Simone Michaux
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Simone Michaux
@simonemichaux.bsky.social
130 followers 140 following 46 posts
Burnt out costumier on a side mission to keep the textiles love alive through art, quilting and curiosity.
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Simone Michaux @simonemichaux.bsky.social · Jan 28
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My cottagecore garden dreams are blooming!
A garden bed in front of a green wall with white vertical planks, which becomes pale brick is a garden bed with borage, calendula, marigold, anise hyssop and potato flowers. Not flowering are rosemary, a small olive tree and echinacea. In the far background, beyond a green door in the pale brick, are New Zealand natives - ngutukaka, a cabbage tree and small tree ferns.
February 9, 2025 at 3:08 AM
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After a year, I finally figured out how I wanted to finish my art quilt that depicts what my vision was like when I was recovering from a detached retina. More info in alt text!
On a golden toned wooden floor lays an art quilt. The central part is a diamond shape. The lower half is made up of radiating stripes made with various shades of blue and yellow strips. The blue fades into greys and blacks at the top. In the top half are wavy black lines and circles of various sizes in black and white. Perhaps it looks a little like a very organic circuit board? On both sides of the top section there's a small gap, then an isosceles triangle made up of the same dark greys and organic circuit board. All three pieces have been faced, but still need a really unrelenting iron to look truly good. I was endeavouring to capture how my vision was when I was healing from a detached retina. While I don't get the light show any more, I've lost the top of my field of vision in my right eye. I also get visual migraines now, which might necessitate another quilt!
February 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
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The sixth segment in my birdy quilt, and my least favourite. The poor Kākā got overwhelmed by the (utterly tedious) pōhutukawa. You win or you learn, eh?
A 1/12 segment of a circle lays on a white background. In the foreground of the segment a large brown parroty bird, with an orange blush to its cheeks, is taking a beak-full of what the artist hoped would look like full pōhutukawa blooms. Bunches of the red blooms (done with an approximation of turkey stitch) run up the segment, nestled into various greens of the tree. A small patch of blue sky shows at the top.
February 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
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I redid the binding on this piece today, and while I don't think I'll ever be crazy about it, I like it a lot more!
A quilted square. If it helps, it's 12x12 inches. The artist isn't really sure how to describe it, because the longer you look at it, the less sure you become about what going on. Let's have a go anyway. In the very middle is a dark yellow dot centered in a little yellow, wobbly rectangle. The rectangles shorter edges face towards the upper left and lower right corners. On either side of the longer edges are two dark yellow wobbly rectangles with a lighter yellow circle in them. Across the shorter side of all the yellow rectangles is a light green wobbly rectangle. Each one has a larger dark yellow circle and two lighter yellow circles. Next to the long edges are medium green wobbly rectangles, each with a large light green circle, two dark yellow and two light yellow circles (although some of the lighter circles seem to disappear under the next round of wobbly triangles. Next, a darker green wobbly rectangle runs along the sides of both the yellows and the lighter greens with dots of all the previous colours. This nonsense continues on through darkest green, steely blue, blue, grey and dark grey.
February 2, 2025 at 6:34 AM
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Last year the Four O'clocks put in a lot of work convincing me they were small and dainty and very decorative. This year they've abandoned all pretense and are plant-hulking out!
It's a corner of a garden and quite frankly, it's a mess. The fence is tall vertical boards, the fence directly in front is painted brown with liberal sprinkles of lichen, and the fence to the right is the faded grey of unpainted fence wood. Not that you can see much, as a young grape has been trained up against it and is doing a great job of covering it up. In the foreground on the right-hand side is a big tub with small dragon fruit plants being trained up some dead branches. Behind that, a lavender and behind that a young artichoke plant fighting for its life amongst some Four O'clocks that nearly reach the top of the fence. The Four O'clocks gradually size down as we scan to the left, but they're still hefty little bastards.
February 1, 2025 at 3:49 AM
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Fifth segment of my quilted labour of love!
This time it's a Kea, the cheeky alpine parrot that loves dismantling cars and committing highway robbery.
A 1/12 segment of a circle lays on a white background. In the upper left of the segment is a dark sky, but it fades down into grey, then blue mountains, then a rocky, alpine foreground. In the left hand lower corner are a few ferns. In the middle of the segment, a Kea (the bird, not the car) looks like it is about to land, feet outstretched towards the rocky foreground. It's wings are stretched up and out, and you can see the flash of orange feathers it hides in it's birdy armpits. Fierce!
January 29, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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The third and fourth segments of my perpetual birdy quilt.
Across the top is the star cluster of Matariki, whose arrival in the sky in June/July signals the start of the Māori new year.
Of course, a Kiwi had to make an appearance!
A 1/12 segment of a circle lays on a white background. The segment itself consists of a dark sky using a variety of black and dark blue fabrics, with six bright white stars of various sizes on it. Towards the bottom of the segment, ferns of various browns and greens fade in and out of the darkness. In the foreground, a dark green forest floor emerges A 1/12 segment of a circle lays on a white background. The segment has a dark sky consisting of black and dark blue materials, with three large brilliant white stars on it. Towards the bottom we see ferns of browns and greens fading in and out of the darkness, with a Kiwi bird also emerging on the dark green forest floor to rummage for a midnight snack.
January 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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January 28, 2025 at 7:17 AM
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The second segment I did for my perpetual birdy quilt.
This sweet lad is our Kingfisher, or Kōtare.
All made using textiles, thread and a little textile paint to make those shadows pop.
A 1/12 slice of a circle sits on a white background. The slice is predominantly shades of green with a little blue sky peeking through at the top. In the middle sits a New Zealand Kingfisher, or Kōtare, on a branch.
January 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
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A close up of the first section I did of my birdy calendar.
Entirely made in textiles, thread and a little textile paint to depend the shadows.
I create the initial scene on the top fabric and then quilt in the details.
Tūī on harakeke.
Picture contains 1/12 of a circle. On a background of ombre greens (darkest in the foreground up into lighter greens and finally the blue of the sky) sits a tūī in a branch of flowering flax.
January 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
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I keep on meaning to include #quiltsky in all my posts and am perpetually forgetting and you can't edit your posts?! #quiltsky I ❤️ you!
January 25, 2025 at 4:01 AM
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Some more of my perpetual birdy calendar.
I was particularly thrilled to integrate Matariki over the segments representing June and July, and that fat little kiwi was a real tactile joy to create!
Four segments of a circle of twelve extend from a circular medallion at the middle. Two segments are at 5-7 o'clock, while the others are at 10-12. 5-7 o'clock show a night scene with the Matariki constellation and ferns spread across both segments. On the right hand segment is a kiwi bird. 10-12 o'clock show a kingfisher, or kōtare, perched in kawakawa on the left and a tūī enjoying some flax flowers on the right.
January 25, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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The quilt that really started it all for me.
It's a La Passacaglia by Willyne Hammerstein and is, other than the black strips, entirely hand-stitched.
I started her during lockdown in the UK when I desperately needed something to help me feel creative and focussed. I finished 4 years later!
A busy, intricate quilt, half of which is predominantly orange, transitioning into teal on the other half. It's bordered with black.
January 24, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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Hindsight is a funny thing, isn't it? I found this at my parent's house a couple of years ago. I'd completely forgotten about it, as it's at least 20 years old.
It's such a clear sign of where my art was heading, even if it felt like a throwaway at the time
A cream colored circle with purple flowers painted and stitched inside. The flowers are in a very rough watercolor style, with color bleeding out from the stitch lines.
January 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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I've been working my way through a series of topographical experiments, of which this is the culmination. It's needle turned applique over a very heavy interfacing. Fussy, precise and somehow still fun?!
A black circle of fabric frames what looks like a topographical map, made slightly 3D with thickness of the folded over fabric. There are four layers of fabric, starting with the darkest and largest, almost black, at the bottom and transitioning through to the smallest on top, which is light grey.
January 14, 2025 at 12:11 AM
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My fondest and longest running project is my birdy quilt, a perpetual calendar.
I wanted to portray the progress of time through the seasons and also through the use of day and night scenes.
A large circle of paper lays on a desk. There are six textile panels, three in the foreground and three in the background. There is space for twelve panels in total, with three missing on either side. The finished panels in the front show, from left to right, a kākā in a pohutukawa, a tūī in harakeke and a kōtare with kawakawa in the background. The finished panels in the background, from left to right, a kea in the mountains, a kiwi in amongst ferns with half of the matariki constellation above it. The constellation spreads into the next panel, along with the ferns.
January 13, 2025 at 5:42 AM
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Hi, my name is Simone and I'm obsessed with textiles!
I love their history and I'm so curious about their future.
I also make art with them, and will be sharing a LOT of my progress - good, bad and downright ugly!
A large circle, comprised of twelve sections, lays on a desk. Each section contains flora and a bird unique to New Zealand. Some sections have been completed, while others are clearly a work in progress. The artist has tried to convey the passage of time through the representation of both night/day, and the four seasons across the 12 panels.
January 13, 2025 at 4:03 AM