Take a creative tour of Australia and New Zealand with us. We have some fun and exciting items coming in the next few months from these two insanely creative countries. First and foremost, we have our own Kiwi who will be teaching a class (one of hopefully many more to come) in September.
A trend among the Aussies and Kiwis is layering embroidery or applique on the quilt top. This technique adds both color and dimension to the quilt. In Chris’ upcoming class, she will be teaching us several techniques that she uses in her quilts: asymmetry, sashiko, and needle felting applique. The felted leaves add that color and dimension to her quilt that is characteristically from Australia and New Zealand. If you are ready for something new and want to add more techniques to your repertoire, join us September 10-11 for her Celebrate Fall Workshop.
Coming soon will be several new Australian fabrics from M&S Textiles to add to our existing collection. M&S Textiles is devoted to working with creative Aboriginal artists in making their stories heard and memorializing their art in quality fabrics that are as beautiful as they are unique.
M&S explains:
Aboriginal Art is one of the more ancient traditional arts in the world, going back approximately 50,000 years. In early days, Aboriginals did cave painting, rock painting, and sand or ground painting. The newer generations use acrylic paints on canvas to portray their Dreamtime. These Aboriginal artworks are sought after not only in Australia but worldwide. According to Aboriginal mythology, Dreamtime is the era when the world was dark. There was nothing on earth; the soil was soft. This was when the forefathers sprang up from underneath the soil and started building most of the requirements for their needs and that of future generations. . . . Dreamtime is not a religion or a culture – it is a way or philosophy of living.
These fabrics will be fabulous to incorporate into your Celebrate Fall project or to add unique color and movement in any project.
An upcoming class will focus on the layered applique technique. Be sure to keep a close eye on our schedule. This will most likely happen in late 2021 or early 2022.
Then, of course, we have one of our favorite embroidery design companies—Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea is an Australian based company that has a U.S. distribution center. Sweet Pea is now offering supplies in addition to its embroidery designs and in-the-hoop projects. If you order anything from Sweet Pea, be sure to go through our portal. On the Home Page of our website, you will see our Affiliate Programs category. Sweet Pea is one of several of our affiliate programs. I see an Embroidery Adventures class coming in the near future featuring a Sweet Pea project. If you see a design you like, let us know.
If you had the opportunity to join us last May, we learned a new piecing technique from Australian quilt artist Gloria Loughman. Gloria’s work is simply spectacular. Northern Lights was a great class and a fun start to our exploration into the artists and techniques enjoyed in Australian and New Zealand. We hope you will join us as we continue our journey Down Under.
