The cup spilleth over Journal Quilt

As I gained an extra day in the studio on Saturday I managed to finish my next Journal Quilt. I'm following the sketchbook challenge site to make a page in my sketchbook. Every month they come up with a new theme and this month it was Spilling Over.

After I've finished working in my sketchbook (and you can see that here) I start work on a Journal Quilt along the same lines. The JQ is for the Contemporary Group of the Quilters' Guild and this year we're working on a 10" square for every month.

When I read the theme the expression: The cup spilleth over came to mind and the illustrated catalogue for the 1851 International Exhibition provided me with a gorgeous cup (made by Minton). Out of the cup come spilling all the things that make me happy in my life and art. The background for the JQ is an imaginary landscape where the sun always shines. The sun also provides the circle element which is another requirement for the first 4 JQs we're making this year.

The landscape uses a variety of hand-dyed and painted fabrics, raw edge applique and hand stitching. The words were cut from magazines, scanned into the computer and printed out onto a self-adhesive cotton fabric sheet (Crafty Computer Paper), and then stitched on. The cup was printed onto voile (also Crafty Computer Paper) and stitched on by using free-machine stitching, as was the sun (a piece of hand-dyed velvet).

So far I'm having great fun with these Journal Quilts and I'm already eagerly anticipating the next theme. In fact it's going so swimmingly that I'm getting suspicious that the new theme will give me grief!