A Workshop on stitching and texture

Last Tuesday, I attended the Country Roads’ Quilters Group . Again, it felt as if I had been to Holland for the day, the sun was shining as I navigated my way across dykes and past windmills. It felt as if I was miles away from home and it felt very carefree!

The group had asked Angel Daymond to take a workshop entitled Stitching for Texture. It was a workshop that went at a quick pace. We were allowed no more than 20 minutes on each of the samples. I have to say that this was brilliant, as at no point could you think to yourself that you couldn't do it, or that it wasn't perfect. You just had to get your head down and do your best.

My book is not yet completed and requires sewing together and the buttons sewn on, but you get a general idea of what we were hoping to achieve.

So here are my samples...

This was a good design as it had the structure of the boxes in a grid system, yet there was movement in the random stitching done by hand.

The second page of the book used a straight vertical line and then we had to fill these lines in using a variety of stitching. On the left are triangles/kites, the middle line is FMQ and I am very proud of being able to achieve this squiggly line! The third line is a variation on the box theme. These lines could be interspersed by hand stitched vertical lines. (I just haven't had the time to do this quite yet!)

The next pattern was using machine stitching to create a regular, yet random quilting line. This was very easy to do and came together quickly.

As I can stitch in straight lines then I could make a pattern of overlapping boxes!

The above pattern was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You simply place and pin circle templates onto the fabric and then quilt up to the edge of the circle. The lines aren't straight but then I don't think that it matters. To finish off this sample I need to do hand stitching in a random manner within the circles. This will make the circle edges become more defined. This is a useful pattern to highlight any template you wanted...heart, triangle, ovals etc. The possibilities are endless.

This final pattern is a machine sewn grid that is embellished with a hand stitched running stitch lines.

Now do you want to see the look of concentration on my face...? Yes... it was eyes down and keep sewing. The pace was quite terrifying. I didn't finish all the hand stitching but at least I managed the machine sewing! 

The aim of the workshop was to end up with a simple book that shows a variety of quilting techniques. The samples combined both machine stitching and hand stitching to create texture. Once I complete the book I can use it as a reference booklet when deciding what type of quilting I would like to use. I think that the days of doing a 1/4" line each side of the block line are over!!! I am going to throw caution to the wind...

Do you remember this quilt?

Psychedelic quilt

Well I have it all layered up and ready to go... now which sample stitching should I choose?


Di xo