Kim Bradley Creations sale: Sunday 2nd February

Kim Bradley is helping to kickstart a new year of sewing with a sale - 30% off all fabric from the bolt, this Sunday, 2nd February, at her Castle Hill shop (open 9.30 am - 4.00 pm).


Kim Bradley Creations
7/9 Packard Avenue
Castle Hill 2154

02 9659 2912

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Young quilters: 2014 Brother Under 35s quilt competition announced.

Quilters Companion magazine has announced the 2014 Brother Under 35s quilt competition, with over $10,000 in prizes on offer. The theme is 'Outside my window'.

You might recall that our very own Elle Wyatt-Spratt won in the secondary students category in the first  competition, in 2012.

You can find all the details in the current issue of Quilters Companion (#65).  The competition aims to support young quilters and promote quilting to the next generation - so do pass the information on.

Register at www.under35quiltcomp.com.au

The competition is jointly sponsored by Quilters Companion, Quilters Guild of NSW and Brother.

Fraser Smith's carved quilts - images and a video

We posted a link to scuptor Fraser Smith's carved quilts nearly five years ago in this blog's infancy - more than time for a catch-up with his latests works here, and an entrancing time-lapse video of the emergence of 'The Lake', finished in 2012, here. make sure you click on the button in the lower right corner for a 'full screen' view ... and share it with the wood worker in your house.

2014 Sydney Quilt Show

Information and entry forms for the 2014 Sydney Quilt Show are now available on the Quilters Guild of NSW website. The closing date for entries is 14th March 2014.

The Sydney Quilt Show is held in conjunction with the Quilt and Craft Fair, and this year the event will be at Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island. Check the links from the Quilt and Craft Fair website for information about transport, parking and other facilities at the new venue.

Expertise Events image

Lecture on Toiles de Jouy, Quiltsmith, 2nd February

Those who have looked at toiles with a critical eye while choosing fabric for our  recent workshop with Margaret Sampson George might be particularly interested in this event just announced by Quiltsmith, in Annandale:

Marie-Christine FlocardLecture on French Toiles de Jouy:  The History and Printing Process in the 18th Century

Sunday 2nd February 2.00 - 4.00 pmCost $30.00 per person. (non-refundable)

Booking is essential, by phoning 02 9550 4947  - details are on the Quiltsmith blog, here.

Quilt Show: Mittagong

Good things in 2014 ...

How's that 2014 diary looking?  It's probably filling up - here are some more events that you might want to pencil in:

Berrima Patchwork's annual Airing of the Quilts and Sale Day
Berrima
1st February 2014

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition
Old Government House, Parramatta
1st March - 1st June 2014

Sydney Quilt Show and Quilt and Craft Fair

Wednesday, 9 July to Sunday 13 July 2014 

Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island Expo facility

Australian Quilt Study Group  20th anniversary seminar
Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney
6th - 7th July 2014

Cottage Quiltworks 2014 class list
Warriewood

The African Fabric Shop

Here's another treat on the web - Fairholme Quilters is still on summer break, and it seriously too hot to quilt, or even sew, unless you can do it lying on a couch in front of  a powerful fan, under an air conditioner, or in a swimming pool, so it will be a while before you see new quilts from us ...

You wouldn't expect to find The African Fabric Shop in West Yorkshire, and you actually won't - it's a virtual fair-trade business, but West Yorkshire is its administrative headquarters.  The interesting story of how the shop came to be, owner Maggie Relph's background, current activities (including support for a clinic in The Gambia) and, of course, its stock of African fabric and other textile related  products, can all be found on The African Fabric Shop website.

Make sure you check our the gallery of Maggie's marvellous quilts, and her invitation to visit , should you happen to be looking for African fabric in West Yorkshire.

Tim Latimer - Quilts etc - preserving 'the fine art of hand quilting'

Tim Latimer includes many photos of the quilt tops he collects, the processes he uses to complete them, and the thinking behind his choices -  make a tea or coffee and relax as you watch someone else work wonders.  He says ...

I collect vintage and antique quilt tops and finish them. My goal is to preserve the fine art of hand quilting.

If your interests extend to gardens, you will enjoy the 'etc' of this visually stunning blog too. And there's a cute dog too.

New free block-of-the-month from Barbara Brackman

Barbara Brackman is  famous for the quality and popularity of her block-of-the-month projects, offered freely through her blogs. A new one is starting on her Civil War Quilts blog next Saturday, 25th January.

Read the introductory post to help decide if you will join Threads of Memory, and begin choosing your fabrics.

Quilts for people affected by WA bushfires

Following the news of major losses of houses and other destruction by bushfires in Western Australia this week, WA Quilters has begun gathering quilts for those who have lost so much.  Guidelines for donations and contact details are published here, on the WA Quilters blog.

Find!

This is not the most profound blog post you will ever read, but if you have searched for a thread storage solution you will understand why it is here. 

This organiser was found at K Mart in Hornsby (in northern Sydney) a couple of weeks ago.  There were several sizes, this is the largest. The depth is just right to stand a standard thread spool, and the compartments are just the right size to lay them flat. The compartments are various sizes, some accommodating several spools. The lids closes securely, but is easy to open, so it will keep the dust at bay.

And it was just $5! Perhaps another one would be a good idea ...

Readying for 2014 ...

We're officially still on our summer break, but some preparations for personal and community quilting in 2014 have been quietly proceeding ...

A selection of new books for our group library has been collected
- there is a distinct bias towards modern quilting, that will fill a gap.
They'll start walking off the shelves in February.

These quilts for children will be distributed via our community partners.  They each started as a donated fabric panel with borders added from our community stash:

Made by Lynette

Made by Dawn

No doubt there is more summer quilting going on around here, including some that will be ready for our two yearly exhibition in April 2014. 

30 quilts for 30 years: international art quilt exhibition

Image: National Quilt Museum press release -
Bradford Fantasy 1, Carol Bryer Fallet-Gentry

 So many lovely quilts to see ... and now is a good time to catch up with some beauties online, like Carol Bryer Fallet-Gentry's latest exhibtion of 30 quilts, made to celebrate 30 years of art quilting. A number of the quilts can be viewed online. If you are travelling in the USA or France in 2014, you might get to see them up close and personal.

The National Quilt Museum (located in Paducah, Kentucky) is pleased to host an exhibit of new work from internationally renowned fine art quilter Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry. 

“Thirty Quilts for Thirty Years: Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry” will be on display from December 6 through March 11, 2014 ... read more about the exhibition and see some of the quilts online here.

• The exhibition schedule into 2015 is available here

The National Quilt Museum also provides a substantial online archive from part exhibitions (including those from 2013).

Handy online tutorials

• Triangle thread catcher (Needling Things)

• Colour Theory for Quilters (The Elven Garden) - a series of blog posts by Modern quilters, some of them Australian, designed for novice quilters

• Continuous bias binding (McCalls Quilting)

The Great Tapestry of Scotland

Not a quilt, but of interest to anyone with a passing interest in textiles, in Scotland and its history, The Great Tapestry of Scotland is ...

The brainchild of bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith, historian Alistair Moffat and artist Andrew Crummy, the Great Tapestry of Scotland is an outstanding celebration of thousands of years of Scottish history and achievement, from the end of the last Ice Age to Dolly the Sheep. Like the Bayeux tapestry, the Great Tapestry of Scotland has been created on embroidered cloth, and is annotated in English, Gaelic, Scots and Latin.

Larger than the famous Bayeux Tapestry, and completed in 2013, the Great Tapestry of Scotland is now documented in detail in a book, and online, and stitching kits are available for purchase.  An exhibition schedule in Scotland, the UK and internationally is being developed, with some dates released for 2014.

The website is rich in detail, including images of each panel and details of who stitched it, and an audiofile of the tapestry's story.

Unravelled Textiles - Middle Cove (Sydney)

If you are interested in vintage linens and other textiles that might or might not be related to quilting, you might like to hear about Unravelled Textiles, a shop that opened in 2013 at Middle Cove.

Gillian wrote this on the Southern Cross Quilters email list, and agreed that we could share it here:

I've just come across a fun new fabric shop at Middle Cove on Sydney's North Shore. It is 

Unravelled Textiles, 165 Eastern Valley Way, Middle Cove. Ph: 9967 9944 

It's an Aladdin's cave filled with new and old textiles. Be Gunn, the owner, has Reece Scannell ikats, vintage Japanese kimono fabric by the metre, Noro wool, hand-dyed yarns, hand-dyed wool felt, buttons from South Africa, books, knitting patterns, Misti Alpaca, vintage English style floral linens... The list goes on. Everything is displayed in vintage, make-do sort of displays. And she has a classroom, where she teaches all manner of classes, including one today on indigo dyeing, just to give you an idea. She also has enormously thick yarns that knit up on giant needles to make floor rugs etc. 

I have no affiliation but found myself enthralled with the atmosphere and goods on offer. It's well worth a visit, I think.

They don't appear to have a website at the moment, but there is a Facebook page, with photos of some of the stock, and where they say this in the 'about' column: A new store with yarn, fabric, and ideas for creative people. Stay tuned for courses in everything from dyeing to advanced crochet and weaving.