A square for the Forthline project

I realise that I never posted about the piece I made for the Forthline Project - where each maker got a 40cm square piece of calico on which to make a piece inspired by their one particular stretch of the coastline of the Firth of Forth. The line of shoreline (black cord on my piece) had to be included just as it is on the map so that each piece can be linked on either side with other works but there were no constraints on style or content.  I chose a piece of coast which took in North Queensferry and the Railway Bridge.  

This small piece of land has a very rich history and is full of interesting things, including the remains of a Munitions pier from WW1, and the concrete gun emplacements from WW2, which really highlight how important it was strategically.  I was really interested in the impact that humans have had on the environment and wanted to get everything in, but I settled for contrasting the abstract shapes of the man-made bridge, with the nature found at Carlingnose Point Nature Reserve.

The nature reserve has gorse scrub, and rare limestone meadow.  I included both of these, together with dropwort, cranesbill and harebell, and a little Lesser Whitethroat, which are all found there.

My work is painted, appliquéd, hand- and machine-embroidered. I left a tiny margin of calico round the edge of my piece because I wanted to reflect the fact that this was the base on which everyone constructed their very different works, but in retrospect I'm not sure this was the right thing to do.

This is a really wonderful project and I am grateful to have been involved.   You can read more about it here and see all the marvellous pieces that other contributors have made. 

The Endeavourers #15, A quilt inspired by a newspaper headline - "B****y Covid"

This is my quilt for the latest quarterly challenge from  The Endeavourers.   Our challenge was to make a quilt inspired by a newspaper headline.

My quilt doesn't need much explanation - it represents the majority of headlines at the moment, and pretty much sums up my feelings!

As the current situation drags on we're probably all getting a bit fed up so I had wanted some way of adding a small bit of hope to my quilt.  When I dug this newspaper print out of the drawer it seemed perfect because it is actually full of positive thoughts.  I'm not always keen on fabric like this but I thought that the message 'be gentle with yourself' and references to the good things in life - beauty, friendship, family, home and garden, etc, - were a good reminder that although Covid sometimes occupies centre stage, as it does in my quilt,  the things that make life worthwhile are still there.

My 'headline' is painted with fabric paint and I quilted in black round the letters, which are based on a font called Impact.   There is a double layer of batting under the white 'paper' which is stipple quilted.  The background newsprint is quilted in random geometric shapes inspired by the print.  I liked the way that the asterisks look vaguely like the Covid virus under the microscope!

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling uninspired to be creative recently, and it was very good to have this challenge! As usual I'm looking forward to seeing what has inspired the other members of the Endeavourers.  You can check them out on the group blog where you can also find links to each individual member.