AQC Challenge – In Full Bloom
See the 30 finalists’ quilts on display at the fair
This year’s AQC Challenge theme – In Full Bloom – is at first apparent and yet still open to various interpretations, and this year’s results must be seen to be believed!
Entries feature traditional designs and techniques and contemporary styles and textile art too. Visit the fair and appreciate all of the fabulous, joyful results of the finalists’ works.
Congratulations to our winners
First Place – Sue De Vanny
Grow Around You by Sue De Vanny
Grow Around You
An iconic image of Frida Kahlo on how she’s been depicted today. With her difficult life and her iconic looks, one being flowers in her hair. Here I’ve created more flowers in full bloom as if they’re still growing around her, like love for Frida and her work. Awarded Winner of the Challenge.
Runner Up – Elizabeth Dubbelde
Denim In Bloom by Elizabeth Dubbelde
Denim in Bloom
The connection to my garden of thirty one years, old and new, constantly being repurposed, renewed, regenerated. Rock walls with gardens popping up in odd places not always planned or planted. Nature sometimes deciding for me and taking on a life of its own. My Denim in Bloom at times seems to have taken on a path and life of its own. Awarded Runner Up.
Viewers Choice – Karen McGregor
A Feast of Nectar by Karen McGregor
A Feast of Nectar
When Ironbark trees are in full bloom, they attract many different animals. Nectar and pollen from the flowers are vital food for lots of Australian birds and bugs. These Eucalypts have striking colours with stunningly bright pink flowers, deep reddish-brown furrowed bark and beautiful teal-green leaves. The flowers host a hive of activity with cheeky Rainbow Lorikeets hanging in seemingly impossible positions, as well as delicately beautiful Imperial Jezebel Butterflies.
See if you can find the Noble Eucalyptus Leaf Beetle (golden), Hoverfly, Leaf Katydid (like a grasshopper), Cup-moth Caterpillar, Emerald Moth and Eucalyptus Tip Bug (blue). Awarded Viewers Choice.
Romance in Bloom by Lisa Alexander
Romance In Bloom
Flowers help us communicate our feelings to those we care about, in a way that no other object can. A symbol of love and care, they convey emotions from joy, happiness, appreciation, and affection to sympathy, gratitude, or apology. The most common emotion expressed with flowers is love or romance. Is there a more romantic day than your wedding day? The right dress and the perfect flowers, go together in making a bride’s day complete as she marries the man of her dreams. Living life with hope and purpose, with imagination and vision – known as living life in full bloom.
Picnic in the Garden by Catherine Babidge
Picnic in the Garden
My collection of large floral motif fabrics cried out to be used in this piece. Freeform hexagons and the checkered corners brought the picnic title to mind.
Signs of Bloom by Pamela Brockwell
Signs of Bloom
Travelling around Australia I got caught in flooded areas. In spite of so much devastation it was amazing to see how quickly plants and flowers seemed to recover. Communities pulled together to get businesses back open and operating quickly. Nurseries and farms got back into production as fast as they could to keep communities and the country ticking on. My flowers, berries wheat etc are twining around ‘In Full Bloom’.
Why garden, when you can pick the neighbour’s roses by Bev Butler
Why Garden, When You Can Pick The Neighbour’s Roses
My interpretation of ‘in full bloom’ was not restricted to gardens or flowers. A person ‘in full bloom’ is an obvious parallel. My ideas started with a voluptuous full figured woman, mature, confident, a little cheeky and maybe satisfied with her position in life.
I love gardens, but have no time for gardening. This doesn’t prevent me from admiring all I see. I do love flowers. I wanted to highlight the pleasure and enjoyment full blooms can give.
Bloom Cycle by Wilma Cawley
Bloom Cycle
This quilt is a subtle nod to the life cycle of flowers. The tulips are the buds, the start. The flowers in the vase are ‘In Full Bloom,’ prime of their lives. The berries are dried out on the shelf, leftover, recyclable, like the neck ties used for the flowers.
Wattle Exposed by Alison Charlton
Wattle Exposed
Few sights in the Australian landscape are more compelling than our golden wattles in full bloom. Endemic to Australia and superbly adapted to our harsh environment, the resilience of the wattle has come to represent the spirit of the Australian people. From pale cream to deep gold, the clusters of wattle flowers that cover the tree in spring are both irresistible to the eye and deeply embedded in the nation’s identity.
Abundance by Julie Evans
Abundance
This is my interpretation of the blooms and foliage on my country. I have used big overblown blooms and enhanced the work with Indigenous fabric prints as a salute to my heritage. I have not tried to make a work of realism, rather a joyous gathering of blooms and foliage. The luminous colours of our flora never ceases to inspire and amaze me. Before and after the rains and or fires there is an abundance of some kind on country.
Flor Exotica by Montserrat Forcadell
Flor Exotica
I didn’t want to make a realistic flower. I wanted to show the center of a flower wide open. Then I thought of the rose windows of the cathedrals in floral designs. But these do not have life, they need the branches. When I finished, I saw some exotic, tropical shapes, like pineapples… wow, I liked it!/p>
Imagination Garden by Debbie Guihot
Imagination Garden
A quick swirl of colour and a sprinkling of gold dust. A blurring, as the larger world fades out of focus. A child sees the world quite differently as they race through the garden of their lives. Imagination blooms and flourishes. Inspired by a painting by my nine year old granddaughter Amelia, I have tried to capture the simple joy of a garden in full bloom.
Chrysanth-my-mum by Lynne Hargeaves
Chrysanth-my-Mum
My quilt celebrates the glorious stages of later life and a personality in full bloom. A mature ‘blossom’ in the garden of life my mum Audrey loved her plants and gardens, winning many prizes along the way. She collected and reared the unusual and shared seedlings and cuttings with anyone and everyone who asked. Fittingly she is depicted surrounded by an explosion of flowers. A mass of shapes and colours reflecting her eclectic gardening style of lush borders and teaming planters.
Roses Have Thorns by Ronda Hazell
Roses Have Thorns
Even in full bloom roses have thorns. Roses are soft, perfumed, colourful and come in many forms. So do humans … and humans also have their thorny side. Central to this quilt is a portrait of my daughter Beth a woman in full bloom who like the rest of us is imperfect and slightly thorny!
Bauhinia by Jeannie Henry
Bauhinia
We have several Bauhinia Trees (or Hong Kong Orchid trees) in our gardens. These are absolutely ‘unmissable’ when in full bloom. The flowers make a big impact with their five petalled, asymmetrical blossoms of intense red to blue and purple. With windmill-like petals, these attention grabbing flowers are a real showstopper, a mass of colour and a highlight of the gardens.
I took several photographs of these beautiful flowers when they were in full bloom and used these as inspiration for this art work.
Humble Glass Vase by Bronwyn Hill
Humble Glass
From Margaret Preston to Cressida Campbell, Australian artists continue to celebrate the breathtaking simplicity of domestic blooms. Formal arrangements have their own beauty and occasion, but I love my humble glass vase. No matter where the flowers are from, the abundant bounty from a friend’s garden, or a random spontaneous selection – my vase does its work. It allows a surprise of colour and joy to transform a quiet corner.
Taking inspiration from print making aesthetics, to craft a moment in time, a snapshot of my vase In Full Bloom.
Rose by Bernardine Hine
Rose
She is Rose, named for the Queen of Blooms. ‘In Full Bloom’ conjures up my love of the flowing floral style of Art Nouveau. When I stumbled upon the floral black dress fabric, I instantly imagined a beautiful woman draped in it, surrounded by a bower of roses. Sparked by this, I then brought the dream to life in my sketchbook. Not only do the roses bloom, but so does Rose, the young woman in the flush of youth, along with my imagination that dreamt so long of making this quilt.
Frida by Anna Julia
Frida
This quilt is based on Frida Kahlo’s painting where she used flowers as a strong feature in her work and look. She painted flowers so that they would not die and as a celebration of her national heritage. That’s why I’d like to make it into a quilt that represents blooming flowers all year round and also can be used to express one’s feeling.
Waratah In Full Bloom by Lyn Keogh
Waratah In Full Bloom
I am in awe of our beautiful native flora.
Living on the South Coast of NSW our home is surrounded by natural bush. In 2019 millions of acres of NSW were ravaged by devastating bushfires, leaving a black and scarred landscape. Over the past three years we have watched it slowly regenerate and come back to life. The radiant waratahs, in all their glory, showcase the beauty and colour found in nature.
These waratahs were captured in a photo taken by my husband, Peter Keogh. In full bloom, they are a symbol of the vibrancy and resilience of our iconic Australian wildflowers.
Mum’s Gift by Linden Lancaster
Mum’s Gift
This jar of flowers was snapped during a visit to my mum’s place a couple of years ago. Little did I know, that this was one of the last times I would see her alive.
Mum lived in many different places over the years, but there was always a sense of home with her inclusion of the containers of flowers picked from the gardens she created.
In her lifetime she has given away thousands of posies.
This piece is dedicated to her.
It Just Grew! by Dorothy Masterton
It Just Grew!
My interpretation was to create a ‘burst’ of brilliant colour, using a variety of floral fabrics, colourful butterflies, green leaves and tendrils, to erupt outwards from its centre to represent the opening flower in ‘Full Bloom’.
Abundance by Lois Paris Evans
Abundance
An abundance of Eucalypt flowers in full bloom glow in the soft morning light. These trees are growing proud, strong and straight; healthy with an abundance of leaves and vibrant flowers.
Prickly Situation by Ramona Resurreccion
Prickly Situation
As a huge fan and collector of cacti and succulents, I have always planned on making a quilt with cacti in bloom.
In my mind, I picture a quirky, colourful, fun image to display these tropical plants. I have painted the background, incorporated crocheted flowers, added beads, sequins and embroidered the thorns with metallic threads. This gives the quilt a modern look, texture and brings it to another dimension.
Labour of Love by Raylene Richardson
Labour of Love
The word ‘bloom’ is often used to describe a pregnant and healthy woman as her body swells from tender bud to full bloom.
This piece depicts a pregnant woman in the shimmering sunlight of her garden as she contemplates with love the impending birth of her child.
Sammy by Caroline Simm
Sammy
The word ‘bloom’ is often used to describe a pregnant and healthy woman as her body swells from tender bud to full bloom.
This piece depicts a pregnant woman in the shimmering sunlight of her garden as she contemplates with love the impending birth of her child.
For You, You and You by Norma Slabbert
For You, You and You
For you, you, and you – to remember the time when we were in full bloom, when bouquets and flowers were tossed at us.
Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Brenda Gael Smith
Tiptoe Through the Tulip
In 1983, when I was in the full bloom of adolescence, I was an exchange student to Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was a profound, life-changing experience. One adventure was a spring break trip to Vancouver Island passing through the tulip fields of the Skagit Valley en route and immersing myself in more tulips in the Butchart Gardens. The vista of colour was imprinted on my brain and endures 40 years later.
It’s for the bees! by Julie Tasker
It’s for the Bees!
I have identified eleven different species of bees in my garden – and all but one are native! As a result, I have spent a small fortune at the local nursery buying the best possible flowers that will bloom all year round to keep them happy, as well as building ‘Air Bee ’n Bees’ to provide adequate accommodation for their different requirements! When I hear my favourite, noisy, Blue Banded Bee, I go charging out the house with my camera to snap them feeding on the blue and purple blooms in the garden – a joy!
Connections by Bree Thomas
Connections
I am surrounded by life, blooming and connecting. From the tallest flowering plant in the world, down to the moss and beyond to the microscopic. The fungus reaches out in connection, mycelium blooms.
Just a Matter of Time by Zara Zannettino
Just a Matter of Time
It takes patience to witness this spectacular, incandescent succulent flower finally emerge from its vibrant buds. This highly anticipated summer event always brings back fond memories of my dad’s enjoyment of the simple things in life.
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