Fair Warning

My interests are travel, photography, art history, culture and textiles.  This order of preference can vary on any given day depending on mood, weather, star alignment and interest - amongst other things.  My ramblings are not academic materials just a record for me, in some semblance of order, of our trips away; the things I've seen and done that have, as they say, expanded my world view. 

As I must have dozed off a lot in class, travelling has inspired me to do a little “research” to aid and inform my expeditions.  This means including a bit of background detail, a timeline of important events and finally an “itinerary” of the places and/or monuments we specifically visited.  Also, I will try to include interesting links, references and articles that I have “unearthed” over the years.  I will  try not to digress (well, too much anyway). 

This is a photo of me in Malaya with my friend and neighbour, Shane Holt, so it's not too hard to understand why the travel bug bit me - hard.

Testing Chaos Theory

Well, the kitchen's really gone now...

Last year we decided to forge on ahead with the last 1/3 of our cosmetic renovations.  That meant lounge, dining & kitchen.  All that stuff is now strewn around the rest of the house which we swear has given us a serious list towards the west.  

Mr DIY is nearing the end of laying a brushbox floor and has offered to do my garden shed with the left overs.  Too right! 

The thing is of course, that the shed has to be emptied out.  I am now trying to move rather too “many” boxes of fabric stash, habby, dyeing equipment, silkscreens and picture frames into the house.  Not to mention the odd few sewing machines.  Just where does it all come from?  The other difficulty is trying to make it all look less than it really is…..as you would!  I keep pointing at the frames saying, “They’ll be on the wall soon.”  As if!!  The reality is however, that it could be another month or more before I get to do some sewing or hang pictures.  Sew, what to do?

The answer I’ve decided rests in the many old reference materials that I’ve brought in from my garden shed.  You know, the lot that you might need someday…  As a consequence, I’ve revisited my blog terms of reference to include a couple of additional goals.  It will continue to be a log of one quilter’s progress - that is, mine.  However to add a bit of depth, I plan to include:

a.   Significant influences – those ah-ha moments that set you off exploring down another path.  For some time I’ve read “The Books that Changed Me” in the Sunday paper.  Interesting choices.  What would I choose in my list?  Better yet, what were the occasions that changed my quilting life?

b.   A bit of Art History.  Groan.  Well maybe not all of it.  I’ve kept years (and years) of notes thinking they would come in handy and as we plan to do a bit of touring Europe, I can reacquaint myself with what’s to see and do.  A sort of a Grand Tour inspired to some degree by the indefatigable Sister Wendy and Kevin McCloud.  Only I’ll add my photos as I take them and use words from my notes.  Don’t worry, they’re descriptive and fairly simple.  We weren’t taught to think for ourselves way back then.  My teacher in year 11 described herself (a lot) as “Rubenesque”.  It’s the only thing I remember, except for thinking that that wasn’t much to live up too.

(For anyone wondering where all this is going, be assured that where possible some reference will be made to (serious) resources, including books – remember them?  Main texts used over 7 years of schooling/college were Gardener’s Art through the Ages 1964, Herbert Read’s The Meaning of Art 1931, and Carl Roebuck’s The World of Ancient Times 1966.  College it seems, was slow death by a flood of slides.  A lot of the notes we were given were roneod, a method of copying first introduced in 1906 and still being used in the 70’s.  Remember that smell of metho in the classroom?) 

Why are we waiting?

I had thought this was going to be easy.  A simple assembly of the quilts I’ve made over the years. HA!  I should have known better.  One question leads to another and in a way I feel as if I’ve joined the ranks of the “family history” fraternity.  So, let the recipe (so far) begin:

1. Sort and measure all quilts/wall hangings at home. Try to remember technical details and pattern sources, so get lost in my books again!
2. Sort all workshop notes & patterns into chronological order.  Maybe doing this in front of the TV wasn’t such a good idea.  Now what’s missing?  Ask the girls – blank stares (of the “who really cares” variety).
3. Remember (well try) to list those given away; made by me or as part of a group.
4. Start looking for photos.  Damn – their nearly all pre-digital.  Wow, have I been quilting for that long?….  Box them up until I find the perfect scanner.  Meanwhile get lost in all the old family photos (pre-digital too!).  I’m found late at night under the stairs, with a glass of red, lost in memories… Ooops, beans on toast for dinner. Again!
5. Buy the perfect scanner, now covered in dust, still waiting to be used.  Still haven’t finished sorting photos.  Unfortunate side effect – rapidly reducing wine cellar - but I’ve got a happy glow. 
6. Now, which ones did I exhibit?  What, when & where…. Oh, this is all too much!
7. Add all ingredients, knead well and pour into an excel spreadsheet.  Dust with a little colour (to keep your eyes open and brain on fire).  We’re not anywhere near finished yet!!

I am consoled by this: 

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination."  Don Williams Jr. (poet)

The picture to the left is a sarong kebaya, a form of Malaysian dress.

Humble Beginnings

This blog will be dedicated to my quilting life.  I love making quilts: bed quilts, wall quilts, lap quilts, gift quilts and art quilts to mention but a few.  Where to start and what to share?  From the beginning of course!

My mother had sewn my clothes.  I had sewn my clothes.  I had also served time in my grandmother’s sewing room – wide enough for a single bed and a small desk with a sewing machine.  High shelves were loaded with many “things” in the making….dolls, aprons, bottle covers, bags and soft toys.  Her cranky sewing machine loved a challenge and zapped me at every opportunity.  I quickly learned to wear rubber shoes and not touch any metal bits.  When my mother offered to buy me a new machine, I did not turn her down!  We found a lovely blue top Elna at Chermside shopping centre.

The fabric thing stuck with me though.  I began collecting…..   A trip to Bali in 1976 opened my eyes to the magic of batik and wonders of exotic handmade textiles. 

After getting married, we took a trip in to South East Asia in 1980.  Our adventures just had to included a visit to Jim Thompson’s Silk store in Bangkok. I was ecstatic!  I had my list ready – metres of rough raw silk for curtains (dark brown – what was I thinking!) and a selection of bright jewel-like colours for a bed cover I had seen in a McCalls Needlecraft magazine some years before.   

The curtains made it up and looked lavish in our modest Swedish pre-fab in rural Victoria but the quilt languished until we moved to Malaysia in 1983.  It was two wonderful years here that my love affair with sewing and cloth became apparent and where my personal textile tour really begins.

In Malaysia I was entranced by Indian Classic Dance too!