A little reading for a wintery weekend ...

The Fascinating History Of Flour Sack Dresses

Times were lean in the Great Depression and families across the nation aimed to do more with what they did have. One of the most interesting stories from this era is the curious case of how flour and feed sack companies began printing patterns on their bags ...

On giving it away
Mary Fons, The Quilt Scout
I’m not keeping good records, but I figure I’ve made around 50 quilts in my life thus far. I began quilting eight years ago, I’m usually busier than a one-armed paper hanger, and I make bed-sized quilts, so I feel okay about my number. The result of this quiltmaking productivity is that I possess many quilts. Or, I would possess many quilts if I wasn’t downright ruthless about giving them away ...

• Just cast your eye to the links in the left hand column in this page and you will see there are 23 of Mary Fons's columns there for your reading pleasure ...

There Are Many Sides to the Story of Paula Nadelstern
Ronni Reich, Brut Force, 24 March 2015
Nadelstern spent her first fifteen years as an artist working at her kitchen table. As a quilter, she drew on a centuries-old tradition of women creating one fabric square at a time, using whatever space and free moments and materials they had to practice their craft, whose main purpose was to keep their family warm.

Today, she travels the world exhibiting her colorful, intricate creations, teaching and publishing books. She recently judged a competition in Houston, and her travels have taken her from her home in New York to locales as diverse as Spain, Wichita, Germany, England, and Abu Dhabi ...

Diana’s Golden Needle: 100 Quilts Over the Goal!

Anne Hammel, On Point, 7 June 2016
Congratulations, Diana! Just over a year ago, Diana Jasany began working toward her Girl Scout Gold Award. Her original goal was to send 16 quilts to foster children, honoring her own adoption story along the way ... With the amazing response of quilters from around the world, her quilt top count recently surpassed 116, 100 over her original goal! Thousands of blocks have been donated, stitched, and quilted, all carefully coordinated by Diana.

Inmates make comfort quilts for grieving families
Karen Zatkulak, KTVB, 16 June 2016

... His family was grateful for the gift, but was even more impressed when they learned who made it.

The quilts are all made by inmates working in the laundry room of the state prison. A handful of prisoners work together to piece together materials in interesting designs.

"We design and put together things that are kind of cheery hopefully, and things that would appeal to the people," said inmate Walt Moore. "We just want them to have something that would be special in some way."

Moore says they're not great sewers, but they are passionate about the work ...

2016 Victorian Quilters Showcase award winners

Quilt Showcase 2016 is on this weekend in conjunction with the Craft and Quilt Fair at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank.

For those of us not in Melbourne, the award winners can be seen online here.

Bernina Australia is posting images from the Showcase on Facebook.

A historic quilt story: temporarily free to download

Quilter Sharon Barnes has written a book about her great-great--grandmother's signature quilt Round is the Ring That Has No End: Stories from the 1852 Chester Criswell Quilt:

... The Chester Criswell Quilt was made to celebrate the 1852 marriage of Mary McClellan Criswell and Jesse Jackson Smith. Over eighty people are represented on the quilt including Mary’s family, school friends and neighbors. 

There are many examples of these quilts in museums and private collections. What makes this quilt unique is that it has been passed from mother to daughter and it now belongs to Sharon Barnes, great-great-great-granddaughter of Mary McClellan Criswell. 

Barnes has spent the last four years researching the Chester Criswell quilt’s provenance and at the same time making a reproduction quilt by hand. This research has provided a foundation for a collection of stories about the women that made the first quilt. ‘Round is the Ring That Has No End’ combines quilt history and narration in a first time e-book from a new author.  (Publisher's note)

It is free to download to your Kindle from Amazon until Sunday 31 July 2016. If you don't have a Kindle you can still get the app and read it on your tablet or smart phone.

Australian Machine Quilters Festival: Adelaide, August

The AMQ Festival offers classes and displays for domestic machine quilters, as well as long armers:

• Australian Machine Quilting Festival website
• AMQ on Facebook

An interesting mix of quilts this week at Fairholme

Rachel's wall quilt is made with a range of pieced batik
fabrics that provided the quilting design

Sue H made this very cute quilt for a child - it is another donation 
from her Friday charity group that we will give to QuiltNSW 
on their behalf to be passed on to a child in foster care.

Jo-Ann found these two Indian made coverlets (they have no
batting) in a shop in Proserpine in Queensland during a recent
holiday. The patches are all silk, the backing is cotton,
as is the heavy stitching. They are queen-sized.

Jo says she can't decide which is her favourite, and there were 
several others that could have happily come home with her.

Lyn is stitching a village - we are enjoying watching it
emerge from her needle.

 Elsa started this vibrant traditional Bolivian piece while stitching
with her sister who was visiting from her home in Brazil

Sue put in the very last stitch of the binding on her
community quilt during Monday's meeting.

Mad Quilters Gathering, Penrith

Further information here

Community sewing day, July 2016

Our community stash was re-packed this week, after some donations and some fabric selections for works in progress and about-to-be-in-progress. The shelves are once again full. A good day's work - thank you Sue, Sue, Susan, Pat, Dawn, Elaine, Roslyn, Lynette, Julie and Jill.

Dawn paired some disappearing nine patch blocks with
construction themed fabric to make this quilt that will
appeal to a little builder.

Preparation for next month's community sewing day - we will be
handing out prepared bundles of fabric for sewing some quick quilt
tops. They are packed in paper bags, so the contents will be a
surprise. There might be some swapping and supplementation
from the stash!

Julie made this pretty top from sheeting samples that were
donated - she also pieced a backing from the samples,
but we persuaded her that she had actually made two tops
and pulled backing fabric for both from a recent donation.

Sue C was stitching the striped binding on her turquoise
'leftovers' quilt for a child - it's nearly done. We kept interrupting
her to take these photos. Thanks on both counts Sue.

Susan M pin basted two quilts and sorted out fabric squares
for this bright and happy combination.

At lunchtime, Sue H called in with a bag of quilts and some stash fabrics from a home-based charity group that has recently folded, and asked us to pass their quilts on to our community causes. Thank to the Friday charity quilters. Some of the fabric was immediately used as backing for one of the seven quilts we pin-basted on Thursday.

Sue's group are happy for us to raffle this very striking quilt at
our next Biggest Morning Tea for the Cancer Council
- how generous is that?

There are quite a few Liberty fabrics in this pretty quilt,
also from Sue's group - it is beautifully soft and snuggly.
We will pass it on to the Donald Coburn Centre on their behalf.

This gorgeous log cabin will also go to the
Donald Coburn Centre on behalf of Sue's group.

Cherrybrook Quilters Exhibition 2016: 20 - 21 August

For all enquiries please email info@cherrybrookquilters.org.au
Cherrybrook Quilters website

Around the table at Fairholme this week ...

Chris H is making quilt-as-you-go stars with very fancy centres.

Pat's baby quilt is calm, and restful - beautiful!

Ginnie couldn't resist some more animals to blanket stitch.

Janice started this baby quilt (with finely embroidered and
appliqued hexagons) just before she learned that her first
grandchild is on the way.

Jill was not standing on her head, but she was holding
her quilt upside down - the hedgehogs are a give-away ...

Last week this stylish quilt was a top  - this week it is finished,
 ready to be sent to Melbourne for Julie's son's significant birthday

Nerida has quite a bit of hand-quilting to go on her very big quilt
- luckily, she enjoys it. Gorgeous.

Roslyn bought a lollipop tree quilt kit at the Sydney Quilt Show
- aren't they cute?

Embroidery in Game of Thrones

We have some very fine embroiderers amongst our membership who will enjoy The Smatterist's images of the sumptuous costumes from Game of Thrones - as will those of us who are not embroiderers:

Having Gone Largely Unnoticed In The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Series, It’s Now Impossible To Take Your Eyes Off It 

... did you ever notice the attention to detail that goes into the show? For example, the costumes. Have you ever really looked at the intricate designs on all of them? You probably haven’t, but after seeing these, you won’t be able to ignore them. Check out the amazing embroidery by Michele Carragher ...

Take the time to visit Michele Carragher's website (or bookmark it for the future) for close up views of her exquisite work - she specialises in embroidery and illustration for film and television. She has even posted a tutorial on how to create dragonscale with stitches and smocking dots!

Quilters Newsletter magazine closing

This news has caused some ripples and concern among subscribers and readers of one the most popular quilting magazines published in English:

Quilters Newsletter shuttered amidst cutbacks at F + W

Abby Glassenberg, While She Naps, 16 July 2016

In an email sent on Thursday, July 14, to contributors, Editorial Director Bill Gardner delivered some difficult news about the fate of the magazine Quilters Newsletter. 

“Quilters Newsletter has held a very special place in the hearts of quilting enthusiasts for 47 years, and has been a source of inspiration and learning for quilters around the world. However, the magazine will no longer be published after the October/November 2016 issue,” the email reads ...

Read to the end of the post for the publisher's future plans. Subscribers will apparently be offered a substitute magazine. The subscription pages of the Quilters Newsletter website are currently closed.

11 - 14 August: two quilt shows

Hunters Hill Quilters website - further information, including photos of two raffle quilts
Hunters Hill Quilt Show on Facebook

Canberra Quilters Members' Exhibition 

in association with 

Canberra Craft and Quilt Fair

This week at Fairholme ...

This quilt was donated by a former member who was unable
to finish it because of ill health. It was in several large pieces,
including the completed centre star. Lynette worked out what
needed to be added for the finish, and fossicked in our community
stash and her own for complimentary scraps, backing fabric and
binding. She even pieced the batting from smaller pieces.
Lovely to see it finished, Lynette - thank you.

Julie joined us recently, and we are still discovering her many talents.
Her 'Windmills' quilt was her entry in the 15th Brother International 
Quilting Contest in 2015. One of the criteria was that the design 
had to be entirely original. Julie's quilt was selected in the final ten 
to be exhibited in Japan.The windmills and shrubbery are fussy cut 
from a photograph printed on fabric - Julie took the photograph in 
Holland more than thirty years ago.Julie hand painted the sky fabric, 
and the remainder of the extensive embellishment is free motion 
machine embroidery/quilting. 

Detail of some of the stitching on Julie's quilt. The grass/water
fabric is a single piece of  colour graded batik, with the lily
pads individually appliqued, and the reeds machine stitched.
Thank you for sharing it Julie - it is beautiful, and beautifully made.

Louise has made progress on several wips during the school
holidays - she pin basted two this week, one of them this
improv log cabin, all from her stash.

Janet's nine most recent blocks from the year-long
'Splendid Sampler' - she has completed about 35 blocks,
5 months in. Each block is 6 1/2 "

Berry Quilting Retreat 2016

Berry Quilting Retreat 2016 comprises exhibitions, three fibre art prizes and a number of workshops over two days, on the beautiful NSW south coast.

Information about registration for workshops and entries for prizes is on the Berry Quilting Retreat website.

Images from the Fairholme Quilt Show (8)

Some more of the 100+ quilts from our 2016 Quilt Show in April:

Baby Bears’ Nursery
Virginia Coote
This quilt was made for my granddaughter’s second birthday.
She loves bears so it is very appropriate. It hangs in her bedroom.
I used a 'Kids Quilts' pattern. It was designed by Christine Sharp
 and Rachael Wright. I enjoy doing this type of applique.

A close up of Ginnie's fine hand blanket stitching

Civil War Quilt
Lyn Lang
This quilt was designed by Rhonda Pearce called
'Civil War Journey Quilt '. I really enjoyed my journey
exploring some of the Civil War fabric prints.

Angus’s Quilt
Virginia Coote
This is an eye spy quilt made for Angus’s 10th birthday. The design
was inspired by a quilt I saw in the window of a patchwork shop in
Bright. It is now 18 months old and has been well loved.

Detail of some of Ginnie's 'eye spy' fabrics

Another great idea

Do you ever struggle with shifting rulers as you try to align your quilts edges on those rare occasions when they don't end up just perfectly square?

 Here is an ingenious technique, using an inexpensive non-quilting tool - a 'why didn't I think if that?' idea, from Sew Bitter Sweet Designs:

• Laser Level Trimming Tutorial

Off to Bunnings' quilting department ...

Vermont Festival of Quilts - images

If you could do with a good dose of beautiful quilts to study this week, Fun with Barb has posted a number of images from the recent Vermont Quilt Festival 2016, including a special exhibit of Gwen Marston's quilts.

At Fairholme this week

Although we didn't see a lot of finished quilts in 'show and tell' this week, we did see the beginnings of some new quilts from Sydney Quilt Show purchases, and progress on many other works in progress that bodes well for future blog posts!

A trip to the mid North Coast a few weeks ago gave Dawn
an opportunity to attend a workshop with Brenda Gael Smith,
where she made these glowing free-cut blocks with their luscious
curves. Five minutes after she was home, it was finished.

Jan Duddle is the lucky winner of our 2016 raffle quilt, Rousillon.
She generously agreed to allow us to enter it into the Sydney
Quilt Show, and called into our Monday meeting this week to
collect it. Jan is an experienced quilter, and long-term member
of Epping Quilters - she already has a place for it at home.

An idea for beginners

If you are looking for a quilt for a beginning quilter, especially one who has little sewing experience, Elsa has come up with a link on 24 Blocks that could be a very useful, do-able starting point. Note the 'no binding' technique. Also good for a very quick quilt for a more experienced quilter:

Could This Be The Best Beginners Project There Is?!? See For Yourself!

Camden Country Quilters Guild Exhibition: 6 -7 August

August is apparently quilt show month - hope you get to some or all. See our '2016 Events' page for flyers for Hunters Hill, Canberra and Cherrybrook Quilt Shows, all in August. We'll post them all here nearer the dates for each.

Camden Country Quilters Guild on Facebook

Sydney quilt showed blogged

More from the Sydney Quilt Show:

Racheldaisy, the winner of Best of Show at Sydney Quilt Show last week has added another post about her experience at the show, on Blue Mountains Daisy.

Sew Miriam has also posted a second blog of favourite quilts.

Springwood Community Quilt Show blogged about their members' Prize Winning Quilts at the show.

If you are on Instagram, follow #sydneyquiltshow2016 for many more photos.