Saturday 18 April 2015

Connections and stories, quilts and war

When I was working on edits for 'My Name is Lizzie Flynn' I discovered that there was a quilting award called the 'RAJAH'. This had to be more than a coincidence, and of course it was. The Rajah award is given to a quilter who has contributed to the industry over many years. One of the recipients, Lessa Siegele, went on to research the Rajah quilt herself and to produce a pattern for quilters to make their own Rajah-inspired 1/4 size (but still 160 x 160 cm) quilt. This one is Lessa's. 

Yesterday, I met Lessa at the AQC (Australian Quilt Convention) and we talked about the Rajah (okay and the odd other thing). Lessa and I will be 'in conversation' at the upcoming Williamstown Literary Festival talking about the Rajah quilt.

 The Convention includes several themed challenges. This quilter (I'm sorry, my photo wasn't good enough to also capture her name) won the challenge at the last Convention and her work was immediately identifiable. I'd love her to illustrate a picture book for me one day.

Twelve Apostles 
  
Twelve Apostles with flash - showing the most recently fallen Apostle. 


This quilt was one of a story sequence about a soldier, beginning with his enlistment and ending in a graveyard. This quilt is about 2 m tall and about 1 metre wide I guess.


There's also a Best of the Best exhibition with quilts from every state, or every guild.



The smallest pieces of this quilt are around 2 cm square!


I do like bubbles.


These (approx 30 cm2) pieces depicted responses to WW1.

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