Catching up with paperwork and future classes

Every now and then I feel overwhelmed with paperwork. I feel like I get less and less made and spend more and more time sending off CV's, sending photos, sending needs lists and arranging dates for classes. Today I am catching up with all that stuff at once rather than spreading it out. So in all likelihood I will send the needs lists for Quilter Lane in Masterton to Christchurch and the needs list for Kapiti Quilters to the lawyer, while the lawyer will get an article on the Aotearoa Quilters show in Rotorua instead of the tax return from my mothers estate.

I have updated my booked classes list (see the right hand side of my blog) to show some new classes. It seems that Sashiko is the new black. Everyone wants Sashiko so I'm teaching it in three places around the Wellington region this year. Some groups may have spaces for non-members. Its a good class to take because you don't have to lug a sewing machine around if you don't want to.

The first class is  Wellington Quilters Solstice Weekend in Karori Arts and Crafts society rooms.
26th June. I also have a machine quilting class (Quilt Doodling) on the 25th. I know there are a few spaces so let me know and I will pass on the details of the organiser. It costs $20 for members and $40 for non-members.

Coastal Quilters has booked a sashiko class for 2nd July

Kapiti Quilters for the 6th of August.

I might have to make more class samples as they need to be in three places at once. In these classes you can stitch by hand or machine depending on what you prefer.

 
In January I've been invited to teach Indigo Dyeing and Shibori at the Lower Hutt Arts Society Summer School.

Indigo dyed fabrics from my class at Quilt Symposium 2015

This should be fun as indigo and warm weather go nicely together. More information and enrolment forms should go up on the website in the next few weeks.

I have also been invited to teach bookmaking at the Embroiderers Great Escape in Auckland from 24-26th of March next year. Since I'm going to be up in Auckland anyway,  I could move on to teach somewhere else in the North and make a bit of a holiday of it in between 'gigs'. Any suggestions? Its still lovely and warm in March for organic indigo dyeing.

Indigo turning from green to blue

Indigo fabrics changing to blue

Ta da!

The New Zealand Quilt Symposium 2017

At last I can let people know that I will be teaching at the next NZ Symposium in Christchurch 

http://quiltsymposium2017.org.nz

I have 5 separate one day classes. 

Hope to see some of you there.

Aotearoa quilters flight challenge

 

I'm In Rotorua where Aotearoa Quilters exhibition , The Great New Zealand Quilt Show is on at the events Centre until tomorrow.

My quilt was accepted as one of 20 quilts in the Flight Challenge exhibition. I thought I would I might talk about how this quilt was made and how accidents change how a quilt ends up.

The green fabric was hand painted and screen printed by me many years ago. This was the last bit left and it wasn't really big enough so is pieced together from scraps. The join is under the point of the tablecloth. The tablecloth was in my airing cupboard so I either found it at an op shop or it's a family heirloom ( oops!)

I took a photo of a willow pattern plate I own, the willow pattern design is hundreds of years old so I felt it would be long out of copyright and therefore ok to use. I reversed the image and had it transferred onto the centre of the tablecloth but didn't get the plate at the right angle so had to cut it out and reapplique it into the middle. Unfortunately that meant that the hole in the centre was bigger than the plate being appliquéd so the doily under the plate hides the gap.

I machine quilted the top before adding the sparrows. I used a feather quilting stencil to mark the pattern for the plate shapes, I'd never tried to follow a drawn pattern using machine quilting before. Usually I just machine quilt freestyle.

I threw bits of lamington ( a New Zealand style of coconut and jelly covered sponge cake) and bread on the driveway and took loads of photos of sparrows using a telephoto lens by hiding in my garage with the roller door nearly closed. It's really hard to take photos of sparrows- they move so fast and having 2 cats probably makes them jittery.

I used the photos to draw sparrows and then made them In fabric and machine embroidered on top before attaching them

To the quilt.

Finally I added watch parts to the sparrows to give them a Steam Punk look. I was challenged to use the watch parts by Debby Williams. I'm

Looking forwarded to seeing what she does with her set.

Anyway that's the story of the steampunk sparrows quilt.