This morning I took in three works to Eduardo’s studio to be photographed. This first detail is from a 1999 work I called Bushfire 4, 150cmh x 200cmw. I’ve always had good photography done of my fibreart, but this one was on a 35mm slide the original of which is in storage, and the scan isn’t totally clear, so I took it in while I was having another couple taken. It’s been tucked away in a cupboard for a few years, and when I took it out I was amazed at how much work I put into this, the sewing machine must have been running red hot! Contrary to my belief, and often stated claim, I discovered there’s not a single hand stitch apart from sewing down the binding folded over to the back… not even in any of the many ditch lines between the blocks, or the 6 segments/block, or along the seamlines of the several inserted strips/block! It’s all machine stitched and machine quilted, and is a very typical piece of that era.

In this next detail, a landscape inspired work about which I blogged during construction.

As I spread this work out to show Eduardo’s assistant Nestor, it struck me that the only machine stitching in this work was that which attached the binding to the front before being folded back and hand stitched into place.

In other words, between these two works there’s been a gradual move from 100% machine stitched to 100% hand stitched… and hand stitched surface designs are typical of my current work.

I feel that the fine strands of blue-green algae floating in a pond or waving gently in a slowly flowing stream are very fine ‘landscape lines’ – because they would not exist in linear form outside of their watery environment. Lift them out of the water and they’re just a dripping blob with almost no volume. If you’ve ever gathered some of these strands in your hand you know how very fine and very soft they are, rather like wet hair, but much more fragile.

I have quantities of some lovely blue, green and citric green fabrics, including some large pieces left from the bedspread I made for our bed made several years ago. Then there are some more of what I call offcuts, and then there are many little bits, scraps, which I always save, down to my cutoff point of about 1″sq. Such tiny snippets are just too small to sew, but I discard them with some reluctance, anyway.

This morning I hauled out the scrap bags, and began putting together groups of fabrics into strips to make a larger version of “Spirogyra”, my 2024 SAQA Auction quilt:

Instead of black, the background of this new work will be a dark pondy, greenish, brownish hard-to-define-colour. I love those murky colours which tend to take on an extra richness in response to the colours you place on them.

After my recent medical time-out, it’s taken a while to get my physical and mental self back into the routine of spending hours at a time in my workroom – and my physical routine needs further tweaking. This morning I put in a decent chunk of time first thing before going downstairs for a walk and some late breakfast. Tomorrow I’ll do the same, but plan for several hours in the afternoon, too. I’ve arranged for photography of two works to be done a week from tomorrow, one of which is a Quilt National 25 entry, but I’m planning a late run at another QN25 entry! If I find I just can’t finish this last minute wonder then there’s always something in the future for which it will be perfect ….

I’ve chosen the images below as examples of how the linear shapes of landscapes and provide me with the structure, or inspiration if you like, to compose pieced and stitched designs in fabric and thread. Many of them have words like landlines, landmarks, tidelines and dreamlines in their titles and statements.

In this favourite beach photo, I edited out a footprint, making the scale quite ambiguous, reminding us that whatever the scale, whether in a vast desert or along the margin of your local beach, such a pattern is formed in the process of erosion.

There are a couple of different land lines in this picture: first are what I call the beach cliffs which I’ve only seen occur 1m or 2m up the beach from the water’s edge a couple of times. In the lower part of the photo, the fine lines wandering down to the bottom of the photo ending with a little lump were ridges of wet sand left by tiny bivalves gradually following the receeding tide as it moved further away from the ‘beach cliffs’.

I used the photo to (1) draw basic lines of the beach cliffs and the pattern left by the little molluscs, and (2) used them to cut and piece a sample of improvisational or freehand patchwork to show students in a class how easy it is to work this way if one wishes, and that there is plenty of potential in original fibreart based on personal observations remembered, drawn or photographed.

In my advanced improvisational patchwork construction workshops, a power point presentation includes some other examples of how we can use patterns observed in nature.

I’ve written elsewhere about machine stitched lines and segments of fabric, and how they inspired me to come up with this almost-railway-tracks pattern.

This is a section of a new piece I’m currently working on in very deserty colours, using the same combination of machine and hand stitching with segmented patchwork that I developed and used in my donation to this year’s SAQA Benefit Auction quilt. The combination of lines and colours suggested strands of green algae, so I called it Spirogyra.

Yesterday I posted that I’d decided to finish my two most recent works with a fine binding on each of them, and one had been hanging on the design wall for several weeks waiting for that decision. Yesterday I swung into action, as I rarely have more than one work in progress, and had realised I needed to totally finish off these two before I could concentrate on the next couple I have in mind! It’s just how I work, a mental process, a mind-clearing thing; and I’m the same in the kitchen, where I just can’t start cooking something until the bench spaces are cleared and clean, the washing up’s dealt with, and any rubbish has been removed.

Perhaps it was a store display that influenced me to buy these little plastic clips by Clover on my last trip to the USA, and although they were new to me, I knew they’d be handy for something the minute I saw them. Of course, I might be the last quiltmaker to come across these handy gadgets, because it took me 18 months to take them out and try them, for some reason! But I’m glad I did eventually, because they’re quite brilliant. Using a few of them dispenses with the need to pin, and tack/baste the binding into place before stitching it down on the back.

The strong spring loaded clip can be moved sideways as you stitch, holding down the turned back binding strip to show the same amount, about 0.75cm or 0.5in, on the front of a quilt. For some strange reason, I didn’t use them until the second quilt, and was so impressed with that result that I unpicked and completely re-sewed the binding on the first one; and it was amazing how easy it was to get a perfect French binding.

If French binding is new to you, do try to get a copy of Mimi Deitrich’s “Happy Endings”, published several times since 1988; there are second hand copies on sites like Amazon and Etsy, and of course there are videos on YouTube too – you can check them out and find one that suits. Personally I don’t ever do diagonal seams when joining bindings as most of the videos do- but you’ll find your way – there is no absolutely correct way in all this, unless you think you might run up against the deaded “quilt police” judges in a prestigious traditional quilt show somewhere 🙂

I was moving forward well on my plans to make at least two new quilts to enter Quilt National 25, (closing date August 31st) and two 40 cm sq pieces to enter Australia Wide 9 (closing date July 12th) but all once it seems, my attention and time were required elsewhere, away from my textile art.

First, it was fabulous to have one of my sisters visit from NZ for a hectic week, and naturally I didn’t even think of stitching anything while she was here. We talked our heads off, played cards, did a couple of tourist things, saw some tango, ate out several times, had a couple of friends around for dinner, consumed a few G&Ts and some wine, managed a bit of shopping and had pedicures.

Also welcome was a couple of days of workmen in the house attending to some urgent maintenance things, and while it is great to have those done at last, that was all time and attention consuming. Unwelcome was the washing machine conking out completely beyond repair, requiring in the purchase of a new one. It is wonderful, but installation and the removal of the old one all took time, too. Also unwelcome were the medical consultations and tests in preparation for hip replacement surgery which suddenly became urgent in the past few weeks, and while I don’t yet have the date I do have fingers crossed that I can at least get one more suitable large work to the finishing and hand sewing stage, and another small one, ditto. It’s a bit soon yet to line up my photographer Eduardo, but from now on I need to focus. I’m torn between hoping the surgery is as soon as possible, but also hoping it’s not for a few weeks yet!

With this in mind, yesterday I edged one small piece for the AW9 entry call. The quilting in orange is finished and really gives it a dynamic lift, but in keeping with my policy I won’t show it in full until it’s been published/seen somewhere.

Today I put a binding on a quilt that has been waiting for this decision on the edging. and the hand sewing can be done some evening in front ot the TV. A few wet days are due next week – perfect for the two pieces I have in mind, and possibly hand sewing in front of the fire… because despite autumn leaves still clinging to some of the trees, everything indicates winter is approaching fast.