AQC - Jolly Jumpers with Gillian Travis

I chose to go to AQC because there were two tutors I wanted to take classes with.

The first was Willyne Hammerstein and I talked about her quilts here and here.

The second tutor I wanted to learn from was Gillian Travis from the United Kingdom (UK).

I first saw photos of Gillian's work from the UK Festival of Quilts a couple of years ago.  I just loved her Jolly Jumpers quilt and even purchased her Nordic Journeys in Stitch book via her website.  Needless to say, I never got around to making my own jolly jumper blocks, so when I saw that Gillian was coming to AQC, I decided to take her class. 

Gillian had many samples in the class room for us to study her various techniques.

Rather than embarking on a large wall hanging that we might never finish, we worked on little kits that Gillian had prepared in advance.  We made blocks that we can turn into needlecases and pin cushions when we get home.

We did some screen printing (not very successfully in my case), and then used either hand stitching or machine embroidery to embellish our jumpers.  Here's my first jumper:

We didn't know which colour pack we would get, so couldn't take our own threads.  We just had to use what was there.

The good news is that there were spare packs available for purchase, so I have more pieces to start again with all my own threads.

Gillian also had a number of quilts in the exhibition.  My favourite was this one which is part of her "Israel and Jordan Markets" series. I loved the colours in the background, but also the message it sends about the women.

You can see more of Gillian's work on her website gilliantravis.co.uk

Gillian is very well travelled, and gets inspiration from her travels. I'm very interested to see what she will make after visiting Australia. 

On my final day in Melbourne I saw this in a shop and had to smile.