2018 Tokyo Quilt Festival

The 2018 Tokyo Quilt Festival is currently on, finishing tomorrow. Patricia Belyea has published many  excellent photos on her blog Okan Arts. The spectacular Grand Prix winning quilt, made by Masako Sanada is at the end of this lengthy post, as are links to two further posts featuring Patricia's photos from the special exhibits and some very detailed close-ups.

You can follow Okan Arts on Instagram, and on Facebook.

Krista Hennebury ( has also posted some excellent photos from the show on Instagram.

First week back - show and tell (3)

Louise has been working on some of Wendy Williams's
'Travel Threads' designs, and has become dangerously
obsessed with French knots!

Robyn B pieced herself a Christmas bag just in time
for the big day - hope it was filled with lovely presents
for you, Robyn!

Julie took two demanding classes on machine embroidery
and thread painting just before Christmas, and finished her
works at home, framing them with silk mounts.

The images began with photos that were then altered,
and are now completely rendered in thread.

This one slipped through the blog cracks late last year - Dawn's
bush dilly bag, great background fabric and appliqué.

First week back - show and tell (2)

It has been a bumper week for show and tell, but some of it is personal secret sewing, so can't be posted yet, and some you will see at our Quilt Show in April. And not everyone is back from holidays yet, so we're expecting a strong showing next week, too.

Dawn sewed the top of this quilt together late last year,
using tool prints in the community stash. Yvette has quilted it,
and Lynette is sewing the binding.

Sometimes circumstances demand many hands to bring
a quilt together. This quilt was started some time ago by one
of our number, a skilled, dedicated quilter, who sadly can
no longer sew, but it needed to be finished. Elaine B volunteered
to finish sewing the blocks and to put them together. Then Yvette
generously quilted it on her newly acquired long-arm machine,
for practice. We think its original maker would be pleased
that it is done and with how it was achieved.

It's been so hot and humid in Sydney, Margaret has often retreated
to her cool sewing room and stitched up a generous contribution
to our community quilts collection for children and it's still January!
This one marries colourful prints and geometric shapes
with quilt-as-you-go. 

 Margaret's three sweet little blankets of love are resting on
another top that is waiting to be quilted

In this baby quilt, Margaret has combined contemporary prints
and a little bit of vintage, seen in close-up in the next photo.

Jenn is hand quilting her modern 'Meadow' quilt, 
designed by Lizzie House, and taught in a class 
in Sydney in 2015.

First week back - show and tell (1)

For some of us, our summer break was time to sew ... this is our first week back to regular meetings, and there was plenty to see. Here are the first few, there are more to come.

Julie's great grandson will love his race track quilt.
It is mostly a large and detailed panel, that Julie has added
border strips, from the rows of cars out. The outer black and
white check is a brilliant finish.

We have seen Diana's quilt as you go hexagons over several
months - now they are all together in a beautiful, and
beautifully made wall hanging.

A mutual friend of Pat and Lynette died several years ago
before she could finish this quilt. Without the pattern but with
the fabric she intended to use, and the centre applique finished,
they decided to finish it for Judy's family. Jo-Ann Phillips
quilted it. Job well done.

Roslyn's little granddaughter is in a cot, but had no cot
quilt (although her big bed quilt is already done)!
Grandma to the rescue at short notice.

Jill quilted this very colourful top of many colourful prints
with an organic (ie not measured) curved grid. The backing
fabric is from the community stash, a donation from material
Girls Down Under. For the community quilts collection

The feature fabric for 'Anna Maria in the Wild' is a length 
of Anna Maria Horner's Social Climber rose print from the 
community stash. The pattern is 'Batiks in the Wild' by 
Suzi Sit.com - much simpler to cut and sew than it looks. Pieced 
by Jill - quilting pending, for the community quilts collection.

Sydney Quilt Show 2018

Summer break sewing ...

We're officially still on summer break until next week, but some of us were able to get together for a sewing day earlier this week. As well as catching up with what everyone is sewing, we had a preview of the new books we bought recently for our library, and we can see that they will be in high demand. Here are just a few of our summer makes and finishes that we saw on Monday ...

Helen s 'Big Green Quilt' looks magnificent all quilted and bound,
and quite at home in her garden. We might have to help her come
up with a fancier name. Quilted by Jo, design influence from
'Take an Element' by Margaret Sampson George.

A closer look at the very complimentary backing fabric.
A definite possible for our Quilt Show in April.

Denise is putting the finishing touches on her
appliqued toy cupboard quilt.

Naomi has been working long hours, so she was very happy to
get any sewing done at all, and finished this block before lunch. 

Helen's current hand sewing is a hexagon quilt for one her little
granddaughters - she's found many fun fabrics for fussy cutting.

Helen's 2017 end-of-year challenge quilt top is finished.
She started with the centre star block and has added each
border from fabric already in her stash.

Sue h has pieced this stunning large block from a Chris Jurd
design, and is currently making a curved flying geese border
of her own design, using the EQ 7 quilt design software.
Very impressive use of the summer break!

Vintage fabric?

This vintage-look 30" fabric panel emerged from the community stash recently, with no information about its origins. Initial investigations have yielded nothing further. It has great charm and potential for fussy-cutting. Two small pieces have been cut from the lower right. Discussion about its use is called for, just as soon as we re-convene after the summer break.

PINK Quilt Competition 2018

Southern Sydney quilt shop Oatley Cottage has advertised a quilt competition that will benefit the McGrath Foundation, funding breast cancer nurses throughout Australia. Details and the entry form are on the Oatley Cottage website. Here is the announcement published on Facebook:

Quilters of NSW are invited to enter our PINK Quilt Competition.PINK is a quilt competition from Oatley Cottage and Blessington Australia with donations to McGrath Foundation. 

Sponsors include PFAFF Sewing machines, PK Fabrics, J Leutenegger, Sydney Sewing Supplies & XLN Fabrics. 

PINK quilts will be exhibited in Oatley Uniting Church in conjunction with Oatley Lions Festival on Saturday 20th October 2018.

• Download the Entry Form and Contest Rules

Quilt shows ...

Just a few weeks until quilt show season starts up again ...

Cool blues ...

Some cool blues from our archives, on another 40ºC+ day today for Sydney, and much of NSW ...

Happy New Year!