Quilts to warm a winter day: The Quiltmaker

Here's a quilt from the  2013 Houston International Quilt Festival which will warm up your winter day just like a cup of delicious hot tea. We loved these cheerful, vibrant colors.

The Quiltmaker by Jennifer Bowker,  Garran, Australian Capital Territory, Australia



Winner of the Honorable Mention award in the category of Art Quilts-People, Portraits, and Figures, Jennifer says, "I wanted to honor Margaret Rolfe, the founder of the first Australian Quilt Guild, Canberra Quilters, and author of many books on quilting. Her designs for Australian flowers, houses, and animals brought Australia into the quilting world. She views a quilt landscape that melds traditional blocks with her own designs."

Close-up, The Quiltmaker by Jennifer Bowker

Above you can see some of the beautiful free-motion quilting done on the quilt background, as well as some of the lovely blocks featured by Jennifer. She constructed this quilt using machine piecing and raw-edge applique, with paint added to the frame. Jennifer's materials include commericial and hand-dyed cottons, cotton and polyester thread, Lumiere fabric paint, and Matilda's Own wool/poly batting.  To us, it seems as if a glowing sun is shining down from the upper left-corner, illuminating Margaret's countenance and the rest of the quilt with its radiance.  

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Imagine world peace

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish.  The Peace Quilt, 63 x 70,  features a foundation-pieced Crane block designed by Margaret Rolfe (Australia). The quilt is made in Japanese fabrics.

You can see images of the quilt on display at the 2009 Australasian quilt convention, along with a detail photo (below) by Anne Shea*.  Anne blogged about the convention, and the peace quilt - and her own blocks - on her Pins and Thimbles blog.

 The quilt pattern can also be found at Alderwood Quilts (Oregon) as shown below:

The origami cranes became a symbol of world peace through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who was living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. Sadako attempted to make 1000 paper cranes before her death in 1955, and her story is commemorated in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. In 1958 a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth."

Image credits and links:  Margaret Rolfe is an author, quilt designer, and quilt historian, who founded the Quilt Study Group of Australia. The Peace Quilt pattern is available at Margaret Rolfe.com. A brightly colored version of the Peace Quilt was an award-winner at the 2007 Rising Star Quilters Guild show.   
*The block image is shown with the generous permission of Anne Shea.  Anne lives and works in Melbourne, Australia, where she makes clothes for tall women: see her online shop and blog at Sarah Vain and Tall.