On the Beach: The Heathlands Project Quilt 2016

'On the Beach' The Heathlands Project Quilt, 2016

Each year at The Heathlands Project I make a quilt with the members which we send off to The Festival of Quilts down at the NEC in Birmingham. Each year we do something a bit different and each year I swear we are never doing another quilt! However, it is a really good project to work on and provides the members with an opportunity to work on a big group project that can be shown to a big audience.

Laying out the felt

Laying out the felt

Laying out the felt

This year the guys chose the theme 'On the Beach' and at the suggestion of one of the other members of staff the quilt was made of felted patches. Felt making is a really great activity because it is so adaptable for a wide range of abilities and experience levels.

Rolling the felt

Making felt

Felt patch with design notes

As some members have developed their skills over the years some of them were able to make their patches more or less independently. I think this is a really positive thing and I hope that the quilt project gives them chance to try something different as well as an opportunity to show off their skills.

Individual patches

Individual patches

Individual patches

As I only work part time at The Heathlands Project I rely a lot on the other members of staff to keep the project going in my absence. I really like coming in and seeing what the other groups have been up to. It also means that more people can get involved in the project.

Individual patches

Individual patches

Individual patches

There was a really lovely range of felt patches produced with some very imaginative and inventive designs and embellishments. There were also a couple of 'joint' patches where the members worked together to make the felt. I like making the quilts in patches as it means that people can work individually if they want to but there is still lots of opportunity for collaboration.

Individual patches

Individual patches

Individual patches

Rather unusually this year it wasn't as much as a rush as usual to complete the quilt and get it down to the show. This was partly because I started the project off really early in the year and partly because I was able to delegate a lot of the making. I still did the final construction but almost everything else was done by the members, volunteers and support workers.

Laying out the patches

Detail

Detail

It's really good having the finished quilt to show off and the members look forward to it coming back and hearing the judges comments. We may need to build a bigger building though so that we have room to display all the finished quilts...

Sunshine by The Heathlands Project

Sunshine, 2015 by The Heathlands Project

The Heathlands Project's 2015 quilt is completed and down in Birmingham for this years Festival of Quilts! Despite my best efforts at being organised it was, as usual, a bit of a rush to get it finished in time but we did so all is well and the members are already looking forward to getting it back and hearing the judges comments.

Quilt details

Quilt details

Quilt details

I wrote before about this quilt and why, despite the stresses,  I like doing a big project like this with the group. Seeing everyone's work come together to create a coherent group piece is a really satisfying thing. One of the reasons it's always a bit of a rush to get finished is that I like to give the guys as long as possible to work on their individual patches. This of course means that there's less time for me to put it together but I love seeing all the different patches and how each individuals character shines through.

Laying out the patches

I wanted to create this year's quilt in a slightly different way to previous years. So, once I'd collected all the patches I laid them out on a base cloth, filling any gaps with sunshine coloured fabrics. I wanted to keep the edges if the fabric raw to add a bit more texture.

Quilt sandwich

Quilting on the sewing machine

One of the members of the textile group was really keen to help with the construction so along with one of the members of staff he made a 'quilt sandwich' of the layer with the patches, the wadding in the middle and a plain back cloth. They then worked together on the sewing machine to quilt these layers in place, fixing the patches as they went.

Adding the binding

Once all the quilting was done it was time to finish the edges. I wanted to have a go at binding the edges this year, previously we have worked on more of a bag like construction with the quilting being the final step. One of the comments we've had from some of the judges in the past is that we could do with a bit more quilting, which is why we took the approach mentioned above.

The binding and back of the quilt

By this point we were very short on time so I took the quilt home to finish off, doing the last bits of quilting, the binding and adding a hanging sleeve before parcelling it all up and sending it down to The Festival of Quilts. It was interesting doing the binding. I quite like the look and it's different to how we've normally done it. As usual I am not totally happy with the finished piece as it is not as nicely finished as I would like but I find generally when it comes back I can appreciate the good things about it more!

The Summer

The finished quilt

It is that crazy time of year again when I face the challenge of putting together The Heathlands Project Textile group quilt. Every year I say this is the last one but at the start of the week I found myself once again stitching like a crazy thing to get everything completed and sent off in time. It is, of course, all worth it in the end. The group puts so much time and effort into the project and they are so proud of the finished pieces and the fact that they are displayed down in Birmingham that soon the aching back and sore fingers don't seem to matter much!

Corner detail

Edge detail

However organised I am there is always a last minute rush as people want as much time as possible to get their contribution finished, which generally leaves me with minimal construction time and so sometimes the finish isn't quite what I would hope for. That said I'm always pleasantly surprised by how well the work of so many different people comes together to create a unique and beautiful piece of art. I always ask the guys to choose a theme and colour scheme at the start of the project so that there are common elements throughout everyone's work and the group are now quite used to working with each other.

Main panel (detail)

Character detail

For various reasons the group has been a bit disrupted this year but they have still managed to create a piece of work full of interest, skill and charm. I like all the little characters that have emerged in this piece; the group choose 'The Summer' as the title of the quilt and there are lots of beautiful flowers blooming across its surface and little animals hiding all around.

Border patch

Detail from main panel

The quilt consists of a main panel embellished with fabric pastels, appliqué and embroidery surrounded by batik and embroidered border patches. The quilting consists of cross stitches in the corners of the patches. All the fabrics were tie dyed by the group at the start of the project. I like running the quilt project with the group as it is a chance to try new techniques and for everyone to work together to create something special. The quilt will be on show at The Festival of Quilts down at the N.E.C in Birmingham in August after which we will find it a home at The Heathlands Project.

Magik Quilt 2012 Complete!

The finished Quilt

I'm so proud of my textile group at The Heathlands Project for all the work they've put into this years quilt. It's fantastic to see how far they've come, their level of skill and patience has improved dramatically over the last year and we've produced a really beautiful piece of work. The quilt has been a great opportunity for me to teach lots of different textile processes and I'm really impressed with the finished project. A special thank you to Susan for all her help sewing all the patches together!

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Method of quilting-Cross stitches

Stitch detail

Star stitch detail

Stitch detail

Magik Quilt 2012

Some of the patches

Last year I made a quilt with my textiles group at The Heathlands Project. It was a really great project but very hard work and quite stressful for me so I when I asked the group earlier in the year if they wanted to do the Festival of Quilts again or if they wanted a break for a year I was kind of hoping they'd say have a break! However, they didn't. They were adamant that they wanted to make another quilt so since March we have been working away on a patchwork quilt. Our theme is 'Magik' and I have taught tie-dye, batik, block printing and hand embroidery. Because we chose to make a patchwork quilt this year we wanted to make sure that even though each patch would be made by different individuals the quilt would still work as a whole so we chose a limited colour scheme of blue, purple and green. We tie-dyed our base fabric these colours and then made print blocks which we used to print on top of the tie dye. We've then used hand stitch to complete the patches.

Adding stitch to dyed and printed fabric

It is all starting to come together now and I'm really proud of all my students, they've produced some fantastic work and it's great to see the progression and improvement since last year. We're currently finishing the last few patches and starting to get it all sewn up, then it will be down to me to construct it and get the quilting done!

Learning to couch

Block print with embroidery and sequins

Block print and hand stitch

Work in progress

More patches