Paula Cochrane
DESIGNER, QUILTER, AMATEUR HISTORIAN
Hi my name is Paula Cochrane of Oldepatchart Designs and quilting is my bliss!
I adore all arts and crafts……having grown up in a household with a professional seamstress mother and artsy-fartsy grandmother, my destiny was sealed from an early age. Quilting is my #1 love, followed by crochet, knitting, spinning, embroidery, painting and sketching.
I live with my partner Bart at Koo Wee Rup on 5 acres 60 mins South East of Melbourne – still a rural farming area but progress is ever creeping toward us.
My other passion in life is Rottweilers – I purchased my first Rottie in 1980 and for the past 38 years have bred, trained, imported and exported hundreds of dogs under the prefixes Jagersieger and Siegertal Rottweilers. Love my black and tans.
I totally fell in love with textiles, pattern and design in 1993 when I spotted Paula Nadelstern’s book: ‘Kaleidoscope Quilts’….that was it, I was hooked and promptly taught myself to quilt. Five years later I discovered the world of Antique Quilts….cue dramatic music….it was a massive “wow” moment for me! This very quickly became an obsession and saw me build up ‘quite a hefty collection’ that soon outgrew my purpose built quilt shed! Whoops!
After a long hiatus I have now returned to quilting with a vengeance, ready at long last to pursue my dream of designing quilts inspired by my collection….(one day I would also LOVE-love-love to design reproduction fabrics.…just sayin!) I love to work with colour, pattern and design from the late 1700’s to mid 1800’s: it’s such an inspirational era that really resonates with me and in fact makes my heart beat a little faster….I often wish I could time travel and immerse myself smack bang in that time period.
If you already follow me on Instagram then you would know how much I love fussy cutting, intricate piecing and the wonderful secondary patterns that can yield…..all that makes my heart sing and in fact if you are standing in front of me wearing a gorgeous patterned shirt, chances are I have already mentally fussy cut and pieced that into an amazing quilt block lol!
I called my business ‘Oldepatchart’ believing that quilts serve soooooo much more than a simple utilitarian purpose….as we know THEY ARE ART BABY!
Antique patchwork quilts are pieces of art that allow us a tactile link to our past.…it’s through those stitches, patterns and fabric choices that we can then imagine the life, hopes and dreams of that quiltmaker.
My journey is still very new and exciting….I love touching base with other quilters and collectors to share that mutual passion for textiles….after all we quilters are really good people!
My head is literally bursting with ideas….I just need to buckle down and get them down on paper: designing and stitching is the easy part lol. I hope you will follow my journey and perhaps find a quilt that resonates with you enough to make it. Meanwhile I will also be listing antique quilts, tops, blocks and fabrics from time to time as I attempt to downsize my collection…it’s a bit like selling my children though!
