Spiegel quilts

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 22

Spiegel quilts

They say that patchwork skips a generation. A local quilt-maker. Sue Spiegel, is a case in point. Her grandmother, Scratch, made quilts years ago in Canada and although her mother taught her how to “do it right” when sewing, she never made quilts. Sue Spiegel, who was bora and raised in the United States, began doing patchwork about four and a half years ago. after leaving work at the Teachers College. Selftaught, she began with Seminole Patchwork, a machine technique developed by the Seminole Indians in Florida in the late 1880’s.

“Although I have always appreciated handmade quilts I was never really interested in doing patchwork until I realised it could be done on the sewing machine.” Now her chosen basis is frequently a traditional American block design, incorporating strip patchwork to achieve a more contemporary "feel.”

There wil be an exhibition of Sue Spiegel’s recent quilts at the Gefn Gallery, Cashel Street from August 2 to 16. The colour theme in the forthcoming exhibition will be wedgewood blue and cream and the pieces featured will include a large queen-sized patchwork in traditional design, several cushions and boxes.

As well as being a member of the Gefn Cooperative, Sue Spiegel is a partner of the Quilters Company in Sydenham, where she takes classes in machine patchwork and quilting. Her Gefn exhibition is timed to coincide with the Quilt Exhibition in the Great Hall at the Arts Centre on August 8, 9 and 10, designed to raise funds for the forthcoming Quilting Symposium to be held in Christchurch in February 1987. As a tutor at the Symposium, she has been asked to contribute a couple of pieces to the exhibition. A couple of Grandmother Scratch’s quilts will be there too.