The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady

This month we're talking Vice, Stan & Ollie & The Green Book along with Oscars talk and a bit of fun!

This month we rounded up our cinema highs and lows from 2018 with our special guest, and friend, Ben Lloyd.

While I was in Wellington judging the Wellington Quilt Exhibition, I recorded a podcast.  Part of it is an interview with the president, Fyvie Murray and part of it is 'a day in the life of' snippets of my day as a quilt judge. Fyvie actually won Best in Show, which neither of us knew at the time of the interview.  Her silk quilt, Wellington Sampler, was a lovely work depicting iconic Wellington landmarks.  Fyvie displayed skilled stitching and quilting on the difficult silk fabrics, and an unusual colour palette that contributed to an eye-catching quilt.

Jenny Bacon has been making quilts since the 1970’s when she took a class with the Embroidery Guild and learned to make a silk pincushion.   Jenny makes traditional quilts, describing needle-turn applique and hand quilting as favourite techniques, but she also makes art quilts, where she uses traditional techniques in non-traditional ways.  She has won many awards and accolades for both styles of quilts.   Jenny is also a certified judge with the Quilters Guild of the British Isles and has travelled widely to judge quilt shows, including in the UK and the US, as well as New Zealand and her homeland Australia. Jenny is also an accomplished exhibition curator, being heavily involved in the biennial Golden Textures quilt exhibition.   Today I’m talking to Jenny at the Aotearoa Quilters education seminar in Wellington, New Zealand, where Jenny is teaching a three day intensive workshop titled ‘Judging at Quilt Shows’.  Jenny lives in Maryborough on the East Coast of Australia.   To find out more information about The NZ Quilt Show, please visit my blog www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com

Welcome to the final Christchurch Symposium 2017 podcast.  You can listen to the others in this series over on my podcast site here.  It's been a busy few months for me, with a month's holiday, then selling the boat, and moving house, so I apologise to all my wonderful guests who have waited patiently for me to publish their interviews. In this final roundup, you will hear: The TOWRAGS (Totally Organised Women Religious Attending Group Sex Stitching) Sheryl Anicich, Irene, Debra DeLorenzo, Jeanie O’Sullivan and Gaynor.  Missing is Ngaire and Pat.  This group of talented women won four awards between them at Christchurch Quilt Symposium 2017. Their 'People of Colour' quilt won the merit award in the Power of Two category. I get to talk to New Zealand's very own Catherine Davis-Colley, the designer of the SewEzi table.  2017 saw SewEzi celebrate 15 very succesful years of production. Kathy Anso, talks to me about the Students of Nancy Crow exhibition that she curated.   Linda Rae, also part of the Students of Nancy Crow exhibition. Glynn Singleton (Managing Director) and Rebecca Owen (Long Armer Extroidinaire) on the Bernina stand.  Bernina were the major sponser of Christchurch Quilt Symposium 2017, providing 286 hire machines, 1.2 kilometres of duct tape, 120 extension leads and 130 multi boxes!! Plus multiple prizes, technical support and all those other wonderful things sponsors do. 2018 is Bernina's 125th anniversary, so some of the things Glynn talks about as coming up, are now rolling out.  Keep your eyes peeled. And finally I talk to Catherine MacDonald (the convener of the symposium). She and her trusty committee were ready for a much-needed nap by the end of the week! Thank you to all my faithful listeners and wonderful guests.  I'm orgnising a new line up for the rest of 2018, so stay tuned!  

It's that mad time of year again!  Here in New Zealand, Christmas and New Year's coincide with our Summer holiday period, so it's six weeks off school for the kids and lots of families travel and holiday around this time.  It's hot and busy and then there is the end of year stress with businesses and 'can you have it done by Christmas' requests.  But in amongst the chaos, there is time for me to squeeze in one last podcast! This episode features another set of short interviews from the National Quilt Symposium 2017.  In the round-up we have: Amanda Stewart from Provenance Textiles, supporting traditional individual craftspeople and groups in India and Cambodia. Julia Arden, an Aotearoa Quilters member who entered three quilts into the 'Fragile' challenge.  She used metallic car paint for the background of the 'Save the Arctic' quilt. Helen Beaven, with her solo exhibition called 'Paint Modern' that began with a quilt that interpreted the knitting stitch form, but with paint on fabric instead of wool on needles. (Apologies for the background noise.  Helen's was a popular exhibit in a small and noisy area!) And last, but definitely not least, Julie van der Putten aka Puddle, from Quiltbooks - who I missed getting a photo of, much to my chagrin!  Julie is a delight to chat to and a regular at many of the quilt shows around NZ.  So if you ever see her, stop by for a peruse at her books and haberdashery and then a good yarn with the lady herself. Now it's time I said a huge thank you to all my lovely listeners and sponsors who have given me so much support over this past year.  I really enjoy bringing the stories of our quiltmakers and professionals to you and I look forward to doing more of the same next year.  I couldn't do it without you, so THANK YOU!!  Have a wonderful, safe and peaceful holiday season, in whatever way you choose to celebrate and whatever season you are celebrating it in.

This episode of The NZ Quilt Show podcast continues the National Quilt Symposium round up and includes interviews with Rachel Maw from Annie's Country Quilt Store, a lovely little quilt store in Ashburton, NZ; Kathleen Burford from the Migrant Women's Quilt Project; and Bobby Duncan of Fabric by Three, a family owned fabric dyeing company.   Head over to www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com for show notes with more information. Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals.  If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation here by using the donate button on the right hand side, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode.  Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com  Cheers!

This podcast episode continues my National Quilt Symposium theme with several shorter interviews conducted amongst the hustle and bustle of symposium itself.  Enjoy! Charlotte Yde is a talented textile artist from Denmark who made the long trip to New Zealand to teach at the National Quilt Symposium 2017.  Charlotte is a delightful woman who generously shared with me the process of making her quilt, 'Life Cycle - Albatross', that was hanging in the tutor's exhibition. Sharon Bradley from Waitomo SewWorms spoke to me about her merchant stand at Symposium and about her new fusible appliqué product developed by herself called Fusamat. Lynda Brocklehurst was the winner of the postcard challenge.  We discuss what the postcard challenge was all about, what the story behind Lynda's postcard was and we also have a thoughtful discussion about some of the other postcards that were on display. To learn more, head over to my blog www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com to find show notes for all my podcast episodes. Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals. If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation here, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode. Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com Cheers!

Donna Ward was the Best in Show winner at symposium with her quilt 'Fly'.  Donna owns Donna's Quilt Studio in Hamilton with her daughter Ashleigh (who you will hear mentioned in the podcast), and she is a delight to talk to.  Her excitement at winning was infectious and you can hear the huge smiles we were wearing as we talked!  

Brenda Gael Smith is an award winning artist who designs and creates contemporary textile art in her home studio in Copacabana, NSW Australia.  Born in New Zealand, she made her first traditional quilt in 1984, but it took until the turn of the century before Brenda returned to quiltmaking, which has since developed into a compelling and rewarding avocation. Brenda is also an experienced curator, having curated and managed several themed textile art exhibitions that have travelled internationally to great acclaim.  Brenda also teaches, judges, writes and exhibits her own work widely. I got to speak to Brenda in person at the Christchurch Quilt Symposium where Brenda was teaching, lecturing, accompanying the exhibition ‘A Matter of Time’ (one of her curated travelling textile art exhibitions) and last, but definitely not least, was the chief judge for the symposium exhibition. You can find show notes for this episode at www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com   Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals.  If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode.  Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com  Cheers!

Gloria Loughman is a quilt artist who lives in Victoria, Australia.  She began patchwork about 30 years ago during recovery from chemotherapy for breast cancer.  Gloria studied for a Diploma in Art in 1996 and then began to make her large colour and light filled landscape quilts that she is most well known for.  Gloria has won many awards, including the Rajah teaching award in 2009, and the most prestigious Australian National award for her quilt ‘Kimberley Mystique’ in 2003.  Gloria is a trained secondary teacher and has taught her art quilting classes for many years.   She travels to teach extensively, with more than 20 countries under her belt.  Gloria is also the author of four art quilting books (the most recent on architecture and house facades has just been released), she has a Craftsy class, has had many solo exhibitions and will be teaching at the NZ National Quilt Symposium in October. If you would like more information, head to the shownotes at www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals. If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation to help me produce the podcast, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode. Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com Cheers!

Shirley Mooney has been quilting and creating for more than twenty years. She is adventurous, experimental and prolific – her personal motto (and name of her blog) being ‘don’t wait to create’! Shirley has a profound love of colour and texture and this is evident when you see her many quilts featuring fabric manipulation either with 3D piecing or fabric weaving, her innovative use of bold striped fabrics, or her eye-catching kaleidoscope blocks. Not only a quilt maker, Shirley also knits, crochets, garment sews, felts and lately has taken up weaving. She is also a well-known teacher and is constantly evolving new classes for her students – she is full of energy and loves to inspire and motivate. Shirley believes there is a masterpiece inside everyone! For images and show notes head over to www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals. If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation here by using the link on the sidebar, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode. Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com Cheers!

Lisa Call is a talented textile artist, teacher, life coach and businesswoman.  Born in Arizona in the United States and spending much of her recent life in Denver, Colorado, Lisa then packed up her belongings and moved to New Zealand in 2015 for a new adventure. Lisa, a former software engineer, is a self-taught artist whose work has been exhibited and published widely and resides in public and private collections around the world.  Lisa’s award-winning textile paintings are abstract, using her rich hand dyed fabrics and intense machine stitching to create bold geometric works.  She cites her love of colour, repetition and pattern; geological forms and human-made structures such as fences and stone walls as her inspiration sources for her work. Lisa will be teaching one of the five-day master classes at the NZ National Quilting Symposium in October 2017, the topic being ‘Working in a Series’.  Visit www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com for more show notes for this podcast.

I contacted Maria Rohs, the exhibition convenor of the NZ National Quilt Symposium happening in Christchurch in October 2017, and she was happy to come on the show and give us a rundown of how the exhibition is shaping up and the work that she and her committee and been doing up until now.   Maria and her team have been working incredibly hard getting the venues organised, the judges sorted, and the categories prepared.  But it didn't stop there!  The entries flowed in, then the jurying had to happen.  Once quilts were accepted they began to arrive and needed sorting.  Professional photography needed to be done and soon the official judging will happen.  Then, in next to no time, the exhibition will need to be hung, prizes awarded and then after a flurry of viewing days and it will all be over! Maria and I discuss how the online entry system worked, who the judges are, how the jurying and judging processes will work and how she will feel once the exhibition is finally up.  We talk about the venues and all the complementary exhibitions that will happen at the same time. Thank you to everyone who supports this podcast and helps me tell the stories of our quiltmakers, artists and professionals.  If you would like to support me, head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, leave a donation here on my podbean hosting site, or consider advertising your business by sponsoring an episode.  Email me at theslightlymadquiltlady@gmail.com  Cheers!

I reached out to Bridget Macfarlane, quilter from Wellington, and asked her to give me an insight into the Capital Quilters 12 x 12 exhibition currently running at the Hutt Arts Society until the 13th August. I first met Bridget on Instagram and enjoyed seeing her modern quilting style and interactions with other Wellington quilters. Check out the show notes for photos of the quilts in the exhibition that we discuss www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com If you'd like to see more quilts or learn more about Capital Quilters, head over to their blog http://capitalquilters.blogspot.co.nz   And you can visit Bridget at her Instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/bridgetmacfarlane/ Thanks for taking the time to chat to me Bridget!

Mathea Daunheimer of Esparta Fiber Arts is my guest today and we have a conversation about her new long arm machine - so exciting! - and then we get into our lists of favourite studio tools or things that we just couldn't do without. For a written list of all our recommendations and links etc see the show notes on my blog www.theslightlymadquiltlady.blogspot.com    

Marge Hurst, quiltmaker, teacher, author and judge, has been quilting for nearly 35 years.  She began the craft while studying for her City and Guilds of London Embroidery Certificate as it was part of the curriculum.  Unfortunately for embroidery, quilting won out and once her certificate was completed (with distinction) embroidery was shown the door and patchwork became Marge’s first love. Marge has had her quilts exhibited widely and won many awards, including having a quilt accepted for Quilt National 1995, winning the first ever best of show in the NZ National Quilt Symposium, and having three solo exhibitions. Marge has taught all around NZ and internationally, she is a respected quilt judge and she has also written numerous articles for NZ and international magazines.  Her quilts have been published in books and she recently starred in a NZ TV show, Hearts in Craft, where she talked about and showed her quilts. Marge was awarded life membership of Aotearoa Quilters in 2009 recognising her contribution to quilting in NZ including being a founding member of AQ (then NANZQ), committee member for 6 years, 4 of those as president and newsletter editor.

In September 2016, a brand new magazine was launched in New Zealand.  Titled Fabricate, it showcases the textile arts scene in NZ.  There is news of upcoming events, profiles of artists and artisans, reviews of exhibitions – anything to do with textiles and stitch.  The creator and editor of the magazine is Cait McLennan Whyte and I was super excited to have her on the show so we could learn more about her, her story and the story of Fabricate and what we might see from Fabricate in the future. This episode is sponsored by Kerry Glen of Tulis Textiles. Tulis Textiles is an online store where you can find beautiful batik and ikat fabrics as well as the latest in surface design tools and supplies. You can find Kerry and Tulis Textiles at www.tulis.co.nz

Diane Anderson is a New Zealand quilter who lives in beautiful Bream Bay, north of Auckland.  I first met Diane in person at a workshop with Jeanette DeNicolis Meyer and instantly warmed to her friendly, calm demeanour.   Diane is also a sought-after marriage celebrant, keen gardener, and likes to hike with friends in her spare time.  Diane is a mother of two children, a beloved retriever called Stella and a cat called Lola.  She will celebrate 40 years of marriage to Tony this year. Diane specialises in hand work, including hand appliqué and Amish style hand-quilting.  I had a great chat with Diane about where she learnt her style of quilting, about her thoughts on keeping the skill and art alive and her top tips and ideas for learning and enjoying hand-quilting.

Clare Smith is a textile artist living and working in Tawa, a suburb of the capital city, Wellington.  Clare began teaching adult education classes in surface design, applique and Japanese bookmaking at the beginning of 1998, and has now taught at many NZ quilt symposiums, all over New Zealand and internationally including the UK and South Africa.  Clare is a talented fabric dyer, including the art of indigo dyeing, she is also widely skilled in other facets of textile arts including machine quilting, applique, pojagi, sashiko, costume design, and pretty much anything else she turns her hand to.