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Geelong Forum 2002: Workshop with Clare Plug

I finally found the time (and courage) to attend a Fibre Forum gathering. Exciting stuff for the average punter!   I had chosen to do a course with Clare Plug – one that didn’t necessarily result in yet another UFO. Well, we can all live in hope?  In fact, we could work on something already in progress that perhaps just needed a little kick start or new eyes to help it along. Yay!

Our class promo had promised us design exercises, group discussions and technique demonstrations to get us to “venture beyond our comfort zones”.  I have to say it did just that and encouraged us to think about what our “message” was.

From day one we started the process of collecting reference pieces – photos, drawings, samples etc.  From here on in we were asked to allow the creative process to take control of an idea – not to interfere (cerebrally) with it too much.  Finally, we looked at various options created by altering design, composition and borders.  Then, after being offered various coping strategies, we were on our own.

I really enjoyed the workshop and learned heaps.  I will say it took me almost until the end of those 5 days to “relax” and the project I took along to prep up stalled a little – my own fault as I kept overthinking and changing my mind. It remains in the UFO box but one day I hope to have a sudden inspiration and get on with it.

The material Clare gave us was interesting and her encouragement inspirational.  To this day I keep a resource book of design ideas.  Perhaps one day I will get round to making them instead of just drawing them!

(UFO Home #041 ) & photos to come.....eventually ; )

Here's a link to The Textile Blog post by John Hopper (2010) to read about Clare's work. 

Dyeing a Rainbow

Dyeing Workshop with Gail Simpson; 2002

This two day workshop, as part of the July 2002 Quilters Gathering at Mittagong, allowed me to play with dyes.  I have a fondness for Procion – it’s easy to use, not complicated to mix up and produces some wonderful colours on cotton fabrics. 

Even in the pot you can see differences

Gail Simpson, who produces her own range of hand-dyes, bravely led us on a colour discovery tour.  We spent the days mixing potions to produce rainbow ranges, cut vast lengths of fabric into sizes big enough to stuff into small take-away cups, and had fun adding salt or other resist materials to make our product more interesting.  Instead of chatting and relaxing after dinner, we spent our time gathered around washing machines rinsing (& salting) samples to ensure the dyes did not run. When dry, we packed them into plastic lunch-sized baggies to take home

It was a busy two days but we did come out of it with a large tub of our own hand-dyed fabrics – some conveniently packed into a rainbow assortment – and a ton of notes & samples that I later converted into a ready reference book. 

Great ideas - just waiting to be put to use!

Wools & Waggas

Embroiders Guild Project: 2002 

Having mentioned the Embroiders Guild, I need to add in a quilt that I had almost forgotten about.  Alison had brought some wool samples to one of our regular meetings in 2002 and suggested that we could use them to make a quilt to donate to the Guild in 2003 for a raffle.

Group Christmas Party at Bondi

A basic block using foundation crazy piecing adding embroidered detail into the woollen fabrics was voted in as a interesting take on the woolen wagga format.  Waggas were the recent “big thing” as Australia was discovering its own quilting history thanks to the research of Annette Gero and Margaret Rolfe.  The Rajah Quilt had been “discovered” in 1987 and its connections to convicts aboard the Rajah in 1841 on their way to Australia made known.  We were ripe for discovering our own heritage and Depression era waggas, made initially by men, were a popular source of inspiration.  There’s quite a bit of info out there that relates to the wagga story so I’ve added a few interesting links that you might care to follow.

I think we rather enjoyed putting together this quilt, reminiscing about times of “making do” and learning about past lives.  It was finished at our October Meeting in 2002.  Luckily I found a stray photo or two to remind me of it.

I'm guessing this was my block
with its minimal embroidery..

Egyptian Inspiration

Cairo Stars: 2002  (Started: 2000)

Cairo Stars - a quick fix & fun experiment

The colours for this quilt were inspired by a poster of Egyptian museum pieces – all ochres, turquoise and yellows.  It looked so exotic and I was up for something “completely different”.  I had also seen a star pattern I was interested in trying out, but in the end I was too lazy to draft it up so went with a less complicated design.  I chose two blocks – a simple 4 patch and a star from 1937 (in a Jinny Beyer book)  I hadn’t done much in the way of patchwork in 2000, so this was the perfect remedy.  Nice ‘n easy to piece and in only a few days I had a sunny, scrappy top. 

The top had a wide border area perfect for hand quilting and having been inspired by a course I had recently finished with Luixin Newman (Hand Quilting, 19/8/00),  I decided to continue my learning on this top.  As luck would have it, I found a rather nice pattern in a New Zealand Quilter Magazine (#38, 2001) and I was able to put Luixin’s expert tutelage to good use. Mind you, my stitches have a lot more “perfecting” to go before I’m capable of reproducing Luixin’s fine (really, really, tiny!) stitches.

I managed to cut and piece this quilt at Watsons Bay.  It was ready for quilting by 30/12/01 so despite a busy schedule I was able to progressively hand quilt it - cross-hatch the centre and a lovely fan for the border (a relaxing way to finish off a busy work day) at Kensington. 

The result isn't particularly "Egyptian", that was more about the inspiration for this design but it did make for a nice change of colours for me to tackle.  And there is always something so comforting & soft about a quilt that is hand quilted. 

A nice feather

Leftovers used in a quilt label

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 152 x 199cm
Block Sizes: 9.5”
Cut in: 2000
Pieced & Basted: Machine 2001
Quilted: Hand 2002
Quilt Type: Own Design
Quilt Finished: 2002
Exhibited: Dangar Island Australia Day 2010
Collection: Home# 039
Pattern Name: Indian Star1937 & a Simple Four Patch
Pattern Source: Jinny Beyer’s “The Quilters Album of Blocks & Borders” p46
Fabrics Purchased: A stash buster
Fabric Design: Prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Mountain Mist Poly Batt
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
This was a nice simple quilt – a rainy day special. Whilst I quite like the result and it certainly provided a perfect vehicle for practicing hand quilting, I’m not sure that it challenged me.  I began to ask myself whether I really needed to make more quilts if this was all I was going to achieve.  So, rumble, rumble, the wheels of change were set in motion.

Fairies in My Garden

Fairies in My Garden: 2002  (Started: 1999)

It's a pity the colours aren't "true" but I'm lucky to have this photo! 

I started a small wall quilt - my first as a grand-aunt - as a “birth sampler”.  I can remember doing some work on it when we visited the family on holidays in the Queenscliff Caravan Park one summer.  This very small wall hanging took a long time to finish with all the applique and extensive hand quilting; going small didn't seem to make a difference to the time it takes to finish a quilt!  

Not such a good photo (pre-digital) but at least the quilting is visible.

I found this cute Jo Samperi pattern in a 1998 Patchwork & Quilting magazine and it seemed perfect.  I already had some suitable fabrics but didn’t get the project finished for some years (during my time when I was on a mission to get the UFO box sorted, ha!). 

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 89x 89cm
Block Size: NA
Cut in: 1999
Pieced & Basted: Machine 1999
Quilted: Hand 2002
Quilt Type: Wall Quilt
Quilt Finished: 2002?
Exhibited:  No
Collection: Private
Pattern Name: Fairy Quilt (Jo Samperi)
Pattern Source: P&Q Magazine, 1998 p52
Fabrics Purchased: My collection
Fabric Design: Prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Thin Poly Batt
Backing: Cotton

This is what it should have looked like! (P&Q Mag 1998, p52)

Lessons Learned:
I had enough fabric to start a second of this quilt but it languishes in the UFO pile in my garden shed.  Maybe one day I’ll either get to it or start a variation - or something else.  Always waiting on inspiration to strike!  I am never good at repeating things – once done, I like to move on to something new and more challenging.