Michelle Hill Applique Workshop

Under Michelle's great instruction I had a great time designing this quilt using Turkey photos for stimulation.

First you design and draw, working out your colour scheme and how the repeats will fit together.

Then I copied my motifs and cut up the copies for pattern pieces to cut from, pre-backed with visa-fix.

After careful placement on the background fabric, cover work with baking paper and iron to adhere.

Then it takes a lot of pushing and pulling until you have blanket stitched all around the edges.
Started 2013, finished .... (watch this space).

King Size Patchwork

Too big to photograph! This is not a quilt but a king size patchwork dona. It's amazing what you can do quickly when the westerly wind springs up.

Crushed



Crushed was the theme for the latest TQAQ Challenge, which inspired this piece. The background fabric is crushed to evoke the movement, swell and drama of the sea.

Minature Landscapes - Quilt-as-you-go

Still experimenting - watch this space!



Nature's Pins

Cacti, bougainvillea and many more - they get you every time. These from my garden. Dried - they are so strong, shows you that pins were around long before metal.

Sashiko Quilting - Japanese Tea Mat

Hand stitching is not usually my forte - but I really enjoyed stitching this tea mat whilst acting like a mouse and on call during my daughter's final master's projects. She got through and so did I.

Storming Gulls

After a bit of a blogging hiatus, here is my latest work 'Storming Gulls'.

This artwork was inspired by bird movement and feeding over the ocean and the prismatic light before a storm at sea. The dramatic lines of the background give direction to the 'random' composition of frenzied gulls.

This piece uses various 'shot' silks in different directions to depict birds in flight. The background was created using sprayed sun colour dyes and resists. Foreground gulls and receding images are depicted through stitched silhouettes.

Gulls in Frenzy

The preview to Storming Gulls...

Modern Art = I could do that + yeah, but you didn't

Just had to share one of my favourite Christmas presents - by an Australian designer, eventhough my daughter brought it all the way back from Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art!

Two Exercise in Free Motion Quilting

These two pieces were inspired by various schools, Kim Bradley and the current 'zentangle' craze. The free motion stitching patterns developed out of a facination with leaves and their markings. Both pieces are framed with glass on both sides to show off the rhythm and concetration involved in the stitching on both the front and the back of the works.

Fields

Bark

The July 2QAQ challenge theme was 'Bark'. I quickly crumpled and stitched various pieces of leather and fabrics to create this piece of  'Bark'.

Down in the Gully

Under the Sea

Sun Colour Dyes and resists were used to create background pattern. The piece was then free hand machined stitched to accentuate the theme 'Under the Sea'.

Flower Blocks - Win!

I was delighted to receive a prize of 19 pretty fat quarters from Leutenegger's last week. Australian Patchwork and Quilters had run a competition in which you could send six and a half inch square blocks using spring colours and pretty floral prints. They awarded eight prizes but all the blocks have now been used to make quilts for charity - a fun project.

Quilt Show Work

After a throw away line 'when you're in Brisbane, let me know and I'll come and help you'... Kim Bradley of Kim Bradley Creations called me to help out at the Queensland Quilt Show. What a fun but exhausting experience! I learnt much more from Kim than the knowledge I imparted to interested customers looking at her sewing products, paints and quilting design templates.

Quilt Show Prizes

After entering five quilts in my first ever Queensland Quilt Show,

I was delighted to win two prizes;

2nd Place in the 2011 Amateur Textile Art for Scribbly Shilouettes

3rd Place in the 2011 Amateur Textile Art for Kakadu Kingfishers.

Flower Blocks

 During a visit by my 89 year old Mother, we were inspired to do blocks of flowers. The whole quilt maybe a little way off yet...

Queensland October

As a lover of Queensland houses, Jacarandahs, Poincianas and vivid flowers reminiscent of October exam times in Brisbane - this quilt is pieced cotton fabrics and machine embroided house details.

Scribbly Silhouettes

Inspired by the shapes and silhouettes of eucalyptus trees while walking at dusk, but also their colours, flowers and bark formations in daylight. Silk, cork and sulky threads.

Living Threads

The image intended is one of natural beauty and tranquility of lush Australian bush in spring. It is portrayed through the combination of silk fabrics and stitched threads. At the same time the dominant burnt silk trunks symbolize the power of the forest, as it holds so many of this planets threads to life.

Pin Wheel

This Pin Wheel quilt was started at a Cheryl Phillips workshops which focused on design and colour composition, mixing Batik and plain cotton prints. Attention to the of the quilt adds another layer of design.

Beach Poppies

This piece was inspired by a challenge to use "found objects"...

A Norfolk Scene

An exercise in perspective - Norfolk Island.

Medieval Challenge

Experiments in new techniques, inspired by the Medieval Challenge hosted ATASDA Western Australia.

Kakadu Kingfishers

Inspired by a Kim Bradley workshop, this quilt is an experiment using Inktense pastels and free motion quilting on silk. I'm fascinated by representing birds in flight.

Kim Bradley Workshop - Brisbane

The Kim Bradley Workshop in Brisbane. Great fun painting and quilting in August. Thanks to Material Facts Magazine of the Queensland Quilters for the photos.

ATASDA Queensland 'Vivid' Challenge

Inspired by the trawlers heading out into the sunset at Mooloolaba off the Queensland Coast.
This imag steitched onto hand painted silk won;
ATASDA Judge's Choice at the June Quarterly Meeting
and Viewer's Choice at the Textile Arts Festival in Brisbane - a great thrill for a beginner!