Blanket the world! 21 квилт в 2021 году

 Если за предыдущие полгода я умудрилась сшить 20 штук, не считая мелких брызг в виде сумок, салфеток и пиджаков, то на 2021 мой план в 21  квилт не кажется таким уж невыполнимым. На 31 января было готово уже два, правда работа над ними началась еще в прошлом, 2020 году. Из 21 (!) блока получилось два похожих. Они, как я уже писала, повторяют старый, отданный очень давно.

Здесь еще не пришита до конца окантовка, заворачивается, но надо было срочно сфотографировать, чтобы будущая хозяйка смогла выбрать который из двух ей больше нравится:

Один уже отправляется в люди

Боль в глазах

Смотреть больно-говорит мой муж про такие квилты. Они и правда слишком яркие, неудобные для интерьера, но сейчас такие даже в моде. 

обратная сторона тоже яркая

У меня их много, я скромно думаю, что  может каким-нибудь детям понравятся, они же любят яркое.  Этот уже отдан в дом

А этот немного поспокойнее, в нем больше светлых неярких тканей и порезаны они помельче, он полноразмерный, больше 2 метров по всем сторонам. Подкладка у него офигительно-розовая.  Стегала его специально негусто, чтобы не стал жестким

Я и сама люблю всякое "красненькое", 

у меня даже  были оранжевые, желтые и бирюзовые стены и полы. 

Комбинировать такие ткани довольно просто, особенно, если объединять их на черном или сером фоне. Поэтому шью их в перерывах между "трудными" проектами

Осеннее

 Осенняя погода -осенние цвета. Немного тонкого вельвета очень красивой расцветки с серо синими розами, коричневый и синий самокрашеный лен, 

а на изнанке собрание хлопков: темно-коричневый в синий горох, коричневый с красными цветами и ярко-рыжие куски. 

Все цвета хорошо совпали, некоторые ткани темные и тухлые, при взгляде  на рыжие делается жарко, а вельвет мягкий и шелковистый, его приятно гладить. Внутри синтетический наполнитель, довольно пухлый. Простегано редко, через 10 см примерно, толстыми  оранжевыми и вишневыми нитками типа "Ириса". 

Размер 228x230cm

И еще фото частями, на перилах лестницы

My Scrappy White log cabin quilt

 My white scrappy quilt from the "Log cabins" collection was very enthusiastically received. Everybody is interested how many fabrics I used and where they came from. I started counting but stopped after 20. I used a lot of different fabrics . Many came from Russia, some are quite old, the provenance of some pieces is weird. Only textile freaks can understand. Some years ago we bought a nicely packed turkey from Selfridges. It was wrapped in a cotton fabric with the logo of the shop. Nothing special but I never toss away good quality cotton. Washed, ironed and stored in a basket it waited patiently for its time. White polka dot cotton I bought to make the first Christmas stocking for my three-year old daughter and plain very light cotton stripes I got from my mother's neighbour. I didn't want to drag them with me to another country but my mother found it rude if I refuse to accept her friend's gift. My daughter's Sultana Frantsuzova dress turned out to be endless, I used it in three blankets but there still were some scraps for this one. My 30-year-old pinkish linen skirt helped to add some warm touches to the palette. 

On the back is a piece of  embroidered bedding, found in my mother's wardrobe, it had never been used. 

Festival in Veldhoven

The second exhibition of our group in one month was a bit too much for me but everything was perfect this year in Veldhoven. Hanging of the competition quilts, light, organization. Lots of enthusiastic quilters, lots of friends who came to see the group's work, lots of feedback in form of critique and advice. At the end I am glad that I brought the collection to Veldhoven, there were some doubts before.

  

Hilde had a solo exhibition and brought new beautiful work

My friend Galina Kozulina 's quilt with stunning optical effect was selected for the exhibition in Berlin.
During the festival I met a nice man from Germany, Frank Guschmann, who made a lot of good quality photographs of the event and sent me a link to his album afterwards. I normally make a lot of pictures myself but not this time. All my time and energy went to telling stories about members of the group and their work to numerous visitors)). The majority of the public were Dutch quilters and they are very sociable and enthusiastic.
And my another friend, Corinne got a third prize in competition with her quilt "Peace"

Anatoly Belik, exhibition in Birmingham

The festival of Quilts in Birmingham brought a couple of surprises, one of them Anatoly Belik, Russian artist working with textiles. I knew his work before and love it but looking at his quite small pieces surrounded by thousands and thousands of European and American quilts was quite a special experience. He was so different so authentic and  so original that hundreds of people coming to express admiration told that he made their day.

All of them, quilters, artists, amateurs and professionals noticed the intricate, skillful design that supports his touching but pretty simple ideas. Most of the pieces he selected for the exhibition were devoted to women, because in his view women are the beginning of everything, they create life and secure its continuity. Whenever I had time I tried to come to his exhibition  to help him with interpreting and saw people coming again and again. The artist's style that was unmistakably Russian sometimes initiated  discussions, retrospective associations and long lectures on the history of Russian Art of the beginning of the 20th century, suprematism in particular. Two English ladys were so impressed with his work that asked me spell the names of some Russian artists Anatoly considers his teachers.  They were determined to make internet research to fill gaps in their art education.

He is a passionate teacher, his pupils are children from very early age to teenagers . Every year they get dozens of diplomas at various creative competitions, he can speak hours about them. His class:

I am a dummy, I don't know anything about modern technology, explains Anatoly. This is me embarrassed and absorbed in self-pity. And those are antique Russian kettles (in Russian dummy=kettle)

As I have already said lots of his pieces are devoted to women.

One of my favourites

Anatoly in front of this work

Buttons

Some time ago I visited a stunning Tudor period  exhibition in the Kremlin, Moscow.  It happens all the time, that after I saw something beautiful, I want to try making it myself not to replicate, but to find out how it was sewn/ embroidered/quilted and assembled. This time I was attracted by tiny little
knotted buttons and started searching for the techniques on the Internet. The one very peculiar kind of buttons exists in the Netherlands and it is a part of a long tradition I didn't know about. The photo is taken from the Belgian knitting blog yarnlot.bogspot.be, there are other  colourful photographs explaining the process.

Mandalas and temari balls that have become popular lately, have the same idea of creating a pattern by interweaving threads either silk or wollen, some ancient buttons were made the same way, only they were much smaller.
Another interesting twist in the use of this favourite embellishment- London Cockney Pearly King or Queen costume known since Victorian times.   The costumes are decorated with hundreds of mother-of pearl buttons. Here is the photograph I took from the uniquebuttonjewelry site

Lots of amazing photographs of this London Cockney tradition

Belgian quilt

A couple of days ago I was at the yearly exhibition of the Belgian quilters Guild. This year there was a sort of a challenge. Everybody took a page from a magazine, an article, an ad, a photo and used it as an inspiration for the quilt. Trees Ghysels chose the socks ad:

Interesting backgroud (handprinted?) bright socks of different sizes , I love it.

Textile fire-place screens -Cheverny

The fire-place screens I saw in Cheverny castle were quite difficult to date. Textiles are perishable and many of them were replaced.





One of the rooms was full of beautiful portraits in gilded frames, but more than the portraits I was fascinated by the textile that covered the walls

The textiles of Cheverny

The castle of Chiverny has some beautiful textiles displayed in a number of interiors. I particularly liked the chairs. Honestly, I liked all the tapestries, but the big wall-hangings were covered with plastic and it was impossible to take photos. The textiles of the beds were also impressive, and mostly floral.