Wednesday 30 January 2013

Off the starting blocks and running ...

Well ok - walking then ... bosoms far too large for running with any comfort I'm afraid (phew). But I am off and going with a new banner for Region 10. The region includes Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Derbyshire and Leicestershire (in no particular order) - so I've designed a banner with five sections, one for each county. It will also have a top and bottom with the QGBI on and the region number. These top and bottom panels are going to be pieced flying duck (I think that is what I mean), and I tremble whenever I think of making them .. so much care and accuracy needed. So I'm leaving those till last, like the true coward I am, and starting with the county panels. Here is my working drawing:

 
The counties are, from the left: Leicestershire, which will be a background of the old forest, with silhouettes of the county emblem the Fox over; Lincolnshire, which will be the sea, wolds and fields, with Lincoln Cathedral as a silhouette over the top; Nottinghamshire, which will be the oldest oak (made from Nottigham lace) with Robin Hood as a silhouette; Derbyshire, which will be the Derbyshire Dales, with a silhouette of Chatsworth; and Rutland, which will be Rutland water, with a sailing boat silhouetted. The design above is just for the backgrounds. I felt my oak tree lacked a smidge of detail, so even though it will be made from lace, and hence more interesting, I redesigned it a bit:
 
 
Sorry about the curly paper! - but you get the gist. These background panels are going to be made from rather modern commercial fabrics and will not necessarily colour match reality (do I ever??) This will go well with the very stylised drawings I feel, and contrast beautifully with the dark silhouettes
 
 
You may notice that I have also swapped Lincolnshire and Derbyshire round, to give a better balance of colour and shape. You see those white piles underneath? - those are pattern pieces, cut from a master copy of my drawings ... startlingly accurate for me, but it is for the Region, so I feel it must be done nearly properly. This is the background of the background, if that makes sense (probably not actually) - I shall add the other trees, windmills, viaducts etc after I have quilted these. I have finally learnt to think ahead a bit, and this will be much easier. So here they are quilted:
 
 
They are all lovely and ripply now and ready for the next layer of applique - which is tomorrows job. I'll report on progress.
I have to show you this lovely image from last week before I go:
 
 
How magical is that combination of snow, white trunks and blue blue sky? There is so much beauty in our world. Talk soon - Hilary xx
 

4 comments:

  1. Hilary

    That looks fabulous! I love the idea of the county panels. Will be interesting to see how this develops.

    Hilary Lurcher.

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  2. Thanks my lurcher friend! - I'm planning for it to develop pretty quickly .. so should be an update soon x

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  3. Looking great Hilary - what a lot of work! I like the idea of the counties too x

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  4. Thank you Annabel - it is a lot of work - but I love these stylised landscapes so much that I don't mind.... just get the Wombles on the ipod and I'm off. Region 10 is so enormous, the panels seemed an obvious choice ... but I do think they will look nice. Just got to work out how to join them (oh, and do that nasty flying duck thingy)x

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