Rainbow Monkey Quilt

I've finished ny rainbow monkey quilt. It is absolutely massive and although not king size, it is not far from it. My son, Benjamin complained continually last year of his blanket being too short and that he needs a  bigger quilt. I still need to buy him a queen size doona but have made this for on top of his bed

This evening after work I drove half an hour to get to this ramshackled building. We drove past it on the way to blackberry picking last week and I commented to Richmal that it would make a great place to hang a quilt. As it is, it is not quite high enough to accommodate the whole quilt but it looks great in the sunshine anyway.

Let me tell you I was a naughty girl getting these shots. There were very clear signs saying keep out but I think its more to stop people from hurting themselves in the dilapidated mess of the building interior. Anyway I tore a good pair of jeans on the barbed wire fencing - oh well - the things you do in the name of art!

The other side of the quilt in the making, hanging over the chair.

Standing on the top of the ladder to get the whole quilt in shot

I made this quilt in strips. I sewed one strip of monkeys together then quilted them to wadding and backing and then utilized quilt as you go techniques to piece the strips together. It was very manageable under a regular sewing machine and not at all impossible to piece together. If you wanted you could get quite fancy with you machine quilting with relative ease.

The end

Monkey Quilt Cover (Duvet) and Natural Dyed Materials

I've utilized the monkey (chimpanzee) print to make a quilt/duvet cover for a single bed.
I utilized the naturally dyed pieces of cotton that I have been making over the last months. The dyed pieces  include eucalyptus with iron (grey material) , eucalyptus (deep brown),  fennel heads  (light brown/green), young fennel leaves (yellow)

The backing is a patchwork of strips of material. I had just enough to complete it

The only thing to add is some buttons and straps to hold the quilt together at the bottom. I've included a pocket to slip the quilt underneath to help stop it from falling out of the cover when in use. I threw it on my daughters bed just so you could see it on a bed.
I'll be selling this one when finished as my boys are too old for this and my daughter wants to stick with her Paris theme. It was a great exercise in utilising my printed material. I'm actually pretty happy with it and really like the effect and colouring of the naturally dyed pieces with the print.

Monkey Run

The first of the chimpanzee run with block ink. Just a quick trial run on brown paper before I went off to work. I am undecided whether I should carve more out of the darker side of the face and risk loosing some of the contrast in colour.

It kind of reminds me of Planet Of the Apes. 

 I think I'll carve the space away above the arms and give the monkey more definition. Yes/No??

The first print below held only very little ink, as is usually the case the third prints are usually the best before the block gets saturated.

The lino carving as is at the moment. Maybe trial printing on fabric before I make a decision.

Eye Spy

I've got to say I got a little tired of printing and needed a change of scene for an evening. Added to that my husband gets a little frustrated with the printing equipment spread across the dining table and the general clutter I do generate. So screen printing and stamping is done when no one else is home. 

Saturday night I fetched out my last piece of lino and decided to monkey around for a bit. Chimps are fascinating creatures don't you think and I fell in love with some of the images/ photographs on line of chimps.

So a combination of photos and this little fella is being carved out with particular reference to form from this photo.

I'm really looking forward to meeting this little fella and emblazoning him on a t-shirt