Tuesday, April 2, 2019

In the 80s I spent an incredible month traveling around Australia with my parents, and had many wonderful experiences.  One highlight of that trip was climbing to the top of the sacred Australian Aboriginal site, Uluru.  One of Australia's (and the world’s) most distinctive natural landmarks, it's also known as Ayers Rock, as named by the English.  

Here's a quilt that Terry Aherns created 
after taking a Susan Carlson class a few years ago.



 Terri reports that her quilt raked in three awards in a quilt show in her state’s capital city: First in Art Quilt section, Best in Show, and Viewer’s Choice!



I travelled to Uluru in 2018 and I took my quilt with me. 
It was so exciting to get it photographed with the rock in the background. 



Here's more of her note to Susan:

Hi Susan, I wanted to show you the quilt I have worked on from January to May this year. It was commissioned by my daughter Maddi, who is studying in Antwerp, Belgium. For her final flute master’s recital, she chose an Australian theme and so the quilt came about. It had been swirling around in my head since 2004, after visiting Uluru, but I couldn’t make a final decision on how to do it. Once I did your class at AQC in Melbourne in 2016, I knew what I wanted to do, and when my daughter asked me to make a backdrop for her performance, I knew this was the perfect thing. It was very labour intensive, almost 700 hours from start to finish. I used genuine Aboriginal fabrics only to add to the authenticity. It is called “A Sunburnt Country.” Each piece stands 2.1m tall and 1.1m wide, so it is quite a big piece.

Maddi’s project, A Sunburnt Country, was aimed at showcasing Australian talent, and examining what it means to be Australian. She commissioned three pieces of music by Australian composers, including a renowned Aboriginal didgerdoo player, William Barton, so the recital was the world premiere of those pieces. The icing on the cake was the actual performance by William, who travelled to Belgium especially for the recital. To say we were very proud parents sitting in the audience is definitely an understatement!

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