Feeling the heat

Well summer finally came back with a vengeance this week. We had 28C again today. My workroom is almost entirely glass at one end so working in there is just like being a ripening tomato in a greenhouse! I should be used to it by now I suppose - we always end up working frantically during the July and August heat as we get ready for Festival of Quilts. This year we've got two autumn exhibitions to prepare for as well. I've pinned one of the Moth quilts onto the longarm and begun the quilting.

I'm outlining the overlapping moth wings to accentuate the suggestion of transparency in this top part of the quilt.

And I'm taking the colour of the magenta moth across the quilt by using a cherry red thread in the negative spaces between the stencilled shapes.

The red is alarming when viewed en masse on the cone but just provides a necessary spark of colour when seen as a single strand.

When it got too hot to stand and quilt I switched to a bit of gentle piecing at the cooler end of the room. I think my friend Edwina's Cut and Come again technique really suited the Winter Hedge prints that Laura designed for Fingerprint. I made nine four inch blocks, framing them with a hand dyed fabric and then added a startling black and white design I've had in my stash for a very long time. I wouldn't normally use a geometric print like this in large amounts but as a narrow insert in a seam I love it. I think I'm going to quilt the pieced area with a variegated black and white thread and extend the quilting out into the plain border to make a connection between the patchwork and the jazzy insert at the edge.

By mid afternoon I could resist a seat under a shady tree no longer. This mini cushion was just needing to have its final seam closed by hand - such a pleasure to sit and sew outdoors on such a glorious day!

Managed to achieve quite a lot despite the heat - I hope you're having a productive time too.

Thanks for reading - Linda