September 2023 brought the third (I think) of the workshops I have attended this year (the other two will come soon to here). It was with Australian contemporary landscape quilter Gloria Loughman.
This was a two day class organised through Canberra Quilters Inc (my local guild), and was a very intense weekend filled with learning, trying new things, and really pushing what it is to me to be a quilter. Generally speaking, I am not an “art quilter”. It isn’t something I have ever thought of myself as, nor has it been something I have thought of myself being interested in.
However.
I did this workshop because I wanted to be pushed outside what it is that I have been doing. I have about five quilts currently in various stages of progress (should keep track of those here), and after a period of what I can only describe as “meh” in relation to quilting – being heavily involved in the guild over the past three or four years took a bit of a toll on the whole creative energy – I have been trying different things and trying to push myself into different parts of the quilting world.
so on what I am making…
At the last walk around the room before pack up time, Gloria said to me
“I don’t know where this is going, but it looks really good”
Gloria Loughman
Same Gloria, same.
I suspect this this may represent a change in my overall practice, and I do wonder if this is going to be one of those things I reflect on in years to come as something that changed the way that I operate towards and think about quilting. The workshop itself was inspiring. I learned things I needed to know and that I was ready to hear about (I foresee experiments in dyeing, fabric panting and collage in my future). It has also triggered some time for self-reflection on what it is about my quilting practice that I enjoy and what type of thing I want to do next.
so watch this space.
