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Friday, April 11, 2014

Town and Country Quilters – part 2

Our speaker for the evening was Camilla Watson, a wonderful quilter and also a counsellor in stress management.  Camilla had brought along quite an array of quilts showing her quilting journey from her early days up to the present time.  She started off using 2 inch squares in her first quilt, then had to make another, and other, to use up all those squares she had diligently cut up.  Sound familiar?

P4090023 Camilla’s early quilts used 2in squares

The idea of cat quilt was taken from a small sketch drawn by Camilla’s Mum and turned into a fabric work of art. Set against a neutral pieced background, the black “sketch marks” really stand out.

P4090025Cat quilt

Camilla discovered her niche with needle turn appliqué, which borders her photo gallery quilt.  Precious family photos have been copied on to fabric and displayed all together in this wonderful quilt.

P4090026Family photo album quilt

This amazingly evocative  quilt was taken from a photo at the beach at Mahia.  With another beautifully pieced background, it shows the silhouette of Camilla’s daughter, as she reflects on the closure of camping area where the family spent many happy holidays.

P4090028Mahia Beach

Camilla’s Menamorphosis quilt has to be seen close up to be truly appreciated.  This beauty of needle turn appliqué was awarded Best of Country - New Zealand World Quilt Exhibition 2010, received an Honorary Mention at International Quilt Festival 2009, Houston, and was awarded second place in the Professional Appliqué category at the NZ Symposium Wellington 2009.  It is hard to imagine how many hours of work went into completing this wonderful quilt.

Menamorphosis full
Menamorphoris, by Camilla Watson

Camilla’s message for quilting excellence was to practise and practise some more.  We can certainly see the results of all her many hours of practise!  What a great show and tell, do check out Camilla’s website to see more of her wonderful work.    

1 comment:

Nancy J said...

Lost for words, the Beach quilt is most wondrous. What a gracious lady to share these with you. Cheers, Jean.