Tsunami Quilt

How time flies, and I haven't told you about my Tsunami Quilt yet! If you're a Quiltopia!Design Facebook Page "liker", you will have seen snippets there, but it's taken two days confined to bed with a virus (:s) for me to finally post about it here.

As I was driving down to Brisbane on my way to teach my Stained Glass Stack and Slash Workshop one weekend, I was listening to a report on the devastating Japanese Tsunami. It had just struck and I hadn't heard much or seen any media coverage as yet.

The thoughts of the dirty water rolling in and over cars, homes, mountains, land, animals and people created images in my mind that I had to express in fabric. Who knows where inspiration comes from, and when it's going to strike, you have to grab it when you can. I had a sudden inspiration to make a Tsunami Quilt using some beautiful Japanese fabric and French Braid borders. (Please be assured, this doesn't in any way diminish the terrible situation in Japan or the horrendous effects of the Tsunami on the Japanese people and countryside, including the unfolding nuclear disaster still in progress.)

I had seen a quilt in Jane Hardy Miller's second book, French Braid Obsession, which I wanted to experiment with. (I LOVE the French Braid books!)

At QuiltEssentials, I found a Kona Bay fabric with cranes, temples, mountains trees and strange coloured water, with other Japanese motifs interspersed. I also wanted to use a selection of muted Bali Batiks from my own Quiltopia collection to create a watery braid for the borders. You can see the planning stage here,

with the book open at the page of the quit I like. I had to change the proportions becuase I only got 1m of feature fabric, so at this stage my quilt is square. I also changed the braid run because I wanted more blue.

The colours in the braid remind me of a tapestry or piece of brocade. It's shaping up pretty well but hasn't got much further for a week or so, as I started feeling really tired , then sore throat and finally, Pharyngitis struck and took me to bed.

I'm not sure about the next stage. I could finish it here, as a largish queen size throw... or I could add a couple more borders. We'll see...

Happy stitching,

Ann ♥

There are quite alot of charities and blogs set up to aid Japan. Modern Relief Japan is one that is hosting auctions and further info on how to help

Solomon Islands

We've been to the Solomon Islands!

It was truly a tropical getaway with beautiful beaches, incredible water and colours, lots of fun and family. I didn't even look at fabric... I tell a lie! I did buy some cute rickrack and a couple of pieces of SI printed fabrics in shades of blue.

We went to the largest ocean lagoon on earth and you can see what the water was like. Coral, fish, WWII plane wrecks, wonderful carving and amazing rainforest right down to beaches.

This village is on a volcanic island with bubbling hot springs, friendly local people and dolphins swimming close to shore. When we arrived, we were greeted with fresh young coconuts to drink and eat the flesh of when we'd finished. Cut open, I thought it looked a bit like a bustier.

Unfortunately, my camera broke while we were there so I don't have any uploads for posts on my latest work. I'm making a new quilt and feel very refreshed a inspired after our break.
I want to add some more photos to this so stay tuned.

xo xo Ann.

batik of java : poetics & politics

Last weekend I went to the opening of a beautiful textile and painting exhibition, batik of java : poetics and politics, at the Caloundra Regional Art Gallery.
I lived in Indonesia for two years in the mid 90's and fell in love with the many varied textiles produced there and was inspired by the creativity of the crafts people (many of them women and weavers) and artists.
I wanted to share some images of details in some of the exquisite, hand made Batik Sarongs hanging in the exhibition. The fine details and dots created by the hand poured wax and dyes is incredible.
The Batiks belong to the collection of Ian Reed and Greg Roberts and were collected from the Javanese North Coast region.
Many of the Batiks featured motifs taken from nature, including butterflies,

these traditional Chinese style clouds
flowers and birds.

But some of the most interesting and appealing to me were those depicting strange and quirky interpretations of sea creatures and fishy crustaceans (the batiks originating from the coastal areas remember) like the ones below.

The one above was my absolute favourite and has now become my phone background!
(Speaking of which, I took all the photos with my iPhone because I've lost my camera, so sorry if the quality is lacking.)
If you're in the area, the exhibition is well worth a visit to feed your inspiration, and it's on till 14 August.

xo xo Ann

3 Squares

At the moment I am working on a few new projects. I don't know what it is, but I seem to start a project, then lose interest while it's still in progress. I'm having to force myself to carry through...

Anyway, this one is called 3 Squares, and it's inspired by a Keiko Goke fabric I bought at Melbourne Quilt Market last year. I bought 3 different colourways of this amazing fabric, knowing there was a ready made quilt in there somewhere.

The fabric print features two different sized squares, 1 inch and 2 inch, and a rectangle combining the two measurements, 1 inch x 2 inch, printed in three distinct sections across the width of fabric. You can see it here, with its crayon -like colouring effect. I love the textural look and the subtle colour combination.

So, I sketched up a rough quilt plan combining the three different shapes. Then I chose some fabrics that toned with the colours in the 3 Squares fabric.
I divided the 3 Square fabric and cut it into its three distinct sections
I made a centre panel of 100 2 inch squares as the smallest size square. These squares included the 1 inch part of the original fabric.

Then I cut some squares twice that size, finished 4 inches, to make a border around the 100 square panel. The fabric print 2 inch squares were used here, and the blend in size with the 2 inch mosaic of the centre squares so they seem to extend outwards.

Originally I planned a third border of 4 inch x 8 inch rectangles to extend and finish the quilt, But I changed my mind on this because when I put it up on the wall I realized it didn't reflect the original fabric correctly. So I altered the original plan and made a wider 4 inch square border, and I'm now finishing with a 2 inch x 4 inch rectangle border... which I'm still working on.
I'll put the next steps up soon.
Enjoy the process,

xo xo Ann.

Inspiration and Experimentation

I'm having a bit of trouble with this post! Firstly, all the photos went up in the reverse order to what I wanted for the story and because they're large, I can't shift them around! So I'll have to start at the end...
I was inspired by Sarah Fielke's posting of her sketches on her fantastic blog, The Last Piece, and decided to post some of my working notes for commissions etc.
This is my latest project going up on the wall:


It's based on the Patricia Bravo design for her Gypsy Bubbles fabric range, published in Quilters Companion 2 issues ago. I bought the fabrics for stock and wanted to make the quilt as a sample - But I wanted to also use it to try out a different method of curved piecing which I hadn't quite worked out.
This is the original design in the magazine.I clipped this article and added it to my sketch book.


Meanwhile, I found this book about fusible curves with a different approach. I hate fused applique because it's stiff and the fabrics underneath are often visible through the applique. Yuk! But the Elaine Waldschmidtt's technique eliminates that AND makes curved piecing easy! I bought the book because I've had a plan in my mind for a while but didn't want to set in all the curves.


And this is my original idea and sketches for a modified Drunkard's Path block. I call it "Mill Wheel" but couldn't find the exact design in Jinny Beyer's Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders. I sketched it out and worked out how to construct it, but was daunted by the piecing which I prefer to do by machine.


The original inspiration came when I glimpsed the quilt in the movie, Nights in Rodanthe. That film is sooo beautiful to look at! I paused it, noted the colours in the scene and drew a quick sketch of the basic block. And that's how it all started.
Now I need to finish the Gypsy Bubbles quilt, to fine tune the technique, then I'll make the Rodanthe Quilt!

New Quilts

I've just finished two new quilts! (And a third is away being quilted!) After what seems to be a long period of un-productivity, they all seem to get finished at the same time. I've just posted the pictures one here as the other one has a bit of a story attached and i don't have to to write it right now...
This one I'm calling Red Roses Posies and was inspired by a patter by HD Designs. It's all one fabric cut on the repeat to make four-patch kaleidoscope blocks. My quilt is queen size and I made it for my bedroom - first time ever I have actually made a quilt to suit my own decor!
The fabric is Moda, Beach House by Blackbird Designs and I love its slightly faded but rich colours; like it's been covering a bed in a beach house, sun and salt gently bleaching out the rough edges on the colours so it's soft and warm to lie on, reading your book and glancing out the open window to the sand, sea and sky, a soft breeze fluttering the curtains... It was beautiful to work with too, very soft and smooth.

Below are some of the individual blocks and you can see the wide variety of "posies" you can get depending on how you put them together. I've already had requests for classes , and I will be doing that soon, so keep checking the class list in the side bar for dates and prices.

You might be able to see the gorgeous quilting pattern Tricia used. It's got little folksy birds fluttering amongst flowers. I love it!
I've had a lousy cold and now it's school holidays so my time's got to stretch a long way in the next couple of weeks... Hope you've got something to inspire you and if it's holiday time for you too - have fun,

Ann.

Autumn at Last, at last.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I find the colours of Autumn leaves inspiring. When I first moved to Maleny seven years ago, after a fairly long spell in the tropics, I made a quilt called Autumn at Last (you can see this in the Quilt Gallery on my website). It was inspired originally by my ex-husband's home country, Canada. After splitting up with him and moving here at the end of Autumn, I ended up making the quilt for myself. I exhibited it and it became my first magazine project commission. It was made from traditional Maple Leaf blocks and quilted intensely in the Indian Kantha style with multi coloured variegated Perle #8 cotton.

Recently I was commissioned to make a similar one in earthier tones. These are some photos of the progress. As I was sewing, I started on the dark green fabric of the block on the left.

I was suddenly transported to the beginning of my quilt making journey! The fabric was one I bought when I first started quilting at City fabrics in Darwin. Just the flimsier feel, small geometric pattern and even the smell of it as I cut it, took me instantly back there. It's only 12 years, but the fabrics have really come a long way in colour, texture and variety. The chartreuse one next to it also came from the late 1990's.

The blocks as they were made, put up on the design wall.

Auditioning the borders - I decided on the mottled cream , same as the block background fabric. Felt that the dark red was too heavy.

The quilt top is finished now and ready for quilting. It took me 65 hours of sewing to finish the piecing... all those little six inch blocks and two inch triangles!
Look forward to seeing the finished quilt with its predecessor in a future post,

Ann.

Autumn

Autumn is my favourite season. When I lived in Melbourne, I used to love the smell of woodsmoke at twilight, and shuffling through huge drifts of crinkled brown and gold Elm leaves on the side - walk and in the Botanical Gardens, in my black suede pointy-toed boots!
I moved to the Tropics, living in Indonesia for two years, then Darwin in the Northern Territory. I didn't think I'd ever see autumn leaves again or smell the smoky crisp evening air.
But then I came to Maleny, and Autumn puts on a lovely show.
This year it's been particularly spectacular with the large Liquid Ambers scattered through the town and its gardens, more intensely coloured than any other year.
We went to some open gardens on the weekend and coloured leaves were everywhere.
There were gold and brown carpeting the ground thickly...

Red ones still clinging tenuously to trees...

and masses of flaming fed, gold and purple ones welcoming people to town in our park.

When I first moved to Maleny, I made a quilt called "Autumn at Last" ( which became my first Magazine commission in Quilters' Companion) I was so insired by the colours and the season.

And right now, I have just about finished a private commission for a Maple Leaf quilt from that same pattern. That will be my next post.
Keep warm in the chilly winter nights and mornings,

Ann.

Works in Progress

I've been playing around with some of the Moda pre-cut fabric range available from my website.
First I found an illustration in Tricia Guild's book, Pattern and pulled out a collection of fabrics from my stash to go with the Arcadia Jelly Roll I decided to use.

Then I looked up the Moda Bake Shop blog for free down- loadable patterns and I put together this braided rug looking top in the Arcadia range.

I am at present machine appliqueing some borders for this one.

The next one is made using a free cutting technique of my own and a Sultry Layer Cake. Still have some work to do, but I'm busy with the designing of the PNG workshop quilt...

Cats and Quilts...more

Time to introduce the king cat of the house. Isn't he handsome? This is my beautiful big boy cat, Dusty. He likes to sprawl across my work table, preferably on some work in progress. Here he is, gazing disdainfully at the camera as he leaves fur on the backing squares stacked ready to use on the backs of those large quilt blocks on the design wall behind him. He also likes to sleep in my big repurposed toy box of fabric scraps.
The quilt is finished now and Dusty's confused about where to recline for the moment.
Look out for the completed quilt in the next post!

Let me introduce myself...

Hi,
I'm Ann.
I'm a quilt maker and artist. I live in beautiful Maleny, Sunshine Coast Hinterland. In July 2008 I started up my own business, Quiltopia!Design, with a website... and now I'm learning about communicating on the internet.
I will be posting comments on quilting, events, inspiration and what inspires me on my blog. Especially inspiration.
I went to Fiji in 2007 and plan to hold a retreat at Plantation Island Resort http://www.plantationisland.com/ in 2009 - keep informed on that too.
Now I have to get back to making breakfast with my daughter (one of my greatest sources of inspiration!)