Works in progress at the quilt show

Photos are still coming in from the Quilt Show, so there will be a few more posts to come. The arrangement of the quilts hung in rows works well for personal visitors, but not so well for full front-on photos of all the quilts. And photographing each one as they are hung would slow the process down so much we'd still be doing it.

We reserved a little space to display current works in progress to show non-quilter visitors some of the process ... we might see some of them finished next time:

Nerida is signed up for Sarah Fielke's 2016 Block of the Month,
and is keeping up so far. You can see she has a well considered
colour plan, and it will be a beautiful quilt.

Roslyn's plan to enter her large hexagon quilt (left) in the
show was going very well, until the long arm quilter had
an accident and it couldn't be finished in time.
Georgie's large quilt (right) is a long term project, being
made mostly by hand, under the guidance of Margaret
Sampson George. The hand quilting is progressing well, but
 it's a big quilt, and quilting it over the summer was trying ...

Several visitors asked to vote for one the works-in-progress as their Viewers' Choice - we said they weren't eligible yet, but they voted for them anyway!

Wheel 'n' Weft 40th Anniversary Art & Craft Exhibition & Sale

Friday 29th April to Sunday 1st May 2016 at Thornleigh Community Centre

Facebook event page

Prize winning quilts at Paducah

Monday 25th is a public holiday, so we will miss our usual Monday morning meeting, with 'show and tell'. In case you have not seen enough fabulous quilts lately, major prize winners from AQS Quilt Week Paducah (in session now) can now be seen online.

And if you are following the right people on Instagram, you might have caught a glimpse or two of Margaret Sampson George's book Take an Element which was released at Pour l'Amour du Fils, also currently in session in Nantes.

Expert advice on machine needles

Some expert advice on machine needles, from Aurifil, two blog posts

SCHMETZ Needles, Part 1, Auribuzz, 12 April 2016

Using the right needle in your sewing and quilting is just as important as using the right thread ...

SCHMETZ Needles, Part 2, Auribuzz, 17April 2016

Caring for your sewing machine needles is a key part of successful quilting ... Sewing machine needles do NOT last forever! The tips get dull and burrs develop in the eye. Needles work hard at fast speeds ...

A short video showing how Schmetz sewing machine needles is in this earlier post.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday this week: Springwood Community Quilt Show

Springwood is always a popular quilt show and a trip to the Blue Mountains is recommended:

Two vintage treasures

Dawn's niece offered these two vintage quilts (made c1955 - 1962), for display at our quilt show last weekend, along with a little of their history - they were a lovely addition to our recently made quilts.

The label for the quilt on the right reads: This quilt was made by my grandmother,
Emma Brodbeck Meier (born April 7, 1890 and died January 4 1957 in
Texas, USA) for my parents, Paul and Maree Senff, as a wedding gift in 1955.
Most of the fabrics was used from flour and chicken feed sacks were sold
throughout the depression years into the late 40s. Most were floral print
and you needed 4 sacks to make a dress! Any off cuts were then used to
make quilts. Growing up on a farm and then being a farmer's wife
herself, living through hard times, my grandmother was very practical.
To make a pattern, she'd hold up newspaper against the person she was
sewing for, and cut out the pattern. She had 9 children, including my
mother, and sewed all their clothes. She herself grew up sewing, and
passed it on to her 3 daughters! (Miriam Bunn)

Label for the quilt on the left.

2016 AQC/ Bernina Australia Awards

The 2016 Australasian Quilt Convention is on in Melbourne this weekend. The Bernina and AQC awards have been announced at the Convention Gala Dinner this evening - it has been a big night for ACT quilters:


National Best of Australia Award (chosen from the Best of State Winners):
Canzome Rosso, by Pamela Brockwell (ACT)

AQC Awards presented by Expertise Events:

The 2016 Rajah Award was presented to Beth Miller (ACT).
The Rajah Award acknowledges the outstanding contribution by an individual to quilting in Australia.

The 2015 Lut-Da Award was presented to Jocelyn Green (ACT).
The Lut-Da Award goes to a quilter who has made an outstanding contribution to their local or quilting community via the medium of quilting.

The Shining Light Award was presented to Sophia Locke (NSW).
The Shining Light Award recognises achievement by a junior quilter (up to age 18)

Photos from the evening are on the Bernina Australia Facebook page.

AQC Challenge 2016: Tradition with a Twist

Winnrer  - A Happy Place, by Alison Withers (Victoria)

Runner-up - Twist'n' by Christine Dowell

Viewers' Choice is open until Sunday afternoon.

This time last week ...

... it was all about the Quilt Show. Setting up in the morning was so much easier and more civilised than the late evening set-ups we've often done! Two years of work by all the members of Fairholme Quilters came together for a very successful show. Thank you to every one of you for your quilts, all of the work that went into making the show a success, and your efforts over the weekend.

Sue C once again did a superb job of managing the quilt display
 - from rounding up the quilts and labelling them, working out
where each would hang, calculating the size of every piece
 of every frame hired from QuiltNSW, where everything else
would fit, and supervising the construction. 

We called in an army of partners, husbands, sons, brothers to
assist us, and they willingly came - some have been doing this
job for years, and they work as a well-oiled machine. 

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Elsa and her team prepared for
afternoon tea sales, and made lunch for the workers - have
to look after them, we need them to come back on Sunday to
take it all apart, a much faster process.

For some years, Robyn L has taken responsibility
for cafe table decorations - this time she
potted up little succulent gardens, and decorated
them with hand made felt hearts and birds.
Just beautiful, Robyn.

Roslyn is not only our vice-president, but she was in charge
of collecting stock for the craft boutique, and managing the
quilt challenge for the show (more of that in another post).
Dawn was her assistant in charge of sales during the show
- the boutique did very well, making a major contribution
 to the show's bottom line. 

Over a year, Roslyn packaged and priced all the items, and
cut metres of fabric into useable pieces, and stored it all until
the show date - they sold very quickly. She even drafted family
members into making gorgeous necklaces that incorporated sewing
items like bobbins and large bright beads that were very popular. 

We opened the doors on Friday afternoon, and were
delighted with the constant stream of visitors
- we could not have done it without you!
(This photo is borrowed from Sew Miriam - thank you.)

Fairholme Quilters + Studio ARTES = win-win

Our collaboration with the textile artists from Studio ARTES at our quilt show last weekend was a great success for all of us. 

We took the opportunity to collect donations for the fire
appeal - the response was excellent - thank you to
everyone who donated.

Studio ARTES' exhibition and pop-up shop was a great addition to the show, both for the wonderful artworks and the warmth they brought. The artists engaged visitors, achieving excellent sales from the pop-up shop, visitors donated generously to the Studio's fire recovery appeal, and they distributed lots of information about Studio ARTES. 

They did well financially both from sales and from the donations collected for the fire appeal. It was a good opportunity for them to stage a community event very soon after the fire, and while some of the works that were chosen for the show were destroyed, Lise Anderson (Gallery Manager) and the artists still curated a very appealing collection. Show visitors were captivated by the resilience and maturity of the artists, following such a dramatic event as the fire was, and there were lots of enquiries about the programs and opportunities the Studio provides.

Adam Mandarano attended the show each day, demonstrating
his weaving skills, and encouraging visitors to have a turn on
the portable loom. Adam's woven infinity scarves sold out.

Emily Crockford and Lisa Scott both had art works on display,
and took turns working in the pop-up shop

Emily's soft sculpted koalas were popular. 

Annette Gaulston's mermaid was the first item sold
- about one minute after sales opened!

We are already thinking about the potential for future collaborations.

At Fairholme this week ... we had a quilt show!

Fairholme Quilters 2016 Quilt Show is done and dusted. It was a great success - lots of visitors, many compliments on the quilts, popular vendors, excellent catering, good sales at our craft boutique, and an excellent result from our quilt raffle (the funds raised will be donated to Studio ARTES fire appeal).

For the first time we had invited guest exhibitors, textile artists from Studio ARTES, and as you know if you are a regular reader, a fire at their main studio a few days before the show put their presence in jeopardy. However, the artists and staff pulled together a very popular exhibition of undamaged artworks, and rocked the show! Visitors were captured by the artworks (and bought them), and by the creativity, resilience and strength of the artists, and their determination to rebuild. And the artists and staff were delighted by the support - both financial and personal.

Thank you to our many visitors for making the show such a success, and to our members, led by Show Coordinator Pat Nerlich for producing such a successful event for Fairholme Quilters, for Studio ARTES and for for our local community.

The show is not judged, and the quilts are not juried. Just three prizes are awarded, all of them Viewers' Choice:

Viewers' Choice - Sue Hodges, Lots of Dots, designed by
Chris Jurd. Congratulations Sue!

Viewers' Choice runner up was shared by Miriam Jones,
  My Happy Place (made in classes with Margaret Sampson George)
... 

... and Lynette Harvery, Subway, pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.
Congratulations to you both!

2016 Challenge winner - Elaine Walton, Forest Floor
(original design). Congratulations Elaine!

There will be more quilt show posts, including the 2016 Challenge, curated by Roslyn Pullen.

Fairholme Quilt Show: 10 - 4 this Saturday and Sunday (9-10 April)

After nearly two years of planning, the Fairholme Quilters 2016 Quilt Show is well under way. We set the venue up and hung the quilts yesterday morning, and opened for the afternoon, to a hectic rush of very welcome visitors, which has continued this morning. Thank you for coming and for the wonderful support for our guest exhibitors, the textile artists from Studio ARTES. We are promoting their fire appeal following last weekend's damage to their main studio, and our visitors have responded generously. A few photos ... there will be more! 

You will find more photos at Sew Miriam, on our Instagram account and Facebook page.

The Stained Glass Quilt made by Lyn Lang, Susan McMahon
and Peggy Molchanoff for the Donald Coburn centre in 2015
is on loan for the show. 

Some of the challenge quilts  

Rows ...

... and rows of quilts 

Quilted bags made in workshops with our own Miriam Jones

A brush with fame at the show today - Victoria Findlay Wolfe 
is in town on her way to the Australasian Quilt Convention
in Melbourne next weekend, and visited with Kathy Doughty.

... and more quilts!

The show is open 10am - 4pm Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April 2016, at Thornleigh Community Centre.

Opening at 1 pm today ...

Next time you see Rousillon, it will be hanging on our Show

One more look at our raffle quilt, Rousillon, in the wild, before it is hung in our Quilt Show tomorrow.

Proceeds of the raffle will go to support Studio ARTES - you can donate directly to their urgent fire appeal here - or come and buy tickets at the Show. A basket of fabric, a newly released quilting book, and a beautifully hand-made craft item comprises the second raffle prize. The raffle will be drawn at the close of the Show on Sunday 10th April.

In other good news, in spite of their extensive losses, Gallery ARTES manager Lise Anderson has been able to curate a collection of artworks to display and to sell in their pop-up shop at the Show, so you can support their recovery just by coming and seeing the surviving work. 

Luckily Gallery ARTES is at a separate location from the main Studio, but some of the Gallery artists' work was stored at the Studio, and is expected to be damaged beyond repair by the fire, water, smoke and structural damage. Fire appeal information is here.

Quilt Show media

We've just collected the wondrous Stained Glass Quilt for exhibition at our Quilt Show this weekend - 8 -10 April, at Thornleigh Community Centre.

Thanks to the Bush Tele for their support in last weeks issue, and again tomorrow.

60 quilts a year - that’s a lot of community service

Fairholme Quilters, based in Pennant Hills for more than thirty years, produces 50 - 60 quilts each year that are donated to various community groups and causes where a quilt can provide comfort, security, warmth and a unique gift. Quilts go to children in foster care, natural disaster victims, nursing home residents, long-term hospital patients, and parents of babies who die before or shortly after birth. They range from tiny wraps to full sized bed quilts, depending on the need.

In 2015, a different kind of community quilt was requested by the chaplain at the Donald Coburn Centre at Castle Hill. Three Fairholme members, with the encouragement of their fellow quilters designed an original large wall quilt based on a traditional stained glass window to support residents with advanced dementia to maintain a sense of where they are, and why,  hung in a room used for chapel services. The Stained Glass Window quilt won an award in the prestigious 2015 Sydney Quilt Show, for a group quilt.

It will be one of the featured exhibits in the 2016 Fairholme Quilters Show to be held from 8th - 10th April, at Thornleigh Community Centre. An additional eighty-plus quilts will be on exhibition including a members small quilt challenge, and the personal work of the 39 Fairholme Quilters.

A new feature of this Show will be a guest exhibition of work by textile artists from Studio ARTES, in Hornsby, where artists with disabilities work in both recreational and professional art practices, and a pop-up Gallery ARTES shop.

A new quilt made by Fairholme members, Rousillon, is being raffled in conjunction with the show, with the proceeds going to Studio ARTES.

3 sleeps ...

... until we fill this space with our quilts and more ...

Studio ARTES at our Quilt Show next weekend

For each of our two yearly quilt shows, we have chosen a local community organisation as the beneficiary of our quilt raffle. This year, we decided to give our donation to Studio ARTES, in addition to inviting their textile artists to be our guest exhibitors and to hold a market stall on the show floor. We are very pleased to be able to support a local organisation, located in Hornsby, that supports people with disabilities to participate in the arts. We recently enjoyed a morning of exploring the artists' work further, and were very impressed with its quality and creativity.

Now, just six days before the show opens (8-10 April), Studio ARTES needs the support of its community more than ever. Early this morning (Sunday 3 April), the main studio, the location for many of the programs and storage of art equipment and art works, and the administrative centre, sustained extensive damage from a fire in an adjacent building, and is likely to be demolished. Luckily, no-one was on site, and there were no injuries.

Some of the artworks intended for our show might be damaged or lost, but others are stored at Gallery ARTES, at a different location in the Hornsby CBD. We will negotiate with the gallery manager during the week how we will proceed with our mutual plans for their presence at the quilt show.

An appeal that you might wish to support has been launched here, and more information will be released in the immediate future. The appeal is for cash and/or in kind donations - art supplies or performance materials or equipment. Please go online to the Studio ARTES website or contact Lliane Clarke on 0423 853 210 or llianec@optusnet.com.au

... The fire has caused extensive smoke, water and structural damage, with the roof caving in. We have lost everything. Artworks, filming equipment, computers, costumes to name a few ...  and our home for 140 members and 35 staff. 

We are all devastated. Any assistance you are able to provide will be graciously accepted as we begin to rebuild ... (appeal page)

Studio ARTES is determined to re-build, and to sustain its programs and activities while that happens. So please come to the quilt show and demonstrate your support. And we'd better sell as many raffle tickets as we can!

Needles and pins ...

A couple of our friends are unable to get about as much as they like to at the moment, and are not getting as much sewing done as usual. Here is something to keep you amused for a few minutes, Lyn and Jo. If you always liked looking through the Playschool windows with your children, they might amuse you too:

How It's Made - Needles and Pins

SCHMETZ Sewing Machine Needles - The Making of a Needle: