Tag: Textile maps

My map quilt

For many years, I’ve been thinking about doing a block of the month project. There are usually a good selection available, but I never took the plunge. Sometimes there was a nagging idea that I could work something similar out for myself, and I would like it more. Usually I know that, although I really like the result, I won’t enjoy the technique.

Then in 2020, I started two block of the month projects.

This map of the UK has far too much applique in it for me, but I decided that the result would be worth it, and I went for it. To start off with, I kept up with it reasonably well, but then I got to the point where the next job was to embroider all the counmty names. I hadn’t decided what landmarks I wanted to include, so I was worried that I might find I’d written somewhere I wanted a picture.

The map was divided into regions, so the counties could be assembled in manageable units. That worked fine, and I made good progress. The problem came when I put the when country together. Somehow, there is a problem in the middle, so Yorkshire and Lincolnshire overlapped, and the Humber didn’t exist. Eventually, I managed to fix that, and the county boundaries are slightly wider here and there to cover the gaps.

I’m quite pleased with the way it has turned out:

My chess board project

You know how one thing leads to another?

Our first “outside speaker” at the East Yorkshire Embroidery Society when we ventured onto zoom was Elizabeth Almond, who talked to us about blackwork. I told her that years ago, I made a sampler of the UK, by tracing a map of suitable size from my school atlas, and sellotaping a piece of graph paper behind it to make a chart. She said “I do encourage you to have another go. There is such a lot you can do.”

Yes, right. Along with all the other textile things I’m going to do when I have a moment…

But then I saw a picture of a clock on Pinterest. It was quite nice, but I was sure with a bit of thought I could do something I liked more. Cue more “research” time, looking at books and Pinterest, mostly adding to the list of what I’m going to do when I have time rather than refining my clock design. Blackwork chess boards came up a lot, which is no surprise. A chessboard gives lots of nice even shapes ready to be filled in, so they are a good excuse for blackwork.

I was going to make a chess board years ago. My ex was a keen chess player (North Yorkshire Police champion for many years, no less), and he thought it was a brilliant idea. But we couldn’t work out where to put it, as the only sensible place for it was occupied by his beautiful wooden board. So I played other games instead.

Then it occurred to me that there is no reason why I couldn’t get back to that idea. Then my eye was caught by the Lewis queen who sits next to my screen. So I spent my Christmas present money on a Lewis chess set, and made a board to fit them. 

Here is the result:

I’m now working on a blackwork solitaire board to go on the other side. I’m, planning to play on that using the pawns.