts to secure several mini quilts along one edge. You could make a scroll, or a concentina book with ties. You could make a chart of quilts or a portfolio containing little quilts.

I decided to make my unfinished Egypt quilt into a concentina quilt book. It will be stiffened in the back with card, and ties will hold it together. This is great, because I had originally intended to make a large quilt as you go, but now I think a more personal, smaller thing to hold in your hands and look closely at is what I want to do. So out came the UFO box.

I also have another idea to make all my UFO blocks into little quilts with bits added and making them into a book like a carpet or curtain sample book. I could add all sorts of stuff to them. That's a later project.

Now I will add some photos of the bits I've done so far. You'll see later how they progress.

koolkats journey 13/3/2006

Here we go - into the Ethernet. Feels like opening the hatch into the great unknown. Scary! This is great because today I am about to start a journaling project to create a series of quilts based on a "little cat diary" I started 5 years ago. It went nowhere, but now I've just been asked to join a small group and we are putting together a project to trial an idea.

Guess this blog might replace or add to the visual diaries that I keep. This page will be a bit boring but I'll try and find a photo to make it more interesting!

Well - I found a photo to get started with. This is part of a work in progress called "Gather Ye Rosebuds". It is based on an Art Nouveau design for a stained glass window. This is one small panel, and I am using a technique where the dark background becomes the black lines. Later, additional black lines will be added. (Daughter Michelle's hand is trialling the shapes). Also, some beads will be added. I plan to finish this piece by September this year.

"Little Cat Diary"
This is my journalling piece of work. I may as well use this blog as my journal. (As well as sketches and photos in my notebook) How did it start? Well, there was a nature show on TV called "Big Cat Diaries" a few years back. I thought about my cats, precious pets, and then I thought about all the cats I have owned (or have owned me) since I was a child. Then I looked through photo albums and realized that the ownership of these pets represented various stages of my life. I wanted to make a series of art works about these experiences, and I remembered funny little anecdotes about each pet.

The idea got shelved and forgotten, but I still had the "Little Cat Diary" although I had only written out a few pages and collected a few photos. I did do one screen print, which I still have. then, when my friend Hetty invited me to join a journalling group to see where creative ideas could go with a small group, it came to me to pick up the little cat idea. Also, I wanted to make a series of 9 - 9 cats, 9 lives, and make it into some sort of book, series of quilts, or whatever, not sure. It could be cloth and paper or both. It could be a rag book, or a book like a book of carpet samples.

Here is a photo of one of my two Burmese cats. (Current pets)