TGIFF Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday
Well, what finishes have happened recently?……. I’m still reeling from the Abbey Medieval Festival, so let’s go with that. I had less time to plan for the festival than expected, so I did everything in a bit of a rush, and I got sick ……
I have a stall selling embroidery kits and notions at the Abbey Medieval Festival in Queensland, Australia each July. It’s a bit of a labour of love because it’s three months hard work for two days of festival, - and we never even get to see the festival because we are in our stall. However, back to the planning.
I’m in it for the fun, and while I get a severe talking to from my daughter each year about trying to at least break even, … I’m still in it for the fun. This year I made two big banners to hang on either side of the entrance. Now this was clearly unnecessary, but it was fun.
My first banner was from a medieval manuscript and depicts a woman using a distaff and spindle to spin wool. I thought this was very cute because her cat is clearly giving her a hard time by playing with her spindle. it’s a grey cat so obviously called ‘Grimalkin’ from Macbeth.
The second banner was from a story with beautiful illustrations. The woman is buying goods from a travelling peddler (who is her love interet in disguise) I’ve got her looking at bests and alms purses or possibly cloth scissors, awls or lucets. I do love elaborate jokes, and these pleased me endlessly. (Then I got some very stern looks from my daughter).
For both banners I pieced whatever was able to be pieced, then I added raw edge applique and held the applique down with blanket stitch in matching thread. To get the outlining I used a number of techniques - heavy thread and a heavy stitch (forwards, bckwards, forwards), couching of two different types of threads. I really liked using a thick cotton crochet yarn and used ny buttonhole stitch to outline the pieces. I added some detailing and then quilted to add texture to the background. If you look at the two pictures of the dog (name is Wally, belongs to my younger daughter) you will see how the outlining makes him pop. The raw edge applique done in a machine embroidery thread in a matching colour sinks into the work and the outlining gives the oomph. (The dog was just done in heavy weight thread in a straight backwards and forwards stitch). The hair was done in really soft crochet cotton and blanket stitched in place. I’m liking the effect of the blanket stitch rather than zigzag because you can butt the crochet cotton up to the edge of the raw applique and the blanket stitch then gives a really neat outside line on the edge of the crochet cotton. The banners needed to be seen from a distance, so the outlining was important to emphasize the elements of the picture.
I was so pleased I finished them and they did look good. Next year, I want to make some more, but with any luck I’ll have twice as much time to prepare. So, the Abbey Medieval Festival is now over for another year. It feels like a week ago, but was actually a fortnight. We had a fabulous time. I actually thought I’d be back quilting up a storm by now, but after stocktake and taxes, the only thing I’ve finished since, is a couple of Kdramas. It is so nice to relax.
Now, if you want to join the linky party, add a photo of your latest finish below. It’s so lovely to see all the fabulous finishes. Make sure you keep following the linky party each week to see more of what is going on.
Just for fun, I have a pattern giveaway for someone who posts a nice link. This is a table runner pattern (pdf download) that I made with African fabric from Miriam of Quilt Africa Fabrics. It’s actually a very easy pattern out of two simple blocks. I used the same pattern to make the quilt below.
