This quilt was recently a part of the at the ‘Australian Quilts in Public Places’ exhibition at the Whitehorse Gallery in Melbourne. The theme was ‘Where in the World?’

This is quite an experimental piece and based on a google map of the tiny town closest to where I live.

‘“Blink and you miss it”, I tell people travelling to my place.

A tiny Australian rural town like many others, but scratch the surface and you’ll find unique people, flora and fauna.

Parts of the map where enlarged and painted directly to a silk screen. I then printed sections using the breakdown method with dye paste. I was looking for organic lines and marks depicting trees, dams, roads paddocks, etc.

Houses were appliqued and other details stitched in by machine and hand. Overlays of printed silk organza with birds and leaves were added toward the end. It was difficult to balance all the elements in this piece, but I’m fairly happy with the result.

The birds shown are the iconic Superb parrots that live in our district.