Last month I visited the Kaffe Fassett Exhibition at the American Museum. The profusion of colour was ever so slightly overwhelming, and it seemed rather pointless taking pictures of his beautiful work because I have better pictures in books.
This vase caught my eye, though. It was in one of the display cases to illustrate how inspiration can be drawn from ceramics. I had never seen a vase decorated with tomatoes before.
Neither had I seen a cauliflower teapot. Too barmy for words.
This is part of a small fragment of ancient Roman floor mosaic mounted on the wall of the porch of a church in Rome.
This is the quilt that I sent to my October partner, Terry, for the Doll Quilters' Monthly swap. The theme for the month was to show where you live, so I decided to base the quilt on the coloured houses seen in Bristol - we live just seven miles outside.
I shall cheerfully own up that I had a few tussles with this quilt, with the surprise pleat on the back and the skipped stitches on corners.
I was in a bit of a quandary over the free motion quilting, thinking the meander design on the front of the houses might look like cracked rendering. In the end it doesn't look too bad, and I varied it with a pebbly design for the ground.
Also there was great frustration with right angles. I chose the materials for the colours rather the weight. They were a touch too lightweight, and I just don't do starch, so I had to live with the shifting angles.
But in real life many of these houses have slipped here and there. Doors can be slightly out of line...
... or well and truly crooked...
...and as for chimneys, they can be all over the place.
My husband and I had a brief discussion about the windows. He said I had put Georgian windows on Victorian houses. I said they were early Victorian, so there is hardly any difference.
All told, I was pleased with how it turned out. Someone might look at the bright colours and off angles and think it is badly executed Toytown. My answer to that would be that this quilt is the nearest I have got to photorealism. People here who have seen the quilt instantly start debating which part of Bristol it is and which street it shows. The photos on this Flickr group show the scenes we see every day...
http://www.flickr.com/groups/colouredhousesofbristol/pool/with/9035260579/#photo_9035260579
The house my husband was born in - and still lived in when we met - is in this picture...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/261049/8234408515/in/pool-colouredhousesofbristol/
... fourth house on the right in the long terrace that goes right the way across the picture, and here is a picture actually taken on the street a few doors down from the house...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crabchick/9324205864/in/pool-colouredhousesofbristol
Up until about twenty years ago most of these houses were grey or very pale colours. It is only recently that all these bold colours have appeared. They took some getting used to, but now I rather like them.
Linking up again today with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday.
Last Friday morning we were at Krakow airport waiting for the plane home when I spotted this exceptionally pretty aeroplane.
These flowers and leaves must be based on Russian folk art - there is a beautiful flow to them, making them perfect inspiration for free motion quilting. Today I looked at this picture for a while, and then did a bit of free motion practice. I know there is no point in trying to do pencil sketches or plotting any guidelines on the fabric - I just can't work like that. I just have to put the quilt sandwich in the machine and see what I can do. This is what I ended up with :-
... a fat quarter sized panel with three plants, a leafy vine in the middle and stems with berries on either side.
Here is one of the leaves, loosely based on the big gold leaves on the plane,
.. and here are the berries, which are not quite so noticeable on the tailfin.
As a rule I don't find aeroplanes particularly fascinating, but I loved this one!
Update - Read more about this gorgeous plane on the Allplane blog. Aeroflot held a competition for designs for the special 90th anniversary livery. Allplane has a link to Aeroflot's site, where you can see the designs that were submitted. They certainly picked the right winner. Also there is a link to Wikipedia, showing Khokhloma, the folk art on which the design is based.
If Aeroflot produced this marvellous livery for the 90th anniversary, what will they do in ten years' time?
Welcome to Denise Heydon, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
This post is being linked to Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday so you can see what other people have been up to this week...
and also to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday,
and to Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off the Wall Friday.
This gorgeous drinking fountain dates from 1895 and is made of Doulton tiles.
The glazes are various shades of blue, brown and green.
The flowers and leaves at the centre are beautifully symmetrical.
The overall design is so graceful.
But it is no longer connected to the water supply, and the bowl is full of rain water, dead leaves and fag ends, so I have spared you a close-up. Still, irksome details like that shouldn't get in the way of inspiration.
These beautiful tiles are at Lily's house, a Victorian terraced house which still has the original tiles in the porch.
The glazed wall tiles are such an unusual colour combination - olive green alternating with a pinky beige.
The floor also has its original tiles.
The tiles are still going strong after over a century of use. The floor is tiled in the same pattern over the entire hall, right back to the kitchen door.
Hardly surprising, then, that Lily is fascinated by quilts!
