Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Bags, bags ....

Elle had a textiles assignment involving tie-dyeing that evovled into a nifty bag .....

  ..... with great lining!

Jo S whipped up this trapuntoed bag from a panel she picked up from the $5 table in the Craft Depot November sale, lined with fabric from the same table.
What a great bargain.

Quilters Newsletter contest supporting Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative - vote online until 3rd December

If you have a connaction with someone who has Alzheimer's disease, you might be interested in this quilt contest being run by Quilters Newsletters magazine.  You can vote until 3rd December for your three favourites (that probably gives us here in Australia until 4th December).

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) is a US program that raises awareness and funds research through art.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Events

Dr Annette Gero will be at the Quilters Guild of NSW on Saturday 4th December - details here

Do you like red and white quilts?  Will you be in New york between 25th and 30th March 2011?  Then you might want to pencil in the free exhibition presented by the American Folk Art Museum of 650 red and white quilts from a single private historical collection - details here.

Registration for the 2011 Be Creative by the Sea retreat at Coffs Harbour, 1 - 7 May 2011 are open from 1st December. 

Show and tell - for some lucky grandchildren

Pam's alphabet quilt will live at her house, for Lily to use when she visits.  Love the backing and binding fabric (below).


 
Georgie's granddaughter also has a new quilt - pretty summery colours for a little girl.
Aren't quilting Grandmas fabulous?

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Houston winners

Prize winning quilts from the 2010 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas this week are now available for viewing online:

www.quilts.org/winners.html

A number of Australian quilters are amongst them. 

Very enjoyable bus trip ...

Thanks Robyn for organising such an enjoyable day in the beautiful Southern Highlands today - John and Kerry  (On Course Tours) were excellent tour operators, a great selection of shops, and beautiful surroundings.  It certainly looked as though everyone found something to their liking to bring home.  We should do it again sometime ......

P.S. Did anyone take any photos they'd care to share on the blog?  A little fabric flaunting, perhaps?

Index of Antique Geomteric Quilt Blocks: free online

The quilt section of the Early Women Masters website offers
  • 130 Free Antique Geometric Quilt Designs and Sample Patchwork Blocks
  • Quilt Notes, History, Vintage Patterns
  • Ideas for Fabric Choices
  • Grid Sizing, Full Quilt Tiling
  • Background Tiles
  • Free Downloads
  • Links to More Illustrations

There are several sections to the site, each related to women as artists or as the subjects of various artforms, including this one about quilts. The site home page describes www.earlywomenmasters.net  as a non-profit, educational website.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Exhibitions and a new shop opening in December

 Ozquilt Network Inc.'s travelling exhibition Australia Wide Two will be launched at the at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery 22 October to 5 December 2010 and will travel to the following venues:
  • 14 to 17 April 2011: Australasian Quilt Convention and Expo, Melbourne VIC
  • 22 April to 1 May 2011: Artisans Trail – Stawell VIC
  • 6 to 28 August 2011: Gallery 159, Brisbane QLD
  • 3 to 27 September 2011: Cooee Heritage Cottage, Gilgandra NSW
The Gerringong Quilt Show is on 12 - 14th November, at Gerringong Town Hall.

Calico and Ivy is a well known quilt and handcrafts shop in Western Australia.  They have just announced that they are opening a Sydney branch in Balmain in early December. An excursion for the New Year?  It's not far from Logans .... that could be an afternoon usefully filled.

Houston; Fall Quilt Bloggers Festival

The Fall Quilters Market and International Quilt Festival are now on in Houston, Texas.  A number of bloggers are filing frequent reports, includng quilt and fabric historian Barbara Brackman, and several Australians, such as Lisa Walton and Sarah Fielke.

The Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Fall 2010 allows blogging quilters (or is that quilting bloggers?) to have their own international "show and tell".  You might see some familiar names there too.  There are certainly plenty of quilts to see.

No blogging, but there has been sewing

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging, and October was one of those times. Who can believe it is November already? Time to buy next year's diary .....

Thanks to Sue Crowe for photos - good to have you back!


Marilyn's bag 1

Marilyn's bag 2 - reversible, loop handles closed ....

 ...... and open


Jo S's little quilt top - those hand-pieced blocks are just 4 inches!

Stephanie's bag

Janet's crazy-patched back-pack 1.  We have seen No 2, but it does not appear to have taken a picture of itself.

There are meant to be pictures of Noelle's stunning hand appliqued beauty quilted by Jo P, but the ones taken recently do not do the quilt justice - we'll get better ones soon. 

Sunday, September 26, 2010

St Ives Quilters 2010 Exhibition

Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October 2010

10.00 am - 4.00 pm each day

St Ives Community Church Hall
32 Horace Street ( Link Road)
St Ives
Featured quilter, the late Narelle Grieve

Craft stall and 2 quilt shops, refrshments

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Bus trip - 6th November, Southern Highlands

The cost will be $35 per person. There are 35 places available on the bus. So it will be a case of first in, best dressed (which means you get a seat!)

Payments will be accepted at meetings starting 27 September until all seats are filled or 12 October.
 
Itinerary for Saturday, 6th November 2010
8 am: Coach will pick up participants at Beecroft Railway Station. Beecroft station has carparks on both sides and parking on Saturdays is readily available, especially in the east side carpark.

Travel via M2 and M7 to Southern Highlands.

10 ish:  Arrive in Berrima. Morning tea will be provided.

Visit Berrima Patchwork and/or Peppergreen.

11.30: Depart from Berrima and head to Bowral for lunch and shopping in My Place.

Participants will provide or buy their own lunch.

1 pm:  Depart from Bowral for Mittagong. Coach will park centrally in shopping area and participants can visit Village Quilt and Patchwork Shop, and/or Timeless Threads.

2.30 pm: Depart Mittagong shopping area for Japanache.

3.15 pm: Departure time for return trip. Expected arrival time back at Beecroft is 5 – 5.30pm.

Berrima Patchwork
21 Old Hume Hwy, Berrima
open 10am – 4pm
02 4877 1382
www.berrimapatchwork.com.au

Village Quilt and Patchwork Shop
5 Station St, Mittagong
open 9am – 5pm
02 4871 1929

Timeless Threads
107 Main Street, Mittagong
02 4872 4770

Japanache
Unit 2, 6-8 Cavendish St, Mittagong
02 4871 1388

My Place
19 Boolwey St, Bowral
02 4862 2196

Cherrybrook Quilters exhibition this weekend

Cherrybrook Quilters Inc are holding their exhibition

'Warm Hearts - Cool Quilts'
25th and 26th September
10 am - 4 pm both days.

Cherrybrook Uniting Church, New Line Road Cherrybrook (opposite Cherrybrook public school).

Entry $6.00 - proceeds go to The Kolling Institute for Ovarian Cancer Research.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Quiltsmith - antique quilt show and tell, and more ....

If you like antique quilts and are free on 31st October, you might be interested in the afternoon of antique quilt show and tell that Quiltsmith is having.  Check out the details here:
http://quiltsmith--australia.blogspot.com

And if you like hexagons, you should check out the post immediately before, dated 12th September.

Guest speaker: Maree Gebhardt

Tuesday 28th September 7.45 pm

Maree will address:
  • quilt valuation
  • labels
  • cataloguing your quilts 
  • reason for cataloguing
Both groups are very welcome.  If you would like to come along, please let either DinaJanet or Elaine Bright know.

Our thanks to Jo Phillips for her recent talks on preparing our quilts for professional long-arm quilting - yougave us a great insight into how to achieve the result we want by working with the quilter.

Do you have a topic you would like to be addressed by a guest speaker, or do you have a particular guest speaker to suggest?  Contact Dina or Lyn, or leave a message in the Communication Book. 

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Very quick pinwheels - video tutorial

Here's a short video tutorial on a very quick way to make pinwheels four at a time. The tutor is Jenny, from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  It was mentioned on Southern Cross Quilters earlier this week, and Jenny Bowker suggested (very sensibly) that if you cut the squares on the bias to begin with, you will end up with the straight-of-grain on the block edges, and a useful little pile of triangles for something else:



Of course, some of you will have been making them like this forever .... others of us  are just catching on.

Sarah Fielke designs fabric

Sydney based quilter, teacher, writer, blogger and now fabric designer Sarah Fielke (co-author of the Material Obsession books) has designed a fabric line called 'Little Things', for Lecien that will be released later in the year in Australia.  She has posted a preview and a give-away on the blog, The Last Piece.

Where has September gone?

Where has September gone  - can it really be the 18th already?

Here are some photos from Tuesday night group, over the last couple of weeks.

Pam's one fabric quilt is almost finished, in rich, earthy tones with a flash of scarlet.  Detail of Pam's hand quilted leaves below:



Elle learned to dye silk at school, and produced this lustrous colour mix.

We had another productive Community Quilts Day last Thursday - a small, but dedicated team continued to work on the One Step Beyond quilt tops, adding borders, making backings and bindings, cutting batting and finishing off the cutting and restitching of the blocks for the second quilt to be made from the "oceans" colours.  Five quilt tops have emerged from Jane's plan for one .... a real team effort, from both Monday and Tuesday groups. 
And good progress was made on two I-spy tops.
Photos next time when the camera actually comes out of the bag!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Community Quilts

Heather used a quilt-as-you-go technique to complete this quilt from a donated panel - she cut it into blocks, sashed, quilted and re-joined it.  A bigger job that it seemed at first ....

And here are the other two One Step Beyond quilts made by Monday members, with floral and oriental fabrics, that will have their border added at the next Community Quilts day (16th September):



And one Ocean top, made from blocks contributed by Tuesday evening members .... there are enough blocks remaining to make another quilt:

Bonnets for "Roses from the Heart"

Bonnets made by Tuesday evening members for the Christina Henri's Roses from the Heart project.  Thanks Heather, for organising us, and sending our bonnets on to Christina.

Read about Roses from the Heart here.

Hunters Hill Quilters and Epping Quilters exhibitions

Kathy has provided a great "wrap" of the recent Hunter's Hill Quilters exhibition on her Material Obsession blog.  Lots of photos of the quilts to enjoy if you couldn't make it, or to enjoy again if you did.

Epping Quilters On Show will be at Thornleigh Community Centre on Friday and Saturday 10th - 11th September.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Folklore/Penrith Patchwork September sale

HUGE FABRIC SALE STARTS NOW!
2 weeks only till  Saturday 11th September

20% to 50% off all Fabrics, jelly rolls, layer cakes, kits, etc.

Fat Quarters 3 for $10.00

Fat eights 5 for $10.00

10% off all waddings and pellons

penpatch@optusnet.com.au

Fat Quarterly Quilt Along: September

This might be fun ..... a virtual quilt-along with e-zine Fat Quarterly's blog.

Instructions will be issued weekly from 6th - 27th September.  You work at your own pace, or keep up with the virtual group.  You'll need a jelly roll (how many of those are sitting in stashes not yet used?) or 21 different fat quarters to give a good variety of fabrics ..... if you don't have 21 fat quarters, most of us would probably be able to dig up enough fabric from the depths of the stash(es) since it is obviously going to be scrappy.

Check in here for more details:  Fat Quarterly

Might be a good project for community quilts .....

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Community quilting day (19th August)

We had enough floral and oriental "One Step Beyond" blocks from the Monday group to make three quilt tops! Dawn came up with this layout that we used for all three tops, this one with a blue centre section, one with a red centre and one with a yellow centre. All three tops were finished to this stage on the day. Next they will each have a complimentary border added, then quilting and binding opportunities will be on offer.

The block layout is quite straightforward, but we had to really concentrate to keep the four pieces correctly aligned .... a little "reverse sewing" was required from time to time.


The next Community Quilts day will be on Thursday 16th September, at the Leisure and Learning Centre in Warne St, Pennant Hills, 10.00 am - 4.00 pm.  Come for as long as you can, for a fun day of sewing.

Tuesday night show and tell (17th August)


Noelle has finished her "Bordered Squares" community quilt - the spotty background fabric works beautifully, and the gorgeous pieced backing makes it totally reversible!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Springwood High School Community Quilt Show 2011

The Springwood Community Quilters are very organised - they've started a blog about their preparations for the 2011 show, including the making of what promises to be a spectacular raffle quilt.

Springwood High School Community Quilt Show 2011:
Welcome everyone to the first of many posts about the Springwood High School Community Quilt Show for 2011. How exciting to be up and running in blogland!
This is where you'll come to find out the latest news on what's happening in the lead-up to next year's show to be held over three days from 29th April to 1st May 2011.

Too good a sneak-peak to pass up!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hunters Hill Quilters 2010 Quilt Show

 13 - 15th August 2010

All details are here

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Tuesday night show and tell .... catching up

Here are some photos that have been "stuck" in the camera for a little while .....

Dina's batik - machine pieced using a circular tool she picked up in the US (most of the fabrics are US purchases too).  Very pretty!

Robyn's liberated quilt!

Marijke's quilt-as-you-go is for her granddaughter ....

... who will like her completely reversible quilt

Jane' s panel is quilted with some trapunto to highlight the girl's features.  She did it to show that she can finish a quilt very quickly.  (We already knew that!)

 
Then Jane got back to something a little more complicated.  She is experimenting with one fabric quilts - the original fabric is in the border - a gorgeous Laurel Burch print.

Yes, this is sheep fabric.  Jane wanted to see what she could come with, using one-fabric techniques.  Who else would have thought of using this idiosyncratic print?

And who would ever have guessed that it would yield this diverse and richly patterned top? It really is a "one-block wonder".
(There was a black and white beauty too, but the batteries died ... another time.)

Now for some sanity ... Louise has blended blues and greens against crisp white for this mint-fresh Hugs and Kisses design, for a lucky 21 yr old.

We couldn't all go to Paducah, so Paducah came to us on Dina's laptop!

Camden Country Quilters Exhibition: A Quilter's Paradise

9:30 am - 4:30 pm

Saturday and Sunday
7 and 8 August 2010

AH &I Hall, Argyle Street, CAMDEN.

Admission: $6

Raffle quilt - craft table - stalls - antique quilts - cafe

Jump on the M5/M7 and take the Narellan/Camden exit

For more information, call Wendy 0400 390 322

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Brigitte Giblin's website

Brigitte Giblin's new website will be popular.  It includes a gallery of her quilts, patterns and accessories to purchase.

Canberra Quilter Exhibition 5 - 8 August 2010

and Craft and Quilt Fair

10.00 am - 4.30 pm, 5th - 8th August 2010

Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC)
Northbourne Ave and Flemington Rd

www.canberraquilters.org.au

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Tuesday night catch-up

(Thanks to Noelle for these photos that have spent too many weeks in the file.)

Every other year, Dina visits the US to visit family, especially her sister and fellow-quilter, Cindy.  She always comes back with new fabric, patterns and quilt tops she and Cindy have made during their travels. Here are some from her most recent trip, during which they took in the renowned quilt show at Paducah, Kentucky

A deceptively simple block makes this quilt top full of movement.

Dina saw a 3D Shadow Box quilt made from this pattern at Paducah.  She liked it, she bought the pattern and fabric,  and she made it!

The construction of this quilt is more complex - the sophisticated neutrals make way for the engineering.

Back to the files to find last Tuesday's photos ....

Community quilts wrap-up

Thanks to Sue Crowe for these photos.


Eighteen quilts for donation to various causes through the Quilters' Guild of NSW have been made on Community Quilting Days, through challenges and by individual Fairholme members during 2009-2010


A closer view .....

Eighteen labels were quickly sewn on by the Monday group this week

Isn't this marble print fabric a fabulous backing?


Remember the "ugly fabric" challenge from Christmas 2008?  Not so ugly now!

Thanks to everyone for your generous contributions - they will be appreciated by their new owners.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Community quilting day: Thursday 15th July

A very productive day, putting together four floor quilt tops for the Parent Support Team at  Down Syndrome NSW, who will use them at family events to encourage parents of babies get down on the floor with their little ones, and get to know one another ..... and maybe begin life-long friendships and support.  Priceless!

Requirements list:

7 Fairholme Quilters
6 sewing machines
2 irons
1 tub and two bags of generously donated fabric for borders, bindings, backings
1 roll of batting
144 blocks (prepared last month by 6 Fairholme Quilters)

Method:

......  stir gently with much talk and laughter, over six hours with (short) breaks for coffee and buns, and lunch (generously shared with those who forgot to bring some!)


......  lay out the blocks in six rows of six .....
...... sew the blocks together in rows .....

..... sew the rows together .....

...... press, press and press again .....

...... add colourful borders to compliment .....


...... choose bright and beautiful fabrics, join as necessary to make backings ....

...... make metres and metres of fun bindings .....

...... cut batting to size (you know what batting looks like!) .....


...... hand four completed tops over to more volunteers to layer, baste/pin, quilt as desired and bind !