Fairholme Quilters - local quilting group, northern suburbs of Sydney
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| Julie made a sunny ‘Little Women’ community quilt. Quilted by Laura. |
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| Jill used up black and white fabric scraps and some bright solids for her improv version of ‘Little Women’. |
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| Elaine W reached into the back of her stash for the long-held 1a fabric she used for this community quilt. |
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| ELAINE w also made this one, from a collection of Japanese fabrics, during lockdown, |
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| A collection of donated neutral fabrics with a little metallic, all made into half size triangles by Jo-Ann, quilted by Laura |
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From Australasian Quilt Convention, 25 October 2021: AQC in 2022 will move to Brisbane for the first time. The change is due to a number of factors, read more here. |
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| Virginia makes a quilt for each of her grandchildren for their tenth birthdays. This one is a marine ‘I Spy’. |
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| Jan’s newest granddaughter has two older siblings so she made them a Teddy bear each to go with the quilt she made the new baby. |
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| Sharron also has a new grandchild, born during lockdown, so she wasn’t able to see him for some weeks. But Sharron was organised, and his quilt was ready for him. |
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The two exhibitions, Towards Abstraction and EmpoweRed will run concurrently at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum. |
‘Studio Spades’ is a series of posts about textile artists’ work spaces produced once or twice a week by Fibre Arts Australia. You can subscribe to receive an email alert each time a post is made. Alternatively you can simply read the posts at the website. There is currently an archive of fourteen entries:
https://www.fibrearts.net.au/studiospaces
It’s an interesting insight into how and where the artists work, and what they regard as essential to their practice.
In our era of hyperfast consumption, Greg Lauren has a zeal for patience. His slow-made approach to reconstruction finds new life for otherwise unwanted scraps and textiles, a time-consuming process that undermines the typical more-more-more industry mentality.
So, Lauren's partnership with the Gee's Bend Quilters feels like the designer both paying his dues and paying forward the renown garnered by his own designs. Jake Silberi, Highsnobiety, 16 October 2021
The Singer Sewing Machine changed the way America manufactured textiles, but the invention itself was less important than the company’s innovative business … Alex Palmer, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2015
Artist Bisa Butler on creating new narratives through portrait quilts
Bisa Butler (b. 1973) is an American artist who creates arresting and psychologically nuanced portraits composed entirely of vibrantly colored and patterned fabrics that she cuts, layers, and stitches together. Often depicting scenes from African American life and history, Butler invites viewers to invest in the lives of the people she represents while simultaneously expanding art-historical narratives about American quiltmaking. Situating her interdisciplinary work within the broader history of textiles, photography, and contemporary art, contributions by a group of scholars—and entries by the artist herself—illuminate Butler’s approach to color, use of African-print fabrics, and wide-ranging sources of inspiration. Offering an in-depth exploration of one of America's most innovative contemporary artists, this volume will serve as a primary resource that both introduces Butler’s work and establishes a scholarly foundation for future research.
Each of these seven quilts was pieced, quilted and finished by Lynette, most of it during COVID lockdowns - a wonderful contribution to our community quilts collection much appreciated.
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| Disappearing four-patch, using a variety of floral prints |
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| Light, medium and dark toned rectangles |
Diagonal checkerboard
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| Robin B’s quilt features many fun prints that a child will love. |
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| Robin w’s ‘Flutterby’ designed by Jen Kingwell, works very well in saturated colours on a low volume background. Quilted by Laura, bound by Lynette in a team effort. |
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| The design uses only squares and half rectangle triangles to create more complex shapes and movement through careful use of colour and tone. |
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| Julie trimmed the many donated flying geese, and sewed them together. Helen donated the floral border print from deep in her stash, and Laura quilted the finished top. |
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| Dawn selected fabric from a large donation, and from the community stash, and drafted her own design. Quilted by Laura, bound by Helen. |
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| A typically vibrant colour palette by Robyn W, quilted by Laura, bound by Lynette. |
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| Everything you need to know about The Sewing Basket is here |
She Stitched the StarsThe Smithsonian’s web page on the 1876 Solar System quilt:
A Story of Ellen Harding Baker's Solar System Quilt
By Jennifer Harris, illustrated by Louise Pigott
In 1876 Ellen Harding Baker began stitching an extraordinary quilt, one that accurately depicted our solar system. Ellen, an Iowa storekeeper’s wife and a mother, had a curiosity that reached far beyond the stratosphere. Today, the quilt hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This lyrical story imagines the creation of the quilt from the perspective of Ellen’s daughters, who, like their mother, lived in a time when girls and women were expected to limit their pursuit of knowledge, and who may have been inspired to dream bigger and look farther. … Albert Whitman and Company (publisher)
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| Nerida’s hand-stitched ‘Bessie’ bag |
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| Daphne’s zippered pouches |
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| Sharron’s zippered pouches for a rose-lover friend |
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| Pat’s crocheted jacket |
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| Yvette’s Liberty project bag has a transparent front panel |
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| Sharron’s knitted hats for her grandchildren, including a newborn, and a zippered pouch for his Mum. |
A sparkling October day in Sydney, a beautiful spring garden, and a dozen quilts to be photographed for our records …
These community quilts were gathered at our first sewing day since May, a few were handed in earlier, but had not yet been photographed. Individual quilt photos will be posted soon. Thank you to all who have made them through lockdown.
