Stitching the sea

I've been stitching the sea.
And after a couple of weeks of wet, windy and grey days we had some sunshine today! Lots of interesting bits and pieces left on the beach by the stormy weather, and a lovely walk along a pebbly path to the wetlands where the swallows were catching insects. 

A short break and more stitching

We had a lovely long weekend over on Kangaroo Island. It was cold and windy but there is always lots of wildlife and birds to see.  Kangaroos, Pied Oystercatchers, a pelican watching us from the top of a light pole, and adorable baby lambs!

I'm stitching fish eyes on the small piece I started at Geelong Fibre Forum last year. I want to do some stitching around the canoe too. It was hard to take photos of this, with the flash the colours are too bright and without the flash the colours are very dull!

Memories

The sun shone briefly this morning, long enough for a quick walk. The fish was dead!

Two more little quilts/pictures - this time of my two daughters when they were babies. So long ago but it only seems like yesterday! Now they are grown up and one of them has two daughters of her own! These little pictures are only small, approx. 7 x 8 inches. I always thought I might put them on the covers of photo albums but that has never happened!

Flotsam and jetsam and another photo

After a windy, wet and grey day yesterday there was lots of interesting bits and pieces on the beach this morning. Beautiful seaweed, colourful rope and lovely markings in the sand. (Click on photo for close-up.)

Another photo of my grandmother, this time all dressed up with her sisters and her mother (my great grandmother). I like to think they were all going out for a day on the town! As you can see in my little quilt I traced the photo from the wrong side and my quilt is round the wrong way! Artistic license again! More doilies in the border. I have quite a collection of these. You can still buy them at op shops quite cheaply. I like to think that the beautiful embroidery is having a second life.

Wedding day

There were six people in my grandmothers wedding photo (1924) so I decided to use artistic license and only do four in my little quilt! I made all these quilts about 15 years ago and looking at them now I can see many ways to improve them! I guess my skills and my eye have changed in that time. This quilt is about 13 x 15 inches and again I've used tea dyed doilies for one of the borders. Click on the photo for a close-up of the beautiful dresses, and don't you love the wrinkly stockings?

Bowling hoops

The next photo I used to make a small quilt was a picture of my grandmother (top right) as a young girl with her sisters and younger brother. I love the way she has her hands around her brother's neck! This was probably taken in Wales before the family emigrated to Australia.

This time I used an old doily as the background for my applique. All the applique pieces are held down with Vliesofix and then a small zigzag stitch around the edges. I had fun looking at the photo and then choosing appropriate fabrics for the clothes. Lots of hand stitching in the background.

Old photos

Yesterday Jude posted beautiful photos of her grandmothers dress and her grandmother. They reminded me of a series of quilts I made many years ago based on old photos of my grandmother. What is it about the old photographs compared to photographs taken today? Is it because they are black and white, or does the distance of time make them more intriguing? Over the next few days I will post a photo and the small quilt I made from it. I had such fun doing these and actually taught this as a class for many years.

 

This quilt was all done by machine except for hand quilting on the background. I used Vliesofix to adhere all the shapes and Pigma pens to draw the face. Old doilies were cut up to make the inner border. These were all tea dyed. The quilt is approx. 18" x 20".

My grandmother was a very independent woman who lived to 98 years living in her own home.