Showing posts with label lace. Show all posts

Saturday, August 29, 2026

Burano House Transported to Quilter's Cove

Hi and welcome to our monthly link-up of A Quilter's Cove QAL. We've been following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colours for our houses. Since it's the end of August, this is our eighth house. I've been enjoying our monthly house making even, or maybe because, I make them at the last minute. This one was no exception. So here we go! If you're looking for the I Quilted This! link up, please click here.

Burano Houses on the Canal

I've been wondering how to make a cohesive quilt out of my blocks. Since there is a block of green houses in Nyhavn (New Harbor), along the canal in Copenhagen, I decided to make another block of canal houses. These are from Burano, an island near Venice, Italy. It's renown for it's colourful houses and making the most amazing lace.

Here are my Burano houses.

August's yellow house - from Burano

One of the reason that I chose Burano was to make those curtains in front of the doors. It was late fall when I visited so there were only a couple of houses that had them. They are used to give privacy when it's hot and the door needs to be opened to let the air circulate in the home. Locals call them "tende pal sol" or curtains for the sun.

For the smaller green house, I made the door like the one I had taken a photo of in Burano. It's so lovely, but unlike the one in my block, it's not crooked.😁

Photo taken in 2018 of a lovely Burano door

Process

After deciding on making a Burano house block, I looked at many images online. I then made a sketch of my own rendition of the houses. I just had to add the door curtain and match them with the window blinds. The image below was taken after it was mostly finished but before the sashing was added and the FMQ was done.

The house block before the sashing and FMQ

I was able to FMQ the house block but didn't do any quilting on the sashing (the window border). I'd love to make something interesting for all of the houses, so I'll have to wait and figure it out. I also want to give myself space to put together the QAYG.

For this block, I used a bright red backing fabric - the same that I used in Sarah's Blue Jays T-shirt. The backings will be different but will all have fabric of houses or of home. I didn't have anything obviously Italian, so Ontario novelty fabric will do.

Very bright Ontario novelty fabric

What I learned

I'm so happy that I had time to quilt my first quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) house block. What a difference it makes to add all of those details.
Did you notice the small white round shape at the top of the block? It's a piece of vintage lace to commemorate Burano's lace making.
It's not going to happen quite yet, but I am looking forward to quilting all of the house blocks.
This was the fastest that I've done a house block yet. Maybe it's because it was more realistic but it came together quite nicely. It probably helps that this is our 8th house.
I thought that this block was all nice and straight, until I took a picture and noticed the slightly crooked door. Oh well, it seems to be a signature thing for me😉
Next month is purple. I wonder what that will bring? I may have been researching elves' homes on Iceland...

Related links

A Quilter's Cove QAL, main page on Kat's blog
Linking party for I Quilted This! and A Quilter's Cove QAL, July 30, 2026
Converting House Blocks to Quilt-As-You-Go and I Quilted This! July 02, 2026
A Pastel House in Quilter's Cove QAL, June 27, 2026
An Orange House in Quilter's Cove QAL, May 30, 2026
A Pink House in Quilter's Cove QAL, April 27, 2026
A Fun Red House for A Quilter's Cove QAL, March 28, 2026
A Quilter's Cove QAL for February, February 28, 2026
A Quilter's Cove QAL Link-up and SAHRR, January 31, 2026

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including the latest I Quilted This! You may want to check some of them out! Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell,

Here is the link to the I Quilted This linking party.

It's now your turn 😍

Sunday, May 23, 2021

After the Storm

This is the latest piece that I've finished from a TextileArtist.org Stitch Challenge workshop. I know that I say that many of my art quilts are my favourites but I really, really love this one.

After the Storm

After the Storm

In March of this year, I made this piece following a workshop with Jette Clover, a Danish fibre artist. It's based on a photo taken after a snow storm this winter.

A photo of my back yard after the snow storm

Our workshop was to create a piece based on a winter scene. I've often contemplated making a winter scene, but I had never gotten further that wondering "how in the world am I supposed to create a scene that's mostly white?" If you look carefully however, snow is not just white. There are usually shadows and the white sometimes has bluish or pinkish tinges, depending on the time of day and the weather conditions.

Details of After the Storm

I started by layering a flannel base with various fabrics and experimenting. A hand-dyed gray fabric went over the flannel. For the bottom, I used a piece of cotton lace from an old t-shirt, put a layer of batting and then added the lace on top. That was a lovely way of adding white without actually having to work too hard to give it texture 😊. I stitched on a piece of hand-dyed t-shirt on top of that - it had originally been an image of a bouquet of dried flowers so it had some lovely lines. Next came different types of tulle and organza - most of it had a lovely sheen that would be great for reflecting snow.

For the fence, I had a piece of cotton with pink, yellow and turquoise. On top of that came a piece of linen that I had dyed turquoise. It was an old skirt and I kept the stitching that was on it as part of the composition. I loved how it was curling and fraying. I also added a darker piece of gray as a line on the left. It sort of frames the piece and in the picture it's the window frame.

Once the pieces were mostly attached, I started stitching the branches. I used a running stitch of gray embroidery floss to outline them.

Outlining branches following the fabric

Adding the tree and its branches was the hardest part. I used a piece of batik and stitched it down with a button-hole stitch of a few strands of brown floss. I used the same floss to outline the tree branches. I then started covering the brown outlines with a DMC white Mouliné Étoile embroidery floss. It has a beautiful shimmer to it.

Adding the tree and then covering the branches with snow

I added lots of snow on the tree and fence top, the branches and around the base of the tree. I used a fluffy white yard to add snow between the tree and the lace. I thought that I needed something next to the branches and so added the snow covered bird bath. I used a piece of gray fabric covered with tulle and outlined in black.

Adding lots of snow and a bird bath.

Next came stitching the background with running stitch. I stitched the fence fabric vertically with a very light variegated thread that went well with the fabric. I used a variegated gray thread for the background. As I was stitching the background, it became obvious that the stamp had to be moved.

What's with the stamp?

Jette Clover, our instructor, loves to add stamps to her textile art pieces. Since we were in the middle of lock-down and I didn't have any interesting stamps, I went to the Canada Post website and found a series of northern wildlife stamps. I chose the Arctic Hare stamp since it was more likely to be in my back yard that a caribou 😊. I made a photo copy of the stamp and attached it to a piece of brown cardstock. When I moved the stamp and was ready to finish the piece, I went to a post office outlet and bought a book of the northern wildlife stamps. I then attached the real stamp to a piece of green cardstock and placed it higher on the piece. It looks much better now!

Finishing it

The piece has an irregular, organic shape that it didn't want to change. However, I did want to hang it somehow.

I ended up using a 10"x10" canvas and covered it with a remnant of stretchy velour fabric that I had been gifted. I need more experience covering canvas frames but this was pretty good for my first try. I want to do this more often to finish my art quilts. It really gives it a nice professional finish and hangs better than a sleeve, especially for pieces with odd shapes.

Finished piece, before adding it to a covered canvas

What I learned

It never ceases to amaze me how I end up adding fabrics and moving them around until it starts looking like something that I want. I don't really have any idea of what the piece will look like except that it should look a little like the photo.
When I'm not sure of one part, I'll leave it and work on another part. If nothing seems to work - then it's time to leave it until I feel like picking it up again. Having it sit on my desk or my design wall usually helps me think of something.
You can see between the almost finished piece and the finished piece that I moved the stamp and added more stitches to the side gray border.
I really loved the DMC Mouliné Étoile. I will pick more up when stores are open again since I used almost the entire skein on this piece.
This was one of the four pieces that I had in the Fibre Fling exhibit last week. The other pieces were Exit Strategy, Big Mandala to Heal the World and Flower Impressions.

Related links

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many fun linking parties. Let's see what's going on in the quilting world! If you have any FMQ, link up to Free Motion Mavericks with Muv this week. Off the Wall Friday, Put Your Foot Down, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Finished Friday and TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2021, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday,

After the Storm was featured on Denise's Put Your Foot Down. Thanks Denise!

Project details

After the Storm

9" x 8½", mounted on a 10"x10" canvas

Materials: flannel base, hand-dyed cottons and linen, batik, organza, tulle, lace, batting, embroidery floss, variegated thread and yarn, cardstock, stamp

Techniques: appliqué and embroidery

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Fluffy and Lacy with Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to the Free Motion Mavericks link-up (week 234)

Fluffy and Lacy

Last week at Quilt Canada, I took a great workshop with Amanda McCavour. She's a Toronto based artist whose textile art is generally beautifully light and lacy. She really is an expert at working and teaching with Sulky Solvy products.

During the workshop, I worked on my first two panels. The first one was more fluffy and included layers of thread, embroidery floss, yarn, ribbon and wool roving with an organza backing. I attached all of this with some meandering FMQ.

Top layer of the first panel

The meandering FMQ to hold it all together

The second panel was much more difficult to make. It consisted of strands of yarn. I don't do minimalism very well. This panel really highlights the thread work. The top third of the panel was sewn densely, both horizontally and vertically. The middle part was very loosely sewn diagonally while the bottom part was only sewn horizontally.

Variations of lacy threads

I made the third panel the evening after the workshop. I guess I still had some creative energy in me. I wanted this one to also highlight the threat, but this time between thin strips of fabric. Isn't the fabric yummy? 😊 I cut the edges of Elaine Quehl's hand-dyed fat quarters. That also took a lot of courage!

I couldn't just place them all vertically, so I wove some strips together with bits of batiks. I used my regular sewing foot to sew these together, between the layers of Sulky products.

Colourful strips held together by threads

My plan is to make 4 panels, but who knows, I do have enough Sulky Solvy product to make up to 8 - so I'll see where this takes me. I want to try the different techniques but I also want to make a cohesive piece. It's also possible to embellish all of these, so there are many possibilities!

What I learned

I really enjoyed making these panels. It was pure play, so I want to make sure that I don't overthink the rest of them.
I just love the different techniques and weights of these panels. This is a truly versatile technique.
I've been wanting to make transparent textile art for a while, so now that I've found this technique, I'm going to have to think about it.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Burano Lace

The lovely island of Burano

The highlight of my trip, as it relates to textiles, was the Island of Burano, in the Venetian Lagoon. Burano is renown for its lace and its colourful houses. It's a lovely island to visit, and small enough that you don't have to plan your trip.

Burano

I got to Burano on a vaporetto (water bus) from Venice. I thought of my dad all the way - he would have loved the boat trip! 😊

When I got to Burano, I walked around the island, visiting the more residential areas first. It really was wonderful.

Great door!

I made my way to the more commercial area of the island and visited a few lace shops. Many were having sales since they were getting ready to close for a couple of weeks and would reopen just before Christmas. It sounds like their flood season, the Acqua Alta (see Related links) is often around that time.

Commercial lace - perfect for art quilts 😊

I bought a few small pieces of lace to incorporate in art quilts. These are the more commercial pieces that are apparently still hand made but on commercial looms.

Lace Museum

The lace at the museum was really stunning. I must admit though that the more modern lace were my favourites.

Here are a few pieces that were done in the 19th and 20th century.

This is my favourite piece - so delicate and intricate.

Delicate lace made in Burano

Burano lace on a table runner

Lace doily

Lace with pattern

Burano lace - isn't it stunning?

I just love this painting by Venetian artist Antonio Rotta (1828-1903). Many of his painting are scenes of every-day life.

Antonio Rotta (1828-1903)
Portrait of Lacemaker at Lace Pillow

Lace-making demonstration

The lace I bought in Burano

After visiting the museum, I walked by a very high-end lace shop, Emilia Burano, that offered lace-making demonstrations. I couldn't resist.

The most exclusive lace made in Burano has 7 different stitches. To make the best lace possible, each lace-maker masters one stitch. Once the pattern is set up and ready, each lace-maker works on the piece doing her one stitch. It can take months to make a piece.

The Emilia Burano shop has been there for 4 generations of lace-makers. Upstairs they have an area of some of the lace that has been made in their family, including an amazing wedding dress.

If you want to learn more about lace-making in Burano, see the videos listed in the Related links section below.

What I learned

Spending the day leisurely walking around Burano, talking with artists and having a great pasta lunch is my kind of travelling heaven!
There are many kinds of lace-making. I really admire the work but will leave it to others to make.
I have been wanting to make a whole-cloth quilt incorporating lace and handkerchiefs ever since I took one of my first Craftsy classes with Cindy Needham. Her work is stunning. See Related links for her courses on Craftsy and a great video on YouTube of her work in Houston