A few more Quilts from Wellington Quilters Guild Show

There were so many beautiful quilts on display to share, I’ll show some of the smaller ones this time.  “Across the Lake” was started in a Chris Kenna Landscape class, by Anne-Marie Cunningham.  This beautiful little wall-hanging in neutral colours has a typical New Zealand flavour to it.

Across the Lake

“Antique Afternoon Tea Delight” is another lovely neutral coloured quilt.  Jeannette Orr took a class with Cindy Needham and was inspired to create something special using a vintage table cloth and embellished it with beads and pearls once owned by her Grand-mother. Such beautiful machine quilting, and it is a wonderful way to display family treasures.

Antique Afternoon Tea Delight

I can remember watching Cindy Walter demonstrate her “Snippet Sensation” quilts on TV some years ago.  Margaret Pitt made this version called “Blue Vase”  using the techniques of freehand cutting all these small pieces of fabric, fusing them down then quilting everything in place.

 

Blue Vase

Many of the club members took part in the Portrait Challenge, with everything from real life likenesses to more humorous ones displayed .

The Portrait Challenge.

My favourite portrait was another offering by the multi talented Fyvie Murray.  She used her sewing machine to thread sketch  the likeness of Eleanor and Xavier, adding extra ink shading.   It is no surprise this work of art won “Portrait Challenge Viewers Choice”, as well as the award “Merit is Surface Art”.

 

Eleanor and Xavier

This is just a taste of some of the lovely quilts on display.  The exhibition is on till the rest of the week, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that someone will phone to let me know I’ve won a raffle basket full of gorgeous fabric.  Dreams are free, aren’t they.

This exhibition was held in the New Zealand Portrait Gallery so I took the time to check out the paintings hung in the entranceway as I left.  Amongst the older portraits from the early days of colonisation, I noticed this one of New Zealand hero Sir Peter Blake holding the America’s Cup.  Regarded as one of most successful sailors in yachting history, Sir Peter Blake was twice a winner of the America's Cup with Team Zealand. In 1995 he helped make Team New Zealand only the second non-American team in the America's Cup's 144-year history to take the coveted silver trophy, winning again in 2000.  Blake was also famous in New Zealand  for his lucky red socks, and wore the same pair of socks throughout the 1995 challenge.  Before the final, team sponsors manufactured 100,000 pairs of Blake's lucky red socks which sold out in days in New Zealand.  With half the money going to the syndicate it proved a masterstroke in subsidising the team's funding.

Painting of Sir Peter Blake at the Portrait Gallery