Erica Spinks

Gardens, words, quilts, creativity

  • Home
  • About
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Celebrating women

8 March 2021Leave a Comment

It’s International Women’s Day. We are strong but we are not unbreakable. Let’s celebrate all the women who have gone before us, all those around us today, and all those in the future. We rock! Detail of my Goddess Roseus quilt. Foil and hand stitching on silk paper.

Can I please have a personal fabric shopper?

12 February 2021Leave a Comment

Before we moved house, I purged my stash of many metres of fabrics I will never use. I have no idea why I bought some of these pieces in the first place. I donated them to a charity shop where I am sure they will find new owners who will appreciate them. To prevent this […]

My ideal quilt event

4 February 2021Leave a Comment

The virus is still with us and I simply can’t imagine going to a major quilt show, like the Sydney Quilt Show (my Guild’s one) and mingling with large crowds again. Most shows have been postponed indefinitely and I miss catching with my friends and seeing all the wonderful quilts on exhibition. But the idea […]

Summer solstice

20 December 2020Leave a Comment

When we live in cities, we sometimes don’t notice the rhythms of the earth and our seasons. Today is the summer solstice here in Australia – the day when the sun’s track across the sky reaches its highest point – and commonly called the longest day of the year.  It is also the start of […]

Every day is different

10 December 2020Leave a Comment

Sometimes, it seems as if the endless stream of days blurs into a single continuum, especially this year. The sun rises, the sun sets. Another lot of routines are carried out and another day is ticked off the calendar. Suddenly, we look up and realise another week, another month, has passed by without us really […]

Ruth de Vos: three questions

15 November 20201 Comment

Welcome to the fifth in my Three Questions series, where I ask makers about their creative practices. I became aware of Ruth’s quilts over 10 years ago, when I was editor of a now-defunct quilt magazine and I have followed her work since. Ruth stitches together lots of little pieces of fabric to make bold […]

How to explode quilt block diagrams

12 November 2020Leave a Comment

When I’ve been writing patterns for my quilts in the past, I’ve often thought it would be useful to include diagrams that show how the pieces of a block join. I have low-level skills with graphics programs and I don’t have expensive software. I use EQ8 for my diagrams but never knew a way to explode […]

On hand piecing

5 October 20202 Comments

The threaded needle gathers a row of running stitches that hold together two pieces of fabric. I stop and look more closely. The sharp needle point has pierced the fibres of the cotton cloth over and over as it makes its way along the sewing line. A simple, yet effective tool. I ease the thread […]

No more huge quilts for me

29 January 2019Leave a Comment

I’ve been wrestling with an unfinished quilt top this month. It’s enormous (by that I mean queen sized) and I’ve finally wrangled all the pieces through my sewing machine. It is a Trip Around the World (the pic below shows it in an early stage on my design wall) and there’s no way I’m quilting it.  My […]

In the Studio with Megan Manwaring

26 June 2017Leave a Comment

Did you miss my article about QuiltNSW President, Megan Manwaring? Now you can read it online for free!

Next Page »

Recent Posts

  • Celebrating women
  • Weekend reading
  • Japanese Anemones
  • Weekend reading
  • About Facebook

Categories

  • Gardening
  • My writing
  • Notebooks
  • On…
  • Quilts
  • Three questions
  • Uncategorized
  • What I'm reading

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • September 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • June 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • March 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
follow us in feedly
Follow

Subscribe by E-mail

Enter your email address:

Copyright © 2006–2021 Erica Spinks · All Rights Reserved · Log in