Here is a fantastic website/blog with some awesome tutorials on it – well worth a look http://quiltinggallery.com
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Author Archives: Wendy Ward
Layers Lunch
Today was Lunch with the Layers group, an off-shoot of COOTS. Five members from our area have formed this group to cater to our insatiable need for knowledge and encouragement in the fibre field.
I did not like my Karen Eckmeier Quilted Village (sorry can’t find the original photo of it) so the Layers girls encouraged me to turn it over and cut it up. So here it is. I have gessoed a piece of the front (coloured) and a pieced of the back (black) – I quite like the effect, I’m not sure what to do with it next but it was quite liberating to chop it up and I won’t be daunted in the future to do this again as I can see more potential.
This next piece is from a Textured Landscapes workshop I did at the Picton MiniSymposium. I didn’t like this much either so once again I chopped it – it is in need of some stitching now but I like it more.
Here are some more pictures from my Layers book. You may notice a theme here – I am fixated with architecture at the moment – maybe driven by the fact that we are currently not living in a home of our own – we are renting and we always get a bit unsettled. I am fascinated with old buildings, decaying and no longer used, flakey paint, etc. These next pictures are painted and stamped papers, writing about derelict abandoned buildings and photocopied photographs of the Old Drapery at Ophir. I ripped these up and wove them back together.
The next two are layers of felt, magazine pictures, transfer dyes, writing, organza, and photographs
These lunches are great – we go away thoroughly recharged and ready to produce more work. The emphasis is more on exploring and playing and not necessarily producing a “finished piece” we are all heading in different theme directions.
We are having a COOTS exhibition at the Festival of Colour in Wanaka next year. For our Artist’s statements we are using the “I am from …. ” poem. It has been fantastic, insipiring and different way to introduce ourselves.
Finished
I have finished my “Shaded Face” from the workshop I did with Anna Williams She is a great teacher and if you ever get the chance to take a class with her go for it. This class was done at the Picton Mini symposium at Anzac Weekend.
COOTS at Kinloch
A couple of weeks ago the Coots (Central Otago Outside the Square) ladies went to Kinoch Lodge for the weekend. We made Felt (wet felt). Here is of my pieces, a book Cover front and back. It was a fabulous weekend and we achieved alot. Some of us used an embellisher machine and as a result three ladies put their order in to purchase one.
After Sassaman
John Gehl – Metal Artist
Ruth Gehl Sunflowers
Fiona McArthur Honouring Peonies
Doris Schoen Nasturtium
Jenny Tayler Tomatoes
Merilyn Williams Dandelions Galore
Dorota Fraser Artichoke
Sheila Emslie A Quilted Garden I and II
Anne Carter Magnolias
Heather Munro La Royale
Robyn Van Reenan – Kowhai
Jenny Taylor – Hallucinogenic Poppies
Wendy Ward – Hellebores
Alison Naylor – Singapore Orchid
We have finally finished our pieces from a Jane Sassaman Workshop in January 2007. The finished quilts are being exhibited at the Cloakroom Gallery in Queenstown until Monday 2 June. Here are some pics of the quilts.
Dubai
Dubai is unbelievably hot. The air is so thick and moist it is like breathing soup.
We are waiting at the airport for the long flight home. Yesterday we went to see the biggest hotel and then went to the biggest shopping mall – it was huge.
Last day in Venice
Today we were up and away on a tour to the Islands Murano, Burano and Torcello
The first stop was the island of Murano famous for Venetian Glass.We watched some glass making and toured the showroom and it was back on the boat again and off to Burano
Burano is famous for Lace. It is also a colourful fishing village. We loved this island and we only had 30 minutes here. We went back to the boat to tell the tour guide that we weren’t going on with the tour and that we wanted to stay there. She said that was fine she was bring another tour through there at 4:00pm so we could catch the boat again then. Great.
We wandered around the island, watched them making the lace (well I did), and generally enjoyed the slower pace. Had a very enjoyable day.
We rejoined the tour and went on to Torcello. This was a basically deserted island (only 15 residents) but with a big bascillica and bell tower. Then we were back to the hustle and bustle of Venice.
We had a lovely last Italian dinner and are now waiting to go to the airport and on to Dubai.
Venice
We arrived to a beautiful day in Venice. We got a boat from the Train Station to our hotel. Our room is tiny. Below our window is a major Gondola point and we hear them taking passengers and singing as they go past our window – very nice.
Today we went to the Cathedral in St Marco square. It is awesome with lots of gold mosaics and the mosaic floor is really interesting.
Trevor went to the top of the bell tower and had amazing views of Venice from there.
Venice is extremely busy with people – it has been the busiest place we have been to by far. Tomorrow we are going for a tour to three Islands Murano (where they make the beautiful glass), Burano (where they make lace) and Torcello.
It is quite humid here but it cools a bit at night. We are ready to get away from all the people.
Last Day in Florence
Today Trevor and I went our separate ways – I went to the Galleries and he went walking to find motorbike shops.
I was up early to queue for the Uffizi Gallery. At 8:15 in the morning there was already a large queue. It was an hour and a half before I got in. But it was well worth the wait – it is totally mind blowing. The Rembrandt room was closed for renovation but I still got to see many other famous artists – Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli to name a few very, very impressive. This collection belonged to the Medici Family (Florence’s royalty) They built the Uffizi Gallery to house their collection. The building is three floor and U shaped – its huge.
I then went to the Pitti Palace – which was the home of the Medici Family. The Pitti Palace is at one end of the Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery is at the other – the family built a corridor on top of the Ponte Vecchio (bridge) so they could walk between the two without having 
to mix with the commoners!
to mix with the commoners! The palace is extremely opulent and is also full of art. The ceilings, doors etc are all very decorated. There are five different museums in the palace – art, some of the rooms of the Medici family, costume, modern art, porcelain, silver and treasures from around the world – this family was seriously mega rich!
The Palace also has extensive gardens – here is a small part of them.
That was my day filled in well and truly. Trevor said the motorbike shops were crap – not much in them. He did heaps of walking a even a wee bit of shopping!!!
That was my day filled in well and truly. Trevor said the motorbike shops were crap – not much in them. He did heaps of walking a even a wee bit of shopping!!!
We went more into the centre of Florence tonight for dinner and came across some students doing street art and musicians playing – lovely atmosphere.
We were a packed up now and heading to Venice.
Siena
We got up early this morning to go to Siena. Trevor decided to navigate the way to the train station to get the train there. Well after about 20 minutes of walking I decided that I would navigate with the map. We got to the station with minutes to spare thank goodness there weren’t any queues for tickets.
One and a half hours of train journey through Tuscany was lovely. Have I mentioned that so far where ever we have been you have to pay to use the toilet! And they are few and far between. It was a bit cooler today (about 18 degrees) and in Siena it was spitting.
Siena is a hilly gothic style, town with walls around the inner part. Lovely narrow streets and it seems that motor vehicles are not allowed in the centre most part. The shops appear to be larger than Rome and very very nice – it seemed a bit like Queenstown in that it was bustling with tourists but there is only 50,000 people that live there. They were getting ready for a big festival- Il Palio – some pageantry and a horse race around the centre square, which is on next week.
One and a half hours of train journey through Tuscany was lovely. Have I mentioned that so far where ever we have been you have to pay to use the toilet! And they are few and far between. It was a bit cooler today (about 18 degrees) and in Siena it was spitting.
Siena is a hilly gothic style, town with walls around the inner part. Lovely narrow streets and it seems that motor vehicles are not allowed in the centre most part. The shops appear to be larger than Rome and very very nice – it seemed a bit like Queenstown in that it was bustling with tourists but there is only 50,000 people that live there. They were getting ready for a big festival- Il Palio – some pageantry and a horse race around the centre square, which is on next week.
Had a lovely lunch – have I mentioned that the Italian food is very nice – simple and fresh – very tasty.
Got back to Florence around 5:00pm and went to the Uffizi Gallery to see if I could get tickets to visit tomorrow – they had sold all the reservations so I have to get up early to queue – it opens at 8:15 – so another early day tomorrow.