Further to my One Teacher Can be So Influential post a couple of weeks ago, I’ve continued experimenting and made a couple of pieces inspired by ideas in that recent Stitch Club workshop.

Last time I was up in the USA, I bought some heavy duty plastic sheeting of the type that new pillows are contained in, or that some people and libraries use to cover books. I had been intending to experiment with ‘sheer’ ideas, but had done little with the 3m x 1.5m stuff except learn that it is impossible to sew with on my domestic machine, at least. Jessica Grady’s Stitch Club workshop included ideas for encasing snippets of fabric and threads in recycled plastic particularly bubble wrap – and ironing it to melt/bond the sheets together using baking parchment or Teflon. I have a large sheet of Teflon, and the clear smooth plastic beckoned to me as something that in some ways could be regarded as an unwoven fabric. My wonderful domestic Bernina doesn’t sew it well, though, so it’s only useful for hand sewing. And, of course, like stitching on paper, if you need to unpick something it leaves holes, which can be re-used, of course, and I haven’t found that to be a problem.

First is a smallish piece, as yet untitled, featuring appliqued ‘blocks’ of gold lame triangles and threads trapped in plastic, hand stitched in gold and the hand quilting’s in thick and fine gold threads. The 40cm size is to meet a particular call for entry.

In progress, on 1m sq. of light grey sateen, ~6cm” blocks containing triangles of silk organza and neon threads – which are difficult to get right for colour, but you get the idea. The fine stitching line is a placement guide only and will shortly be removed once quilting is far enough advanced to get rid of it.

Finally this one, using only woven fabric. pieces overlapping and hand stitched down. I decided to use this technique in the 12″ mini quilt I always make for the SAQA Benefit Auction in September. Using vibrant blues and greens against a black background, and neon green thread, this turned out to be very satisfying, and I’m thinking something bigger. It’s also untitled – naming these pieces might prove the hardest part 🙂 as the techniques themselves are not difficult.

Finally, two samples from the last week – first, triangles and squares of Mylar (cut up sachets that contain my fav. tea bags) I drink 3-5 cups of tea most days, so I have a good supply, and until Jessica’s workshop had been saving all the tea bag envelopes for a kindergarten teacher who’s a friend of one of my friends, also Alison. But my friend Alison was away for 3+months, during which time they accumulated wonderfully, but also we had Jessica’s workshop, so I’ve retained the lot for the moment. As usual for me, I’m thinking of something ‘big’.