{"id":2069,"date":"2013-08-05T00:15:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T05:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2013-07-29T15:33:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T20:33:04","slug":"saqa-oceania-blog-hop-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=2069","title":{"rendered":"SAQA-Oceania Blog Hop 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year the SAQA-Oceania region members contributed 32 pieces <\/span><\/a><\/span>to the annual SAQA Benefit online auction, and decided on a blog hop to highlight ourselves as a regional group of SAQA member artists.<\/p>\n

\"alison<\/a><\/p>\n

Although here in Montevideo Uruguay\u00a0I’m technically only\u00a0about 100 km from the South Atlantic, as an Australian I am part of the SAQA-Oceania group,\u00a0and as you know,\u00a0home is where the heart is.\u00a0\u00a0 So, today<\/span> I have a few notes on my auction piece, how\u00a0it fits with my recent work, and then I’ll\u00a0finish\u00a0with\u00a0a few pics of my workspace to give you some idea, if you want it!<\/span><\/p>\n

I always make a\u00a012″ square\u00a0for these auctions, and\u00a0they’re either small samples for new work, or examples of what I am doing on a larger scale.\u00a0 Late last year I made a group of quilts for an Australian exhibition, and\u00a0after fluffing around with<\/span> samples<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>I decided stenciling really was the<\/em> way to go for\u00a0that group,\u00a0with designs based on images of sand ripple patterns I photographed and manipulated to produce the pattern from which I cut the stencils (out of fabric) \u00a0for each:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"pencil<\/a><\/p>\n

For this 12″ square, I\u00a0cut\u00a0a\u00a0stencil of\u00a0ripple patterns from\u00a0template plastic<\/span>:\u00a0 the plastic didn’t start out gold,\u00a0of course!<\/p>\n

\"sqsaObloghop<\/a><\/p>\n

Template or other plastic sheeting is wonderful for stencils<\/span> <\/em>you might want to use over and over – easy to clean and store. \u00a0I’m a fan of the low tech approach,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span> fabric stencils\u00a0enable you to produce even larger surface patterns.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

After\u00a0stencilling, my auction piece was\u00a0f<\/span>ree machine embroidered with gold metallic thread; then\u00a0layered, pinned and free machine quilted\u00a0with a fine stipple pattern (rather tedious) using\u00a0fine black polyester thread top and bottom.\u00a0 I am a great fan of Guterman’s\u00a0Skala thread as used here,\u00a0and in fact use it whenever I\u00a0piece, too.\u00a0 I\u00a0buy 10,000m cones of\u00a0the\u00a0basic colours of\u00a0black, dark grey, light grey, white and cream … which\u00a0tells you\u00a0something!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"quilting<\/a><\/p>\n

It was then trimmed and bound.\u00a0\u00a0There’s a\u00a0hanging sleeve which is easily removed if\u00a0the buyer wants to mount it in a frame.<\/p>\n

\"Sandlines<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I use unbleached calico \/ muslin for backs,\u00a0so these\u00a0Tidelines quilts all look like this:<\/span> \"golden<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mike agrees the following photos are a totally normal, reasonable representation of my workspace at any given time !\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and I \u00a0include them\u00a0to give you some idea of where I beaver away creatively.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, all spray painting, stencilling and burning are done outside in the garden, with my back to the wind, but\u00a0for everything else, this is my workspace. \u00a0I think ‘studio’ is rather too refined a term, although some\u00a0 might not agree.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"sewing<\/a><\/p>\n

My pin wall, right,\u00a0 is large, half a wall in a long narrow room.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Having\u00a0pride of place in my work area, shown in the\u00a0back corner of this photo, is an extremely<\/span>\u00a0unusual wooden cabinet, a re-purposed antique, closeup\u00a0below.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you can guess the original\u00a0use, but everyone I’ve ever shown it to has been totally stumped.\u00a0 We\u00a0were too,\u00a0when we first found it.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0The answer’s at the end of this post.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"sewing<\/a><\/p>\n

I find it very useful for thread storage.\u00a0 Each little sliding door\/panel has a small finger-size indentation, and there’s one spare space per row, enabling access to\u00a0every cavity by sliding the panels\u00a0back and forth.\u00a0 Some cones and spray cans go below.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s a beautiful thing, and the original use\u00a0will surprise you!<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally my actual ‘sewing’ area, (complete with the other usual occupant in the room) showing my cutting table at right angles to my sewing table with recess for the machine. \u00a0Both were custom made to the same height, so\u00a0it’s\u00a0easy to\u00a0move it\u00a0as necessary for machine quilting.\u00a0\u00a0When piecing,\u00a0I cut, sew and press\u00a0each seam\u00a0as I go, so again,\u00a0convenient for how I work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"sewing<\/a><\/p>\n

\"sewing<\/a><\/p>\n

OK – it might look a bit\u00a0like a jumble sale,\u00a0but\u00a0what I need is\u00a0close to hand, suiting how I work.\u00a0 If a bunch of coloured fabrics out on the table become too distracting I simply put them away.\u00a0 After a big project I tend to tidy up, put everything in its place,\u00a0 then for something new I get fabrics and threads for fresh consideration – I audition them, really.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, that cabinet?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/em>When we found this interesting piece in a\u00a0furniture restoration and reproductions\u00a0place, we were\u00a0very puzzled.\u00a0 The\u00a0proprietor,\u00a0Roberto, told\u00a0us it was from the ticket office of the central railway station in Montevideo, and the little boxes held pre-printed tickets for every railway station along the radiating lines.\u00a0 The rail system\u00a0in Uruguay\u00a0is largely defunct as most lines closed 30+ years ago, the magnificent C19 Central Railway Station was stripped of all furniture which was auctioned off, and the\u00a0grand building\u00a0stands sadly empty and unused to this day.\u00a0\u00a0Before that, well into the ’70’s,\u00a0you bought your ticket from Montevideo to somewhere, paid for it, and then it was then date-stamped with the date of\u00a0travel.\u00a0 \u00a0Mike, bless him,\u00a0suggested I could use it in my studio.\u00a0 Roberto was thrilled that someone wanted it,\u00a0especially for\u00a0such a practical use, and we both thought\u00a0it was a snap at\u00a0 twice the price we paid<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The blog hop began on July 16th, so a number of artists have already posted, \u00a0such as Ali George<\/span><\/a> <\/span>and Rasa Mauragis<\/span><\/a> <\/span>just before this, but\u00a0all posts\u00a0on the hop are scheduled\u00a0HERE<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 The next\u00a0is\u00a0from<\/span> <\/span>Maggie Gilbert<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0on August 7th,\u00a0then<\/span> <\/span>Susie Cujes<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>on August 9th.\u00a0\u00a0We\u00a0hope you’ll enjoy the whole blog hop excursion!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year the SAQA-Oceania region members contributed 32 pieces to the annual SAQA Benefit online auction, and decided on a blog hop to highlight ourselves as a regional group of SAQA member artists. Although here in Montevideo Uruguay\u00a0I’m technically only\u00a0about 100 km from the South Atlantic, as an Australian I am part of the SAQA-Oceania […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6uxpF-xn","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2069"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2292,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}