As some of you may be aware, the Artful Quilters Web Ring has moved to a new platform which offers a more friendly user interface and allows for easier surfing from blog to blog. If you are already a member of the Artful Quilters Web Ring, or would like to join, then follow Diane’s instructions for setting up in the new location.

If you are a blog reader, try out the reactivated “Next”, “Previous” and “Random” buttons and see where you end up!

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I’d also like to mention a couple of new, non-quilting blogs that I am following. Bargain Betty is the alter ego of my friend and freelance personal finance journalist Diana Clement. Diana was the garage sale queen when I met her at university 25 years ago and family life seems to have sharpened her eye for a bargain and her creative ideas for saving a dollar.

Dancing with Shelarose is a new blog set up by my host sister Kerie to share her experiences as primary caregiver for her mother-in-law who is in the later stages of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks to the internet, you can get a sense of how it is to dance in her shoes. Kerie dances with Shelarose every day…feel free to join them or just sit and listen to the music for a while

“In the dance between control and serendipity, the wise artist discovers when to lead and when to follow. Explore these pages, techniques and enjoy the unfolding of your own art cloth path.”

This quote from Jane Dunnewold’s latest opus Art Cloth neatly sums up the spirit of the book. In clear, direct language, Jane guides the reader through the fundamentals of workspace, tools and materials and the concept of building up layers contributing to the intricacy, beauty and interest of the fabric. Then she discusses techniques and processes including:

• Adding colour: Fiber- Reactive Dyes and Textile Paints
• Removing colour:Discharge Methods
• Making Tools: Stamps and stencils
• Print & Pattern: Water-Based Resists
• Metallics: Foiling and Leafing

It’s the kind of book that you can read from cover to cover or dip into relevant chapters. It’s a fantastic resource and great value at less than A$35 from The Book Depository (free postage!); US$35 from Jane’s website; and US$17.79 from Amazon. (Or you can leave a comment on Gerrie’s blog and go into a draw to win her giveway copy.)

I found these paints on sale in Sydney yesterday and look forward to putting some art cloth techniques into practice. As Jane wisely says: “Making reigns supreme“.

A week or two ago, I received an inquiry from an executive* looking for some contemporary textiles to brighten up the company’s new office premises. She expressed particular interest in Turf and Desire Lines #5: After the Rain but wasn’t sure if they would be big enough for the particular space. We quickly agreed that the best approach would be for me to bring along a selection of works in various styles, colours and sizes. Here are some photos from today’s audition. As you can see, some pieces work better than others:


The office is located in a heritage-listed wool store overlooking the docks. The unusual shaped windows let in a fair amount of natural light and the roughly plastered brick walls complement textiles very well. The client and I are reviewing some different options now and I look forward to showing you the outcome later on. In the meantime, it is very exciting to know that my contemporary quilts will be on permanent display.

*T is a former colleague of one of the Laundry King’s friends and we have crossed paths off and on over the years.

PS: Brought to you by the wonder of gaffer tape!

Color Improvisations is an invitational exhibition of contemporary quilts curated by Nancy Crow and currently showing at the Haus de Wirstcraft in Stuttgart, Germany. She invited 26 quiltmakers from North America and Europe to improvise on the topic of color. At the end of a two-year process, she selected 50 works, all at least 72in (1.8metre) square.

You can view a selection of images from the exhibition at:

• the Color Improvisations Flickr site;
• Terry Jarrard Diamond’s blog
• Bonnie Bucknam’s blog
• Art with a Needle by Kathy Loomis.

I’ve ordered a copy of the catalogue from Lisa Call. She only ships to the US so I’ll have something to look forward to when I am next in San Francisco (likely to be late 2011 - sigh!).

Yesterday I took a break from my 40×40cm composition for Australia Wide Two (that is just NOT working!) and drove down to Sydney for the last day of The New Quilt exhibition at Manly Art Gallery & Museum. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the gathering (thank you to Janet, Gill, Denise, Sandra and others who attended) and really enjoyed the presentations by fellow exhibitors: Judi Nikoleski, Gloria Muddle and Margery Goodall. Both Judi and Gloria are relative newcomers to the textile medium and bring an approach not constrained by notions of quilt policery - Judi has a background in graphic design and website development and Gloria is an accomplished painter. Interestingly, Margery is also a water colour artist and this colour blending is reflected in her work.

I’m going to go ponder what’s happening on the design wall now.

The New Quilt Contemporary Quilt Textiles exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum closes this Sunday, 25 July 2010. On Sunday afternoon, I will be giving a short artist floor talk about my works Turf and Desire Lines #5: After the Rain. I understand that Judi Nikoleski and Gloria Muddle will also be giving floor talks. Perhaps you can join us?

  

Work on my overflow storage area continues. The area is tricky to photograph but you can see that most of the exterior walls are up; the interior is lined and a start has been made on some of the custom shelving. Meanwhile, my studio is a shambles and I won’t be sharing photographs of that!

When I get to starting on my next Twelve by Twelve Colourplay challenge - Lorikeet - I have my fabrics all ready to go.
But first I have a few other things to attend to…

Today, 19 July 2010, marks the 94th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles, a disastrous overnight engagement on the Western Front in World War I in which 5533 Australian men were killed, wounded and missing. (Casualties for the British 61st Division, who attacked alongside the Australians, numbered 1,547.)

Many of those killed in the engagement could not be accounted for at the time. Historians have long speculated that up to 400 of the missing dead were recovered by the Germans in the days following the attack and buried behind their lines. Painstaking research led to the identification of several mass burial pits on the edge of Pheasant Wood near Fromelles. The discovery, recovery and identification of the fallen soldiers was the inspiration for my Twelve by Twelve identity-themed work - Lost & Found at Fromelles.

A ceremony to dedicate the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery will take place today. At London’s Imperial War Museum, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has organised an exhibition about the Fromelles project. This video shows images of the excavation project and the new cemetery together with interviews with relatives and experts involved in the project.

New Fromelles exhibition opens at Imperial War Museum from War Graves Commission on Vimeo.

The Serendipity Studio Newsletter is an occasional e-mail update with information on my latest quilt designs, teaching schedule, upcoming exhibitions, images of my contemporary quilts and other quilting news. You can read the Issue #3 online. The next issue will be sent out by early August and all subscribers will go into a draw to win a set of Twelve by Twelve postcards.

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