Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2015: Thinking of Holland

This is my second entry in the Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2015, hosted by Amy Ellis from Amy's Creative Side, in the Art Quilt category. I made this art quilt, called Thinking of Holland, in November 2013 for an exhibition with the theme 'Living Colour'. It wasn't selected but it became one of my favourite quilts.



'Living Colour' immediately make me think of the flower fields in Holland (The Netherlands), my home country. We use to live close to those fields in the last few years before we moved to Australia and yes, they really are so very colourful. There are also lots of windmills in that part of the country and although a cliché, I had to add one as they have such a beautiful shape!



I also had to include a bicycle... It's what I miss most here in Australia - riding everywhere as a matter of fact (without a helmet!) and feeling safe because it is such a normal part of everyday life. The bicycle shape is the one I used in my Cycle of Life quilt (see blog header), it is based on a photo of my husband and our youngest son.



I densely quilted this piece with Aurifil threads and blogged about it here.



Do check out the other quilts in the Art Quilt category and don't forget to vote for your favourites between 29 October and 5 November!

1000 Quilt Inspirations

This week my copy of 1000 Quilt Inspirations - Colourful and Creative Designs for Traditional, Modern and Art Quilts by Sandra Sider arrived. How exciting!



I knew Speed, my little bycicle quilt, would be in it, but was surprised to see Black & White #3 and #2 in it as well:



And Balance 2, one of my personal favourites!



As the title says, the book is full of inspiration. There are no patterns or techniques and there is very little text (just a 2-page introduction) - it's just lots and lots of images of gorgeous quilts. I spend a wonderful evening going through it slowly.

I showed the book to a few non-quilting friends and they really enjoyed looking through it. A perfect coffee table book!

Dutch bicycles

One of the things I miss most about the Netherlands is the way cycling is part of everyday life. In Holland everyone rides everywhere; to work, school, the shops, the gym (without wearing a helmet, too), and therefore you see bikes everywhere. During our holiday I took lots of photos of bicycles - here are my favourite pics. Bicycles are so photogenic, don't you think?