Journeying into creative hearts and minds

Name: Susan Carr

What do you design and why?
I design traditional quilts with a modern twist. I like bright colours and modern fabrics but sticking with the traditional blocks. I suppose it’s about the traditional techniques as well. They appeal to me. Some of the modern quilts don’t have enough technique or skill in them. I also love doing homewares for children, especially children’s quilts. Mermaid Tales is currently on display at Blueberries as a Block of the Month.

How long have you been designing and what are your techniques?
I’ve been designing for five years, but sewing for much longer. I mainly stick to the more traditional techniques like applique and paper piecing.

What gives you inspiration?
My inspiration really just comes from the fabric. I see the fabric and it tells me what to do with it. I’m also inspired by museum quilts and historic quilts, especially the origins of the blocks. It’s women’s history, in a way. Women who wanted to create but had to keep it confined to a women’s domain.

What’s a favourite project you’ve worked on recently?
I’d have to say it’s the Mermaid Quilt. I haven’t done a picture quilt before. Doing traditional piecing, the Mermaid Quilt was very different for me.

The Mermaid Quilt
The Block of the Month program will start in January, click here to register your interest.

Come and see the quilt in person at the Blueberries shop!

Any exciting new designs or projects in the pipeline?
I’d like to do a quilt using appliqué and foundation paper piecing. That’s a project that I’d like to see come to life in a Blueberries class. So again it’s the traditional quilt style with bright modern colours. It’s called the Mothers and Daughters quilt – a recreation of an old quilt but with modern bright fabrics.

As a designer, what advice can you give our readers?
Don’t get so caught up in your project that you lose perspective. It’s about enjoyment. Accuracy comes with practice. Keep trying different things. And above all, enjoy it. It’s about fun.

Visit Susan’s website at www.littleredjug.com

Show us the item and tell us the story

June Bollom’s ‘loaves and fishes’ act

What was your inspiration?
A friend of mine bought all the material about seven years ago. She’s never really been into patchwork and only got as far as cutting the strips up. Then unfortunately she became very ill and so it was put away. Then this year she asked if I could make it instead. It was originally supposed to just be a queen sized single quilt for her son, but when I saw the material, I realised there was enough for a full queen sized quilt, plus a lap quilt and two pillows. So I made them all.

How long did it take?
About six months. That was in-between whatever I was doing at Blueberries and all my other activities. I kept updating my friend on my progress and letting her know that it was all betting bigger than Ben Hur.

Did you customize as you went?
The pattern called for 24 colours, but when I counted them out, she actually had 35 colours. I had to extend the pattern to incorporate all of them, which is why it’s ended up with so many gorgeous colours.

What did your friend think of the finished items?
I took the whole caboodle around to her last week. She loved them so much she was just in tears. It was all so much more than either she or I expected.

What’s your next project?
I think I’m going to do Monica Poole’s Dragonfly quilt. I’ve got two weddings coming up next year and the quilts are perfects gifts.

Today Colleen, Rosalie, Ruth, Cosima, Louise, Sue, Jenny, June, Joyce and Monica had a fun day making the Jazz-It-Up Flower Carry Clutch. On arrival all received a ric-rac handband and at the end of the day all had their carry clutch sew together and going home to make more.

On Tuesday 18 January there will be another Jazz-It-Up Flower Carry Clutch class click here to register.

Colleen

Cosima, Rosalie and Ruth

Created by Jenny

Joyce

For Colleen’s grandson

June

Created by Louise

Monica and Joyce

Monica

Created by Rosalie

Created by Ruth

Sue and Louise

Sue

June

Learning about the Teacher

Name: Jenny Rofe

How long have you been quilting and what got you started?
I’ve been quilting for nearly 40 years. I was influenced by my grandmother who had waggas on her bed, made up of scraps and she helped me to sew on the treadle sewing machine in the same room as these waggas on the bed. It was one of the things we did as little girls. Eventually she taught me a lot about sewing, knitting and crocheting.

How long have you been teaching and what do you specialize in?
I’ve been teaching for close to 20 years now. I specialize in appliqué and some forms of embroidery and I do teach piecing as well.

What inspires your creative ideas and projects?

I get inspiration from anywhere, but mostly nature and creation. I go anywhere across the colour palette depending on what fabrics I can find, then it bounces back to nature. Mostly floral. Old fashioned types of things.
What’s your favourite colour and design style that you like to work with?
Generally I like all colours although I do lean towards purple and pink a bit, purple in all its shades. As for style, again I go back to florally images. With appliqué I prefer needleturn, all by hand, not machine work, piecing is with the machine. I often combine embroidery and appliqué. For me they go hand in hand.
What have you learnt from your students as a tutor?
The main thing is that you never know it all. I’m always learning new things from students, even beginners. You tend to take things for granted when you’ve been doing it for a long time.

Jenny will be tutoring the Dresden Daisies quilt (pictured below) and more at Blueberries next year. For more details look out for the 2011 Blueberries Calendar and Class Schedule coming soon!