Some new work

These are two new pieces of work, although in the case of the quilt, it has been a long time in the making! I started this one four and a half years ago. It is hand pieced and machine quilted and once I had finished it, as a drunkard's path variation, I was so disappointed with it, I added the cockatoos to give it some personality. Seeing it in this photo, I am happier with the "birds" in the background than I was looking at it close-up. But no matter what I think, my friends for whom it was made, received it on the weekend and were genuinely overjoyed with it. I can tell you I was very pleased with their reaction.

The bag is my latest idea for doing something useful with the faces I am enjoying making. I have been doing a lot with other people and I am finding making "Self Portraits" is really great therapy and have another lot of visitors this week with whom to make more. I made the bag as an idea for showing the faces off and because I needed a new bag for summer.

All comments welcome. Carole

Postcards for Houston

I feel I have taken a huge step. I sent six postcards off to Houston for the fundraiser. I decided to keep them simple and used some lovely pieces of hand dyed silk, embellished with beading, couching and gold writing. My theme came from the Australian landscape seen from the air. In some places it is easy to see the path of a creek, even when there is no water flowing, in others, the lines of fences are punctuated with groups of buildings. Without getting carried away, the patterns in the silks reminded me of these sites, so... here they are.

Where I live

I thought that for visitors to this blog from the Quiltart list, you might want to see where I live, so here are few photos. Top photo is my studio, then my back yard (the land is one acre), next is looking east from the dining room and the bottom right is the house itself. Yerrinbool is a small village on the edge of the Southern Highlands, which are barely hills to people with real mountains, but do provide enough altitude for seasonal changes without snow in winter.

Self Portraits

These are works in progress that i might consider entering in a self portrait challenge. None looks like me but all look like i feel at different times.

Pics of Eucalypts

More of my work

These are shots of some larger wall hangings. I would appreciate feedback on the composition etc.

"Outback" was inspired by both the deserts of central Australia and looking at a landscape architecture book that belongs to a friend. I loved the way Landscape Architects used line to describe the landscape and immediately saw the possibilities for quilting. This quilt was constructed by the feel-as-you-go method. I did start with what I thought was going to be a pattern, but very quickly started improvising. Not satisfied with the fabrics alone, I added dots to both tone down the colours and add interest to some of the areas. I also ignored scale by adding the trees in the size I did. Your comments are most welcome as this is the first "art" piece I have done and while I like the colours and most of the composition, I think there is much to be learned.

"Eucalypts" is an exercise in impressionism. My inspiration for this piece was a stand of eucaypts not far from my home. I walk past these trees often and I'm always fascinated by textural quality of their trunks and the interplay of light and shade. I used silk dupion for the quilt and added gum leaves and flowers in silver thread. Again comments welcome.

Carole

Hello and welcome to my blog. As this is the first time I have tried anything like this I aplogise for poor layout and less than scintillating copy to start with.

I am a textile artist living in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia. I live on an acre of land and enjoy creating a garden, although I must admit that gardening takes second place to working in my studio.

The photos are of one aspect of my work. I started working with fish as an experiment in free motion quilting and became quite obsessed with the fabulous creations that can be made from a little imagination and a good fabric stash.

I look forward to posting more soon.