Page 53 - The Digital Cloth - Issue 5

In 2007 I was made redundant after many to set off back packing through South East
years of teaching Patchwork and Quilting Asia. I never made it to Sydney or Melbourne.
and Embroidery at our local college in I could have stayed happily in Perth but I
West Yorkshire England. needed to get back to the UK to see my family

I became self employed and I remember at Receiving the invitation in 2017 from Judy at
the time saying “I’ll retire after I get some Expertise Events, to come to Australia to e
teaching work in Australia” I had a goal, xhibit my quilts and teach was so exciting.
and it gave me a focus. I accepted the invitation to teach at AQC and
I started to make many new quilts, entered bring a collection of my quilts, all inspired by
Quilt competitions, won several prizes and my travels to India, Uzbekistan, South Africa,
taught locally until my children left home Israel and Jordan, Guatemala and Europe.
when I felt free to teach abroad, receiving Many of my quilts are painted with added

invites to teach all over Europe and in appliqué. With 22m of display space I was able
Canada and South Africa. to display lots of quilts. The ladies from Perth
who helped me hang my quilts have become
I love to travel, it’s easy for us in the UK good friends.
to have a weekend in France or hop on
a flight and a few hours later we can be In 2018 I found Australia nothing like the
wandering around Morocco. Our flights can Australia I remembered; it had changed so
be incredibly reasonably priced as there are much. I visited Sydney and Melbourne, I fell
many budget airlines. in love with the countryside, the beautiful
coastlines, and the fabulous people, I could live
I started to make Journal Quilts (one a in Fitzroy in Melbourne and slip into life, and

month) as reminders of some of the places feel very home at home with all the quilters in
I had been to. Not all of them exotic, some
were made to remember moving house,
others made to remember an exhibition I
had been to. I now have 168 and they can be
seen on my website.
When I made a successful small Journal
Quilt or one I particularly liked I would go
on to make a much larger quilt. They are

such useful samples.

When I travel I take masses of photos, I
love people watching, wandering markets
and towns early in the morning. I take
photos of things that might inspire me to
make a quilt. With over 100,000 photos on
my computer I always have too many ideas.

In 1982 I hitch hiked through Queensland,
went on to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock

before catching the train to Perth. We
worked in Perth earning enough money to