Spring Into Action

I've been away from this blog for so long that I'm at a loss how to start again. So I'll just start with the most important thing that has happened this summer, apart from my move from Helsinki to Jakobstad (or Pietarsaari, which is the Finnish name for my new home town).

By the end of May I submitted my entry for the The Quilters' Guild Challenge at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this August. The National Guild in Finland, FinnQuilt, accepted my art quilt, and it was sent to Birmingham together with 15 other quilts. After the exhibition, it will go on tour for two years, and you can probably image how pleased I am about this. It's the first time that I've participated in anything like this, and it's all very exciting.

The theme this year is 'In My Garden', or the seasonal garden, and spring was the season that was given to Finland. As soon as I read about the competition and the theme I knew what I wanted to do. But since it's a competition and the Festival is still about three weeks away, I can't yet publish any images of my finished quilt. However, as I know there are people who are curious and eager to see what I've made, I'll post some sneaky images as a teaser.

In fact, I've already posted one sneaky image of a sketch in this blog entry. Here are a few more.

This piece of fabric was used to soak up extra paint while I was working on organza, and I realised afterwards that it was also the perfect fabric to use for the back of the quilt. Waste not, want not! I printed with crumpled paper, monoprinted with an acrylic block and spray painted through a plastic doily.

In a spring garden there has to be spring flowers, and you can probably make out which flower I chose, even though I'm just giving you a sneaky view from the back of the quilt.

And spring means the return of migrating birds. This is a part of the quilt that I'm particularly pleased with.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to bring you more news soon!