Bearbrass member Jan S has been quilting for 45 years, since her training days as a Home Economics teacher.
“I get excited about a new pattern and start trying it out but a lot of my experiments become smaller versions of their intended result” she says.
But her latest is a beauty -- 65 inch square (US measure) or 165cm in “Log Cabin” style, involving “logs” around an internal square.
She made it for her granddaughter Lucy, aged 6, who'd inquired why a quilt hadn't been made for her.
It took Jan about 18 months on and off, collecting, trimming and machine sewing 1100 patches while locked down at her Southbank apartment. Most of the pieces (about 3cm wide) were offcuts and leftovers in her cupboard from previous quilts: . “I’ve accumulated every colour of the rainbow in every sort of pattern, but I also bought a few squares from patchwork shops. I like my quilts to have a ‘scrappy’ look. These show that a lot of love and thought goes into the blending of colours, textures and tesselations, rather than a quick machine-made look.”
Her friendly helper is her Brother VQ2400 sewing machine which she’s been using for five years. But she’s also got a quilt almost finished that’s entirely sewn by hand.
She’s also a dab hand at blackwork, bobbin lace, tatting, crocheting, knitting, macrame, weaving – all of the “gentle arts”. Her other great past-time is cooking – when Bearbrass caught up with her she was busy putting trays of individual lemon meringue pies in the oven at her son’s home in Torquay. #