A Book of Seasons

The Textile Maids recently held an exhibition of their work at the Castle in Bude. It was a brilliant exhibition - I spent ages there, and if you missed it you can see some pics on their blog. I particularly liked seeing the books they had made especially one by Margaret Pellow - every page was filled with the joy of stitch, one page for each month.

It reminded me that I had made a book of the seasons a few years ago before I started blogging. The front is a rectangular block sewn in the way of courthouse steps with the soft colours of Spring at the top, vibrant colours of summer to the right, the oranges of Autumn at the bottom and greys of Winter to the left.

The book measures approx 6" x 5" and the pages are 5" square.

The first page is Spring and this was inspired by a "corner" at Flowerpatch Quilters meeting where Julia F and Trudy explained how to do a pineapple block.

Summer next and at the same meeting Jane showed us how to make a Rag Rug on a hessian backing.

For Autumn I wanted to have a go at some 3D oak leaves and I sewed them onto a background of Kantha stitches. This was yet another FPQ meeting with Tricia Warman who was so expert at Kantha.

Lastly Winter which is supposed to be like looking through a window at night with snow falling and laying a little. The background of blacks is made from many small squares of different textures of fabric which are stitched over with free machine embroidery as shown to us at FPQ by Jan Tillett.

The ties that hold the hinge together, and make the closure loop were also one of Jan's ideas. Mine are wool covered with zigzag stitching.

The backs of my pages looked very blank so I added some appropriate words for each season.

I remember this as being such an enjoyable experience that I really must find the time to do another book. I'm thinking of calling it "The LOVE of Stitch". :)

Happy making
Anita x

I'm linking up with Busy Hands Quilts - Finished or not Friday