Batique Out Of Hell

OK, I have to admit that while I was working on this I kept thinking about Meatloaf. (The rock musician, not the foodstuff.)

We have reached March 2004 and this is another "Patchworks Challenge" for Macmillan Cancer Support. The set fabrics were pieces of Batik prints.

Sometimes the brain makes odd little connections that lead to a design. In this case it sort of went; Batik is a method of screen printing from the far east. I once watched it being done in a factory in Malaysia and it's a fascinating process. Each colour is added separately by silk screen printing, then hung out to dry, so when you visit the factory there are yards and yards of cloth at different stages of completion hanging over rails.
From Batik my musings brought me to another eastern icon, the bat, a symbol of good luck. Of course I didn't stop there. I've always had a soft spot for bad Vampire movies, particularly those from Hammer Films where they would often use stock footage of bats leaving their cave at night and flying off into the moonlight (no doubt to visit Count Dracula).
These all came together in my mind and I ended up with the idea of stylised bats coming out of a dark cave in the bottom left, and climbing into the light of a full moon. (It's always a full moon in the best, or is it worst, Vampire movies).

Each bat is created from four uneven quadrilaterals. I had to draw and cut my own templates for those. The fabric was basted onto papers cut from the templates and joined in sets of four, two wings and two parts of the body. The central 'bat' motifs were worked using the challenge fabrics, I added the dark brown fabric from my stash, cutting it into random sized blocks and curving it to be the top of the cave entrance while the mottled green became the bushes hiding the mouth of the cave. It was all put together with wadding and backing and quilted along the outline of each bat . The binding came from my stash.

I had been getting asked the 'how long did it take?' question in recent times and had always had to admit that I didn't know, so with Batique Out Of Hell I decided to keep a note. It took 130 hours between March and May 2004. I now keep a note of how long any piece takes, and the materials used.

Festivals

There's nothing like the Edinburgh Festival season; Jazz Festival, Film Festival, Fringe and of course The Edinburgh International Festival. During the Festival period, allegedly, real Edinburgh people go abroad for two months and rent out their houses to festival goers at exorbitant rates. Since I don't know anyone who does that, I'm prepare to believe that it's a vile calumny on the good citizens of our beautiful city. That said, I do tend to avoid 'going up the town' during The Festival.

Which brings me on to March 2003 and "Festivals"

This was another Patchworks Macmillan Challenge. I had seen the fabrics a week before the start of the challenge and they had not spoken to me, but when they became available the colours made me think about the view from my kitchen window, looking south towards Calton Hill, Arthur's Seat and over the New Town to the castle. Apart from the bright orange, the colours were mostly dark and subdued. It struck me that they could be cut and layered to look like the rooftops seen through the summer darkness and then various outlines of buildings and windows could be stitched on top of the fabric.
There is a massive fireworks display every year to accompany a classical concert, so I put in the orange from the pack as a narrow line to show the glow of low level fireworks, with circles of brighter fabric for the cascades from higher flying rockets. There are usually searchlights so I added the two bands of light coming from Calton Hill (on the left) and the castle (right) to make a St Andrews Cross. The pack included the blue star fabric at the top - I did not stitch all the little stars myself! As a wise person once told me, "Life's too short for stuffing mushrooms."

Festivals came out a bit 'rough and ready', I could have done a better job of the silhouettes and the hand embroidery, but I enjoyed making it, and that, after all is the important point. We should enjoy  our embroidery, even those bits that didn't go too well.

A Smile of Relief

This small quilted hanging was worked as a challenge.
One of the Patchwork & Quilting shops decided to run a Challenge in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.  The shop sold a pack of the Challenge Fabric and the purchaser was expected to create a quilt or hanging from it. We were allowed to use additional fabrics, but as much as possible of the Challenge Fabric was to be used. There was also a size limitation as the Challenge creations were to be exhibited.

I took up the challenge, but I didn't have the least idea what I was going to do.
(A recent conversation with Jane-Beth confirmed that when I start a project I often don't have a clue how to do what I want, in order to achieve the final result I want - yeah, so that's how I learn.)
So I looked at the fabric for a while, I sighed, I despaired, then I had an idea. Make something based on the Macmillan Logo.
But what? The CR of the logo at the time was a flowing script of green ribbon with the C & R knotting together. One of the phrases they used in their advertising referred to the smile of the patient when the Macmillan Nurse came to call. The Logo became the eyes and nose and the Challenge fabric became the face with smiling lips.

All I had to do was cut the fabric, piece the fabric, find a backing and quilt it. (Doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly.)

The design was made up of 1" squares using English Piecing. The only fabrics I added were the border, the red of the lips, the dark blue round the head and the two greens at the eyes and nose. The Challenge Fabrics were the pinks and lavenders of the face and the pale greys of the eyes.

I started this in June 2002 and finished it in September 2002. At the exhibition, and much to my surprise, someone asked if they could buy it. Well blow me down! Of course! They named a price and I said to make the cheque out to Macmillan's.