Art Quilt Australia

A busy weekend with the Sunnybank Quilt Show & the 2QAQ meeting with the ARTiculation Afternoon panel of 3 inspiring speakers talking about Texture.

I have had more good news with my quilt 'Spirit Land' detail pictured, being selected for the Art Quilt Australia exhibition organised by Ozquilt Network Inc. This exhibition will be seen in Canberra at Craft ACT from November 7 - December 19, 2009.

Sunnybank Quilt Show

My local group Sunnybank Quilters have their Quilt Show today in a hall at the Mt Gravatt Showgrounds, 1646 Logan Road, Mt Gravatt, Brisbane. The quilts look great hung in the historic hall with polished wooden floors & white beams. A Bear Auction will take place at noon & there are lots of craft items for sale. Entry is $5 includes refreshments [ a cuppa & cake].
Thank you to everyone who has sent congratulations re my selection for SAQA Sightlines. I was selected on the work seen on my website & now have to make new work, to fit a specific size, for the exhibition. It is a very exciting prospect which will consume the rest of this year.

Collections # 4

Bob is a geologist & while he has stopped collecting rocks, I haven't! This assortment can be found in our garden at the base of the Balinese Guardian statue.

I'm very happy to share some good news.

Studio Art Quilt Associates have announced the 14 selected artists for A Sense of Direction: Sightlines & I'm one of them! I'm thrilled & humbled as 166 SAQA members applied. Now I'll be busy creating the body of work before February 2010 so applications can be made to venues as this is a touring exhibition. Sightlines will premier in Houston in 2011.

Gold Coast Quilters

Yesterday I drove south to the Gold Coast to be a co-judge with Helen Godden for the Gold Coast Quilters Vicki Pignatelli Challenge. Congratulations to the prize winners, but as in all challenges consider yourself a winner for just entering.
Entering requires thought, time & commitment to bring your ideas to life.
At Show & Tell, Cathy Davies L of The Quilting Studio ph 07 55306730, had this quilt which was also part of another challenge- to use 3 different blocks & put them together in new ways.

'Goddess Relics Found'

'Goddess Relics Found', my contribution to the Quilt 4A Cause was posted yesterday. A detail for a teaser with more images & details to come via Down Under Quilts magazine.

Collections # 3

Trinket or jewellery boxes for storing little treasures have also become a small collection. The cicada is pearl inlay from China while the other hand painted ones are Indian. The 3 china/pottery with gold are Australian & the small blue one a gift from Canada.

Pennie you have an incredible collection of Babushka dolls.

Collections # 2

Thimbles from around the world fill this small display unit. I have collected them from China to Czechoslovakia & now Slovakia. Also Thailand, New Zealand & even a yellow plastic one out of the Christmas cracker.

Your napkin & table wear collection sounds very special Kate.

Collections

Yes, apart from fabric Ellen, I have a few collections, some of which just happened! Like these Russian Babushka dolls which my Mum brought back from her travels. Over the years they have moved house with us- some are faded, some have peeling paint & cracked wood.

Blue bottles

Not the stinging type of blue bottle jellyfish which we get in Australia, but this lovely collection at a friend's house.

What do you collect?

Steam train trip

Last Sunday, remember it's 'no computer Sundays' for me, we drove to Gympie, north of Brisbane for a steam train trip on the Valley Rattler which goes out to Imbil. I forgot my camera but luckily I was with a photographic club & Bob snapped these for me. There were a few stops on the 2 hour journey there & back allowing for browsing at the market stalls set up at the train stations.

At Imbil, our 2 hour lunch stop, we were treated to a bush ranger re-enactment. The smell of the smoke & rattling over the rails brought back many memories.

Studio

As I enter my sewing studio I'm greeted by this cheerful quilt, 'A Few of my Favourite Things' made a few years ago by my Mexette friends.

In the Studios magazine which I referred to yesterday Lyric Kinard had these words of insight, "Nourish your creative soul and you can better nourish your loved ones."

Getting organised # 4

Yes, Judy nature does create interesting patterns unlike the mess you are seeing here in my studio re-design which is still on going. After reading the latest Cloth Paper Scissors Studios magazine I measured my room & had enough space to turn my sewing table around so it juts out into the room rather than hugs the wall.
Photos below are of the bookcase near the window in its original position & after it was moved. All the quilts have come off the wall & with the table turned I now have an area for another design wall.
It has been a slow process but I'm happy with what is taking shape. And I have been going through each item I have stored in the studio to see if it stays or goes.

Patterns from nature

What better way to revive the senses that getting out for a walk in a National Park. Mt Tamborine has several that we visited a couple of weekends ago. Cedar Creek Falls R burbled away in the background & in the rainforest at Curtis Falls we found these natural patterns.

Colour & shape

These Josephine pears are one of my favourites for flavour, but I'm also attracted to their shape & colour.

Glorious wattle

The sweet scent of wattle is in the air & lingers long after our early morning walk.

Design wall

My post is a little later than my usual time as I have been blissfully reading the August issue of Down Under Quilts Magazine on-line. DUQ is offering a 6 month FREE digital subscription.

I call it research as I've been invited by DUQ editor Deborah Segaert to donate an A4 size quilt, which will be auctioned to raise money for breast cancer research. Theme is 'Goddess Roseus'.

This is the start of my design showing some combinations pinned onto my design wall. The background pink fabric is a commercial batik I bought at the Lunn Studio sale, Ohio in May this year. I have used oil sticks to rub some Indian wood blocks for the background in a lighter pink & on the Goddess figures in charcoal.

Talking Tapa & Fashion- exhibitions

If you're visiting Brisbane or are a local, here are 2 free textile exhibitions to visit at the Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Hall, King George Square.
Talking Tapa - Pasifika Bark Cloth in Queensland, open until October 11 was a delightful surprise for me as I was a day too early to see the In Fashion- Dressing up Brisbane exhibition on til November 29, 10am- 5pm daily.
Tapa is most commonly made from the inner bark of the Paper Mulberry tree. An interesting array of beating clubs, natural colouring agents & stencils was part of the exhibition.

Big things

Yes the preserves were very impressive Brenda. This Champion Pumpkin caught my eye & the other large vegetables on display at the Ekka. And lastly I'd like to share the banana bunches with you, as Queenslanders are also known as Banana Benders!

Ekka

The Produce Pavilion at the Ekka has the most wonderful displays, using colour & repetition, by various agricultural districts competing for awards. Aren't the preserves above making patterns we could interpret in cloth?
Fruit & vegetables make these fantasy scenes.

Quilts Across Queensland

The Quilts Across Queensland exhibition is on at the Ekka for the next week. Congratulations to all the winners. 'Ekka' is the term Queenslanders use for their biggest agricultural show held in Brisbane in August each year. I have been going since I was a child & have fond memories of seeing the cattle, horses, sheep, chooks & other livestock. The day is finished with fireworks display.

Design wall

'Connect' is now finished & ready for posting today. It is 18"w x 12"l as specified in the rules.
Thanks for not moving things around Jane & your comment Nina-Marie. Originally I worked with the design in a portrait orientation but turning it round while looking at it in a mirror, I found this was the orientation it was telling me it had to be.

Design wall

This is the piece I worked on yesterday for the Mt Isa Quilters Challenge. The smaller image shows the elements before they were all fused in place. We were given 3 patterned fabrics which all had a smattering of gold print & had to use a 5" square piece of each. We can add what ever else we want. The finished piece is to measure 12" x 18".

Binding to stitch yet, but it is quilted simply with black thread in a wavy design to reflect the interconnected pieces which link across the surface from side to side.

Opal Necklace

I had a lovely surprise at Sunnybank Quilters yesterday when Mary showed us her finished Opal Necklace quilt with echo & stipple quilting & some added tumbling opals. She had finished it beautifully. Always so wonderful for me as a tutor to see the finished work.

Routine # 2

One of the rules for myself in the new routine is 'no computer Sundays'! Yes it's hard to resist the temptation to sit at the keyboard & surf the net or read blogs but it's freeing too. Think of me in the studio instead as I was last Sunday designing a small quilt for the Mt Isa Quilters Challenge. Ah, bliss.

The image L was achieved with oil sticks & textured surfaces. No stitch has been added yet. It is not for the Isa Challenge- will post that later.

Routine

While I work at getting organised in my studio, I'm also reading 'I'd rather be in the studio!' by Alyson Stanfield. This is a wonderful motivational book & is helping me focus so I can get back to the studio.

The book is a marketing/self promotion book setting out steps to take to be organised in the office & I'm on day 1 of living with a new routine. Alyson recommends 30 days to instigate a new pattern of behaviour- I'll let you know how I get on.

Getting organised # 3

Thanks Kate & Jan I'll look out for the Studios magazine at my local newsagent.
Now while it's easy to say I'm getting organised, the 'doing' is harder. There are so many decisions I have to make regarding the storage & classification of my materials. It's just like designing a quilt with all the decisions to be made one step at a time & then sometimes going back & 'unpicking' a completed part.
This happened with my thread storage which originally was in different colourful tin or plastic containers or paper boxes. These were different sizes & shapes & didn't allow me to see the contents & didn't make effective use of the shelf space.
Thanks to a special on clear stackable lidded containers at a local shop I have new thread storage that I'm very happy with. Photo R is of tangled threads waiting for sorting!