My interest in quilting started years ago. I was a young mother living in London. I loved visiting Liberty’s in Regent St and buying the off -cuts. I then painstakingly cut the material into hexagons and hand stitched them into a quilt which lay over our bed for years till it literally fell apart.

I gave the bug to my mother in law, the indefatigable Nancy, who took up quilting and displayed them proudly on every bed in her home. Then it left me for a while as we started moving around the globe but my interest in it lives on as do the amazing efforts of my friend Laurel who now teaches it in the UK.

That is why whenever EKKA comes around I am eager to go and see the wonderful quilting exhibition produced by the Queensland Quilters.

Caithness, an international girl who now calls Australia home, came from the Scottish Highlands, and is composed of 39 unique fabrics cut into 2000 pieces and it took over 300 hrs to complete with over 100,000 stitches involved, designed by Sarah Pitcher.

Look at this piece – from a distance it is perhaps beautiful but unremarkable. look closer – Gaia – land in Greek is a representation here of our world and is designed to inspire a better connection to the world we inhabit – how ?

Look at each ring. Sea creatures in tropical blue.

Land creatures in the greens

Insects and birds in the skies.

Just jaw dropping. And they dont end there.

Fewer then 16000 koalas remain in South East Queensland due to the deforestation and loss of habitat. This thread work quilt with a photo insert says it all. Its title “Still clinging on”.

This one is called “Foul Play” and June Kelly started it 20 years ago and has only just completed it.

“Back to school” – this one is based on the murmuration of starlings or a school of fish moving collectively in the skies or in the oceans.

A local use literally on the road home.

My other favourite is “Australian Pollinators” exclusively of Queensland Bees. They were drawn by an artist, Gina Cranston and then the quilter, Michelle Hutton asked permission to recreate them on here. The indigo woven strips represent the bees in flight lines weaving through nature and our lives. The shibori border represents life giving nectar. Exquisite.

It was difficult to vote for a favourite. Of course it made me look through my archives to find my very own, simple quilt with my precious first born on it seemingly smiling in his sleep.