SAQA Auction quilt- Indigo #1

 

The quilt above, Indigo #1 is my contribution to the 2016 SAQA [Studio Art Quilt Associates] Auction beginning September 16. While I worked on this small 12"square quilt I also worked on Indigo #2, slightly larger and Indigo #3 a much larger piece. The impetus for the quilts was my stitched white fabric that a friend put through her indigo vat.

When I saw the fabric I was disappointed that my stitching wasn't the feature I thought it would be. Much more practice needed! But happily for me, my garden yielded the plant printing matter I used to enhance the indigo background. I use the actual foliage for the print. Luckily I took a few progress photos, as I was on a tight deadline to finish all 3 quilts before returning to live in Mongolia.

  

Pinned ready for stitching by machine and hand. White and red thread colours were used in the free motion quilting.

Binding strips, cut from Japanese woven cotton, brought more red to the piece.

 It's always interesting to hear the story behind quilts and I hope you have enjoyed Linda Stokes post and go on to read Rasa Mauragis' post on August 27. The full set of quilts from SAQA Oceania members can be seen on the blog.

 

Oceania Collection Blog Hop

Welcome to the Oceania Collection Blog Hop!

SAQA [Studio Art Quilt Associates] has an auction of art quilts every year and this year the Oceania members contributed 32 pieces to the collection. A full list of participating artists is on the main SAQA Oceania Blog.

 A Seasonal Change' is the title of the 12"square quilt I created for the SAQA Auction.

I began with the idea of colouring my white fabric with sun dyes, painting with the lightest colour in the centre. To add more patterning I placed a table runner over the wet fabric and left it outside on a sunny day for the magic to happen.

To use up the remaining dyes I used another cotton piece to mop them up and placed this on the end to dry.

The piece with the table runner had quite a good design when it dried and was ready for further printing.

I experimented with a commercial stencil and the table runner too.

However I found the blue to be too distracting for the leaf printing I wanted to add next and instead used the mop up piece for the quilt as it was just perfect!

Thread selection next, with a rayon multi coloured thread for the free motion quilting around the leaf prints and the Rasant in the bobbin. Quilting around each leaf makes it 'pop out' bringing the quilt to life.

I marked circles with a plate and chalk, quilting with the walking foot.

The quilt was cut to size and a facing, rod pocket and label attached.

'A Seasonal Change' made at the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere's Autumn.

Coming up next are Caroline Sharkey and Lisa Walton.