In my previous post I mentioned I was planning to make one of two table top installation 3D works for the solo exhibition of my recent fibreart in January ’26. In the last few days I’ve started, they’re easy and fun to do, and mine will eventually be embellished with stitch, possibly glass beads and other materials, perhaps even pearlescent sequins, depending on how those auditions go !

There are plenty of demos and ideas on these things – just google – here’s a really cute one – and another with a very clear simple description – giving all you need to know about making yo-yo’s, which in my view are not really “puffs” until they’ve actually been stuffed with something.

Someone recently asked me where I buy my fabrics. I’m sure she expected me to say I bring them in from Australia or the USA… but import duties are very high, and of three orders I made several years back, only one shipment actually arrived…. so apart from when I’m travelling ‘outside’ as they say here, I’ve found the best, most reliable sources for me are right here in Uruguay. My fabric rules are:

• I don’t keep a large stash.
• I buy something I love when I see it.
• more and more I work with basic colours (which never date)
• to create my art I will sew anything I can get a needle into.
• and sew with any thread I can get into that needle.
• I usually buy new, but also grab recycled fabrics from worn garments or household linens.

Beads – about 15 years ago in Egypt I visited a glassblower’s studio, and in addition to buying some small interesting vessels for some reason I felt it absolutely necessary to purchase about half a supermarket bag of glass beads 🙂 OMG, it must have been the heat. Mike and I needed to buy two additional large suitcases to pack in all the stuff we bought in Egypt (which in fairness did include two 2m x 2m tentmaker wall hangings– large and heavy) However, not one bead do I regret. Years ago I made a bead necklace and wore it once, but it was way too heavy to wear for more than a couple of hours and I think I must have given it to someone. Anyway – I have plenty to use as weights within most of these forms to give them some heft that feels appropriate to the size. I’ll also stabilise it with some velcro while it’s on its plinth.

Thread – Even if you always use cotton thread to sew with, in this case I recommend the strongest polyester machine sewing thread you can find – or an upholsterer’s thread, so it can be firmly pulled and fastened off without breaking. Unless you plan to show the gathered area on the front (2D) or top side (3D), the colour of that thread is irrelevant.

Stuffing – this is a great recycling or repurposing activity, too, as I’ve always saved offcuts of both fabric and batting/guata, and more than once have found just what I needed to add to a piece when I was just a little short. At this rate the “batting bits” storage box will soon be empty! However, I also have 3 large bags of small fabric scraps from my many pieced works.

As in the pic illustrating my previous post, I mentioned that embellishments would be easier before stitching all the units together – so I’ll be working on that next.

Courtesy of the Intendencia of Maldonado which runs the Casa de le Cultura, (cultural centre) I’ve been offered one of the gallery exhibition spaces for next January, with the opening on Jan 2nd. I knew it ‘had been a while’, but when I checked I was a bit shocked that this will be my first solo in Uruguay since May 2009 – way too long.

I’d been to the centre once before, on the opening night of the first exhibition of Glass+Textile art, in which I had a piece. The organisers have made it an annual event, and the third exhibition of glass+textile art will be held at the Casa de la Culture in February of next year. (the conditions of the call have been published, the size is a little larger, 2D, max.25cm, and I’m already working on an entry) Last week I went to Maldonado to meet Ana, the gallery director, and was shown two spaces, both the same. On the day I went there, both rooms were occupied with classes so I couldn’t enter to take linear measurements, but I took a couple of photos through the glass panelled door, which was enough to give me a good idea of how to approach shortening my list of possible works and bring a better focus to the collection.

I initially thought I wouldn’t need to make any new work at all, and while that is true for my 2D wall hanging works – tapices, wall hangings, art quilts – I’m currently enamoured with 3D, too, and now know that the centre supplies the plinths I’d need for some soft sculptures; so I plan to make at least one and probably two table-top pieces featuring embellished stuffed suffolk puffs – (try repeating that phrase fast!)

They grow quite quickly, and learning from the one I’ve been making these past couple of weeks, I’ve realised construction will be faster and easier if I make them larger, and embellish them before I assemble them!

As the annual Studio Art Quilt Associates benefit auction begins later this month, on Friday 12th September, I’m continuing this series of posts about the membership advantages that I particularly value from among the wide range of resources offered by this organisation. In today’s post I focus on exhibition opportunities for artist members, because a big portion of the SAQA’s budget is taken by exhibition costs which include documentation, catalogues, gallery costs and transportation costs of the travelling exhibitions. Members pay entry fees, of course, but these are only a small portion of the overall costs.

Since the formation of SAQA in 1989, the core mission of has been to publicise the art form of the quilted textile, and one of the main ways the organisation does this is through the exhibition programs for members. As a result of this history of SAQA art quilt exhibitions, today, a portion of memberships are maintained by some gallery and museum directors and other patrons of the arts in addition to those of currently practising textile artists and traditional quiltmakers looking to explore traditional quilt making.

SAQA members come from many different backgrounds. Some have had formal art education, and many (like myself) have not, but we all are looking for self expression through making quilted textile art, and at some point for various reasons, artists look for avenues to show their art to the world in art via galleries, art fairs, group and solo exhibitions. Many of us find these opportunities long before we become SAQA members; but to a novice art quilt maker, taking this step for the fist time can be intimidating. Wherever members are on the experience spectrum, it is likely that at least occasionally most of us will take advantage of an opportunity to exhibit in a juried SAQA exhibition of some kind – because there are several avenues:

• Virtual online curated exhibitions – I have work in https://www.saqa.com/art/online-galleries/drawn-lines-saqa-virtual-gallery and https://www.saqa.com/art/online-galleries/below-surface-saqa-virtual-gallery
• Regional group exhibitions – https://www.saqa.com/art/saqa-exhibitions/regional-exhibitions these depend on activity in members’ different regions – I’m the Latin American and Caribbean region and an exhibition is being organised for 2026 in this region.
• Global exhibitions which start somewhere in the USA and travel to appear in gallery, museum and high profile quilt show venues for between 2-3 years.

The SAQA website https://www.saqa.com has a great deal of information, guidance and tips on the business of exhibiting, including approaching galleries and submitting applications, the essentials of good photography, writing appropriate statements, and the business side of handling pricing, publicity and sales.

Complete information about the upcoming SAQA Benefit Auction including how to bid – it’s all online, from anywere in the world, and you do not need to be a member of SAQA to take part! All works on offer can now be viewed at the above link. The auction opens with Diamond Day on Friday, September 12 at 2pm EDT (GMT/UTC-4, New York Time). On Diamond Day, any piece is available for $1,000; the first bidder wins. The rest of this reverse-price auction is divided into three sections, with a new section open each Monday:

Section 1: Sept 15 – Sept 21
Section 2: Sept 22 – Sept 28
Section 3: Sept 29 – Oct 5

The annual benefit auction begins later this month, so I’m posting on several membership advantages that I’ve particularly valued from among the wide range of resources offered by this organisation. One special interest group is the Multi-Day Challenge SIG

I’ve been designing and making textile/fiberart for many years, and only rarely am I stumped with absolutely no idea of what I’ll do next, and only occasionally get stuck mid project. Back in the late 80s, though, I found it very helpful to join a group of quilters who were experimenting beyond traditional geometric P&Q, and moving into more personally inspired textile art. That group, Quilt Explorations, met monthly to accept the next challenge offered by one of our 15 or so members, and show and critique what we’d all done with the previous month’s challenge. By 1993, when we left town, Q.E. had turned into a critique group only, as most members were now following our own inspiration paths and didn’t need prompts provided by someone else’s challenge to create our art.

Today, with this post in mind, I googled “quilting challenges” and about 3rd or 4th down the page I found this an interesting blog, Online Quilting Magazine.com and read the article about challenges which includes this succinct summary of the whole challenge thing – “Joining a quilting challenge can be a fantastic way to hone your skills, gain new techniques and have fun with others who share your passion for quilting. As with any challenge, the main goal is to encourage you to try new things and branch out from your normal routine.”

SAQA runs at least two challenges a year. During the pandemic, 2021, with heaps more unstructured time at home than I was used to having, I realised this was a gift of time to explore new things in textile fibreart. In addition to joining StitchClub, later that year I took part in the 100 day SAQA Reboot Challenge. In 2019 I’d taken part for a while in a 30 day one, but got distracted and didn’t stay the course. However, with so much time it was easy to keep to my plan for 100 days. SAQA’s challenges are individual – the participant sets their own agenda, does at least something on it every day, and posts about it on that day’s album on the challenge’s private FB page. Part of participating is giving helpful or encouraging comments to others for what they’re doing. Over the course of those 100 days I made 100 x 3.25inch square mounted samples, and blogged several times about how I was doing, using the title “Very Small Pieces” https://www.alisonschwabe.com/weblog/?p=6891 through to “Very Small Pieces,#14” https://www.alisonschwabe.com/weblog/?p=7096 and the final one, “After the 100 Day Thing” showing some favourites from the 100! https://www.alisonschwabe.com/weblog/?p=7124

Handled by volunteer coodinators, such challenges use little of SAQA’s financial resources, but they do rely on the efficient ever-ready technical backup and support of the several salaried SAQA staff – my thanks to you all! @saqaart