'One Couples Quilts' Exhibition

While I was in Tapawera a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be there at the same time as a quilt exhibition on at the school hall. The exhibition was made up of the largest private collection of quilts in New Zealand, owned by Rinny and Peter Gordon of Mapua. The Gordon's purchased 25 of the quilts from leading artists over 30 years. This includes the one pictured above, called Putanga O Te Ra (birth of the sun). It was created by Waikato artist Gwen Wanigasekera, and it won a national competion in 1990.

Another 15 quilts in the exhibiton were made by Rinny herself, who sadly passsed away from cancer a year ago. Unfortunately I didn't get a copy of the program, so I can't tell you which ones are hers. The exhibition also had quilts from local quilters, and a guest quilter, Barbara Bilyard.

(edit: This quilt was one of Rinny's)

Dad came along for a look as well, and was really impressed by the works. I was speaking to one of the organisers who was telling me how the men that came to take a look all really liked it. Especially interesting since this was in the country, so a lot of the men would have been farmers!

(edit: The quilt on the left was made by Rinny)

I was really inspired by the variety, and all the different techniques and fabric choices used. I didn't really know a lot about quilting, but this has made me think perhaps it is something I might like to try sometime. Just not this week...

All in all it was a great weekend, as this and my previous post on the painting workshop can attest.

Please excuse the quality of some of the photographs, the lighting wasn't ideal.

My couch and it's many outfits – Part 1: Setting the scene

This is a two part blog piece. There are two reasons for this: I haven't finished it yet, and I wanted to create some suspense. It is nearly finished though, so you won't have to wait too long...

Many years ago, while halfway through my graphic design course, myself and a couple of friends decided the YMCA student hostel just wasn't the same anymore, and it was time to find a flat. A friend from my course mentioned that her sister happened to have a spare lounge suite and dining suite, which we promptly snatched up. This became pretty much the only furniture in our student flat. Especially as only one couch made it up the stairs, the other was far too big. That one eventually found a new home with some other poor students.

The couch endured many hours of television watching, and numerous parties. I even have a photo of some dancing on the couch (which will remain in the photo album, and off the internet, I might add). After a year of this it was beginning to look a little worse for wear, so I decided it was time for some new covers. (Isn't that orange wall just so fetching?)

After a trip to Kutwell Fabrics, and about 10 metres of fabric for a grand sum total of $30, I set about drafting a pattern from some newspapers. Within a weekend I had drafted and sewn new covers for the entire couch. It was now resplendent in navy blue, and had no worn patches. (This is the before picture while it lived in the garage before I re-covered it again!)

A year or two later, it had started to fade, and I was a little tired of the foam chip cushions. So I decided to buy some foam squabs and cover them. This time I bought some remnant furnishing fabric. Some in a red/black fleck, and some black fabric. I covered one squab with this.

Since then, I went to London, and lent the couch to a friend. I eventually picked it up again about a year after I got back. Then I got married, so the project stayed on the backburner. After the wedding I went to Fabric House to buy some proper furnishing fabric for it. This was a little more expensive than the first time round, but I like to think it was worth it. I told the lady in the shop I would bring in pictures of it when i finished. I haven't forgotten!

That was nearly two years ago, and at a snails pace compared to the first time round, I have slowly made progress. I just need to sew the covers for the cushions now, and it's all done. It now lives in the studio/spare room, and I have grand visions of reclining on it whilst designing some new range of something.

The big reveal will come once it is finally finished, and I have had time to take some nice pictures. So don't hold your breath, but now I've put it out there, I might have to make sure I finish it sooner rather than later.

The re-Hashed Stash

I know, it's been a couple of weeks since Stash reHash, but it's taken me that long to photograph my new acquisitions. I've even half made a new project already – I'll tell you what it is in another post. You may notice a theme, it wasn't intentional, really, each item was a stand alone purchase!

Deidre did a fanstastic job organising such a great event. I enjoyed perusing the wares and finding treasures to add to my stash, and I'm pretty sure the stall-holders had a great time purging their stashes. I'll definitely be back for the next one, to find yet more things to add to my stash.

Stash re-Hash

This Sunday, the inaugral Christchurch crafty supplies market, Stash re-Hash will be held. It will be at the Scottish Society Hall on the corner of Edgeware and Caledonian Roads in St Albans, Christchurch, from 11am until 2pm. There will be fabric, yarn, haberdashery and other crafty supples up for grabs. I can't wait to see what exciting goodies are to be found. If you are even remotely interested in crafty things, it's an event not to be missed. For more info check out the wonderful blog all about it.