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This week's show and tell

Some people have been very busy lately ...

The second 2016 challenge stars quilt is ready to be
quilted, with the top put together by Noelle. Note the
rebel block with the cream background that adds a bit
of fun. It was basted at our community sewing day this
week, and Noelle will quilt it.

Elaine W chose nine star blocks made and donated by Diana
for her end-of-year challenge project. She made some minor
changes to the centre block, and found some pale lavender batik
fabric in her own stash for the sashing. One of her grand-
daughters has claimed it, and is making sure that Elaine keep
at the task of finishing it!

The lucky door prize of 72 width-of-fabric strips from our
Big Morning Tea in May have been magicked into three 'In a Whirl'
quilts by Elaine, who won them. Her younger granddaughter has
asked for this one to be her snuggle quilt to live at Nanna's house. The
 bright aqua sashing ties the mass of brights together very well, and
Miriam's tutorial is made for strip piecing. Elaine plans to donate
the other two to our community quilts collection.

Dawn made her Jolly Star block following our workshop
with Catherine Butterworth in 2015, and has recently put
them together and finished her vibrant quilt. The background
fabric is cream, with a small red spot.

The exterior of this bag was Dawn's choice for her
end-of-year challenge project. She has added the drawstring interior.

Dawn had a lot of scraps of Japanese style prints -
this is the second quilt she has made from them,
and they are now all used up!

More new books

We're perusing recent book releases (more are in this post), working up to a short list for new library books. These are the most recent ones we've added to the long list - the very mention of the first one met with a resounding 'yes please' at our Monday meeting this week, so it's currently very near the top.

The Fussy Cutters Club - a boot camp for 

mastering fabric play, Angie Wilson, 

C and T Publishing, 2017 (7 October). 

Gnome Angel's blog post about the book.

Piece By Piece, Joe and Mary Koval, 

Quilt Mania, October 2017

Quilt Giving, Deborah Fisher, Interweave 2016

A Pattern for Pepper, Julie Kraulis

Tundra Books, 2017

Post-long-weekend show and tell (3) ... community and challenge quilt progress

Robyn B had just about given up on her bushy tailed puppy
appliqué blocks, and brought them in to donate to the end-of-year
challenge pool. But she allowed herself to be talked into putting
them together, and has kindly donated the top to the
community quilts collection. A child is going to love it Robyn.

It amazes us that our friends, who are not Fairholme
members, also make and donate quilts for our community
collection. Lyn and Sue do classes together, and Lyn
recently gave Sue two large completed tops, and fabric
for backings and bindings! Thank you Lyn.

Sue has quilted and bound both of them, with pieced,
non-symetrical backings (way out of her comfort zone.
Rumour has it that Sue has now opened her basted
Miss April parcel, and hand quilting will begin any day ...

Elaine quickly spotted a collection of red and white blocks for
her end-of-year challenge project ('how could someone discard
these?'), has a plan and has started putting them together. She
was delighted when Yvette gave her some scraps from her
Farmer's Wife quilt to help get it finished.

The top of Jill's remake using Helen's log cabin blocks
is done - all the blocks are included and the old border
has been re-cut for the binding. All the 'new' fabric
was in Jill's stash waiting to be needed.

Post-long-weekend show and tell (2)

More from this week's show and tell (and one more post to come) ...

For a little great-daughter - Julie made story book blocks
from patterns by Michele Hill. How lovely to have a quilt
that your great grandma made specially for you!

Denise brought all her teacup and teapot fabric to
the bag-making workshop with Miriam last month. She
paid close attention to Miriam's advice about using a feature
fabric and finding accent colours in the print, and her pink
teapot became the star. The lining is blue and white tea
cups, and check out the zipper pull - teapot fussy cut on
one side, teacup on the other - attention to detail!

Daphne is nearly done with the large blocks for her
Katja Marek New Hexagon quilt.  Progress will slow down
for a little while she is busy checking out the International
Quilt Festival in Houston in a few weeks!

We've been admiring Nerida's Whimsy quilt blocks, and
then suddenly there is a finished Sweet Sunday quilt to swoon
over! The pattern is a rework of the popular Candied Hexagons,
from Treehouse Textiles in Victoria, and incorporates vintage
embroidered and cross stitched linen. Nerida's version is
spectacular! A few of the details below in close-up.

Quilt Show this weekend - Mosman

Post-long-weekend show and tell (1)

Nothing like a break to produce a bumper show and tell, like this week's after the long weekend. There's more to come.

We were delighted that 6 year old Piper joined us on Monday
morning, as it was the last day of her school holidays. She is
making a boro piece, sewing all by herself, and choosing her
fabrics from her Mum's stash. She thinks she might like to
be a quilter. Wouldn't that be fabulous?

The Zen of hand quilting - Val is making exquisitely even
 stitches in her scrap-busting quilt. But it hardly dented her
scrap basket. We can all relate.

Roslyn's long term hand piecing project, made with 2"
hexagons is beautifully finished! An adaptation of 'Not the
Levens Hall' quilt, started under the influence of Margaret Sampson
George, machine quilted by Jo-Ann (Quiltwise)

The baptist fan quilt pattern is a favourite of Roslyn's
and works so well for this quilt.

We knew Yvette was making some red and white blocks ... and
were blown away by her finished Farmer's Wife quilt! It was
quilted by Jo-Ann (Quiltwise).  The blocks are 6".
The popular design is by Laurie Aaron Hird - the pattern is
in her 2015 book, and there are many examples on the internet
- just Google for information and images.

Yvette considered a 'redder' border, but felt it overwhelmed
the blocks, and settled on the very pretty and complimentary
red Paisley print on cream.

'Remember'

Each year QuiltNSW holds a challenge. The quilts are premiered at the Annual General Meeting and then form part of a travelling suitcase exhibition. 

The theme for the 2017 challenge is 'Remember'. Awards were announced at the 2017 Annual General Meeting yesterday, and can now be viewed online.

Show and tell from Instagram

Because of the Labour Day long weekend, we had no Monday meeting this week, but members have provided a little show and tell online this week.

Sue C's Little Miss April has been hand basted, ready for hand
quilting - but Sue has not opened the bundle just yet (she is
currently finishing two quilts for our community quilt collection).

Nerida is more than half way through her Whimsy blocks
(Judy Newman design), and it already looks wonderful.

It's so good to see that Janet is able to sew on her new
machine again after a period of having to nurse an injury.
This beauty is close to being done.

These little 6 1/2" blocks are the left-overs from a larger quilt
that Jill hasn't quilted yet. The blocks are very quick to make.

More October events

Batavia Tapestry - Melinda Piesse
On exhibition until 29th October 2017
Australian National Maritime Museum
2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Meet the Maker: Lads with Looms

11 am - 1 pm Friday 13 October 2017
A Sydney Craft Week event

Australian Design Centre

101-115 William Street, Sydney

Woven works by Studio A artists, including Adam Mandarano 

and Damien Showyin will be on display and on sale at 

our 2018 Quilt Show

The Barn Quilters Quilt Show

Saturday 14 - Sunday 15 October 2017
9.30 am - 4.30 pm 
Mosman Art Gallery, 1 Art Gallery Way, Mosman 2088
Enquiries: Sue 0417 068 855 or barnquilters@gmail.com

FibreFest 2017
Knitters Guild of NSW
Sunday 22 October 2017
Singleton

Exhibition - inTransit

Untethered Fibre Artists

31 October - 12 November 2017

Wallarobba Arts Centre

25 Edgeworth David Ave, Hornsby

Show and tell this week

These lovely little spools were a sample quilt at
Cottage Quiltworks in Warriewood. The quilt top
came to us via Margaret K, and will be finished for
our community quilts collection. Thank you CQW
- we'll see that it goes to someone who needs it.

Another finish from Miriam's recent bag workshop - a wonderfully 

vibrant colour combo by Daphne - don't mess with that cat!

A beautiful, soft Liberty backing for Janice's pretty pink liberty
quilt (quilted by Jo) - Janice is binding it in the same fabric.

Helen picked up some fabric at Reverse Garbage in
Marrickville, and passed it on to Margaret, who quickly
re-purposed it into pillow cases and a baby wrap for one of
the many causes she sews for.

Hilary is making dolls for the '100 Dolls, Countless Hearts'
book for the Uthandu Project supporting children who have 
lost parents to HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu Natal, in South Africa.
You can read more about the project, how the dolls help to 
support the children and why the patterns have been 
chosen here.

Sydney Craft Week 6 - 15 October

... Bringing together the creative diversity of Sydney’s contemporary craft community, the inaugural Sydney Craft Week runs from Friday 6 to Sunday 15 October 2017. 

An initiative of the Australian Design Centre, this ten-day festival celebrates the beauty of the hand-made and the pleasure of making. Not limited to one material or mode of making, the program features a range of exhibitions, workshops, talks and open studios.

The Sydney Craft Week events guide is now available in print and online. Lots of textile craft to see and events. Quilt NSW is participating in the 'Craft Up Late initiative' on Wednesday 11 October, and the unveiling of the 2018 Suitcase Challenge, Remembering at the AGM on 7 October is in the program.

• Sydney Craft Week events page on Facebook
• Sydney Craft Week on Instagram

Community sewing day, September 2017

The community hall was buzzing with fourteen quilters, a pin basting marathon, and preparations for our 2018 quilt show ...

A little stitching on new quilt tops was fitted in around the
bunting and basting. Julie is making a marine themed machine
appliqued circles, and Susan is working peacock blues, which
she loves.

New bunting for our 2018 quilt show. Janice had us organised
with beautiful fabric, a simple process and great enthusiasm.
More will be needed, but we made HEAPS!

We pin basted nine quilts of various sizes, so a lot of quilting
is our future. These quilt tops are the work of Dawn,
Margaret K (x2), Julie (x 2), Dawn and Elaine B.

Community quilt finishes

Lots of community quilts action recently. Here are the six most recent finishes. There are many more in progress.

Two kids' quilts made by Margaret K, quilted by Lynette

Hilary has been busy - this is the first of two quilts she handed
over last week. Look from a distance and the nine patch layout
created by distributing the squares by value is more apparent. 

Hilary's second quilt - these squares are just 2 1/2" ...

... and there is great variety in the prints, although
 that giraffe has to be a favourite!

Soft, oretty quilt, top made by Barbara, quilted by Julie

Lynette's been our of the country for several weeks,
but she still managed to get a bunch of quilts to us! 

Look closely and you can see Lynette has used regular nine
patches, rather than random placement of her squares.