Rainy days and quilting

It is most unfortunate that the last two days have been ... drizzle and rain. Oh dear. Today is not looking any better. There's nothing for it but to relocate to the studio/sewing room and ... sew and quilt and maybe pull everything out of the cupboards and re-sort the stash. Maxine sent me a quilt top comprised of hand-dyed fabrics that I've almost finished quilting. Inspired by Lesley Boston's work in her fantasy medieval quilt, I've stylised one of Lesley's drawings of a tree and used that as the basis for the machine quilting of Maxine's top. 

Sumptuous velvet and organza

While at the Gold Coast's CraftFest last weekend I picked up some gorgeous hand-dyed products at Morris and Sons - these were from Robyn and Peter Alexander who are Colourstreams. They specialise in hand dyed silk, embroidery threads and the like. So I had a play with the silk/rayon velvet and blanket stitched it to some equally lovely felt (also from Morris and Sons). The felt is just beautiful - made in Australia and is totally worth the extra expense for the quality and feel ... I couldn't resist getting out the embroidery threads and having a play.

Dreams Debris I - more detail

Here are some close-ups of the quilting and embellishment in Dreams Debris I. I've used various threads and lots of running stitch to highlight the rivers, and two different tide lines, or water lines that occur in the Gulf. Some denim "snip outs" form the main line of debris - and are also folded into quarters (no easy task!) and used elsewhere in the quilt to represent dreams and hopes that escape, that have a chance of fruition. Below the water line are the fossils and things archaic - using the polypropylene washers that were blanket stitched into place - they are the things almost lost, and not always visible.

Dreams Debris I

Well I'm about 20 posts behind in my New Years' Resolution ... and over that. Here's the latest in the art quilt area - Dreams Debris will be a series of art quilts. This is the first. My trips to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Mount Isa and Mornington Island are a big influence on the current direction of my work. DD1 incorporates "rubbish" such as the polypropylene washers from building screws, to snipped out bits of denim and other fabrics from the reverse of one of Meredith's quilts.