Landscape quilting – what is it?
An exciting new craft to try out!
Landscape quilting is very much in vogue.
Soon, I will be behind a sewing machine making art with talented fabric artist and tutor called Anne Robson.
Anne created the beautiful landscapes you see above and this week, I went over to meet her.
Anne teaches in the same studio where I will also be teaching art and craft.
If you are in Suffolk UK, then you too have the chance to come along to Studio 2 to dabble in some new arts and crafts with us.
Update in 2024 – these classes are no longer taking place.
Studio 2 is a beautiful art & craft hub over at Rendlesham, Suffolk.
Studio 2 is part of Wooden Roots, a music studio on the old American Air Force base known as Bentwaters. (More about Studio 1 on my sister website early in the New Year.)
In January, several of us will be launching our four week art & craft courses at Wooden Roots.
I will be teaching workshops in making beautiful art/writing journals from scratch – more about that in my next post.
For now, I want to highlight Landscape quilting artist and tutor Anne Robson.
Anne will be leading the workshops on landscape quilting.
She has sewing in her blood and made her first sewn item at seven years old.
And by her teen years, she was making her own clothes.
Anne later went on to design cuddly toys that were also night-dress cases.
These nightdress cases came in the form of dinosaurs, polar bears, lambs and koala bears.
Anne really only made these as novelty toys for her children.
However, demand was high so Anne and a friend had a small business selling the cuddly nightie cases.
She had not yet discovered landscape quilting.
However, she did gradually moved on to designing gorgeous bags made from furnishing fabrics.
Landscape quilting was just a dot on the horizon.
Anne had discovered fabric art, back in 2006 in Santa Monica California, where she fell completely in love with it.
Unknown at the time, her love of quilting would eventually lead her into teaching others the art of Landscape Quilting.
Anne revealed she was inspired by enormous wall quilts hanging in an exhibition at an Arts & Crafts house in Santa Monica .
She said: “The wall hangings really left an impression on me – I was completely inspired by them and began thinking about how I could create my own fabric art.”
Anne’s knowledge and experience of Landscape Quilting grew from there.
The pieces she was producing attracted a huge amount of attention.
The attention came from people wanting to learn how they could do it too.
She often found herself being asked to show people how to produce the quilts.
Eventually, Anne decided to begin teaching workshops.
This grew to the point were Anne needed to be teaching in a purpose built studio.
Everyone needed to sit comfortably at sewing machines with space to layout designs.
Thankfully, finding somewhere to do that wasn’t too difficult.
Daughter Gemma, along with percussionist husband Marcus, already had a music based studio.
Fortunately, there was plenty of room for Anne to have her studio.
All three had lived in California for many years and it was there that Marcus started Wooden Roots.
Wooden Roots specialised in making high-end Djembe drums that are still sold to musicians world-wide.
Two years ago, they all returned to the UK to continue developing the business.
Subsequently, they moved into spacious premises formerly occupied by the US Air Force.
Studio 1 and Studio 2 nestle side by side at Wooden Roots.
Both studios have an atmosphere of absolute warmth and creativity, both musical and artistic.
This is the perfect place to learn something new.
As someone who is teaching and learning at Wooden Roots, I can tell you this is the place to be to explore creative possibilities in a supportive atmosphere.
I will be writing more about Marcus in the New Year and sharing my Djembe experiences with you.
I will also be reporting back on how I get on in Anne’s Landscape Quilting classes – so watch this space to see how I get on🤔. I’m sure I’ll be fine!
To be honest – I can’t wait to get started learning landscape quilting with Anne!
Whatever happens, it will be enormous fun having a go because Anne is so passionate about her art.
How can anyone resist boxes of neatly folded, colour coordinated fabrics to choose from?
This will be a compete departure from my usual creative environment which is an array of paints, inks, papers, glues and varnishes.
The boxes of beautiful fabrics that Anne has are so calming compared to my own tangle of art stuff in my home studio. It will make a change to have clean hands while I create!
Fabric, cottons, pins and sewing machines. What more could a girl (or boy!) ask for?
Places on this block of workshops are being reserved fast.
AS I said further up – the sewing courses are no longer running – contact Wooden Roots for further info.
If you want to speak to someone about possible courses – hop on the Wooden Roots website now to make contact.
If you fancy learning Landscape quilting, there is always YouTube!
For more about my own crafts, click here to find out.