Vienna Art and Design

Over the weekend I visited the Vienna Art and Design exhibition at the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria). The exhibition was focussing on the work of Klimt, Schiele, Hoffman and Loos between 1890-1920.

The exhibition showed not only paintings and drawings of the period but architecture, furniture, household goods and jewellery. Everything was decorated in the Art Deco style. The mathematical, geometric shapes are so inspirational and suitable for patchwork and quilting.

Everywhere we looked from a carving on a chair or a pattern on a vase or cup, there was a design that could inspire a quilt or a quilting design.

Last year we studied Art Deco in the Waverley Art Quilters group and I made the little quilt that is pictured above. The clean abstract lines of Art Deco was popular between the 1st and 2nd World War but obviously had its beginnings earlier than this.

We also studied Gustav Klimt with the Waverley Art Quilters. Klimt was born in 1862 and died in 1918. He is famous for his painting The Kiss. The little quilt that I made was inspired by his golden period. They had a quite a few Klimt paintings in the exhibition and it was so wonderful to see them after looking at them in books for so long. Paintings are like quilts, they always look so much better in real life. You don't have any idea of scale in books either. Most of the Klimt paintings we saw were quite large.

I should be drawing up quilt designs now before I lose the inspiration.

Bye for now,

Linda

Kookaburra has a Border

I have put a border around my Kookaburra block and I decided to add some embroidery as well. I used a feather stitch and then added some leaves, lazy daisy flowers and some colonial knots.

After I had finished stitching the border, I embroidered some more flowers in the top right corner because I thought that it looked a little bare up there.

A friend contacted me to say that she couldn't see where I had added the ribbon embroidery on the block, so I have a couple of close ups to show.

I added some ribbon flowers on top of the lace motifs.

I also added some ribbon leaves underneath the blue wren.

I have basted my little quilt and I hope to have some time over the weekend to quilt it. Nearly finished now!

Bye for now,

Linda

Ribbons and Beads

I am still working away on my small quilt for the Houston Silent Auction 2011. I have finished adding the ribbon embroidery and the beads and now it is starting to look finished.

I have used 4mm silk ribbon and most of them have been hand dyed so there is a slight variation in the colour. I think that it is not quite as flat looking as a plain silk ribbon.

I always use the Mill Hill small glass beads, I think it adds a bit of sparkle and light to the stitches.

Next I will be putting some borders on the little quilt and I'll decide if the border needs some embroidery as well.

Bye for now,

Linda

Kookaburra Stitching Complete

I've been very busy stitching my block for the Houston Silent Auction in the last couple of days. I think that I have just about done all the stitching that it needs.

 I added the fish near the bottom of the block using needle turn applique and used a few blanket stitches for their tails.

Next I will be adding some ribbon work and some beads.

Houston Mini Auction Progress

I have done the stitching on the motifs. I use a slanted straight stitch that is not as regular as satin stitch to give more realistic looking fur and feathers. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the stitching now.





Bye for now,
Linda

Houston Mini Auction

The International Quilt Association in Houston has a silent quilt auction every year. It is an invitational event and they have asked me to participate and blog about it as well. They only expect a small quilt and all the proceeds go to IQA to help them run the Quilt Show.
I decided to make a small crazy quilted wall hanging loosely based on the Kookaburra block in my quilt, Crazy about Australia.

These are the fabrics that I got out to use. It will be a combination of blues, greens and golds.

I wanted the block to be bigger than the original block, so I drew up another design onto a piece of calico and foundation pieced the base block. The block will measure abour 12" plus a border.

This what the block looked like after I had pieced the base and fused on some of the motifs that I plan to use. They'll look much better when they are stitched.

This is the blue wren after I had stitched him and he looks much happier now.
I have to finish the quilt and have it into Houston by September 23rd, so I will have to work on it and forget my other sewing until it is finished because I have to allow two weeks for the postage from Australia to Houston.
Bye for now,
Linda

Houston Class Catalogue

This week the Houston Fall 2011 Class Catalogue arrived in the mail. It's 70 pages full of classes and events that are on during the Houston Quilt Show.
There is so much information and so many classes to choose from that you need a week to read it all.
As well as the classes on every technique you can think of, there are lectures and tours of shops and places in the area. There are 900 different classes or events that you can sign up for.
As well as all the classes there is of course the Judged Quilt Show. There are also 32 other different quilt displays on show.
No wonder the Houston Quilt Festival goes for a week. It is also the most well run and organised show I have ever been to.
You cannot imagine how huge the Houston Quilt Show is until you actually get there.

Paul Klee

Last night I met with the Waverley Art Quilters. We have been studying the work of Paul Klee (pronounced Klay). The picture above was the little A3 sized art quilt that I made.

Paul Klee 1879-1940

Klee was born in Switzerland but spent most of his life in Germany. He was a skilled illustrator and teacher and is known for his watercolours. Klee was heavily influenced by cubism and I think his work is very like patchwork.

This is his painting named Castle and Sun. I tried to use similar colours. I drew the pattern up in EQ7 and then I fused the different squares and triangles to a brown background fabric.

Everyone in the group chose a different painting to study and there was such a variety.

Next month our theme is Doors and Doorways and we can use whatever technique we want.

Bye for now,

Linda

Margaret Olley

The art world was saddened last week with the death of Margaret Olley. Margaret Olley was born 24th June 1923 in NSW and died 26th July 2011.

She was known for her colourful still life paintings and intimate interiors.

I belong to a group called the Waverley Art Quilters who meet every month to study a different artist or technique. Last year we studied Margaret Olley and I made the small still life art quilt that is pictured above. Looking again at her paintings, I should have made it with much more saturated colour.

Ben Quilty painted Margaret Olley and won this years Archibald Prize with the painting.

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2011

The Victorian Quilters Showcase is over for another year. I was lucky enough to be the Profile a Quilter this year and so I spent all four days sitting in front of my quilts. I had a wonderful time meeting friends, students and fellow quilters. It was heartening to meet so many beginner quilters as well. I still remember the excitement of making my first quilt, which was on display at the show.

Desley Maisano won Best of Show with her quilt Ruled by Chocolate. Desley is a professional long-arm quilter and is known for her wonderful quilting. Desley has recently been married and used to be known as Desley Regan for those who don't recogise her new name. Desley has a blog and has some more photos and details about her quilt. http://addictedtoquilts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

My lovely two daughters came and visited me at the show and were inspired to buy a couple of cross stitch kits, so you never know, they might be quilters of the future.

My photos are never very good at quilt shows, so go to the Victorian Quilters website to see all the names of prize winners and some photos as well.http://www.victorianquilters.org/index.php

Thank you to all the quilters who took the time to come and say hello to me at the show.

Bye for now,

Linda