Visiting Local Quilt Exhibitions

This weekend, some three friends and I paid a visit to the Meander Quilters Guild exhibit at Howick, about 1 1/2 hours drive inland from where we live.
We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather and there weren't too many idiots on the road.

The venue was a hall at the local high school which looks out  south west across the Howick area. The guild did themselves proud with dozens of well executed quilts on a variety of themes.
Here is an example of one by Mary-Anne Smith

This forms part of a triptych, the rest of which can been seen on the Tollgate Quilters Guild Blog  

 www.tollgatequiltersguild.blogspot.com

This is adaption of a pattern by "Katie Lane Quilts".













After this exhibition, we paid a visit to the Church of the Vow complex in Pietermaritzburg where an exhibition of quilts with an architectural theme was held.It was unfortunate that when we arrived there, the person on the reception hadn't a clue about the exhibition.It was also a pity that there were no names on any of the quilts.

However,OUTSIDE the building we found piles of old parquet flooring stored against a wall and they made for some wonderful  photographs.

Here is one:

I just love the lines that these tiles produce,all piled up in a corner.












If you want to find out more about this museum complex go to  http://www.voortrekkermuseum.co.za

Growing like Topsy (3)

I've progressed a bit more than I thought but equally I have hit a snag.
Here is a photo of the latest progress and I have a concern about the top left hand corner of this quilt. I don't know whether to leave it as it is and rely on the quilting to break up the rather large expanse of charcoal or to insert thin lines of perhaps the dark blue from lower down in the quilt? Or should I just leave well alone? Comments, please!

New Pattern

The pattern is now finished -and the customer is holding off until next  year so here is a sneak preview until I can get it up on my website.

Its s-o-o-o easy to make and only takes 1 colour family roll and 1.25 meters of back ground fabric. I rather like the format so I might design another quilt with different subject matter.

Growing like Topsy

In between working on "Topsy" I've been designing a new pattern for my website- but can't publish the thing until I've heard from a client who would like to use the pattern for a mystery quilt first.

This afternoon was the first time in a week, I have had the time to concentrate on "Topsy" and its growing apace again. I have almost finished the left hand side of the quilt -barring a few more strips and then I will start on the bottom right hand corner. This is the area where I want to use Alicia Merett's method of making squares.

I dug out the camera and took some more photos.  Here is what "Topsy" looks like now.

Comments anyone?

Arctic Circle Photos

I was looking through my Arctic Circle photos this morning and came across this photo of husky pups at a settlement in Greenland. They are seriously cute at this age and run free until they are about  9 months old - at which point they are chained up along with the older dogs and they begin their training as sledding dogs.

Growing Like Topsy (2)

I've had time to work on my "Topsy " quilt in the last couple of weeks and this is what it looks like now.

I've still one long vertical section to do, one horizontal section across the bottom and another squarish section in the bottom right hand corner.

I was at a bit of a loss as to want to do with that bottom right hand corner until a friend reminded me of Alicia Merrett's video on You Tube.
  Here is the link to this video:


You might want to take a look at Alicia's webpage as well.
www.aliciamerrett.co.uk







 

Growing like Topsy

I started this quilt last weekend,based on a plan I had devised about two months earlier.

I started with the central section and it was only after I had completed the section on the right hand side that I realised that this was NOT a small quilt! What is interesting to me about this right hand section is that I think it could stand on its own as a quilt.

I have no idea where this quilt is going at the moment- except that its growing-and right now the quilting of this thing is becomming ever more daunting.

The piece underneath this quilt has been on hold for about 6 months. I have the general idea but got bogged down in other work and its proving difficult to get back to.
Normally my quilts are a lot smaller than this and this one might just be the one to make it to the World Quilt Competition next year.I am pretty sure it will be big enough.

Confidence

                                                This little guy was sitting in a bush in the middle of a

                                                 busy  shopping centre, filled with tourists.I was amazed at the detail my camera picked up.I am sure there are elements for quilt in somewhere in this photo.



Finishing quilts

This last week has been spent finishing off the bindings on a number of pieces. I no longer bind my wall quilts but face them instead. It gives a far more professional finish and they look like the art pieces they are supposed to be instead of quasi quilts.

I've set myself a target of completing all the unfinished work before I tackle anything new. Boring but necessary.Another two to go and then I can start to play again.

In the pipeline for the near future is the testing of two new patterns for the business and then I want to create an African American inspired quilt for teaching purposes. There are far too many people here doing the paint by numbers bit and,g-d- its BORING!There is very little really good design going on- or I am not seeing it.Surely we can do better than this?

Resurrection

I haven't posted on this blog very often- mainly because it was a bit of a schlepp and I have other things to do.

I had another look  at  the new templates and the editing features and I must say I am impressed. Even an idiot like me can play around with my blog sufficiently to change it for the better.

Maybe I'll post a bit more often. I'll see.

I wish that there were more South AFrican quilters blogging but it seems that is not to be.

Idiot Drivers

I went to see a friend today - around 1 and a half hours drive from where I live.
The visit was great  but getting there and back was a right royal pain in the posterior.

It was on the free way which was choked with long haul trucks moving at a snails pace and idiot drivers who had no idea of  what they were doing. For heaven's sakes, don't they get taught to anticipate? Its easy enough, look ahead and pay attention to the driver three cars ahead instead of trying to drive over the top of the car in front of you.

Internet Radio

I have just been given access to internet radio and I am in heaven! No more listening to the political b---llsh--t that our radio stations put out ad nauseaum, no more appallingly bad and repetitive music- and best of all, I CAN CHOOSE what I want to listen to! Classic? yum! Rock? yes, please. Popular music- as in my age group? Lovely!- and from anywhere in the world.  I have just found BBC Cumbria and York and knowing both areas, its great to listen to what is going on there.

Now to find a way to dump SABC 1,2 and 3 - and e-TV and M-Net with all their rubbish.

Now to get on with that quilt.

Frustration

What does one do when the hobby becomes a business and takes over ones life?

My dyeing was suppposed to be a side line to my work- that of making art quilts but after 15 years of dyeing fabric, I find that the work of making art quilts seems to be pushed further and further to the side. Advertising samples have to be made, patterns created , sales targets pushed higer and higher and I now have the responsibility of making sure that two workers are keep busy and fulfilled and that the work continues to flow in.

I have so many ideas for quilts that I would like to  realise but I know that they will probably remain ideas. And the frustration grows.

Winter on the Horizon- at last!

It's finally gotten cooler as the first real front of the winter season is passing through.
We haven't seen any rain but my friend in Swellendam says that the mountain outside town has a dusting of snow.

We have clear skies and a cold wind blowing here and I am energised again. I hate the hot weather with a passion as I can't think or work properly - and its got worse since I went to Antarctica.I didnt think that two weeks in that place would make a difference but it has.

I even have a new idea for a tote bag class and will have fun making the sample. It will be called " Weed Wacker Tote Bag" just for fun.

Telkom woes

I have given up trying to do just about anything on this blog or even try to surf the net as our esteemed telecommunications company- Telkom- just cannot get it right. Sometimes we have fantastic speed and other times, its worses than the Death March.

Its pretty obvious that they have got rid of all the really good workers ( the ones who actually got off their posteriors ) and we are now sitting with the sick, lame and lazy.

Winter's End

 Winters End ( 50 cm X 75 cm) came about as a result of a trip through the Eastern Free State literally at the end of winter, just before the first spring rains. The Earth was bone dry and the grass not much better off. This is my interpretation of that time.

Close up of the Winters End quilting.The one thing that contributed the most to the success of this piece was the use of acrylic felt as batting. It quilted easily and did not "puff up" the quilt and contributed to the texture of the piece without overwhelming it.

                                                   

New Work

Its been difficult to settle down and produce new work- mainly because I am so busy in my other job of running a hand dyeing business. Hand dyes are not exactly top of the pops in the South African quilting scene- especially locally produced hand dyes. If it comes from the States- even though the fabric is made and printed in China or other Far Eastern countries, for some people, it has to be better than local. Funny thing is that I have American and European customers who can't get enough of my fabric.

Be that as it may, I managed to produce a couple of small pieces:The one above is Desert Pan.

Here is Earth Warming:

This was in response to all the discussion about global warming. Is it or isn't it? Some scientists reckon that is the lull before a new ice age but no-one really knows.

Rain in the City was in response to the moans and groans in a guild where the challenge was to use greys.

When I started this quilt I couldn't stop and it just sort of "flowed".

I was very happy with the result.

This is a detail of some of the stitching.

Antarctica 2007

December 2007 was the time we took to go to Antarctica.

Two years later I am still trying to process what I saw and felt on that continent and get it into some kind of workable art - and not succeeding too well. Lots of staring at the photographs I took and lots of sketches later, I am still no nearer to getting a piece that means anything.

Antarctica had a huge effect on me and I would go back tomorrow if I could.From what I understand from others who have been to Antarctica, it seems to have the same sort of effect on them. If nothing else, the place is so vast and so-o-o- quiet, that it cuts one down to size very smartly. Its incredibly beautiful, very scary, challenging and almost impossible to describe if you haven't been there.

Your perception changes, your ideas about light and colour change as do your ideas about who you are and where you fit in the scheme of things. I believe that every polititian - especially those with over inflated egos- should be forced to spend a couple of weeks in that environment.

Scale and distance are deceptive and you don't have the reference points you would have in other parts of the world. You are surrounded by the most incredible pristine white, deep blues and greens, turquoise and jade along with violets, purples and lavenders. Its another world- almost alien

While on board the ship, I learned a lot about Antartctic art which deserves considerable study- except that there isnt much information about it in South Africa. Alan Campbell of the U.S.A. , Jenni Mitchell of Australia,Sue Lovegrove from Australia,Scott Hanson fron U.S.A.are all artists who have benefitted from their country's "Art in Antarctica" projects. Unfortunately, South Africa does not have a similar program.

Resurrection

It's been a while(like YEARS) since I last posted on this blog and I thought it might be worth resurrecting. Since I last posted we have been to Antarctica, mind blowing!) Norway and Sweden, twice to the U.K. and we have travelled around South Africa.

I now have a website www.amafu.co.za with LOTs of quilt photos and most of my concentration has been on that.

May be I'll post some photos from our travels a bit later.

Cloud Nine Quilt Group and the Optical Illusions Travelling Exhibition

Cloud Nine Quilt Group : Putting up the Optical Illusions Quilt Exhibition for Natal Quilters Guild.


In our wisdom / ignorance(?) the members of the Cloud Nine quilt Group decided to spend the March meeting putting up the Optical Illusions Traveling Quilt Exhibition for the Natal Quilters Guild at the Alliance Francaise in Durban.


To say that it was entertaining was not the least of it!

Although we had all exhibited at various Quilt shows and exhibitions, hanging an exhibition was a first for all of us and it kept us pretty busy for most of the afternoon- including lunch at a great little coffee shop we found.

This was how the quilts were initially placed but by the end of the afternoon we had played musical chairs with them and eventually came up with a pleasing presentation with the help of an experienced quilt exhibition hanger- Colleen Roberts.

Hanging Hanging the quilts was a challenge for us- mainly because this is a travelling exhibition and although we had quilt sizes, we had never seen the quilts before and it was difficult to plan anything before hand.











Its amazing how much discussion it took to get the exhibition hung properly and what you see in these photographs bears no resemblance to the final order.








It does help when there are a couple of tall people around to help with the lights!



















The opening was intimate and involved quaffing a qualtity of wine and much concentration by the guests on the quilts.