Sunday Seven – 27 November 2022

Well, good intentions and all that. I won’t waste time on justifying why I haven’t posted for a while, you get it, we’re all busy people.

But life is starting to feel a bit more relaxed around here and I’m getting to spend more time stitching rather than renovating and sorting out campground things. Just in the last two weeks I’ve finished three quilts, and am well on the way to finishing another couple.

‘Old Man Rimu’ 60cm x 75cm

‘Old Man Rimu’ is a class sample for the class I’m teaching at The Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua next May. I am making different types of trees to hopefully appeal to different people. If you scroll back through my blog, you’ll see my pōhutukawa tree sample I made first. The tree foliage is made out of hand-dyed silk organza and the triangles are also hand-dyed, either with new fabric or upcycled textiles. I went all out on the free motion quilting on this one, just for fun. You might be able to see it better on the back.

I’ve also finished this next smaller quilt and I’m really excited by it! For several reasons. Firstly it began with just playing around. I don’t do a lot of that – I feel I always need a plan, or a sketch, or the intention to end with a finished, highly polished, quilt. And that can be quite restricting. I guess it’s a bit of perfectionism, and being too worried about what the final outcome will be. You learn so much by just experimenting and being willing to change your mind. So to start playing with no firm plan felt very liberating and like I was getting in touch with my intuition. Secondly (and maybe because of the first reason) it’s a looser style, which I really like, and I feel it has more of a ‘textile’ feel to it, with different fabric weaves, raw edges, and hand stitching. Thirdly, I took a risk with the quilting on the wings, and I think it really paid off. Why should wings be quilted with feather-like patterns? Why shouldn’t I relate it to the foliage in the background? Why shouldn’t I reference the birds natural habitat on it’s body?

My artist statement for this piece is: This began as a fabric ‘sketch’ to play with scraps and colour and texture. As it evolved, it began to encapsulate my thoughts around how fleeting the little joys of life are. Just as fleeting as a birds flight or the last colours of an evening sky. Catch hold and savour those little moments.

‘Fleeting’ is for sale for $160NZD plus postage.

‘Fleeting’ 26cm x 49cm

The next quilt is an off-shoot (see what I did there…) of ‘Old Man Rimu’. The deep orange/pink background is the piece of fabric I cut the trunk out of for Old Man Rimu. I was careful, so I could get a two-for-one applique. But I didn’t want distinctly rimu type foliage, all droopy thick needles, so my silk organza foliage is a little more ‘generic’ tree looking. I stencilled the birds on with fabric paint for a crisp outline as they are very small. I like how this quilt is simple, and pays simple homage to the majesty of trees. This quilt is for sale for $NZD125 plus postage, please use my email on my contact page if you are interested.

‘Tree’ 24.5cm x 42cm

I find finishing a quilt that I’m very pleased with is immensely stimulating to my creative brain. I immediately want to get making again. After I finished Fleeting, I dove right in and began another, deliberately looser, collage style quilt. It’s not quilted yet, but I’m feeling very pleased with it too, and already I have a design idea for my next one. I’m holding off on starting anything though until I’ve finished a couple of other things on my plate, or I’ll be overwhelmed under a pile of half-done work!!

This quilt will be about 40cm x 80cm when it’s done. Once I laid the background down I could see it as a gap between trees with the light coming through. We have a bird here in New Zealand, the tūī, who flys very fast and aggressively, zipping between trees like a fighter pilot. I hope I caught a little sense of that with this composition.

One of the quilts I need to finish is this Sinister Serpent. It’s a pattern I designed and I’ve had tested, I just need to pull finger and get it released. This is my second sample and I love the quilting I’ve done in the centre. Maybe that’s why I’m procrastinating. Because I don’t want to ‘wreck’ it. How many times have I told students that it’s just fabric, have confidence and go for it! I need to follow my own advice.

And my last photo (that’ll be seven) is a corner of a HUGE quilt that I need to put binding on. I made this quilt back in about 2014 (!) from favourite fabrics and then it sat, and sat, and sat. I recently asked my lovely friend with a long-arm to quilt it for me and she did a steller job. I had tears in my eyes when I unrolled it! Her designs complement it perfectly and I have a lovely striped fabric binding all cut and ready to sew on.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Sunday Seven – 27 November 2022 Read More »

Sunday Seven – 11 September 2022

So, here I am, blogging for two weeks in a row. Go me!

What seven things did I do this past week?

Number One:

Last week I fed my calves more than 50 litres of milk. This week I’ve been given the care of another calf, which makes four fluffy babies I need to feed twice a day. The new baby is probably about 3 weeks old and got left behind in a paddock shift (playing hide and seek.) When she got back to the herd, her Mama didn’t want her, so now she’s with me and named Happy Meal. So this week, I’ve fed my calves over 70 litres and they are getting so strong and demanding! It’s like being mobbed by cute, fluffy vampires every time I walk into the pen.

Number Two:

Got to visit a quilt show!! It’s still a great feeling getting to go to quilt shows, I really didn’t like it when everything was being cancelled because of the pandemic. The Whangarei Patchworkers and Quilters Club held their biennial show over the weekend and I made the hour’s drive south to go see quilts. And talk to lots and lots of people! I reckon I probably spent more time catching up with old friends than looking at quilts, and that was just as good a feeling as viewing beautiful textile art. Below is one of my favourite quilts from the show. It’s called Blue in the Face and was made by Donna Rowan and quilted by Kerinda Robb.

Blue in the Face by Donna Rowan, quilted by Kerinda Robb

Number Three:

Last week I washed metres and metres of white fabric in preparation for dyeing weather. This week I finished measuring it all out and ripping it into manageable pieces. And then I’ve had to sit there and look at it and haven’t managed to do any dyeing yet….(sad face.)

Number Four:

Made a quilt block. This is a 14″ Bears Paw or Hand of Friendship block and I made it to take to the Wellington Quilt Symposium to enter into their block competition. One block gets you one entry into winning a set of blocks to make your own Bears Paw quilt. Love the idea, love a scrappy Bears Paw, love supporting the fun times at Symposium, and love the idea if I don’t win, someone will get a little piece of me in their quilt. So it was a win, win, win for me!

Number Five:

Continuing with the Symposium theme, I’m finalising preparations for attending. I’m teaching two half-day classes and one full day class on the BERNINA Q16 sit down long arm machines. I need to make demonstration quilt sandwiches, finish my handouts, work on a few new FMQ patterns to add my portfolio, and check and double check that I have everything I need to make my classes an awesome, memorable time for my students. And then I’m also going to be a student in two classes so I need to put together all my supplies for those too. I’m getting excited!!

Number Six:

Walked on my beach again. The photo shows how it often is, totally deserted. It’s raining tonight as I write this so I’m enjoying looking at the sunny late afternoon photo memory.

Number Seven:

Lugged around furniture. We’re getting to that point in our renovations of the accommodation units. I hate lugging around furniture, but I love the fact that we are at that point! No photos of my banged up shins…..

That’s it folks. I hope you had a wonderful week, wherever you are and whatever you’ve been doing. I’ll be back next week with another Sunday Seven.

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Sunday Seven – 4 September 2022

Everyone says that when you blog, you need to do it consistently. And that’s all fine when you’re in the habit of doing it consistently, but if there is no habit, then it doesn’t get done consistently and you’re not reinforcing the habit…and so on and so on.

I’ve decided I need a theme to assist with posting regularly and so build my regular blogging habit back up. What’s the theme to be? Sunday Seven, which will just be me posting every Sunday, about seven things I did over the last week. I’m going for simple to start with – a memory builder if you like. So without further ado, here is my first Sunday Seven.

Number 1:

Fed my three calves over 50 litres of milk. The place I’m now living is part of a farm, and one of my jobs is to raise any calves that get mismothered. At the moment I have Big Mac, who fell in a ditch presumably quite soon after being born, and got so hypothermic he couldn’t feed off his mum. It was touch and go with him for a few days but now he’s six weeks old and bouncy, although we suspect he’s a little simple! Then I have Quarter Pounder and Small Fries, both had mothers that wouldn’t accept them and so they ended up with me.

Number 2:

Finished my pōhutukawa quilt. There are amazing old pōhutukawa trees along the beach here. Huge and gnarly and very special. And very inspiring. I’m also inspired daily by my ever-changing view of sea and sky, and the amazing variation of colours that occur. So this quilt has come about by combining those two sources of inspiration. I’m also pleased that I will be teaching tree quilts (this one and a couple of variations) at The Great NZ Quilt Show in Rotorua next year.

Number 3:

Painted a cow skull. Being on a farm that’s been running for 100 years or so, there just happens to be a few of these lying around in the far paddocks. And I’ve always wanted to have a go at decorating one. I cleaned it off, sprayed it black and then sprayed white through a stencil I cut. I quite like it, but not exactly sure what I’m going to do with it now!

Number 4:

Walked on my beach. It’s such an amazing spot here. Just like everything though, you gradually get used to it. But then suddenly there is a stunning sunrise, or a special light, and it snaps you out of your complacency and reminds you of how lucky you are to be here every day. Here’s my photo of that morning this week, when I left my breakfast on the table so I could run down and try and capture the quality of the light.

Number 5:

Washed metres and metres and metres of fabric. When I moved here I lost my awesome dyeing setup that I had at my last house. Sigh. But I can still dye, I just need good weather. And Spring is officially here! Soon I’ll be able to dye a little every day! In preparation, I’ve been washing my white fabric and ripping it up into manageable pieces. That’s a knee deep pile in the pic below.

Number 6:

Painted the inside of kitchen drawers. We are still renovating the accommodation units on the property in preparation for Summer. And it’s a bit-by-bit kinda process. I don’t even have photos. Who wants to see the inside of kitchen drawers?! Or me screwing on a toilet roll holder? Or hanging curtains? But we are getting there, and hopefully I’ll be able to show finished photos soon.

Number 7:

Got my Fjord quilt back. This quilt was made in 2017 for an International Challenge – Natural Sites and Wonders of the World – that Aotearoa Quilters did with Japanese and French quilters. The exhibition travelled extensively around Japan and France, but then got caught up with the pandemic, with exhibitions delayed and postponed. Finally the quilts are back in the hands of their makers and it’s been interesting to look at mine closely with fresh eyes. I still really like it and wouldn’t change much at all.

That’s it folks. I hope you had a wonderful week, wherever you are and whatever you’ve been doing. I’ll be back next week with another Sunday Seven.

Sunday Seven – 4 September 2022 Read More »

Quilt Judging

It’s Winter here in NZ, so I’ll just start by describing the weather. Gross. Howling easterly wind, which blows straight in off the sea and moans in the chimney and makes me NOT want to go outside. Of course, that’s not great for my physical exercise and I also happen to have a puppy to look after at the moment. The more time he spends outside, the less chance he has to have an accident on the carpet, right? How many times a day should a nine week old puppy pee? He really seems to have an overactive bladder…

But enough of the weather and puppies. Let’s get into some quilt stuff. A few days ago I came back from judging the Canterbury Patchwork and Quilting Guild’s exhibition and, of course, I had a wonderful time while I was there.

I awarded my judges prize to Julie Devlin’s quilt “Spinning” made entirely of recycled fabrics. I like to award my judge’s prize to a quilt I would happily take home, and this was it!

It’s such an honour to be entrusted to judge a show. Quilters put their hearts and souls into creating their work and it takes bravery to put them out into the world for everyone to see, and then another level of bravery to accept them being judged. But please know that judges take their jobs very seriously. We are quilters too and know that a thoughtless comment can linger in our creative hearts for years.

I was part of a team of three judges; two of us very experienced quilters and one a local mixed media artist and teacher. Great to have a pair of eyes from outside the quilting sphere with oodles of artistic and creative experience. We worked from 9.30am till about 3.30pm with a short break for tea and lunch. And we worked! Judging is always slightly different depending how people have set up their shows, categories and awards. We started with a walk through seperately to get a feel for the quilts and maybe mark our sheets for any that were immediate possibilities for one category or another. We were not asked to appraise each quilt seperately and provide comments so we began with some of the smaller groups, such as the guild challenge, the 3D award etc. We gradually worked our way up to the larger categories, where we had more choices to work through. I did 10.000 steps just going backwards and forwards and around and around the quilts to compare them, as we were judging them already hanging in their places for the exhibition.

In the end, our Best in Show winner was a quilt titled ‘Experiencing Epilepsy’ by Daena Schofield. Not a large quilt, but from a distance it still had a very clear impact. The form of the female head stood out clearly from the slightly chaotic background and the tilt of the imagery suggested sadness or depression. As you came closer in to view the quilt, the brain image became clearer and then the heavy jagged, metallic stitching line through the brain became evident. I appreciate a quilt that draws you in and reveals further details on closer inspection. The background piecing and the foreground image together had a very strong impact of chaos, depression, sadness or being ‘weighed down’. We all got a strong sense of the world today with war, pandemics, politics, and environmental concerns. Then the artist statement about how Daena feels when she expereinces an epileptic episode put it all together.

Experiencing Epilepsy by Daena Schofield.

The use of strong colours across the quilt helped convey the message, but was also cleverly done, with it being non-uniform and small pops of the purple in the red area and vice versa. The female silhouette had enough tonal difference to stand out nicely from the background, which seemed important for the message this quilt was conveying. The slight variation in the colours and texture of the dark fabric stopped the silhouette from being flat.

However, a quilt cannot be a best in show with just the imagery. We were pleased to see that the workmanship of this quilt was of a very high standard. The quilting, done by Daena on a domestic machine, was neat and even and complemented the quilt. The quilt was finished with a facing, which was tidily done and also appropriate to the quilt. It hung square and flat on the wall. Congratulations to Daena for winning Best Art Quilt and Best in Show.

The overall show was a delight to view. It can be very difficult with guild shows to find the perfect venue, but this one did quite well. Every quilt had space around it and wasn’t crowded. There was plenty of room to move and to stand back and view the quilts. The lighting was pretty good, with only a few dark corners. And the quilts were wonderful!

There was a good variety of quilt styles and sizes. It was interesting to see how many hand quilted pieces there were, which may be a product of having a specific hand-quilting award. However, the wording of the award was for traditional, fine hand-quilting, so that disadvantaged some of the lovely big-stitch work we saw with heavy thread. The guild challenge was well represented and we really had to get nit-picky about the theme quote, and the encouragment to use embellishments.

I have heard many people say, “Oh, I couldn’t put my work in a show that will be judged, I’m not good enough, I won’t win anything.” Which makes me a little sad. How will we have amazing quilt shows to visit if no one puts their work in? So I was particularly pleased to see how many first-time entrants there were, perhaps also a product of having a specific award for this. So well done, you have given joy to others by allowing them the privilege of viewing your hard work!

First time entrant winner Lucy Eaton with her lovely quilt “Nothing Rhymes with Orange”

Quilters often want judges to give comments on what can be improved. I always start with a reminder to pay attention to the details. Good workmanship is good workmanship, not matter whether you are making a traditional quilt, a modern quilt or a piece of textile art. Neat stitches, nice point-matching, excellent finishers whether it be bindings or facings, tidy quilting starts and stops, these will all be looked at closely if two quilts are being compared and considered against each other for a top award.

But if you are making a quilt with the hope of winning an award (and that’s an important distinction to make, many people are just making for the joy of making without any intention of trying to win) then you might like to start by thinking through how you will make an impact. How will you initially catch the eye, and then how will you draw the viewer in to view all your beautiful work? That first impression REALLY does count. But then you also need to be able to back it up with good details and great workmanship

If having your quilt judged does worry you, the important thing to remember is that it isn’t you being judged. You are still a wonderful person! No matter whether you are a beginner or have been making quilts for years and years, there will always be something to learn from every single quilt you make, and keeping an open mind when reading judges comments (if the show provides them) can help you progress on your quilting journey.

Congratulations to all the winners, all the entrants, and to the Guild for putting together an excellent show.

There is a lovely article done by the Otago Daily Times on the show, you can see it here.

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New Routines

Two months has passed since we moved in to a little seaside cottage to manage a farm campground. Tomorrow is officially the first day of Winter and it’s beginning to feel like it. We are seriously thinking about finding firewood and giving our chimney a sweep. The last people to use this house said they never lit the woodburner, they felt they never needed to. But I’m a bit of a cold fish so let’s hope it does work when we need it and there are no mummified possums in there!

Our Easter campers came and went (some of them rather fast as a storm blew in) and our various family members visited, pronounced it paradise and promised to be back. So now we settle into our off-season work in running this place. Which for us, means renovating the accommodations, planting and tidying of the grounds, helping with various farm works and continuing to settle in and get things the way we like them.

I had my studio pretty much set up within a week or two of moving out here, but I keep finding more boxes that have ‘studio stuff’ written on them. With each unpacking, I find more bits that I want to find space for, or more bits to send to new homes. I’m having to have grown-up, realistic conversations with myself, “Charlotte, you’ve tried English Paper Piecing lots of times. You’ve only ever finished one quilt using the method and have plenty of other things that you enjoy more. Give those pre-cut templates to someone who will ACTUALLY use them!”

Besides continuing to unpack, we’ve managed to plant a vege garden using some raised beds and topsoil we were gifted. It feels great to have some Winter greens growing, even though they won’t be ready for a while. I’ve been casting my eyes around the property for spaces to plant fruit trees, but there is the wind and salt spray to factor in. The downside of living by the sea. Plenty of seaweed and cow manure around though!

We’ve also got into a routine with getting our daughter off to school each day. She has to get on the bus at (gulp) 6.45am, but at least it stops right outside our gate. All our bedtimes have been shunted an hour earlier, and our organisational skills are increasing when it comes to combining running errands with after school sports pickups.

All in all, life feels pretty good. It especially feels good because I’ve officially retired from being a midwife. But more on that next time…..!

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