Yellow Challenge Entry Finished!

The Aotearoa Quilters colour challenge this year was Yellow.  I found the colour harder to work with than other colours have been in the past - and when you look at the yellow pile in my fabric stash, it's obvious that it's not my favourite colour!

I had lots of ideas, but none that really grabbed me until I was hanging out this piece of fabric that my daughter (aged 9) dyed.  I saw fire and flames and immediately thought of creating a phoenix.

I drew out a bird, using photographs of falcons as inspiration, and then used freezer paper to cut corresponding pieces of hand dyed silk organza with mistyfuse on the back.

It's easy to see my pattern under white fabric and the white as a base made the colours of the phoenix really glow.  Once all the pieces were in place I could iron them to hold them there before cutting very carefully around the edge.  You can see where I had a little more to cut in the photo below.

I use a brown paper frame to crop my design.  It's brown because that's the colour of the large roll of paper I have - white might be better, but you work with what you have, right?!

I added legs with solid cotton fabric, stitched the phoenix in place onto the background, then layered it and quilted it.  The binding was a bit of an experiment.  One layer of fabric, raw edge and two stitching lines, one of them using a heavy, hand dyed thread in the bobbin.  I think I like it.

'Pray' 12" x 12" by Charlotte Scott

I called my quilt Pray because of the references to resurrection that a phoenix has, and I liked the connotations of being prey of that fierce looking bird.  

The closing date for entries is tomorrow.  I got mine sent off at the beginning of the week so it should get there in time.  The quilts will be initially exhibited at the Orchid Show in Auckland in September and then will be a travelling exhibition after that.  All quilts are for sale at $125NZD.

Issued: Quilt Challenge!

 Aotearoa Quilters have issued two mini quilt challenges and I'm forming a quilt challenge email group within my quilt club to help us get motivated and provide support to each other.  I thought I'd extend the invitation out to any of you readers who also want to join in the fun.

This is my blue and orange 12 X 12 challenge entry for our exhibition earlier this year.  It was fun to make!

So here are the details: 

Their website is www.aotearoaquilters.co.nz where you can find more info.  At the moment they don't seem to have much up about these challenges, but I'm guessing they are recovering from the great nz quilt show and they'll get back into gear soon.

This is the info I've had in my newsletter so far:

Yellow 12 x 12 The colour challenge this year is YELLOW - think ranges from deep golds through to pale lemon. Do you think sunflowers and daffodils, autumn trees, egg yolks and lemons, sunshine and bees? Size 12x12 inches.

The deadline for entries is September 1, 2016

Floral 18 x 8. We are excited to be invited to be part of the Orchid and Flower Show in Auckland, September 22-25 this year. We will be exhibiting both the Yellow 12x12 challenge and the new 18x8 inches Floral challenge.  This can be interpreted any way you like from floral fabrics to traditional applique through to a modern or art interpretation. Think flowers! There is plenty of inspiration available on their website http://orchidplusflowershow.co.nz/ 

Size is 45x20cm (portrait). All are for sale at $125. The entry deadline is September 1, 2016.

So our deadline is Sep 1st.  That gives us about 13 weeks, heaps of time!

The rules for the last colour challenge (green) said it was open to members and non-members. $15 entry fee for members, $25 non-members.  6cm deep hanging sleeve ending 1/2 inch from edges of quilt and hook side of Velcro attached to hanging sleeve. All quilts for sale $125, you get $100 of that if sold.  I shouldn't imagine anything is significantly different from these rules.  (Membership fee for Aotearoa Quilters is $40 per annum for NZ's just for your info.)

I'm going to endeavour to send out weekly or fortnightly emails with my progress, suggestions and questions to see how you are all going.  And if the group is happy to share emails, we can get feedback and ask questions of the group as a whole - a little community of challengees!  

So if you want to join in, drop me an email theslightlymadquiltlady (at) gmail.com and we'll get going.

Looking forward to the challenge!