Blanketed in blankets!

I'll continue our journey through our group created blankets  - our obsession ..!  Its interesting to see how our ideas have progressed and how a square in a particular colour or shade can set the whole theme for a blanket...

All (or just about all) of these blankets have been created for Wrap with Love  A charity that has lots of knitters knitting away and creating works of knitting art to warm people up when they need it most.

So here are some more of our creations... 

Here are some photos of blankets in production.  We lay out the blankets before we sew them up - to work out the colour eb and flow.  I knitted most of this one with some donations from Libby's ladies and called this blanket 'It had to be pink'!  The sage green really complemented the lolly pin and baby pink with touches of baby blue.

 Almost finished, another blue and marine creation ... called 'Barrier Reef'  by Libby which seems appropriate.

I called this one 'tribal' - my nephew Wil, loved the strong, bright colours in this one.  Some of the donated squares came from Libby's ladies and my friend Jane also contributed to this blanket.

 This blanket has become a landmark in our blanket creation...

Stuart knitted a double square, that is knitted with two strands of yarn on bigger needles and created a lovely affect.  Then I ran with this idea and created this blanket in reds, cream black greys, fauns and greens.  Lucy knitted some squares in this one!

This has inspired us to create some wonderful 'double knitted' combinations.  This blanket was called 'texture'.

 A blurry photos of the finished 'barrier reef'.

 This blanket was made up of lots of donated 'double squares' in candy stripes that Victoria applied herself to and finished up.

Another 'autumn leaves' creation from Claudine.  Claudine has actually knitted some leaves into the cream squares in the centre of the blanket.

 Victoria's 'American indian jewellery' inspired blanket with silver, turquoise and red was a beauty that she understandably was very fond of and has kept!

 Me, Victoria and Libby with a table full of blankets that we displayed at work for a morning tea.  Don't the blankets look great!

 A mid-toned green, blue, orange and purple blanket knitted by Victoria, sewn up by Libby.

' Texture' completed!  It looked great and felt really warm and cosy with the extra thick double knitted squares.  An inspiration for blankets to come!

And finally, 'tribal' sewn up with some feature crotched squares thrown into the mix.

Flowers for Catherine ...Wuthering heights

I have just re-read a childhood favourite - The Secret Garden and was delighted to re-connect with another favourite - Wuthering Heights  

I realised that both stories are set on the Yorkshire moors ...

where the wind blows and wurthers ... 

"Listen to th' wind wutherin' round the house'  ... you could bare stand up on the moor if you was out on it tonight"

Wuthering  I have found out ... "meant that hollow, shuddering, sort of roar which rushed round  and round the house" 

"its just miles and miles and miles of wild land that nothing grows on but heather and gorse and broom, and nothing lives on but wild ponies and sheep"

Quotes from 'The Secret Garden'

For my floristry 'major work' I chose Wuthering 'Heights' as the theme for three floral designs

I wanted to capture the wild, untamed and romantic nature of the moors in the strong and limited colour arrangements - deep reds, blues and creams. reminiscent of the colours 

.... 

and in its  design, in its form and with groupings of flowers for strength and impact

A vase of flowers for the mantelpiece.  

I used a hurricane vase typical of the period ... 

and filled it with moss and 

blue cinneraria, sea holly, lichen and grey blue mini gum leaves

red flax, cordyline, leucadendron and hawthorn berries and black privet berries and heath 

]with a strong cream 'Rose of Yorkshire' as the central focus

I designed a fur collar floral trim for Catherine to wear to her dinner

 The blue fur was the perfect surface to adorn with 

white and red roses, heath and lichen covered sticks, spanish moss and mini grey gum leaves

  

and finally 

A bouquet for Catherine inspired by the period and my imagination

Using the same palette of flowers and colours, here is my sketch design

and the bouquet 

And  

all three pieces for my Wuthering Heights display

A true pleasure to create and indulge my life-long fantasy and fascination with Catherine and Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights and the Yorkshire moors!

Quilts away!

Red coffee berries at Gary's Carool Mountain Coffee farm.  Not quite ripe enough to pick yet, but very pretty.

Early morning light over the farm at Carool.  Just love the haze and sense of calm.

This is my first patchwork tablecloth made in 2010 -   I really like Kaffe Fasset and his use of colour and design.  I love moving the colours around the design.  This is a very cheerful tablecloth that I made for the farm at Carool.  That's why the photos of Carool are above.  I think it looks perfect on the dining table in the country kitchen ...

A beautiful red and green chequerboard I made in 2002.  This quilt looks fantastic and lives on mum and dad's  bed Blue Mountains holiday house.   Its very cheerful and made from many warm reds, oranges and yellows and contrasted with many greens and blues.   This photo was taken of my quilt hanging in the 2011 NSW Quilter's Guild show.

My Japanese lattice made over 2010-11  - blues and blacks with  splashes of red and  pale blue and cream to lift the design,  This is the most complicated quit I have made so far.  This photo was taken at the 2011 NSW Quilter's Guild show as well.

Did I mention that I love Amsterdam?  I do. I wanted to go back.  I want to go back again.  I had a lovely holiday there last winter just before Christmas.   The  winter sunlight was really low and often hidden away and just came out in time for this photo.

Amsterdam canals in low late morning wintery sunlight.  How spectacular is this!

The row houses along the canals in Amsterdam are beautiful in their uprightness and symmetry.  All the same yet all somehow very individual.  With their tall windows, european colours and styled interiors, I like to imagine living there, overlooking the canals. Miriam's Amsterdam fantasy ...  oh and I could ride my bike - perfect!

I found a really nice bistro in Amsterdam.  Located on a street corner that overlooked the canal,  it was a great place to visit and revisit - I wish I had found it earlier!  I wish I could pop round there every day for lunch and a coffee.  The window bench I liked to sit at had lovely potted phaelonopsis orchids  and the great view.

Here it is- ~ My red dutch flower quilt recently finished in 2012.  I bought this reproduction antique florals in Amsterdam on my holiday last year.  Quite by coincidence, I  found two patchwork shops near my hotel and of course I had to look!  And of course I had to buy something! The antique reds florals really caught my eye.  Did I say I love red ~ especially Indian reds that the Dutch use in their fabrics?  Its the most traditional quilt I have made to date.   I love the variety of deep and bright reds and the tree of life motif that forms the main panels.

More early blankets ...

Victoria's earth blanket - beautiful oranges, browns and creams with some fancy knitting with baubles and patterns.  There are also some squares contributed from Libby's ladies ... Victoria found this one very hard to let go ...

Miriam's first blanket - Vivid - saturated intense colours - I love it! 

Claudine's Autumn leaves - Claudine loves Green!!

Red, black and grey make a great blanket. We like to think these masculine colours will keep a man warm! 

Victoria had an idea ... to knit squares and place in rows of colours - she was inspired by a young girls ruffle tiered skirt.

Gary's blanket - knitted by Miriam - in as many shades of blue as I could find with cream and black.   I love the graduated colours from light to dark.

Our first blankets!!

Periwinkle ... Viridian ... Nacarat ... Vermilion ...  I love them all!

Welcome to my blanketed blog ... we really really have become addicted to colour and knitting and texture... like I always imagined...  come and see ...

One of our very first blankets knitted in late 2010.  Many knitters contributed to this one.

We just started knitting squares in what ever coloured acrylic we had to hand.   The fun part is laying out the knitted squares and seeing the potential of the final blanket!

Obviously our knitters like blues and greens! We have knitted quite a few cool watery coloured blankets now.

Another purple, blue and marine stripey blanket - its a perennial knitting favourite 

Sensational blankets - they look fabulous folded and stacked like this!!

Beautiful blankets all stacked after one of our morning tea exhibitions - all ready to to go Wrap with Love - a charity that we knit for that distributes blankets to the needy here in Australia and overseas.