Mirrors @ Ipswich Art Gallery

At last! After 7 weeks of renovation the Ipswich Regional Art gallery has reopened and includes the latest offering from Jeannie Baker. Mirrors is just exquisite - and worth the trip about 50 minutes west of Brisbane. The stairs are well worth the climb to a "pool fence" security gate where little people can indulge in collage activities and create their own version of the "journey".  My favourite collage ... impossible to say. I'll be visiting regularly ... it was simply too much to take in with one visit. Mirrors is free to access  - hope to see you there.

SAQA Benefit Auction 2011

Sunset Wheat 2011 by Katharina Litchman is just one of the gorgeous 12 x 12 art quilts available this September in the SAQA annual benefit auction. There are more than 300 donated art quilts forming part of the auction - have a look at the above link and simply click on the relevant page (1a, 2b etc) for some inpirational small pieces. I'm lucky enough to have my donated piece on Page 2a - it's a real privilege to be in such artistic company!

Here is Sue Dennis's contribution from her Colour Patch Series - Orange and White #2
and lastly ...  another beautiful quilt from Linda Robertus entitled Balance 3.

Destination USA by Sue Dennis

Only one more sleep until Destination USA opens at Gallery 159 - Sue Dennis' solo exhibition from her trip to the US, and particularly Texas, where she spent three weeks as an artist in residence. The exhibition (for those of us lucky enough to live in or around Brisbane, Qld) will launch at 3pm tomorrow (Saturday) at Gallery 159, which coincidentally is at 159 Payne Road Ashgrove.  Here's a sneak peek at "Rusty" - one of my very favourite art quilts by Sue - I cannot look at it without remembering my Pa ... who would have been 103 on July 4. and so many of Sue's art quilts and textile art evoke strong reactions and responses from me. Congratulations Sue and bring on tomorrow!


Update: and here we were at the openeing - Mel, me, Paul, Suzanne and Sue!

Rivers of Gold

I spent much of this weekend pottering around in the sewing room / studio. This is the fabric I printed at Ankie's a few weeks ago - lots of finger painting on glass in black and gold. Stitched it all together last evening (sans shiraz) and today I finished it with a lustrous Japanese gold metallic ribbon (see close up). The quilt reminds me of the canyon at the Rio Grand in New Mexico - and so Rivers of Gold it is.  A productive evening by the fire stitching down the binding and remembering the places that inspire my textile and quilt making. Time for bed, said Zebedee (apologies to The Magic Roundabout).

Cultiver Opens in Ipswich - and you're invited to the party

Cultiver is a great new store that opened this week in Ipswich.  Perhaps it's not quite a "store" in the traditional sense of the word. Cultiver is a place. It's space for handcrafted items and their creators. There is studio space for teaching, and space for goods to be showcased or placed on consignment. It is a terrific concept and I can't wait to get back to work next week so I can have a rest in the lounge with my cuppa.  The focus is on locally sourced and produced items. Congratulations to Kyla and Bec for a great concept - and can't wait to be at the opening. If anyone is interested in attending, please let Kyla or Bec know via email

Finding myself ...

Progress is being made. I started to think about "found objects". It could be argued that 9pm and a glass of wine in hand may not be the best time to start a project. However, I have been looking at some "nests" made by Little Sister for our upcoming exhibition and how she had used old sewing patterns to great effect. The base fabric loosely represents part of a jacket pattern and my "Found Objects'  stamped fabric has been torn into strips and "rewoven" into the new me. The creative me. The textile arty me. In amongst the found objects, I have  a sense that I found myself.  No more peeks now until the big reveal @ 2QAQ. 

Found objects challenge

Those wonderful bits and pieces from one of WMBM's sheds got a new life this morning as they became stamps for a piece of cloth that will become my response to the 2QAQ Challenge - Found Objects. I especially loved the crushed bottle cap I found at the Wellers Hill Bowls Club at the last 2QAQ meeting - I stood on it getting into the car and had a thought. I also like the padlock and pipe pieces. While I was playing, I printed 6 or so pieces of cloth from a sheet of glass - a great size at 600mm  x 600mm - and I can tape off a section in need to make a smaller printing area.  I've placed the dyed fabric pieces between layers of plastic sheeting to let them rest and keep wet for as long as possible. Tomorrow they'll get a good wash then be left to "batch" for another 24 hours to finish the dyeing process.  The other man in my life, Clancy, was a bit too keen to help out in the wet area. At nearly 60 kg (about 130 pounds), he's too cumbersome to be on the loose when I'm dyeing. He was nearly a different shade of burnt orange.

This is the blender ...

This must be the ultimate in repurposing in appliances. Ode to Mum and apologies to Jack.

This is the blender that Mum bought.
This is the gift given to Ali of the blender that Mum bought.
This is the masher that pureed paper mache - the gift given to Ali of the blender that Mum bought.
This is the chomper that crushed many ice cubes and pureed paper mache -  the gift given to Ali of the blender that Mum bought.
This is the blender that sluiced lime and tequilla over countless shaved icecubes and made magaritas after that faze of paper mache - the gift given to Ali of the blender that Mum bought.
This is the creator of chemical water with sodium alginate that once sluiced lime and tequilla over countless shaved icecubes and made margaritas after that short-lived moment of paper mache - the gift given to Ali of the blender that Mum bought.
This is a product commonly known as Manutex - ready for some MX dye and some fun. Woooo hoooo.
*and I do mean fazed by paper mache, it was just a short  phase.

Life's like that and then some

I got my first issue of  FiberARTS magazine this week .... to find out it is the very last issue, ever.  I've heard through the SAQA discussion board that this is a wonderful textile and art quilt must-have magazine ... which  has decided to shut down due to what appears to be a lack of subscriptions / sales. I'm going to read it from cover-to-cover. How many people get the very last issue as their very first issue - I feel quite special.

At the 2QAQ meeting last Saturday I found this fantastic book ... and oldie and a goodie ... I think it might have come from Sue Dennis ... I can remember the event that was and is Jinny B from  the late 1980's and how much I wanted a metre of every piece of fabric but instead learned heaps about scale, size, tone and so much more just by fondling the bolts in Ruth Stoneley's shop.
Lastly, I cut a piece of A4 sized fabric from the Waitangi rubbing piece - the gold shiva has a rather aged look about it - so I decided to print the photo version with the help of some freezer paper (and a little extra contrast and sharpness). The piece will sit on the quilt top in the vicinity of the rubbing. I may repeat this a few times, depending on how the fabric responds to this extra treatment. That it an exercise for tomorrow ... when I will likely go into procrastinate mode because I have an assignment due and even the ironing  basket is looking attractive.