Seeing colour, fabric stairs and a handy travel solution

A little collection of links from other blogs, none of which is about how to make a quilt, but they might entertain and be useful to quilters during this possibly quiet weekend ...

Tetrachromats: A Genetic Anomaly You Want to Inherit - Barbara Brackman explains why some of us see more colour than others

Patterned Stairway - a creative way to use any 'spare' fabric you might have
Make it: cable cozy - an online tutorial and free downloadable pattern for a brilliant
'cozy' to manage all those cords and cables when you leave home with your mobile devices

More from Eldrid Røyset Førde - the Russian gallery at Birmingham, 2014

A new post (her fifth) from Eldrid Røyset Førde on the 2014 Festival of Quilts in the UK - images from an exhibition within the Festival, of 'treasures' by  Russian quilt artist Elena Folomyeva. Excellent photos and links to more work by Elena Folomveva are included.

• Earlier links to Eldrid Røyset Førde's posts on Birmingham 2014

Merry Christmas

Surface design workshop with Sue Dennis: Epping, 2015

The Quilters' Guild of NSW has announced a workshop with Queensland art quilter and tutor, Sue Dennis to be held in our near neighbourhood early in 2015:

Surface Design Entree 

2 day Workshop: Saturday14th and Sunday 15th March 2015
Epping Creative Centre
Dence Park, 26 Stanley Rd, Epping (NSW)

Sue Dennis is a Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc. Accredited Teacher - Special techniques 

Visit Template Free, the Guild's blog, for details and booking information.

Visit Sue Dennis's blog to see her extensive body of work, the exhibitions in which it has been hung, and the awards she has won.

A silly one for the holidays ...

What do bananas have to do with quilting? Absolutely nothing, although it does need a sewing needle to trick your audience (children, grandchildren?) with a banana that comes ready sliced, still in its unpeeled skin.

A new hexagon quilt design

Arcadia Avenue is a new, original quilt pattern from Sassafras Lane Designs, that looks set to become very popular.  If you are looking for a new take on hexagon designs, this could be the one for you:

Image: Sassafras Designs, with permission

It is offered as a 'block of the month' project, and Sassafras Lane is planning to host a blog-based 'quilt along' from early in 2015. The pattern can be purchased directly from Sassafras Designs. Click on the thumbnail images on this page to see this beautiful quilt in a number of different colour choices

The block of the month project, in kit format, is available in Australia from Unique Stitching, with all of the fabrics all drawn from the Kona Solids range.

Art quilts commissioned for Hornsby Kuringai Hospital redevelopment

Exciting news for local quilters and art lovers:

Award winning art quilter Lucy Carroll has been commissioned to make three large art quilts for the Hornsby Kuringai Hospital Redevelopment (one of our local public hospitals here in the northern suburbs of Sydney). You can read the full story here, on Lucy's blog.

Congratulations Lucy - we look forward to having your work in a public building in our area. We'll be on the lookout for the unveiling, and details about where the quilts will be located on the hospital campus.

• Previous posts on this blog mentioning Lucy Carroll's work.

Do you love your scissors?

Meet Eric Scissorhands - the last of the craftsman scissor makers in this video from the BBC News Magazine. It's nice to see that he has two apprentices, and the pride they take in their craft.

Modern Quilts Australia 2015

www.modernquilters.com.au

Just in time ...

... for Christmas and other gift-giving occasions, Amy Smart, of Diary of a Quilter has posted a blog you might want to forward to your family, leave your laptop open at the page, or it might give you ideas for your quilty friends. As she says, it doesn't have to be for Christmas ...

• 30 Gifts for Quilters

Quilts at Hazelhurst Art Gallery 2015

The Quilters Guild of NSW has released a call for entries for a Contemporary Quilt Exhibition:

“Evolution, Change, Challenge - A Contemporary Quilt”

to be held at Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery in Gymea

29th August to 8th September 2015

The contemporary exhibition will be held in conjunction with “Labours of Love. Australian Quilts 1850 – 2015”, to be curated by Hazelhurst.

We were pretty excited when he heard about the Hazelhurst exhibition on ABC radio recently (a passing reference in an interview with the Gallery Director), and the addition of the contemporary exhibition just adds to our interest. Definite possibility for a Fairholme bus trip to the Sutherland Shire for this one.

Pantone colour of the year 2015

It is all over the internet -but in case you missed it, Pantone has announced that its colour of the year for 2015 is 'Marsala'. There is always debate whether the year's Pantone colour is a good choice, and this year will be no exception.  This is what Pantone says about 'Why Marsala': 

Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this tasteful hue embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal while its grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness. This hearty, yet stylish tone is universally appealing and translates easily to fashion, beauty, industrial design, home furnishings and interiors.

Whatever you think of it (and some of us love it!), it will be everywhere, including fabrics (the products are already well and truly on the way). Further down the page are a series of sample colour pairings that give some excellent ideas for how well Marsala will work with other colours in a range of palettes.

• Why I Love the Pantone Color of the Year - a view from a quilter renowned for her colour sense, Latifah Saafir

We'll be keeping an eye out for the 'Colour of the Year Quilt Challenge' that is usually announced during January.

• Previous 'Colour of the Year' posts

Some modern Christmas quilts (2014)

A post of modern Christmas quilt links is now customary here, having been very popular with readers for the last three years, so here is our fourth annual selection from this year's blog surfing:

Mini Trees Quilt, Crazy Mom Quilts

Christmas Tree blocks, Quilt Matters

Christmas tree Skirt in July, Freshly Pieced

Christmas table runner, Sewcial Stash

Fair Isle Christmas quilt, Freshly Pieced

The Hood (Christmas tree skirt), Fresh Lemons

Quilted Christmas Tree Tutorial (No Sew) - Fabric Tree, Carly Nicole Elliotte

Best of Show quilts from around Australia

You can now see high quality images of all of the 2014 State Winners of the Bernina Australia Best of Show Awards here on the Bernina Australia website.

The the National Best of Australia Quilt Award will be announced and presented at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, 16th - 19th April 2015.

Winding down ...

... for 2014, we're having a party or two in the next couple of weeks before taking a few weeks break over the summer.

These two quilt tops are another generous donation
from Robin W, from her extensive stash of Kaffe
Fassett fabrics - which Robin thought was diminishing
until her daughter brought her a gift from a trip ...
They will make an excellent start to our 2015
community quilts project, and will be donated
for a child, at Robin's request.

Pat brought in her now fully completed beautiful
Hanover Blues quilt begun in a workshop with Anne
Sommerlad earlier in the year. It was custom quilted by
JoAnn Phillips (Quiltwise), and now lives on the bed in
Pat's guest room - lucky visitors!

Daphne found these quick and clever Christmas stars online.
They start with a pair of fabrics and a simple pentagon paper
template that you can make yourself. Daphne's had 4" sides.
They could become tree decorations, garlands, coasters,
or perhaps something else altogether.
You'll find a tutorial here.

Last community quilts sewing day for 2014 ... progress and finishes

The camera captured one photo and then declared itself 'exhausted'  last Thursday ... otherwise we would have shown you more of our work on this very hot day. We were thankful for air conditioning, and cold watermelon (and fresh doughnuts, thank you Miriam!). 

A lot of sorting and finishing off was done, and some new fabrics selected for new projects.  Some people have taken their projects home in case they feel the need to make some progress during the summer break (we did talk about the meaning of  a 'break', briefly ... ) and some were returned to the 'works in progress' box until we resume in February. 

We are working our way through our substantial, largely donated fabric stash, and one empty container at the end of the day (this is big news - our storage space is very tight!) with some re-packing. 

That One Photo - Elaine B finished putting these funky blocks
together into funky chevrons, including a pieced border that
has just one side to be sewn on. Good to see them out of the box.

Lynette finished off two community quilts earlier in the week, and Barbara sewed on their labels today:

Lynette make this child's quilt from a
donated panel and some stash fabric borders.
She quilted it with her favourite straight
line cross-hatch variation.
It will be donated to a child in need
through the Quilters Guild of NSW 

This is another Lynette finish - she has a gift for 
picking up where someone else has left off and 
producing great finishes.  These blocks were 
donated with the applique completed, and 
Lynette found a vibrant sashing fabric make 
them come alive.
It too will be donated to a child.

We enjoyed more stories from Roslyn and Miriam, who have both recently returned form trips to the US, taking in the International Quilt Festival and other events.  Thank you for sharing your photos and travel tips - iPads are the best!

Thank you everyone for your contributions throughout the year.

Modern quilters interviewed

If you have even a passing interest in modern quilts, you will probably enjoy the Modern Quilting Modern [Wo]man series of posts currently running on Two Little Aussie Birds blog right now. Interviews of well known modern quilters, along with beautiful photos of their quilts.

Some of the international list of interviewees: Latifah Safir, Chris Thompson, Mollie Sparkles, Weeks Ringle, Sarah Fielke ... lots to like.

Quiltsmith Summer School details released

Have a look at the Quiltsmith blog to see the interesting range of (mostly one day) workshops they are offering in their 2015 Summer School (dates range from 14th January - 1 February). A great range of teachers and quilting styles and techniques are on offer - all details of photos of each teacher's work are on the blog:

• Lynne Alchin
• Sue Ross
• Chris Jurd
• Anne Sommerlad
• Lindy Apps
• Margaret Sampson George
• Catherine Butterworth
• Judy Newman
• Jane Davidson
• Lorena Uriarte
• Amanda Daly
• Suzy Miller

Better book in early!

This week ...

We've seen Elizabeth working on small applique pieces
for some time, but she's been away for a few weeks,
in South Africa ... and then there was this!
It isn't finished yet, but we like where it's going!
Just a couple of borders, Elizabeth.
We might see it next in our 2016 Quilt Show ...

This handy little tin could have been designed just for storing
1" hexagons. There are about 200 basted hexies in it at the
moment. It is a free gift attached to the December issue of
Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  This one came from the
newsagency at Pennant Hills Market Plaza, and there were
a few more in stock today. Thanks to Louise W for the heads
up - the cardboard box they were in is getting shabby, and this
won't be a quick finish!

A generous gift

Speaking of The Fat Quarter Shop (as we were yesterday), we were delighted to see Miriam back her trip to the US at our Monday meeting, bearing many treasures, including a great boost to our library - a collection of books given to us by Kimberley Jolly from The Fat Quarter Shop, at the International Quilt Festival in Houston!  Thank you Kimberley and The Fat Quarter Shop.

photo: Miriam Jones

Miriam chatted with Kimberley during the show, and told her about our community quilts program, prompting Kimberley to donate the books on the spot. So thank you Miriam, too, for promoting Fairholme Quilters wherever you go.

Miriam's blog Sew Miriam has kept us up to date with her recent travels, and yesterday she told us a little about her experiences, shared some goodies, and took some photos of us checking out the books.  Take a look at her previous post too, to see her almost finished trip-around-the-world quilt from the recent Brigitte Giblin quilt-along.

'Fat Quarter Fizz' and 'Fat Eighth Frenzy' - free online patterns

If you have found free quilt patterns like the Charm Pack Cherry useful, you will be pleased to see Fat a Quarter Fizz,  and Fat Eighth Frenzy, also free from the Fat Quarter Shop, now available for free download here, with photos of finished examples here and here on the Fat Quarter Shop's blog.

The Fat Quarter Shop also provides other free patterns, and regular tutorials for blocks and other projects, designed to use pre-cuts, that can be easily adapted for scraps and yardage. Worth a bookmark.

Show and tell isn't always predictable ...

Jo is back from the USA, and and brought along
some treasures this week, including this lovely antique quilt
purchase.  It was made about 1900, and although there
is not a lot of documentation, some inferences can be
made about the quilter - it is assumed she was comparatively
well off, because the quilt not scrappy,  being made from just
two fabrics (a dark grey floral print and white), and it is
machine quilted.  The batting is now quite thin, and the quilt is
very soft and drapes beautifully, probably indicating that
it has been well used. Jo was astonished at the large numbers
of antique quilts they saw for sale. We loved hearing about
your trip, Jo and the many fascinating things you encountered.

Pam is a woman of many talents. she makes beautiful quilts,
and is a musician with a particular interest in folk music.
She recently made this beautiful birch and ply three-stringed 
instrument - a dulstrum - herself! She played a short 
melody for us on Tuesday evening - demonstrating its 
sweet, delicate sound, but it also has an electronic pickup 
allowing it to be amplified to sound quite different when 
called for! Isn't she clever?

Works in progress and finishes ... this week at Fairholme

Elsa's top from last year's workshop with Margaret
Sampson George is finished, and she's ready to quilt.
The dark red and cream print border sets the centre
hexagons off very nicely.

Robin S has been making up this pretty blossoms and
swan hand applique designas she went along.
The original crane didn't look right, so it came
off, and was replaced by a swan. It will be
Robin's hand quilting project for next winter
- great forward planning.

Janice is making a beautiful baby quilt for a friend - made
with pink Liberty prints. The petals are hand appliqued,
and there is a white border to be added.  Lucky baby.

Bags from Miriam's workshops are still emerging.
Having finished the largest design, Georgie decided she
needed the small pouch as well (left) - the lining (no photo)
is two fun complimentary hot pink and white prints.
Peggy's version (right) has become a stylish little girl's
handbag with the addition of pink fabric handles
secured by heart buttons. Cute birds in the main panel.

On Fran's first time at our monthly community sewing days,
she took her rotary cutter to a little of the community
stash and cut many, many 3" squares that Lynette pieced
into a simple scrappy patchwork top with white
counterpanes, quilted with a cross-hatch - isn't it just
beautiful? They think they have enough squares cut for
about two more community quilts - well done!

A donated top from Robin S - quilted by Dawn, and
bound by a friend of Lynette's will be added to our
community collection that will be delivered to
their new owners before Christmas. 

We also saw the great progress being made by the small group working on our special project this week, and it looks very impressive.

From the Quilters Guild of NSW

The Quilters Guild of NSW has announced the winners of its 'Mini Modern Challenge' and posted a gallery of all the entries via its blog, Template Free.

Read about the Guild's 'Red and White' themed category for the 2015 Sydney Quilt Show here.

Sydney Quilt Show 2015

17th - 21st June 2015
Glebe Island

Entry form and key dates

A new week at Fairholme ... bags and quilts

Margaret made the smallest of Miriam's bag patterns, in her
favourite terracotta and turquoise. Birds were not compulsory,
but were a popular choice for the main panels ...

... the reverse of Margaret's bag, also showing the
long handle she added so she can use it as a
cross-over shoulder bag.

Pat made the largest bag option in elegant cool tones.
The navy and white French text fabric in the bottom
panel is from Spotlight.

A glimpse inside Pat's bag - one of the inner pockets,
in a complimentary back and white print.

Daphne reached into her scrap bag and devised a triangle
block that produced a secondary grid - gorgeous colours,
well finished with that lovely border print.
The binding is nearly finished.

Louise C sewed and sewed on retreat with Studio Quilters
- this very pretty blue chevron design is made with
pairs of rectangles. No triangles!

Lousie C's 'fruit salad' version of the scrap quilt that
Lyn also made in berry colours (here) - just two simple
blocks, great contrast to highlight the colours.
We can almost taste summer here, Louise.

Gerringong Quilt Show next weekend

Gerringong Quilt Show
7th - 9th November 2014
Gerringong Town Hall, Gerringong (NSW)

Further information: Lorraine Peade on 4234 2606 or 0417 342 606.

• Gerringong committee of the Children’s Medical Research Institute prepare for the annual quilt show, Kiama Indpendent, 3rd November 2014

At local quilt shops this month ...

Craft Depot
Sydney quilters probably don't need reminding since this is the 18th year of the November sale (20 - 50% off fabric) at Craft Depot in Pennant Hills. The website is also hosting a 20% off fabric sale throughout November.

And submissions for the Quilters Challenge: Compassion in Action charity auction are due by 30th November, at Craft Depot.

Kim Bradley Creations
A scrap busting workshop is scheduled for Sunday 9th November, at Kim Bradley Creations on Castle Hill - details here.

Kim's final sale of the year will be on Saturday November 15 - prices as low as $6 per metre and other bolts at $12.

The latest newsletter also includes news about events in 2015.

Look who's in Houston!

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Roslyn and JoAnn at the preview night '... both overwhelmed!
The standard of quilts is wonderful but the word unbelievable
comes to mind.'

.... and ready to explore this, a small portion of the huge
vendor mall, take some classes, and of course to spend more time
with the hundreds of quilts in the exhibition, over several days

 On arrival in Houston, the tour group visited 'the biggest and best quilt shop we had ever seen.  Temptation everywhere.'

And they have met up with Miriam - more photos on Sew Miriam. Thank you for keeping us in the loop - we are enjoying your trip!

Award winners, International Quilt Festival, Houston

Those of us not in Houston can enjoy the wonderful award-winning quilts from Quilts: A World of Beauty, (the annual Judged Show of the International Quilt Association) images of which are now online.

Australian award winners include Denise Sardo (Honorable Mention, (Art-Pictorial), and Rachelle Dennenny (Honorable Mention, Merit - Machine Quilting, and Honorable Mention - Miniature Quilts).

We are also looking forward to learning more about the Festival from our own Miriam Jones's brand new blog, Sew Miriam - her trip to Houston is the stimulus for starting the blog now.  The Festival opens to the public in a few hours, so add Sew Miriam to your reading list.

A new week at Fairholme ...

After last week's blog-post marathon, we still had some show and tell to appreciate this week ...

Well okay, this one really is from last week ... 
This lovely photo of Miriam and Georgie, with Georgie's completed
'whopper shopper' bag from Miriam's workshop was taken by
Georgie's sister Phyl - it's so good, of both of them and the bag,
that I'm glad I messed up my photo and had to ask Georgie if she
had another one! Thanks Phyl.

A neat electrical device that we have on generous loan from
a friend-of-a-friend ... 

... will be put to the test making bias binding for a
yet-to-be-revealed community project (the hot pink bus is not a
requirement, but it does brighten up the picture).
The box says it will make 12 feet of bias binding in 60 seconds! 
Lyn certainly hopes it lives up to the claim.

Peggy whipped up this bag, with Val Moore
designed applique, in between her many other
projects - very funky!

Some of those 'other' projects of Peggy's are these 3-D
English-paper pieced Christmas decorations - each made from
60 diamonds.  We are booking her up for a demonstration.

Some of our members spent last weekend at a quilting retreat
with Studio Quilters - it was fully catered, so they had no
need to do anything other than sew ... and they did!
Lynette took along some of her extensive collection of
black and white fabrics to make this cleverly designed top,
with a highlight of almost-lime.

Lyn was another Studio retreater - these summer berry
coloured fabrics were provided to make tops that will
become charity quilts.  Lyn chose to alternate two
traditional blocks (rail fence and square in a square),
that will be finished off with a pink/purple print border -
which she is confident she will find in her stash. We look 
forward to seeing Louise's bright 'fruit salad' version soon.

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2014

The annual Houston (Texas) fall QuiltMarket (an industry-only event) has just concluded, and the famed International Quilt Festival opens on Thursday (US time) ... so it must be time for Amy's Creative Side's Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival.  If you you're not going to Houston (and most of us aren't, after all!) the six-monthly Blogger's Quilt Festival provides an online visual feast of quilts, and might lead you to discover new blogs to add to your blog-reading app.

Voting for your favourite quilt in a number of categories opens on 1st November - everyone can join in.  Happy blog reading - but be warned: this event just gets bigger each time, and there are many, many beautiful quilts to be looked at.

Wheel and Weft Christmas sale

Arts and crafts group, Wheel 'n' Weft has two sales each year, the Christmas Sale is on this weekend:
Saturday 25th October, 9am - 5pm

Sunday 26th October, 10am - 4pm

Thornleigh Community Centre 

(next to Bunnings, cnr Phyllis Ave and Central Ave, off Pennant Hills Road)

• Pictures here, at Wheel 'n' Weft on Facebook

Australasian Quilt Convention 2015

Are you thinking of going to the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne in 2015?

The list of tutors for AQC 2015 has just been published here - it's an impressive list, you are sure to find plenty to interest you. Bookings will open at the end of this month, so start choosing now. Note that classes are offered as part of a convention package only, but tickets are available that do not include classes.

And the 2015 AQC Challenge theme, 'True Blue' is now open, with the closing date for
submissions of 27th February 2015. $5,500 in prize money is on offer.

The Lest We Forget quilt challenge will commemorate the centenary of Gallipoli and the ANZAC tradition - information here.

At Fairholme (and elsewhere) this week ... (4)

And there's still more - show and tell from Monday morning, seen after the bag-fest.

Dawn has also been working on this more varied disappearing
4-patch, which has quite a different look from the one in the
previous post. This year, she is working on a number of quilts
for the younger girls in her large extended family.

Sue C began this beauty in a foundation piecing class

with Margaret Cormack back in early 2012. When the centre 

was completed, Sue turned it on point, and contemplated how 

to complete the corner triangles. Luckily she had a few blue 

and white fabrics in her stash, and came up all those little 

half-square triangles. The starry border is a perfect 

reprise of the centre. JoAnn Phillips (Quiltwise) quilted it 

on her long-arm machine. This one will be living at Sue's house.

We had a little international show and tell, too, this week. Roslyn and JoAnn set off last week for their trip to the US, joining Michelle Marvig's tour  (Quilters Companion/TravelRite) in the eastern states, then heading south west to Houston for the International Quilt Festival, where they will look at quilts, quilts, quilts, and vendors, vendors, vendors, take some classes, and perhaps meet up with Miriam who is heading for Houston via New York.

They emailed some photos from their visit to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont on the first day of the tour - we can't show them here because of the Shelburne's photography policy, so we passed an iPad around. However, Quilters Companion is re-posting Michelle Marvig’s tour photos on their Facebook page, including several from the Shelburne visit. You should be able to access it even if you don't have a Facebook account. The photos are very good, and we can see Roslyn and JoAnn in several of them.  The outdoors ones look very cold and damp! The tour photos start on Monday 20th October and are clearly labelled.

The Shelburne is currently exhibiting some of their collection of Nancy Crow's quilts, that you can read about here - the gallery link shows some of the quilts Roslyn and JoAnn commented on.

And that's the news for this week.