I have been teaching quilt-making and making quilts for more years than anyone needs to know.
Naturally, my methods and applications have evolved over the years, driven in part by enthusiastic students and the explosion of internet-related information. This is in addition to the influences I gained from living and working in several different countries during this time.
My earliest foray into what is now my absolute passion began in the unlikely outpost of Alice Springs, right in the heart of Australia! It is not really quilt-making nirvana but a stroke of luck led to this amazing textile world becoming available to me. At that particular time the American families stationed there at Pine Gap, the USA’s Satellite Tracking Station received all manner of domestic supplies flown in weekly, including magazines. I was hooked at my first sight of “Antique American Quilts” in one of these magazines.
No-one I knew had the faintest idea on how to make a quilt, so I taught myself!
Transferring to Sydney, New South Wales led to a little more enlightenment and like thousands of quilters before and after me, I began to make quilts simply because I wanted that “look” in my home.
Of course, this led to a fairly rapid expansion from a basket of fabric, to a shelf of fabric, to an absolute abundance!
I love fabric – old, new, contemporary. I love textiles and I love colour. I love exuberant colour and pattern and I love subtle and soothing. I work towards ‘harmony’ in my quilts, with whatever palette I am working within.
In workshops and classes I want to guide quilters into learning to trust their own judgement, so that they experience the joy of creating quilts that, at least in some parts, reflect their own personalities. Quilts might have their roots in the traditions of the past but we are endeavouring to create new traditions, thus ensuring quilting continues to grow and flourish.
Margaret Sampson-George.
Image © Quiltmania, Issue 112, 2016