Here at Make Modern, we are a team of three Aussie girls who
happen to be passionate about quilting and sharing that love. As it’s Australia
Day (oh, and Angie of GnomeAngel suggested it), we thought we might share a bit about why the
‘Aussie’ part of Make Modern is important to us.
We love all quilters – modern, traditional, art. We love
quilters from everywhere, whether they’re up the road or across the globe. We
love you all – you quilt, you’re cool. And we really appreciate that quilters
from Australia and around the world have given us so much support – thank you.
Because we all get so much input from the internet and
social media, quilting influences come from everywhere. But one thing we love
about being Australian quilters is that our inspiration is so unique. The
colours of the outback or the beaches inspire us, the forms of our natural
flora and fauna serve as design inspiration. We’re not as caught up in the
holidays or seasons as some parts of the world, so create quilts a little more
freely. We like to infuse a bit of humour, fun or larrikinism into our quilts
too – after all, that’s the Australian way.
As Australians, we are quilting at the right time. We are
lucky enough to have the global (US based) quilt industry at our fingertips via
the internet – information and hard to find materials are accessible like
they’ve never been before. But we’ve also got a thriving Australian quilt industry,
with Australian designers, shops, classes and shows that has been built over
many years of Australian quilting. While it is easy to get caught up in the
global scene, we think it’s important to also continue to reach out to our
Australian friends to keep the Aussie quilting scene strong.
In the digital world, boundaries get blurred as we share so
much information. But being an Australian magazine, we do like to have a good
amount of Australian content – we very much want to promote quilting in this
fabulous country. Our approach is to highlight some amazing Aussie designers
and makers in each issue of our magazine, whether it be sharing their patterns,
profiling them, local MQGs or feature articles. We love to go “Hey, check out
this awesome Aussie who makes great stuff!”. We love that people from all over
the world are reading our magazine and can see that quilting is so strong in
Australia.
By the way, if you know of a great Aussie quilter or
quilting related business you think we should consider including in the
magazine, why not drop us a line? (editor@makemodern.com.au).
Because while we do love everything quality, it’s only fair to admit that we do
heart our Aussie quilters just a teeny bit more. Can you blame us?
Pop over to Angie's blog and find out a bit more about some other Aussie bloggers and their thoughts on being Aussie!