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.

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