Bletchley Park Exhibition

Some months ago I agreed to take part in the "Secret Messages" competition at the Bletchley Park exhibition Easter 2012, but I then promptly forgot about it! Now I have to provide the organisers with my sizes and colour scheme! So I have been working hard to crystallise my ideas, firm up a design and draw it out full size. In keeping with the theme I have used a code to write my message, concentrating on a code which offered shapes that would be interesting. My research came up with a "Pig-Pen" code used in the 18th century, very simple, geometric shapes that can be stitched.

My next issue was how to represent the code on the fabric. I tried simple appliqué but wasn't happy with the effect I got, I created a sponge block that I could print with, but the shapes lacked sufficient definition. Finally I decide to try using freezer paper stencils. This worked really well.

I used silver Markel stick to mark the fabric, and that persuaded me to dye a whole-cloth for the quilt using the colours of a moonless starry night that would have faced the agents dropping into France. Now I have to mark out the whole quilt and mark up each letter of my message.