About Me
My home is in Christchurch, New Zealand.
I have been quilting for about twenty years.
As I could not afford to buy good patchwork fabrics, I learned hand dyeing techniques,
using cold-water fibre-reactive dyes.
I also explored batik printing with hot wax to get more interesting and unique fabrics,
and other techniques including shibori, screen printing, discharging, gradation dyeing and over-dyeing.
I have made a number of art quilts using batik hand-printing.
Some of these have been accepted for national exhibitions.
I joined a co-operative craft shop, the Little River Craft Station, in the historic railway station
at Little River, 50 km. from Christchurch.
I sell baby quilts, small wall quilts, mainly landscapes, and small craft items.
Early adventures
I always wanted to travel and see the world, and with my first partner decided to have a sailing yacht and cruise to faraway places, living aboard.
We bought a small (20 foot) sloop and cruised around the NZ coast before deciding that to go further required something larger. We built a 33 foot ferro-cement yacht in which we visited the Sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands. I also did a solo crossing of the Tasman (both ways) in the 1974 Single Handed Trans Tasman Race. Later we sailed up to Fiji, visiting the outlying islands and snorkelling in the amazing clear waters over the coral reefs.
The world cruises did not happen, for a number of reasons, and I decided it was time to start our family. It was no easier than deep-sea cruising but I did not risk drowning.
Passion for Nature
While cruising I saw many seabirds, and especially loved the majestic albatross, gliding effortlessly over the waves with hardly a twitch of its huge wings. I read more about them, and was horrified to learn that they were being drowned in their hundreds by tuna fishing boats. I never bought canned tuna again.
This led to further reading about ecology and conservation, and realising the threats to our beautiful and irreplaceable ecosystem from human greed and ignorance.
I learned that violence and inequality were inseparable from environmental destruction, and thus I joined the Green Party as they seemed the only political movement that took the issue seriously.
Photography
As a child I wanted to be an artist, and spent a lot of time drawing and painting. I was always frustrated at my lack of accuracy. When I finally got a camera I was hooked. The image captured instantly and faithfully! especially faces, which had been impossible. There were technical challenges, but study and persistence could overcome them. I loved the magic of printing and built up my own darkroom to enlarge and print in black and white. Colour was then too difficult to do at home. I had a couple of small exhibitions and sold quite a few candid shots of children, dance, and plays. Friends asked me to do informal photographs at their weddings, and I did a few but found it very stressful. When my own relationship was falling apart I had no heart for it.
Then photography became digital, my equipment was obsolete, soon everyone had a much better camera on their phone, and now I just record my quilts and family moments.
Annette Wilde Baxendell 