Joyce’s Quilting Quandary

The block this week represents Easter Week, an important time in Australia, both for its religious significance and for the four day weekend which most people enjoy. The egg shape represents both the Easter egg symbol and also the tomb where the body of Jesus was buried with the red opening of the empty tomb.  There is a hill in the background with the cruxifix and the other two crosses. ( Australians eat chocolate eggs by the millions as part of their Easter rituals, whether they are religious or not).  The egg is made of a wonderful black and white print hand appliqued on. It  is very versatile, one of my favourites.

Week 11 is about the lunch at the Gallery and the black clothing exhibition, Black in Fashion. So far I have only seen 1/2 the exhibition because it is on the two sites of the gallery.

The lunch was great! JENNY BANNISTER MUST HAVE BEEN BORN IN AROUND 1953 in Redcliffs. When she was 16 she wanted to go to the school social in a black velvet A-line Twiggy dress with organdie collar and cuffs, her mother wouldn’t let her wear black so she wore brown instead, but she wanted black!! She acquired a black bias cut crepe -de-chine petticoat from Auntie Hilda and a black velvet smoking jacket ( she still uses the petticoat block which only has a seam down the back) In 1972 she went to Emily McPherson College to study pattern making and production design. I think she spent a lot of time pushing the rules !!! She went to the Emily Mc ball in a 1930’s halter-neck dress from the op shop. It had moth holes all over it so she sewed a metallic sequin over each hole. She won bell of the ball! and still produces dresses like it! One night in the Wye River Hotel she was dressed in her usual black and someone asked her if she was a cockroach!!!! Spent 12 years selling clothes on consignment, bank rolling herself. Eventually found someone to pay her for making them and in 1997 opened the first Jenny Bannister boutique.

She considers that black clothing is slimming, incognito and low maintanence. Someone at the lunch asked her to describe her outfit. She said it was called ” Primeval Macho Slag” She had her crepe de chine slip under a cut out leather shift with studding. ( She said that anyone who came to her for work experience spent their time studding garments) She had black tights and Dutch platform soled shoes. Her hair was held back with a wide black scarf and she had huge hoop earrings and the black sunnies perched on top. Her jewellery was a huge black chain made of neo-prene. She was good fun !!!! After the lunch I had a quick look at the Zandra Rhodes exhibition at RMIT.

I was not happy with this block because it was so BLACK. The subtlty which I was aiming for turned into solid black. So I put some hand stitching on on grey around the dress and the 11, also added some glitter on the dress itself. I am much happier with  the effect, not quite so black.

We have had a delightful Japanese guest staying with us this week who a tour leader for a group of school students. Her name is Momi, a nickname derived from her family name.  She wrote her name in  Japanese characters with a wide texta so it could become a square. I stitched the characters with straight stitch in the same order that Momi had written the characters.  The fabrics on the side and the base were chosen  because of their asian feel.

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I am a lighthouse fan! I love them, want to visit them, must climb them! So , there had to be a lighthouse in this journal quilt!  This week we had three nights at Laura’s Cottage at Barwon Heads which was part of the set for Sea Change. The cottage is on the bank of the Barwon River and the living room windows looks across the beach to the heads, an idillic setting with the added benefit of the Point Lonsdale lighthouse.  We had two friends sharing our time at the cottage ( the four red dots). We could sit in the lounge and watch the ships coming and going through the heads. The block features the view with the baollard anfd thick rope in the foreground which seperates the cottage from the public path way.

Castlemaine is the town where my parents were born, grew up and are now buried. Once a year my brothers and I and our families get together in Castlemaine to celebrate our family history and the rich legacy it has given us. I took some photos in Castlemaine , one of the tower of the Town Hall,  one of the tower of the Castlemaine North Primary school. I transfered these images to lawn and organza and used them as the basis of the block.  This is a simple, very powerful way to use images.  I added the black spots as a contrast and then decided to  sew ” A & J  ” standing for Alma and Jack, my mother and father’s initials. It wasn’t until I was stitching the initials onto the block that I realised that Arnie and I have the same initials, so they have a double purpose!

I got new glasses this week. I had a play with the scanner and the photocopier. I scanned the glasses and then  printed them onto silk and organza using the printer.  I arranged the two prints so they were slightly overlapping. I did some stitching under and some over the organza. Great Fun!  The fabric in the “7″ is a zebra print I think is great, but I only have tiny scraps left!  The satin stitching is still a challenge!  I am happy with the way that the red areas in the bottom right hand corner  are working.  They give an additional feeling of unity. Sometimes they fit into a design really well, sometimes they are just there.  

Went to the cricket this week. We went to a day/night match to see Australia play India. The number 18 is to commemorate the contribution of Adam Gilchrist,  batsman/wicketkeeper to Australian cricket.  The match was great, but the wrong team won! The wicket was a challenge. I love the shape of the bales, but the size made it all too difficult, so had to simplify the shapes. I found a wonderful spotty fabric to create the effect of the crowd in the background. The numbers were machine embrioidered which worked very well. 

I am  working on a quilt with circle motifs so I used this as the basis of this week’s design. The number 40 is because it is 40 years this week since I came to Ballarat to live. I wonder if I will ever be accepted as a local?

My husband,  Arnie’s birthday this week so I thought the idea of a birthday cake was a good idea for a design. I pleated the black fabric for the base of the cup cake .The top is black and white spot which I lifted with some machine embroidered coloured spots.

I went to the Australian Open this week. Dorothy and I have been going to the tennis for 10 years. We have a wonderful day together, driving down, watching the tennis, watching the people, driving home.
I appliqued tennis racquet shape with a red tennis ball in the corner and a 3 in the top corner. The centre of the racquet consisted of a checked fabric which worked well. The satin stitch applique on the numbers is a challenge, but I really like to use them. After checking by Dorothy, I added two red spots to represent Dorothy and I and a 10 to indicate the ten yeras we have been going.