I spend most of my days in my studio, whether it is actively stitching, preparing workshops, painting fat quarters, working on the computer or just daydreaming and fiddling. It means being indoors most of the time...
I often look at websites and blogs of other quilters and am quite in awe of how beautifully presented it is.... When one opens this blog, blue skies, trees/bush, a few loose clouds and the open road welcomes one, not a quilt in sight.... Seems to be more of a traveling blog than a quilt one as such.... Blue and green, my two favourite colours anchored by the grey of the road....
I love the atmosphere of this picture when I open the blog... It immediately takes me on a journey, something which Willem and I love doing. We have discovered beautiful and very interesting places by traveling off the beaten track, always excited to explore. This picture is a constant promise that there are many more places and roads waiting for us to discover.... These trips are ideal photo opportunities and Willem is very patient with my constant requests to stop for photographs.... With the use of a digital camera, it is so easy to keep all the images in folders on the computer, easy to access when new inspiration is needed. Nature inspires the majority of my quilts whether it is the shapes of rocks, bark of trees, colour combinations, flora, landscapes and our abundant wild life......
I was invited to participate in the 2011 Korea/Japan/South Africa Textile Challenge with the theme of "World Heritage Sites". 30 World Heritage Sites from all over the world were selected and 30 quilt artists from the three countries were invited to participate - in total 90 quilt artists. The quilts had to be 50cm x 50cm and each site was interpreted by a quilt artist from each country - so one specific site had three different interpretations of it. These three entries were displayed together at venues in Korea, Japan and is currently in South Africa. We were fortunate to have these quilts on display here in Port Elizabeth in 2012 and it was wonderful to witness the creative flair and genius of the 90 international quilt artists.
I was fortunate that I was given the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site. While we lived in Harrismith, we often visited various sections of the Drakensberg... The mountains are magical and awesome, it has the same effect on me as watching the ocean - very spiritual.... It is so huge and one realizes what a small fraction human life is....
I love the amount of research needed for such a project as I learn so much of many things... For this project, I learnt that the Drakensberg mountain range has the biggest selection of Stone Age rock art on the African Continent and because of the significance of this, the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park was proclaimed a World Heritage site. Giants Castle was proclaimed a nature reserve in 1903 to protect the eland from extinction etc....
I decided to make postcards of three sections of the mountain range, Cathedral Peak, Giants Castle and the Amphitheatre which was placed on the one side of the quilt. I painted a background like a cave and had lots of fun trying my hand at San drawings. I also wrote lots of information regarding the history of the site into open spaces of the cave. Unfortunately I do not have permission to publish images of the other two interpretations of this site.
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| Ukhahlamba - Gallery of Ancient Art 2011 The label displayed next to the quilt in the languages of Japan, Korea and South Africa (English)
Techniques included fabric painting, raw edge machine applique, needlelace machine embroidery and machine quilting.
Now it is back to the sewing machine and my new quilts....
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