Monday 25 November 2013

The University Anniversary Quilt

























During November 2013 the quilters have been making considerable progress and a December meeting has been scheduled where everyone will bring their finished blocks to be laid out.

As Fiona states, we will then be able to ‘see what the predominant colours are and how we can balance these. This will help us decide what the last few blocks need to be, and will show us which colours will be most suitable for our sashing and borders’.

This is how the central blocks of the quilt will look:







Anne's alumni garden square




















Kate's UCAT square















 





Kath Roberts: The University Crest





I’ve been using more than a little artistic licence during the stitching of the crest. For example, I thought the lettering for the motto would look better with a combination of backstitch and stem stitch, as it wouldn’t have been readable in full cross stitches as shown on the chart. I have also outlined the main shapes of the crest in full cross stitches in one colour to emphasize them, and then have filled these in with the charted colours, but have deviated from the computerised chart – if I’ve missed or added stitches in a particular colour I’ve just let it be – the overall finished effect should be the same, and I know I haven’t got the time to keep unpicking and redoing stitches. It is taking me much longer to stitch than I originally anticipated, one of the main reasons I’m not religiously following the chart, the other purpose being that at least the design will have had some creative input from me, instead of just following the computer generated chart.



The University Crest is almost complete!






















The Mission Statement square




This has been designed by Louise Botten, former PA to the Vice-Chancellor, however due to other commitments Louise can’t do the actual stitching, so I have offered to do it. It shouldn’t take too long to complete (hopefully) once I’ve done the Crest, consisting of whole cross-stitches and backstitch for the main block of lettering. It will be stitched in the University colours on cream 14 count aida.


Fiona's Beswick building square


Pat's rememberance square







Layout of ideas for the label text




Ideas for the dates




















The quilters are looking forward to seeing what has been completed so far laid out at the next meeting. Everyone has been keeping note of the hours they have spent working on the quilt and it will be interesting to find out just how much labour has gone into it so far!