Wish Journal Quilt

As I told you in a previous post the theme for the Sketchbook Challenge this month was Holiday Colours and I made the Stars Journal show in that post. For that quilt I used the negative space after the tree had been cut out from the gelli plate printed black fabric. That left me with a black tree and it seemed a shame to waste it. So I decided to make another 10" square quilt this time making it a bit more christmassy. For this one I appliqued (using Bondaweb) the black tree onto a background of fabric also painted using the gelli plate. The tree was then hand stitched like the background on the Stars quilt but the background on this one was free machine stitched. 

To give a nostalgic feeling of wonder I added a fabric image as seen above (from Artchix Studio) by appliquéing it using the sewing machine.

The tree itself was decorated with silver ornaments in the shape of sequins. They only look different colours here as the flare of the camera flash picked up the holographic nature of the sequins. A blue star was put on top and then the word Wish (also from Artchix Studio) was stitched on in the top right hand corner. I know it's hard to see on the pictures but the round circular shape in the background right behind the tree is the moon and I have stuffed (trapunto like) it with extra wadding so it stands out slightly from the background. Of course beads were added along the perimeter of the binding. That has become more or less my signature for all my journal quilts.

Here is a view of both journal quilts so that you can appreciate the connection between them.

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that the Sketchbook Challenge will continue into 2014 and I have already decided to continue making 10" square journal quilts on their monthly themes too. Not sure yet what I will do about the journal quilt challenge on the Contemporary Quilt Group. I really disliked the size they set for this year (12 x 8" in a horizontal orientation) so I won't make that decision till I know all the specifics. 

In total I made 13 Journal Quilts for the Sketchbook Challenge, 12 for the Contemporary Quilt Group (themed on Klimt), 2 A4 sized ones for the Little Landscapes challenge set by Grosvenor Exhibitions (you won't see them till the show opens in February) and 1 for Thistle Quilters that has been shown here.That makes a total of 28. It is just more than half the 52 I made last year and I think that next year there will be less as they do take an awful lot of time away from my larger work. On the other hand I love making them so I will simply wait and see what 2014 brings. 

Thanks so much for coming on the journal quilt journey with me!