Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Saturday, December 13, 2025

The Power of Print Exhibition in Copenhagen - Part 1

Hi and welcome 😊. I have a special treat for you! This fall, when I visited my brother and his family in Copenhagen, my lovely SIL took me to the Design Museum Danmark to see the Power of Print exhibition - Danish Textile Prints Through 100 Years. Here is a very quick overview.

If you're looking for the Free Motion Mavericks post, it's here.

Power of Print

It was a large exhibition in two sections. The first featured works by eight contemporary fabric printing designers/artists in Denmark. These artists hand-printed textiles specifically for the exhibition. This is what I'll share with you in this post. The second part of the exhibit showcased textiles from the museum's archives. It was arranged to examine all aspects of textile printing, from various printing techniques, to colour, stripes and the design of repeats. This will make a good second post.

Here are some of my favourite pieces by contemporary Danish textile artists. What I loved most about these were the colours; sometimes rich and bright, others more whimsical and light, and often with colours that you wouldn't think played well together! I also love how many of the designers use space within their prints.

Bitten Hegelund and Lisbeth Friis offer vibrant and interesting colours and unexpected lines

Bitten Hegelund’s broken lines

Lisbeth Friis’ stripes, dots, and checks

The next two fabrics are floral motifs by Josefina Enevold, who worked with and was influenced by Swedish designers.

Josefina Enevold's botanic motifs

One of my favourite - flower motif by Josefina Enevold

Next is the duo Tronhjem Rømer, which consists of artists Liv Marie Rømer and Trine Tronhjem, Their rich, flowing fabric requires a second look to see its complexity of both line and colour.

Flowing fabric by Tronhjem Rømer

A close up of the lines and colours at play

Janne Wendt's work was fascinating. In the display case below, we see how Janne used the hair of an ancient Greek and Roman statues as inspiration.

Inspired by the hair of an ancient statue

Printing by Janne Wendt, inspired by sculptured hair

Another interesting artist is Anne Fabricius Møller. She loves to use everyday objects as printing tools. Once you see her work, you know that it's not the actual object but the way that it plays with all of the elements of the design that make them special!

One of Anne Fabricius Møller's
prints

Details of Anne Fabricius Møller's print

Two prints by
Anne Fabricius Møller

Details of another print by Anne Fabricius Møller

Else Borup Kallesøe's work is geometric. It goes from light, such as the Flying Palette on silk organza below, to intricate stripes.

Else Borup Kallesøe's Flying Palette

Details of Flying Palette

The geometric work of Else Borup Kallesøe

What I learned

The Power of Print is a large exhibition and I'm sure that I could have discovered new things if I had a chance to go again.
The printed textiles were amazing, a real treat for the eyes!
As I mentioned, one of the things that I noticed in many of the textiles was the interesting use of colour. Many of the colours I wouldn't expect to play nice but I think that value probably plays a large part in that.
As I toured the exhibition, I knew that I wanted to write a post on this. So I ended up taking a lot more photos of the explanations, rather than reading it all there.
In this instance, this worked well for me. I easily get overwhelmed by everything. This way, I examined and took pictures of what I liked but then when I wrote the post, I read all of the information and looked at the textiles.
I was also lucky that there are a few good articles about the exhibition so I was able to match the images to the artist. In most instances the textiles were placed together, but that's not necessarily how I took my pictures. 😵‍💫
I was also surprised that many of the artists' don't have websites.
I had a really hard time finding the Design Museum. I tried the day before my visit, but managed to go the opposite way. When I figured this out, I was so tired that I took a lovely boat tour on the canals of Copenhagen. It was all good 👍, actually great!!

Friday, June 14, 2024

Alaska and a Quilt Show on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome! I'm back after a week away. Alaska was gorgeous but I caught a cold - so I've been resting to be ready to volunteer at our Quilt Show tomorrow.

Alaska Wonders

Here are just a few highlights. The best part by far was a trip to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary and Totem Park, outside of Ketchikan. We did see a mama black bear across the river!

Stunning forest - so much to learn!

My favourite totem pole tells the story of how
nets were created for fishing

My daughter's hand next to a cub's
scratch mark on the tree

In Skagway, we visited the lovely town and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. My daughter had done her homework and gave us a great mini tour of part of the town. I found the local quilt shop, Rushin' Tailor's Quilt Alaska and got a few Alaskan goodies. More on that in another post!

Two important figures of the area!

A gold miner and his dog

One of the most photographed buildings in
Skagway - covered with driftwood!

At Icy Straight Point, we learned that most of the population was in Juneau for Celebrations 2024. So, when we got to Juneau, we visited the Artists Market, one of the dancing venues and the amazing Northwest Coast Juried Art Show and Competition. What a treat to be able to attend these events.

Native Artists Market at
Celebrations 2024

Dancing during Celebrations 2024

As you can imagine, I took enough photos of mountains and water to create art for a lifetime 😊 This first image is the inspiration for my in-progress piece. It's almost finished since it's a prayer flag for the upcoming outdoor exhibit. I'll share it with you as soon as it's done!

A classic view of the mountains - inspiration
for my Sea and Mountain prayer flag

Lovely sun on the water

Before I left, I was working on a Kawandi style mini quilt for the 2024 Table Scraps Challenge. I finished it on the ship but wasn't able to post it on time for the party, but here it is! I learned Kawandi style quilting from Jen Strauser during Making Zen. It looks easy but it'll take much more than one mini quilt to master this technique - but what fun! 😍

I was unable to link up to the May party (pink) but since there's also some blue in the mini quilt, I'm linking up to June's 2024 Table Scraps Challenge. Here's a new picture.

Linking up to June's 2024 Table Scraps Challenge

Finished Kawandi style mini quilt

Almost finished the Kawandi style mini quilt

Making my first Kawandi style mini quilt

New Perle Cotton that I got for Mother's Day and brought with me!

As I mentioned, the Common Thread Quilt Guild is hosting their quilt show this Friday and Saturday in Ottawa. I entered Stéphane's Version 2.0 Quilt - I can't wait to take pictures since it will be hanging beautifully at the show. I'll be adding a couple of pictures here, so if you're not seeing Version 2.0 below, come back soon!

Version 2.0 and me!

Version 2.0 at the CTQG Show

What I learned

Travelling is fun, but also exhausting! We had a good time and visiting Alaska was lovely.
I'm glad that I was able to go to a quilt shop - there are many quilt shops in Alaska, what with the tourists and the long winters!
It was amazing to finally experience the midnight sun 🌞Dusk was around 11pm and dawn around 4am, but it was never dark. We could tell by the time we left Ketchikan that the night was getting darker.
I'm sure that I caught my cold on the planes between Ottawa and Anchorage. At least there was a lot of time to rest between ports.
I loved learning Kawandi style quilting. It's simple but not easy to do well. I hope to practice this technique and use it in my art work.
I had a great time on the ship working on my Sea and Mountain prayer flag. I'm looking forward to finishing it this weekend or early next week.
I have a LOT of work left to do on my outdoor art pieces. Many have been started but nothing finished yet!
I spent Friday at the quilt show - what wonderful quilts of all sizes and styles. We have very talented members! I was so thrilled to see Version 2.0 hanging properly. Mom would be proud!

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 485 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting made a lovely gingham runner. You can see the lovely FMQ below!

Vicki's green gingham runner

Kat at Scrapbox Quilts made a second quilt to see how much quicker it would be using three fabrics instead of scrappy - turns out it's much faster! She quilted it with orange peel and backed it with a lovely fleece for the cuddle factor!

Kat's lovely cuddly quilt with orange peel FMQ

Denise of The Quiltery has outdone herself again! What a beauty 😍 Her Saint Paddy quilt, made with Island Batik fabric is really stunning! This was her Sew Along quilt. Denise quilted it with a FMQ loopty loop quilt design on her longarm.

Denise's Saint Paddy Quilt

Gail of Quilting Gail has finished her 2 colour mystery quilt. What a beauty that she FMQ meandered all over!

Gail's finish of the 2 Colour Mystery Quilt

It's now your turn!

Monday, October 11, 2021

Updates on Slow Stitching projects

My Traveller's Blanket made it's way to North Bay for our Canadian Thanksgiving. It was the first time in years that I was able to go and it was great seeing all of the family again. I showed off the blanket and even got a little bit of stitching done at the hotel before we checked out. I also took some lovely pictures of Lake Nipissing - it's such a beautiful area, even when the sun is behind clouds.

Stitching up an eco-printed piece

I really wanted to see the effect of stitching on my eco-printed piece. It came out well for my first try.

It's Day 31 on my #100dayschallenge on Instagram. I used 2 strands of the Bengal linen thread for all the embroidery. The running stitch came out well in all of the colours except for the marigold stitch on the bottom left. I ended up stitching another two strands on top of the original 2 strands. I'm not sure that I'm supposed to do that but it came out fine 😊

Running stitch with Bengal linen thread on a piece of eco-printed fabric

I'm looking forward to working on another little piece, although I'm considering using brighter threads.

Traveller's Blanket Update

I've been working steadily on my Traveller's Blanket and posting my stitches on Instagram. Stitching a little bit every day, or more every few days, really makes the project advance.

Day 28 - Sky Lights block

I attached the block with a buttonhole stitch and then used the same coloured thread as the background for the threaded chain stitch. The dark green thread is Honest Yarn linen. I love using the same type of stitch around the block as within it. Spoiler alert, Day 37 below has a second border that I forgot to post.

Sky Lights block surrounded by a
threaded chain stitch border

Day 30 - Pink Stitches block

I attached this block with a running stitch but didn't think much of it, so then went back and made sort of a cross stitch. It's surrounded by some lovely herringbone stitches. The thread is Sulky variegated Cotton Petites.

Pink Stitches block with a herringbone border

Day 32 - Angles

Angles got surrounded by a Triangular buttonhole stitch using a Sulky bendable cotton Petites. I really should have practiced but couldn't find my sample cloth (story of my life!) They're a bit wobbly but proof that with practice, even if it's on the piece itself, your stitches can get better! Besides, don't you like the experimental vibe of this piece?

Angles block with triangular buttonhole stitches

Day 33 - Hexie with stars and sheaf

The following hexies were embroidered during my last #100hexies100days challenge. To match but keep it simple, I added some Algerian eye stitches using my hand-dyed threads.

Hexie surrounded by Algerian eye stitches

Day 34 - Pink and blue hexie with stitches

I surrounded this hexie with chevron. Between the chevrons and the hexie, I added pink detached chain stitch flowers (lazy daisy stitches) and then blue French knots on the outside. All of the threads are hand-dyed. I just love the colours of this hexie!

So many stitches!

Day 35 - Gone fishing hexie

This hexie and the one that follows were made from fabric that I painted for my Marks & Stitches project. For this one, I added some chain and fly stitches. I thought that it might be nice to surround it with more fly stitches made with Sulky variegated Cotton Petites.

Fly stitches - are we going fishing?

Day 36 - Woven and whipped hexie

Here is the hexie before it was attached to the blanket. It's from the same painted fabric as above. The hexie has a cable stitch and a large buttonhole stitch. Once it was placed to the blanket, I wove the buttonhole stitch with the green Sulky variegated Cotton Petites. I surrounded the hexie with whipped cable stitch. I think that it may need another border.

Painted fabric with cable and
buttonhole stiches

Buttonhole stich woven and then the
chain stitch around it is whipped

Day 37 - Second border around Sky Lights

The second border is whipped chain stitch.

Sky lights block with a second border of
whipped chain stitch

A squirrel!

Day 29 - Stitching on a Hosta leaf

Yes, you read it correctly! The Hosta leaf was stitched as part of a workshop with Hillary Waters through TextileArtist.org I never thought that I would be stitching on a Hosta leaf or any other vegetation!😊 These are bits of Couched hand-dyed thread.

Stitching on a Hosta leaf

Couched hand-dyed thread

Nature pictures of the weekend

Here are some pictures that I took of Lake Nipissing. It was really great to be out there.

Sunrise on Saturday (yes, I actually got up!)

Sunrise at Lake Nipissing

Fall foliage

Quintessential White Pine of
Northern Ontario

Fallen leaves on the shore

Water, waves and rocks

So powerful and yet tranquil

What I learned

I really love how my Traveller's Blanket is coming along. I only have one hexie to finish stitching and one hexie to add a second border to, and then it will be time to start stitching the whole piece.
I'll be using running stitches in fine thread for what will essentially be the quilting of the blanket.
I'm thinking of echoing each block or hexie and then stitching horizontally around each one. I'll try it out on a section and see how it looks. The piece is quite busy, so I don't want to over do it.
What did you think of the stitching on the Hosta leaf? I'm really glad that I did it, but it felt really weird stitching on something that was alive. It's very transitory and the leaf has started to dry up and has changed colours. It's interesting but a little sad. I'm not sure that I'm going to be doing this again, although it goes to prove that we can really stitch through anything!
For those who are wondering, I just applied some glue to the back of the Hosta and let it dry before stitching on it. You can do this to pretty much anything - and add more glue to stiffen it up if needed. Not all glues work the same, so you will want to try some out before stitching too much.
Since today is Thanksgiving in Canada, I added a link to my Quilty Great Fullness below. It was written in 2015 and still applies!