Classes

 I have been busy trying to tie up loose ends after having quite a busy year. I have finished a new quilt that I cannot show anyone yet and have been doing my Art Quilters homework for the rest of the year!

Next week, I am going on a European holiday to France for the European Patchwork Meeting and then a Rhine River Cruise. I don't want to come home to a mess and not know how to get back into things again.

I had signed up for an Art and Design Course using a gel plate with Tara Axford. It was a good class but trying to do the class as well as doing all the other things I do was a bit of a stretch and I have not finished doing the work!

The idea was to learn how to tame the gel plate and not have everything an experiment and left to chance. We made lots of prints onto paper and then had to put them into sketchbooks and write about  what we have learnt.

Here is some of the work that I did.

Leaf study

Botanicals

Collage

Image Transfer

I belong to Waverley Patchworkers and every two years they run a special workshop that is heavily subsidised by the club and lunch and morning tea is provided.

This year the tutor was the wonderfully talented Gloria Loughman. I have known Gloria for a while but we got to know each other better on the Morocco trip last year.

I packed a whole lot of fabrics for the class and when I got there, Gloria had her gorgeous hand dyes for sale so I bought her fabrics and did one of her patterns instead, for fun.

I really enjoyed the class and made a sunset scene which is something I have never done before.

First we fused steam a seam 2 onto our sky fabrics and then cut them into pieces and placed them onto a base fabric. Then we cut strips of fabric for the foreground.

Background

When the background was complete we added a tree or whatever we were making.

Sunset

I loved my finished piece and it was good to catch up with my friends from the club. 

Well, I have a long list of little jobs to complete before I am off on my holiday. My travel mate is a lovely friend that I met on the Morocco tour, you just never know where life will take you!

I'll be back at the end of September!!

Bye for now,

Linda

Eco Dyeing at Tarndie

 Last weekend, I was down at Geelong for the Art Quilt Australia Awards, my last post was all about my excitement of winning First Prize.

The following day some of us drove down to Tarndwarncoort Sheep Farm or Tarndie for short, for a day of Eco Dyeing.

It is one of the oldest sheep farms and properties in Australia and was built in 1848 and now classified as a National Trust property. The same family still owns the property as it has been handed down through the generations.

As it was a sheep farm, we were dyeing using wool fabrics, they were quite thick upholstery fabric that they got in for us to use as they specialise in dyeing yarns.

First we dyed some fabric using Cherry Ballart or wild Cherry with some copper which gives a lovely Chartreuse colour and then we learnt about Indigo dyeing.

These are the fabrics that I did. I have ironed the fabrics but couldn't get the wrinkles out, so I won't be using upholstery fabric if I ever do it again.

 The Indigo vat seems like a lot of work, so I was glad to see it done but probably won't add it to my bag of tricks.

Our last technique was eco dyeing with leaves. I have done it before with iron water, so I took the opportunity to use copper instead to get an orange colour.

Here I am arranging my leaves onto the fabric.

This is a photo of all our fabrics on copper pipes after being steamed.

 Here is the big reveal when we unrolled them and took off the leaves.

We had a lovely lunch in the dining room of the old house.

We also had a walk around the farm even though it was a bit of a wet, cold day. They keep Polwarth sheep which have the brown faces. The sheep in the photo below had twins and you can see a white lamb with them. The white lamb kept following the other mother with the twins, probably wanted some playmates.

Polwarth Sheep

Despite the cold weather, it was an enjoyable day and lovely to get to know the other women who mostly came from interstate.

Bye for now,

Linda

Art Quilt Australia 2023

 Oh my goodness- I won!!

I drove down to Geelong on Friday for the Ozquilt Network opening of Art Quilt Australia 2023. It was held in the National Wool Museum. I was very happy to be selected, the jurors chose 37 quilts out of 76 entries. It was good to meet up with quilters that I know and also put faces to names that I know.

I was innocently sitting down listening to the speeches and the winners being announced, when suddenly my name was called out as the winner of the Award of Excellence, which is the top award! I was in shock, I never in a thousand years thought I would win this prize. I received a beautiful bunch of flowers and $4,000! My quilt is called Moroccan Magic and was inspired by my trip to Morocco last year.

After the awards were announced we could look at the exhibition and the artists that were there could do a 2 minute talk about their quilt. I took a few photos but really I was in too much shock to take it all in.

Here are some of the photos that I took.

Alison Withers won the Wool prize, it has to be made by at least 60% wool.

DIY Deluge Design no 5 by Alison Withers

The Silent Web by Cindy Watkins

Dianne Firth won the Highly Commended Award.

Deposit by Dianne Firth

Simple Pleasures by Sue Broadway

Seeking the Sun by Grace Widders

Forest Floor by Linda Balding

Clap Clap You by Tania Tanti

The exhibition is open until the 12th November, so I will try and get back there to have a good look at all the entries.

Here is a photo of my quilt called Moroccan Magic. It is improv pieced, I have no pattern, I just start sewing and put fabrics together, piece by piece while thinking about my subject. 

Moroccan Magic by Linda Steele

Here are some detail photos.

Moroccan Magic detail

Moroccan Magic detail

Moroccan Magic detail

My artist statement said Morocco is a sensory overload, with its doorways, winding pathways and exotic markets.

The have a lovely catalogue too which has large photos of all the quilts for only $20.

Bye for now,

Linda

Connection at the Lume

 I was in the city everyday for the Victorian Quilters Showcase and managed to slip away for an hour to see the Connection exhibition at the Lume Theatre.

The Lume theatre is in the same building as our quilt show, the Exhibition and Convention Centre, so it was very convenient. The Lume is set up to show paintings projected onto walls and the floor, so you feel surrounded by light and art. 

This is the third exhibition they have presented and I have been to them all. The first was Van Gogh and the second was Monet and Friends.

Connection is an exhibition of Aboriginal paintings. I wasn't sure if it would be as good as the others but it was just as wonderful. 

There is something magical about being totally surrounded by art and music. The only disappointment is that photos do not do it justice. It is all about the experience.

Here are some of the photos that I took.

If I get the chance, I would definitely go and see it again. 

Bye for now,

Linda

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2023

 The Victorian Quilters Inc. Showcase was on last week and it was my last one as Convenor. Everything went well, the show looked good and we had many compliments on the layout and the beautiful quilts.

I will be a quilt show consultant next year to make sure that the hand over to the new Convenor goes smoothly.

Best of Show went to a beautiful applique quilt by Mariya Waters called Floral Symphony no. 2.

Floral Symphony no. 2 by Mariya Waters

Here are a couple of detail photos.

Floral Symphony no. 2 detail by Mariya Waters 

Runner Up to Best of Show was a Pictorial Quilt by Sue de Vanny called Long Tall Sally.

Long Tall Sally by Sue de Vanny

There was another lovely pictorial quilt in the show with an Alice in Wonderland theme.

Curiouser and Curiouser by Michelle Bardwell

We had a display of 20 quilts by the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild and one particularly caught my eye.

Fan Fold by Caroline Headley

There was also a display of a series of quilts by Jan Preston about her Father in Law in World War 2.

After finding memorabilia in her Father in Law's belongings after he had passed away, Jan went about researching his story. Below is a photo of a section of the display

Courage and Determination by Jan Preston

The display touched many hearts and visitors recounted their own family stories, quite a few tears were shed.

Jan Preston is a wonderful artist and you really need to see the work and appreciate all the different techniques in person. Photos do not do it justice.

Courage and Determination by Jan Preston.

I was also lucky enough to win 2nd prize in the Contemporary section with my quilt called Sailing.

Sailing by Linda Steele

Well, that is the end of an era for me, I have been Showcase Convenor for 6 years and did three Waverley Quilt Shows before that, as well as being President of Waverley Patchworkers for two years.

No wonder I feel a bit burnt out.

I really need some down time to concentrate on my own sewing.

Bye for now,

Linda

Good news

 I have been very busy for a long time but I can finally see some light.

One piece of good news is that I made a quilt inspired by my wonderful trip to Morocco. I have just heard that it has been accepted into the Art Quilt Australia 2023 exhibition. It is a requirement that the quilt has not been seen or exhibited before, so I can only show a detail photo until August this year when the exhibition opens.

Moroccan Magic detail

I saw the fabric for the Modern Quilt Guild challenge and I really liked it, so I trawled online for ages until I found the correct fabrics. You could easily get the fabrics from America but hardly any of the shops post to Australia anymore because of the cost. I found one fabric at one shop and the postage costs were way higher than the the fabric, so I didn't go ahead with the purchase.

After much searching, I found the required 6 fabrics from 3 or 4 different shops in Australia.

Challenge Fabrics

I have already started, it's another improv pieced style quilt that I am really enjoying lately.

beginnings of a quilt

To tell you the truth, it is probably not the sort of quilt that the Modern Quilt Guild is looking for, but I don't mind if it isn't accepted, I am just happy to be inspired to make it.

I have saved the best news for last. I have been the convenor of the Victorian Quilt Showcase for a few years now. It is our most prestigious show and is held at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in the city.

The Show opens on Wednesday at 10am and closes on Saturday at 4pm. I have been working hard on this for months.

We have a modern Quilt as our raffle quilt this year, it was made by members of the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild. It is very different from our usual raffle quilts and it has been very well received.

Positivity by the MMQG

The good news is that someone has come forward to take over my job as Convenor!! I wanted to finish last year but we couldn't get anyone to do the job.

I will still be helping next year but as a guide and Consultant.

I will be at the show everyday this week, so I hope to catch up with many friends. It will be good to have a quilt show again.

Bye for now,

Linda

Bendigo Art Gallery

 After we had finished our little mid week holiday, the week before last, my friends and I went a bit further north to Bendigo.

Our first stop was to Maree St Clair Quilt Shop. The shop is quite large and it was busy because a group from Ballarat were having a sewing day there. There was a lot of very traditional fabric, which I don't use anymore but there was some Kona cottons that I wanted.

My Fabrics

The tartan fabric on the left is enough for a quilt backing. Maree had very kindly donated a voucher to the Vic Quilters Quilt show and I was the lucky recipient.

Then we drove onto the Bendigo Art Gallery. There was an Australian Women's Weekly exhibition to celebrate their 90th Birthday. A massive achievement.

When we entered they had some of the beautiful clothes that had been on some of the covers. My favourite was the black dress called Snow Maiden by Paolo Sebastian.

It was worn by singer Tina Arena in Evita. I thought it strange that it was called Snow Maiden but I still thought it was gorgeous.

Snow Maiden

Here is a close up of the bodice. It looks see through but in the photo of Tina Arena wearing it, she had a black lining under it.

Snow Maiden detail.

When my children were young, the Women's Weekly magazine published a birthday cake book. My children loved it and it was a huge best seller. They had a display of photos of people and the cakes they had made from the book over the years.

It was a long wall but there were so many people looking at it that I could only take a photo of the middle section

Birthday Cake wall

There were some of the cakes on display too.

Train Cake

There was also an Australiana exhibition.

I remember Jenny Kee was very trendy in the 1980's and 1990's, she was especially known for her knitwear.

Jenny Kee Display

There was also lots of other clothes on display from various designers.

Australian Fashion on display

I took lots of photos. When I got home it was back to reality, cooking dinner etc. But it was refreshing to have those days away.

While I was gone, one of my quilts arrived home from exhibition. I hadn't seen it since 2021.

Reef Revelations by Linda Steele

Bye for now,

Linda