A group of internet artists from all over the place who have decided to give each other a challenge every few weeks, on a theme chosen by each in turn. We have different ideas and styles, but share a love of textiles, and want to have some fun.


Saturday 13 August 2011

Introducing Esther Aliu

Hello, I am Esther, 55 this year, married with 3 children and a cantankerous cat. 2 adult DDs at home with us at the moment. I have been quilting for 11 years, before that I was in the fashion industry.
I love traditional work, especially applique. I am drawn to stylistic folk elements and embroideries and try to create old fashioned style quilts. I especially like exploring current notions of what old fashioned is, as I do think quilters were more experimental ‘back then’ than they are credited for.
I do a lot of stenciling and painting on fabrics. Lutrador is my next experiment…I think.
I get side tracked too easily and start new projects all the time. I hate deadlines but definitely need them to get anything accomplished. I usually wait until a week before any show or exhibit and then I work 20 hours a day to get it done.
Although I have slowed down a bit in the last 6 months, I am choosing what I commit to doing a bit more carefully. I have a quilting To Do List which I am faithfully working through on my blog. As it is planned ahead, I do find that I still need a challenge to keep me motivated – so this project / challenge/ blog is going to be a great outlet for me to be spontaneous.
I love the idea of exhibiting our ideas at the end of it all and mostly, just can’t wait to get started!

2 comments:

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

You are far too modest about who you are!

Anonymous said...

So glad you're here Esther, and have put these challenges on your to do list - excellent news! Looking forward enormously to seeing what you come up with. x

It's early days yet, but I've had a couple of emails asking about the size of quilts so thought I'd mention it again here.

No size was set for the challenges as the idea was to allow free reign rather than restrict work to something quite small - or put everyone off by going too large. Sometimes ideas lead to something which a size rule would spoil. BUT, I guess if the blog evolves and exhibiting becomes a possibility (I'm thinking for example of the 12x12 group at foq.,) then a uniform size would make things easier both to hang and to look at.