Gloria Loughman Class…or how I made my very first art quilt Part One

I made mention last week how I was about to embark on my very first art quilt class.  Finally, I have five spare minutes to update you!

Our quilting group tries hard to bring tutors of note to pass on their knowledge.  We live in the country and it’s harder to get them here than it is in the city – travel costs are higher, accommodation costs are more – you know the drill. 

We usually go for the fairly well known in Australia but not internationally renowned tutors.  There are many wonderful teachers out there and our group has tried lots of them over the years, learning lots of wonderful new techniques.

But it’s not often we get the really ‘good’ teachers (no disrespect to any other tutors out there!).  By ‘good’ I mean those who travel regularly overseas to teach – those with book deals, those who you have to book years, not months in advance.  Those who have really made their name on the teaching circuit.

We were lucky enough to secure the talents of Gloria Loughman this weekend.  Our group booked this class years ago. For those of you unfamiliar with her quilts, google her and you’ll find many. 

I’ve never taken a class with anyone really, much less for an art quilt.  So to jump in the deep end with a ‘arty’ quilter was really scary for me.

I needn’t have worried.  She was lovely.  Full of enthusiasm and so giving of everything she knew.  We were very lucky.

I took photos.

She spoke about each quilt as she showed us.  Each one has a story (don’t they all?).  The technique was called mosaic tiling or piecing or something, and all of the techniques are found in her book ‘Radiant Landscapes’.  I’ll write more on the class tomorrow, but just thought for now, you may like to look at her quilts ‘up close’.

Loved the leaves on this quilt.  Loved the trees.  She showed us how to paint a tree and it was so easy!  Of course, I am no artist so I am not optimistic my tree will look anything like it shows here, but I am game!

The leaves were so simply done, and so simply embroidered and look how effective they are!

This is another one of her beautiful quilts – not one that she taught us but I loved the intricate detail of her leaves.  She uses a combination of applique and stitching to give the finished result. 

This is the bigger picture of the quilt.  I got the order mixed up.  How calm is this quilt?

More wonderful leaves.  Again – simple shapes with simple stitching makes such a realistic looking leaf.

These palm leaves are cut out and stitched well over the top.  She made a point of explaining how much art stitching she does with each quilt – she made it all sound very easy and plausible.

Another beautiful landscape quilt.  So different from her others, but you can see the techniques she uses and how they follow through on all her quilts.

This was the big deal quilt. This is the one that we all adored.  It had thousands of little pieces all individually appliqued on, and it was simply stunning.

A close up.  Again – simple leaves, simple stitching.  The detail on the tree trunk is all different stitches, different threads.  All so effective.

One last close up for you.  I love every inch of this quilt.  It all looks perfect.

So that’s today’s update.  In my next post I’ll show you how I went about my quilt. 

Happy quilting!

Suzie