SAQA Adventure

I belong to the Art Quilt group named SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and the Oceania Branch have a private group on Facebook where challenges are set and we can get to know each other a bit better and be inspired at the same time.

Sue Dennis suggested our next challenge should be Adventure. She challenged us to try something new and maybe put ourselves out of our comfort zone for a while.

I have had the book Cut, Shape and Stitch by Maggie Grey, Samantha Packer and Paula Watkins for a while and thought that now was a good a time as any to try out some of the techniques.

The book is all about creatively using the cutting machines that are available at the moment.

I have had the Accuquilt Go Cutter machine since 2012 and I must admit that it is seldom used. When I have used it I have been very happy.

I had plenty of mono printed fabric and paper left over from my experiments last year and the Go Cutter machine cut through it beautifully.

I also had quite a few hole punches; I had bought them thinking it would be a good way to cut tiny fabric circles but I soon discovered that they don't work very well with fabric.

I found that they work really well with paper and interfacing and all sorts of painted synthetic products that are available to art quilters.

When interfacing is painted it becomes much more like a fabric and can be a different texture to use in art quilts.

To make the clean-up easier when painting I use disposable bowls and wooden sticks for stirring.

Painted interfacing

The paint made the interfacing firmer and it was a beautiful fabric to cut.

Painted interfacing shapes

Even the negative shapes look really interesting.

Negative shapes

The book also suggested that craft metal could be cut with the cutting machines. I had some metal that I had used a few years ago and I was surprised how easily it cut and I could have much more precise shapes than if I had cut them by hand.

Metal shapes

I was so glad that I was encouraged to have this adventure. I have many books at home with all sorts of great techniques but don't take the time to play around with them.

I have no idea what I will do with these shapes but it is certainly something that I should do a bit more with. I suppose that felt would also cut really well!

Bye for now,
Linda 

Connecting Design to Stitch- Landscape

This year the Waverley Art Quilters have decided to study the book Connecting Design to Stitch by Sandra Meech.

Every month this year we are researching the various topics that can be used as inspiration for an art quilt.
This month we have been studying Landscape.

Landscape is a very popular subject especially for pictorial quilts. Sandra Meech suggests that we can explore colour and light like the Impressionists, or the flow and curves of rivers, forests, lakes and aerial views, Man's organisation such as crops and farming or the wild and untouched landscapes.
Another very popular subject matter is Seascapes.

I love landscape quilts and of course it is a very popular subject for painters as well.

I have only done a few small landscape quilts, mainly because the large ones are so time consuming and my crazy quilts and applique quilts are also very time consuming and there is only a limited amount of time for sewing.

We studied David Hockney last year and I did this A3 sized landscape.

Hockey Inspired by Linda Steele

Earlier this year I made a little quilt of a heron and I was remembering how the wetlands need a balance of sun and rain to survive.

Balance in the Wetlands

When we studied Monet I made a waterlily quilt and even though it's subject is water it comes under the landscape quilt category.

Monet's Waterlily by Linda Steele

Way back in 2006 I made a small landscape quilt called Hide and Seek.

Hide and Seek

The largest landscape quilt I have made is called Lakeside Reflections.

Lakeside Reflection by Linda Steele

 There have been so many beautiful landscape quilts made by quilters over the years, some very realistic and others much more abstract.

I wrote down some ideas for subjects that I could use in the future:
Wetlands, Seasons, Trees, Sunsets and Seascapes.

Lots of ideas but not much time, just like everyone else I suppose but it is fun to imagine and dream.

Bye for now,
Linda

My Different Life

My life changed last November when my first Grandchild was born; changed for the better of course. Little Savannah took over our lives and our hearts and I spent a lot of time at my daughter's place helping her cope with all the new demands on her time.

Now there has been another change because my daughter has gone back to work as a primary school teacher and I have Savannah at my place during the week. It is only for this year and next year we will have a new routine.

It's been a month now and I feel very lucky to be able spend so much time with Savannah and feel lucky that she is getting to know and trust me so well too.

Savannah 5 months

She looks happy enough in the above photo but the first couple of days that she was here was a different story. She wanted her Mum and she didn't know me or my house very well and she was very demanding.

First day

Look at that scared little face! If someone had taken a photo of me you would have seen a similar expression on my face. One of the only things that kept her happy was walking around outside. I was completely exhausted and my hands and arms ached from carrying her. I didn't know if I would be able to cope with her for a year.

Everyone I spoke to said that it will get easier and by the next week things had settled down and we got into a routine with me feeding, singing and dancing to amuse her.

She started eating solids and at first she sat on the kitchen bench to eat.

First foods

Then I got wise and realised I would have to go shopping for some baby items to make things easier.

One of the first things I bought was a highchair.

She loves her food.

We have a routine where I hang out the washing every morning and I put her into some warm clothes and a pusher and she watches me.

Putting out the washing

As well as starting food she has learnt to roll over.

Rolling over

I realised that she got bored easily and so I have bought a few toys to help us get through the day.

Driving

Bouncing

Yesterday we had another first because she sat by herself without falling over for at least 15 minutes.

Sitting for the first time- 6 months old

I am hoping that things will get easier now because she never liked laying down much.

So my life has changed dramatically but don't worry my blog will not be filled with baby photos. I am actually still getting some sewing done.

Savannah sleeps for at least two hours everyday and I always have some hand sewing waiting on the couch for sleep time. My weekends are free and I get as much sewing done as I can then.

I am still working on my seasons quilt.

Autumn Leaves

Fuchsia's for summer

I know why women have babies when they are young, everything is so much harder and slower when you are older!

Bye for now,
Linda

Connecting Design to Stitch- Nature Inspired

We are trying something new in the Waverley Art Quilters Group this year. Usually we study an artist or topic and make a small art quilt based on what we have learnt. We have doing this for a few years now and thought a change would be a good idea.

We have chosen to study a book by Sandra Meech, called Connecting Design to Stitch. If you click on her name it will take you to her website and you will find images of her wonderfully creative quilts.

The idea of studying the book is to explore personal themes and styles through composition exercises and design classes.

The first theme we have to explore is Nature. Nature is an inspiration for many artists including myself. I have already done many quilts with a nature inspired theme.

I love using birds in quilts.

Sydney's Flamingo ©2014 Linda Steele

Reflections ©2013 Linda Steele

I've done quite a few quilts with a flower theme.

Art Nouveau ©2011 Linda Steele

Viola ©2012 Linda Steele

Rose © Linda Steele

Of course my Crazy Quilts often use nature as its theme.

New Zealand Block from Naturally Crazy ©Linda Steele

Crazy about Spring © Linda Steele

Even though I have done many nature inspired quilts I hope to do many more.

Bye for now,
Linda

AQC 2015

The Australian Quilt Convention is over for another year and as usual it was an exciting event with classes, shops and quilts on display.

On Sunday I was a quilt angel for Lisa Walton, that means that I help her with setting up her room or getting supplies or tea or coffee or cleaning up afterwards. She was teaching a painting class so there was plenty of cleaning up to be done.

We had a two hour lunch break so I spent much of that time catching up with friends and looking at the fabulous quilt display.

The Best of Australia prize went to Linda White for her quilt Elenor Jean.

Linda White with her quilt Elenor Jean

This quilt was made with 22,500 quarter inch hexagons! Quite incredible really and the design stands out because of her very clever colour choices.

Detail of Linda White's quilt

Every Year AQC runs a challenge and this year's theme was True Blue, there was such a vast array of wonderful quilts exploring this theme. Here are some of my favourites.

True Blue Mates by Yvonne Chapman

True Blue Mates detail

Splendid Love by Bernadine Hine

True Blue Raider of my Stash by Naomi Hynes

Beginning True by Sue de Vanny

There was a modern Quilt display and a quilt depicting Audrey Hepburn caught my eye. Up close you couldn't quite make it out.

Audrey detail

But when you moved back you could clearly see the portrait of Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey by Andi Herman, quilted by Kylie Cannon

There was great interest in the Gallipoli quilt which was a 12 metre long work divided into panels by a young quilter, Lucy Carroll. Lucy did a floor talk every day about her wonderful work and it was quite emotional. Here is a photo of her getting ready for her talk.

Lucy Carroll

I can't remember how many panels were in the display but here are some photos of two of them.

The Gallipoli Quilt by Lucy Carroll

The Gallipoli Quilt by Lucy Carroll

There was another quilt on display that I enjoyed called Priscilla, I thought it was a fun quilt but very well done.

Priscilla by Bronwyn Hill

I took a lot more photos than this but of course I can't show all of them.

I always enjoy AQC and as usual it did not disappoint. I feel so lucky that it is held in Melbourne and so I can go every year but quilters come from all over Australia to be there.

Bye for now,
Linda

Hundertwasser

In February this year the Waverley Art Quilters had decided to study Hundertwasser.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser - Dec 15th 1928- Feb 19th 2000.

Hundertwasser was born in Vienna, Austria and died aboard a cruise ship on the Pacific Ocean of a heart attack.

He is known for his vibrantly coloured, radiant paintings; he preferred to place complementary colours alongside each other and also used a lot of gold and silver foil.
His main themes were vegetative growth and architectural symbols like houses, windows, fences and gates. He often combined both themes in the one painting.
From the readings I have done about him he seemed to be quite a quirky character. He is also known for his innovative architectural designs and hated sterile, monotonous houses and buildings.

I bought a wonderful little hardcover book that features all of Hundertwasser’s paintings from 1951-1976. The photos are very glossy against black pages and clearly show the use of the metallic foil.

As always when we study an artist and make a quilt inspired by what we have learnt, we are careful not to copy one of the artist’s paintings but take elements of the paintings to learn more about art and design.

I was inspired by the lovely round motifs that featured in many of his paintings.

Hundertwasser- 754 Blobs Grow in Beloved Gardens

The above image was just one of the many that feature this style of trees. The funny thing is that when I first looked at his paintings I thought that they were flowers and that was why I was inspired by them. I have wanted to do some embroidery on felt for quite a while and thought that here was my chance.

I found some lovely bright cotton fabric as a background and fused on the felt stems and flowers.

While I was doing the embroidery my husband asked me why I was making lollipops! That’s when I looked at his paintings again and realised that his round shapes were actually trees. 

It looked quite bare in the bottom half of the quilt so I added in some leaves.

I was happy with the end result and called my quilt, Hundertwasser’s Flowers.

Here is a close up image of the embroidery.

Embroidery detail

Hundertwasser's Flowers ©Linda Steele 2015

We are trying something different in Art Quilters for the next couple of years so this will be the last little quilt I'll make for this group for a while. I'll write more about our plans in another post.

Bye for now,

Linda