Hello everybody. I'm Jan and I live in Polegate, East Sussex. I've just joined the group and am looking forward to making lots of new friends through this sorority/fraternity.
I retired from heading an IT department in a secondary school in 2004 and took up quilting in 2006. I joined a class in Polegate taught by Lynette Harris (the Stitch-Witch) and haven't looked back. I'm still a novice, but learning new techniques all the time. I also now help Lynette at the Wealden Quilt Show which is held every April in Crowborough. Lynette has asked me to try to find out the origins of shadow quilting and this is giving me a much bigger challenge than I thought. If anyone out there has any ideas how it originated, please let me know. The internet has proved fruitless in this area, although I have "met" some lovely people in the States who have been trying to help me.
I've made one lap quilt, several wall-hangings and a few cushion covers so far. At the moment my class is working on making a quilt called "All around the World". Each week we make a block which represents a different country. Lynette gives us a data file, a map, the flag and a recipe from each country we do so our portfolios are building up nicely.
I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year,
Best Wishes,
Jan.
Posts: 1 | Location: Polegate, England | Registered: January 13, 2008
A warm welcome to you Jan from Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. I know Crowborough quite well - My uncle and Aunt live in Crowborough and so does my cousin and her family. My brother lives in Robertsbridge which isn't too far away either. This is a great place to me with lots of lovely people who will quickly become great friends offering laughter, advice and always a shoulder to cry on. Look forward to seeing you post on this forum.
a warm dixie (mississippi, usa) welcome to you jan!! we look forward to getting to know you better! sounds like you are close to milica - won't it be a treat to get to meet up with her sometime!
love & hugs, beechnut (cindy) a/k/a Miss Tassels
"She shops around for the best yarns and cottons, and enjoys knitting and sewing." Proverbs 31:13 TM
"She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth, diligent in homemaking." Proverbs 31:19 TM
Posts: 2155 | Location: Batesville, MS | Registered: January 09, 2007
Hi Jan welcome to BC its a great group to be involved in. There is a special Questions section too I find that a boon The only book I have is of Shadow Redwork, other than that I'm afraid I can't help, but I know someone will be along if you post it Hope to see you around
Jacqui
Rather Light a candle than complain about the darkness
Posts: 4019 | Location: UK | Registered: May 03, 2006
Just want to be sure I understand what you mean by shadow quilting, we have discovered that sometimes we use terms differently, depending on which side of the pond one resides.
You are talking about putting a darker fabric behind white or ecru to mute the color, is that correct? The term is used as well to refer a technique where one positive space in the grid is replaced with a miniature block. That is, say a 12" shoo-fly; one 4" section would have a tiny shoo-fly instead of a solid piece of fabric.
I have also seen the term to refer to echo quilting as done in Hawaiian style quilting or to the the use of a contrasting thread for the quilting.
I can certainly understand the difficulty you are having tracking down the history. If you can be a bit more specific as to which techinque you are researching, perhaps we can head you in the right direction.