Colour from Nature

This is an old clematis almost in full bloom in my garden. There are still a few buds to open but this adds a wonderful spash of colour with the green conifers in the background.

This is a new clematis I planted earlier this year when we removed the large trees from the back garden. I love the colour of this one. I have another new one that is just beginning to bloom and it too is gorgeous but a deeper purple.

I finally mailed my module 2 work to my tutor on Monday. At the moment I am busy working on my 2007 entry for the Journal Quilt Challenge. I can't show you the quilt in progress but I can show you my quilting samples. My source was the clematis. I hand dyed cotton fabric with procion MX fabric dyes.

I have been busy experimenting with different quilting designs.

Once I had quilted each piece I painted over them with white acrylic. I think it gives a lovely effect to the finished pieces.

This is a different quilting design. All the designs are free motion quilted.

White acrylic paint added after quilting.

I used a rayon thread for the quilting - Anton & Robinson. I like these threads as they come in big reels and a wonderful selection of colours.

I love the effect the paint has on the quilted pieces.


The last two are simple stippling. I used to use this stitch all the time but I like to try different stitches now.

I have been playing with discharge paste on my hand dyes and I am having a great time. Adding colour to the discharge paste results in some wonderful pieces. I will post some pictures later as they are drying at the moment.