First Blush: Best of Show, Victorian Quilters Showcase

The Victorian Quilters Showcase 2012 is on this weekend in Melbourne. The list of prizewinners doesn't seem to be on their website just yet, but the winner of the Best in Show, Karen Terrens, is a blogger, and has posted some great photos and written in detail about how her quilt, First Blush, was made, at Quilts on Bastings. It is, as you would expect, a stunner!

Boy quilters add to our social fabric

Today's Canberra Times has this report about two young brothers making quilts for the Canberra Quilters 2012 Exhibition scheduled for 9 - 12 August.

Tips on photographing quilts at home

Here is a very useful post, from The Modern Quilt Guild, with good tips for photographing quilts at home, with the sort of camera that most of us are likely to have to hand.

It is written specifically to guide quilters submitting entries for the first QuiltCon event in Austin, Texas nest February, but will be useful for anyone wanting to maximise the quality of their quilt photos without access to a photographic studio and professional equipment.

This article from Australian Quilters gives tips for photographing quilts to highlight the quilting stitches, again using an ordinary (pocket) digital camera.

Fairholme Quilters Exhibition 2012 (6): more Paint Chip Challenge quilts

Sixth in a series of posts in which we will share the quilts from our biennial exhibition, held in April 2012.  Click on the images for a larger view. 


Paint Chip Challenge


Each quilter was given a paint chip, with three shades of a single colour (light, medium and dark values) in a brown paper bag,

The challenge was make a quilt up to 36" x 36" (not necessarily square), using fabrics in the three colours only, with the addition of only black, white and/or cream.

Any technique could be used, and the work had to be quilted and bound.

Click here to see quilts 1 - 11

Paint Chip Challenge Quilts 12 - 23 (of 23)

Sea Breeze 2012 - Ros Pullen

There is always a weed - Maureen Watts

Untitled - Noelle Sona

Daffodils on black and white - Lyn Lang

Glacier - Jill O'Connor

Untitled - Robyn Tayler

Cityscape - Lorraine Kenchington

Untitled - Robyn Leek

Flight of the eagle - Lynette Harvey

Paint Chip Alphabet - Jo-Ann Phillips

Elegance - Susan McMahon

Blue Bayou - Louise Wyatt-Spratt

(Photographs Andrew Freelander)

Fairholme Quilters Exhibition 2012 (5): Paint Chip Challenge

Fifth in a series of posts in which we will share the quilts from our biennial exhibition, held in April 2012.  Click on the images for a larger view. 


Paint Chip Challenge


Each quilter was given a paint chip, with three shades of a single colour (light, medium and dark values) in a brown paper bag,

The challenge was make a quilt up to 36" x 36" (not necessarily square), using fabrics in the three colours only, with the addition of only black, white and/or cream.

Any technique could be used, and the work had to be quilted and bound.

Paint Chip Challenge Quilts 1 - 11 (of 23)

Miniature Madness - Miriam Jones

Winner of  the Paint Chip Challenge Viewers' Choice

Window - Sharyn Knitter

Runner Up, Paint Chip Challenge Viewers' Choice

Tulip Window - Dawn Cox

Desert - Janet Swalwell

Medieval Motif - Robin Stutchbury

My Green Folly - Georgie Patrickson

Village Square - Elaine Walton

Untitled - Pat Nerlich

Land, Sea, Sky - Margaret Weir

Untitled - Loraine McIntosh

Tulip Time - Janice Freelander

Click here to see quilts 12 - 23

(Photographs by Andrew Freelander)

Fairholme Quilters Exhibition 2012 (4): a selection of medallion quilts

Fourth in a series of posts in which we will share the quilts from our biennial exhibition, held in April 2012.  Click on the images for a larger view. 

24.   PINE TREES

Inspired by “Quilt Projects by Machine” Sewing Reference Library book, Singer. I wanted to test my skills using the ‘grid-piecing method’ shown in the above book. Flying geese and borders inspired from country style wall-hanging by Hitomi Fujita shown in Country Style Patchwork magazine. The quilt was made for my husband and myself. Machine quilted by Emi’s Patch at Eastwood.      Pat Nerlich

47 FLEW THE COOP

I couldn’t resist these cheeky roosters. They seemed to say, “look how clever we are, we have flown the 

coop and are living amongst the daisies!” The design for the top of the quilt is the Brick Bracket Medallion 

Quilt from Kaffe Fassett’s book “Quilts in the Sun”. However the back of the quilt is just as important as the 

front. I decided to free form piece the back using up all the left over fabrics. It took 

much, much longer than the top to put together, but was a lot of fun and very satisfying. Not only did I enjoy 

putting it together, I managed to use up nearly every last scrap of fabric. 

The quilt was machine quilted by Christy Wang of Quilting Treasures, Pymble.     

Helen Battellino

(Photographs by Andrew Freelander)

Canberra Quilters Inc 2012 Exhibition

9 - 12 August
Exhibition Park, Mitchell, Canberra


The Exhibition is held as part of the Craft and Quilt Fair. 

Visit the Canberra Quilters website for further information and to see the raffle quilt and other prizes.

What quilters do ...

Currently circulating on Facebook ...

Quilters World at Fairholme

What a great morning we had at Fairholme yesterday - it was fun and informative.  We learned a lot.


Pauline and Rob Rogers, of Quilters World (a Queensland based company, not the US magazine) visited with their mobile shop, and Pauline spent 2 1/2 hours demonstrating the tools she uses in her own quilts, and that they sell, as they travel Australia-wide with their business.  Remarkably, Pauline advocated for only a few tools - but those she chose do the best job (after extensive testing of multiple brands), give excellent results, have more than one use, save time, money, effort and the environment.

She took us through tips on transferring designs, applique (needle-turn, blanket stitch, raw-edge); her quilt-as-you-go method, a thousand ways that bias tape makers can be used to do other things, free motion machine quilting, and much more. Attention to the chemical make-up of products from marking pens to glues is not just about the protecting the environment, but promoting the longevity of the quilts we make. Money saving tips were popular too, of course.  Very thoughful.

You could see light-bulb moments happening all around the room, and if there had been a thought bubble, it would have said "why did I not know/think of that?"

It would be hard to choose just one 'best' tool, but we did notice that the stock of Clover Mesh Transfer Canvas depleted quickly after we saw its multiple uses, and how to get get the very best use out of it.

A little shopping may have happened during the break, and afterwards, but there was definitely no 'hard-sell'.

If your quilting group is looking for an engaging speaker who will have you thinking about things you can do to improve your quilting right away, we recommend Pauline see the Quilters World website for enquiries and how to make a booking.

Quilters World will be at the Mad Quilters Gathering in Penrith in early August.

There is so much available through the website, you just have to go there to see!

Thanks Georgie for organising such a great morning, and for the fabulous morning tea that came with it.

Around the blogs ...

Some interesting reading on other blogs ...


Material Culture (Barbara Brackman) - Extreme Show Off Piecing in antique quilts


Quiltsmith - workshop schedule until the end of 2012 (and their latest fabrics)

Craft Nectar - an interview with fabric designer and quilter Jane Sassaman, focussing on using large scale prints successfully, on the release of her new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style - recipes for dazzling quilts

Hunters Hill Quilters 2012 Quilt Show: 9 - 12 August

Friday 10th August - Sunday 12 August 2012
10.00 am - 4.30 pm


Hunters Hill Town Hall
Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill


Admission $6.00 including catalogue
80 + quilts, and the 2012 Wagga challenge, new and old quilts for sale

Two raffle quilts, quilt shop and refreshments,
Proceeds to Giant Steps, Sydney, a school for children with autism.

Enquiries

The First Central Coast Shop Hop 2012

September 17th-22nd

Shops participating in this event are …

Blueberries at Wyong

Cherry Pie Design at Somersby

Pieces to Treasure at McMasters Beach


Details of how it will work, special offers and how to register your interest are here, on the Blueberries blog.

Shop news - patchwork fabric at Greta's Handcraft Centre, Lindfield

Greta's Handcraft Centre, at Lindfield, renowned for its knitting yarn and supplies, has taken on the inventory from Killara Quilts (which closed this month), and is now supplying patchwork fabrics and haberdashery in addition to knitting supplies.


Location: 
321 Pacific Highway, 
Lindfield NSW 2070
Phone: 02 9416 2489

Fairholme Quilters Exhibition 2012 (3): online

The husband of one our members kindly photographed the quilts in our exhibition in April, so we are launching a series of posts to share them online, a few at a time.  Some quilts cannot be posted here for a variety of reasons, but we will have plenty to show you. Thank you Andrew Freelander.

We announced our presence with pennants and banners:

This post includes photos of the prizewinning quilts. Here is a close-up detail of Loraine McIntosh's Viewers' Choice winner, Baltimore Bridal Quilt, and her quilter's statement:

Jewels made by Lyn Lang was awarded runner-up Viewers' Choice for best use of colour:

The plan is for a Fairholme 2012 Exhibition post about once a week, until we run out of photos ... we'll see how that goes.

(Photographs by Andrew Freelander)

Sydney Mad Quilters Gathering: Penrith 3 - 5 August

Reports from the first Sydney Mad Quilters' Gathering last year were pretty positive - the second is coming up soon, at Penrith Panthers.

From the organiser's website:
The second Sydney Mad Quilters' Gathering promises to be an exceptional show. Harnessing the right mix of uniqueness pertaining to patchwork and quilting - under the one roof - this 'gathering' gives visitors an opportunity to turn their vision to reality, and at the same time enjoy the experience into the bargain.

Replica Frederica Josephson Coverlet Project: NSW Quilters Guild

If you were at the Sydney Quilt Show last month, you probably saw the Replica Frederica Josephson Coverlet hanging - it has quite a story.

From Template Free, the NSW Quilters Guild blog:

One of the highlights from the 2012 Sydney Quilt Show opening day awards ceremony was the presentation of the replica Frederica Josephson coverlet to representatives of the National Trust of Australia (NSW).  You can read more about this project on the new Replica Frederica Josephson Coverlet Project Page.

The dedicated page closely documents the whole process of making the replica coverlet, in words and pictures, right up to its presentation to the National Trust. And now the Guild has undertaken to make another one, for the National Trust to raffle!

Quilting designs in sand?

It has been suggested that Andres Amador's sand drawings  (like the snow quilts here) could be quilting designs - what do you think?

Left brain - right brain: which type of quilter are you?

This Moda Cutting Table interview with Brigitte Heitland from Zarbstoff (including a link to her blog) looks at left-brain/right-brain demands of quilting.

You can subscribe to the Cutting Table e-newsletter on this page too. Click on the masthead to update the page for the latest issues.