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Over The Wicker

Today on the to-do list was to create a printable block cutting chart with graphics for Pauline to take with her to teach at Wacky Jacky’s fabulous retreat in Brisbane. There, a group of quilters will have a week of fine dining, hilarious conversations, relaxing away from the norm and most of all Quilting classes with Pauline. Who could want more!?

Prelude: The Day before

Working late into the afternoon watching Pauline as she attaches the borders for the class project, I learnt something new!

She had the unfinished quilt pinned to the design wall and was umming and ahhing over the borders. My height came in handy, and I held up this fabric and that fabric, pinning and unpinning them to the design board around the quilt until Pauline said with a matter of fact and delight, “that’s it, perfect”.

 

 I sat and watched as she took the Quilt As You Go (QAYG) quilt and sewed on a 1 inch backing strip along the side edges. My thoughts as she took the border and pinned it onto the other edge of this strip were ‘how on earth is she going to do this?’ I could only imagine that it was going to be very squishy as she did this in the next stage. 

I was dubious until the end, as she had both side borders on and took the quilt to the ironing board.

To my amazement she pressed and ironed the newly attached borders completely flat, with the border and the quilt sitting flat and butting up perfectly against each other. It just worked!

There were a few tricks along the way of course; the use of the open toe foot, and needle adjustment to the exact ¼ inch seam, trade secrets she was sure to pass on during the retreat’s classes. I was impressed. Again… 

Back to today:

The next morning, taking Paulines notes and the quilt with coffee in hand, I asked her what the name of the quilt was. 

“You can name this one Simon,” she mused “I am sure you can come up with something.”

I took her scribbled notes, the quilt and a tape measure, and up to the office I ventured, still impressed as I ran the join between my fingers.

I knew exactly how I was going to do up the graphics, no problem. But the naming was something else entirely. I have made only one quilt, and I named it the Kings Quilt after I realised what it meant to me. 

It was mine; a throw for the couch or the bed. The colours and the disappearing nine block, dark and aged, the simple straight lined quilting pattern. It all was me and for my house, and in my house I am king. So that was easy. 

But this was Pauline’s creation.

Batiks were used, with ocean blues being the main colour, as well as yellows, pinks and oranges. I looked at it and it reminded me of something specific, something nostalgic.

It took me back to the 90s when our family would catch the Fantasea ferry each year and sail over to Hamilton Island for holidays over Christmas. We stayed in a family owned condo at the far end of Catseye Beach; the older 3 story apartments; Lagoon Lodge. My nanna was the main decorator of this apartment, and like her home it was bright, open and peaceful. 

I looked at Pauline’s quilt, and it reminded me of the bedspreads from the apartment; bright and vibrant, hibiscus and flower patterns. Often, we would drag one of the single bed’s quilt covers out from the room and over to the wicker furniture. We would curl up under it with the smell and sound of the ocean drifting in with the cool air through the open doors, as the sun set in the late afternoon, our sunburn easing as the cool air touched the aloe vera lotion.

That’s it, perfect! I have the name. 

Over the Wicker. 

                             

Endless threads,

Simon

 

 

About

With over 35 years of experience, Pauline’s expertise covers a full range of techniques from appliqué and hand work, to machine piecing and quilting.

Pauline began her career in the 1980’s as a travelling patchwork and quilting tutor, commissioned by the Queensland Arts Council to teach the women of the Australian Outback. She has been a featured tutor at the Australasian Quilting Symposiums, Quilt and Craft Shows around the world, as well as teaching many workshops all around Australia and New Zealand. Pauline is a very enthusiastic guest Speaker at many Quilting Events.

Pauline and her husband, Rob, are the owners of Pauline’s Quilters World (PQW), which began in 1996 as the first quilt shop in Toowoomba, Queensland.

With a focus on educating quilters she’s organised a multitude of events including, the Outback Quilters Tour, Toowoomba QuiltFest and Margies Quilts Of Hope – where Pauline worked with quilters to make quilts that raised money for Breast Cancer research.

In 2000, at the Queensland State Quilt Conference, Pauline was recognised for outstanding services to the establishment and promotion of patchwork and quilting in Queensland.

Pauline enjoys helping others learn and perfect patchwork and quilting. In 2006 she was instrumental in the production of a series of 16 educational DVDs on patchwork and quilting of which she was the featured tutor in three – The Joy of Piecing, Foundation Paper Piecing and Chenilling.

She believes when teaching it’s important to focus on the process, such as accurate cutting and piecing, and that the equipment used is a vital part of this process. Pauline also feels that when the proper tools are used correctly, making a quilt is easier and more enjoyable, and the quilters efforts are rewarded with a better result.

Free Motion Quilting is one of her great passions and she also gets great joy and satisfaction in teaching this to the hundreds of quilters that are eager to learn.

Pauline says that her greatest achievement has come in the last few years since she invented the SASHING TOOLS and her QUILT AS YOU GO BOOK. The idea for these unique tools came about from the challenges she herself and other quilters were having trying to fit the bulk of a big quilt under the needle to do nice Free Motion Quilting. We all know the challenges of getting even stitches and nice shapes when there is so much bulk bunched up through a space on a Domestic machine.

The SASHER Collection has been greatly received by quilters world wide to allow them to make easy, yet very effective Sashings when they use Pauline’s Quilt As You Go Techniques.

Pauline’s statement to quilters is “Who said we should quilt last”.

Experimenting with the numerous gadgets available in the marketplace, Pauline has acquired an in-depth knowledge of tools and loves to teach and demonstrate with such things. Pauline continues to strive to invent and find new exciting tools and gadgets to help quilters world wide.