Sunday, 14 September 2008

A Happy Village

I spent the whole of Sunday in the very pleasant company of 19 other Cotton-On Quilters. We attended a workshop run by Dianne Southey who was teaching Karen Eckmeier's Happy Villages.

The villages are made of zig zag shapes inspired by the tetris game. You cut your pieces first from a limited number of fabric squares and then place them randomly, jutting up to each other (or overlapping) on a cotton batting square. Then you cut rooves, steps, doors, balustrades and windows etc and the village magically comes to life. All the pieces are glued on with tiny dots of glue instead of using vliesofix or wonderunder. To finish it, a piece of tulle is placed on top of the completed piece, backing underneath the batting and all the layers are pinned and then quilted. Mine needs a bit more quilting and I cut the tulle from the sky area after I had quilted around the outside edge of the village. It also needs binding.

I don't know if I'll do another village - too  many small fiddly pieces but I might use the glue instead of vliesofix sometimes. I'm not sure about the tulle over the finished piece either - it changes the colours too much but I am considering using it over an appliqued, raw edged background with uncovered motifs over the top of it.

5 comments:

Helen said...

I like the way you have left plenty of sky. How would this technique work in a larger format, using bigger pieces that are less fiddly? Did you buy the special glue?

Janice said...

yes, a lot of us decided that if we did it again we'd do it bigger! Basically its just raw edge applique though and I'd rather do something original. I bought the glue and its good to have with the tiny little needle applicator.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

It is a beautiful happy village. I like that you left space for the pretty sky, and the greens add a lot as well. I am definitely going to have to make one of these, when I can get out from under these UFOs.

floribunda said...

I adore your village! Margaret (SuperMom) pointed me in your direction because I was looking for tips on what crafty things to see in NZ when I visit in November -- would love to exchange a couple of emails with you...

meggie said...

Very effective! I would love that on my wall, to look & dream at.