Saturday, March 31, 2018

Have we mentioned our quilt show and raffle quilts lately?

 


One of these beautiful quilts could be yours in just over a week. Raffle tickets will be for sale at our quilt show, proceeds will support the artists of Studio ARTES @studioartes, whose work you will see at the show, along with our quilts.

Open Friday 6 April 1pm - 5pm, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 April 10am - 4pm; the raffle will be drawn at 4pm on Sunday. You could be a winner!

#fairholmequiltersshow2018
#fairholmequiltersrafflequilt2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

AQC Challenge 2018 - finalists gallery online

The 2018 Australasian Quilters Convention is on in Melbourne 5 - 8 April.

The AQC Challenge is held each year and judged at the AQC. This year, the challenge attracted entries from around Australia, and New Zealand, Taiwan and South Africa, addressing the theme of Borders and Bridges from various perspectives

The awards will be presented at the gala dinner on Saturday 7 April. $5,500 in three cash prizes will be awarded in this prestigious competition, which is presented by Expertise Events

A gallery of the 28 finalists is now available online, here.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Show and tell

With our two yearly quilt show less than two weeks ago, the making and sharing continues, some of it all complete and organised for the quilt display, some going close to the line, some not for the show at all ...

These sweet, simple blocks have just five pieces, cut from
two fabrics each, a good way to use up quite small scraps.
The small squares are 2 1/2", the blocks finish at 8" square. 
Susan took three blue-green and yellow blocks from
a recent donation and made just 33 extras for this
appealing community quilt top.
Jo is working from Chuck Nohara's '2001 Blocks' (ie 2001
block designs, not published in 2001) ...

... but is restricting herself to 121 of them for this quilt. 30+ done.

Yvette has not entered this beautiful pickle dish into our show,
because it is her first attempt at custom quilting on her
long-arm machine, and she says it is not perfect ...
... although we couldn't see the imperfections. It's lovely to
see how much she is enjoying her new skills.
Diana shared her 'old' New York Beauty, from a class with
Chris Jurd, as a preview for those of us doing a post-show
class with Chris next month. We're looking forward
 to making all the points.


Lynette delved into the community stash for all the spots
she could find, found some more at home, and then found
spotty backing and binding. Surprisingly, there
 are plenty of spots left ...
Hilary's parliament of owls - about 3" tall, very cute, they will be
available on the craft tall at our quilt show in ten days' time.

Hilary's waddle of penguins (really - look it up!), also about
3" tall, even cuter, and they too will be 
available on the craft
tall at our quilt show in ten days' time.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Fairholme Quilters 2018 Quilt Show - two weeks today!

Two weeks today until our 2018 Quilt Show opens. Our members' craft stall will be very well stocked with a wide range of beautiful and useful items made by our members. Here is a tiny preview ...




Please note the opening hours for the show:

1pm - 5pm Friday 6 April
(the show is being set-up on Friday morning, and visitors cannot be admitted before 1 pm)

10am - 4pm Saturday 7 and 8 April

We look forward to seeing you there!

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Two Quilts of Valour finished

Two Quilts of Valour, made from our 2016 end-of-year challenge blocks are finished, thanks to Noelle and Jill, who put them together and then quilted and bound the quilts. There might even be a small third quilt to be made from the excess fabric. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Val's block was voted 'Viewer's Choice' for
 the challenge.
We love the rogue block in this one!




The two completed quilts hanging out together in a
sunny autumn day in Sydney.

Monday, March 19, 2018

March community sewing day (2)

It's always fun to see what everyone unpacks for us to work on at community sewing days, and how we can work together. Alongside the basting of eight quilts, was a little chat, all the sewing, pressing, cutting and fabric finding - here is just a little of it ...

Elaine's third 'In a Whirl' quilt made from the box of strips
she won as a door prize at our Biggest Morning Tea last year
- she might be ready for a break from these blocks, but the
quilts are gorgeous!
Helen's stash has given up some fabric referencing gardening
that will have wide appeal.
Julie mined the community stash for blue fabric - not a difficult
task! She has pieced strings on foundations cut from an old sheet ...

... and is quilting-as-she-goes, to avoid handling a large quilt
for all the quilting.
Sue C made excellent progress on quilting the Plus quilt.
Susan was drawn to three blocks from the 'Andamooka donation'
that we unpacked last month, and made some more from the
community stash, and a couple of pieces that came home with
her from Melbourne ...
... a few more, Susan thinks. It will be a light and pretty quilt.
A simple block design that really allows the fabrics to speak
and play together. We will use this again!.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

March community sewing day (1)

We had no trouble keeping fourteen quilters busy last Thursday. It was a very hot day for mid-March, so we are very grateful for the air conditioning in our sewing space.


The first four of eight quilt tops for pin basting.
Marg K and Robin's quilts both have vibrant yellow backings ...
... Jill chose the dramatic Sarah Fielke print (donated by
Material Girls Down Under) from the community stash,
and a length of a Tula Pink design from her own stash
to back the two tops she made.
Helen's 2017 end-of-year challenge quilt is now basted,
with a navy and pink floral stripe backing
Lynette collected spotty fabrics from the community stash
and 'elsewhere'
Julie added a border to a donated quilt top,
and it too is now basted ready for quilting.
Lynette magicked up a Hunter star quilt top, that we
basted on Thursday. It is possibly quilted by now.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Weekend reading

Some quilty reading for the weekend ...

The quilts of Alias Grace: identification and tutorial roundup
Sew Mama Sew, 31 January 2018
'Alias Grace' is a 6-episode Netflix series based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name. (She’s also the author of the book and series, The Handmaid’s Tale.) I’ve seen many people rave about the show on social media–it is a great thriller–but my quilting friends seem to love it the most. And no wonder–quilts, quilting, and quilt patterns play powerful metaphorical and symbolic roles in the plot ...

Women's Quilt
Sienna Rodgers, House and Garden (UK), 7 March 2017
The Women's Quilt is a UK project that aims to raise awareness of domestic violence against women. First exhibited in 2017, it is on display at London's South Bank for International Women's Day 2018.

Designer profile: meet Janelle Noack
Melisa Luong, Cosy Project, 14 November 2017 
Janelle Noack lives in the very rural NSW Riverina town of Dirnaseer. In fact the town has a population of just 170! It is farming country and that’s exactly the life Janelle has led ... Quilt making for Janelle began when her youngest daughter started school. “I always had some needlework, knitting or sewing on the go; but now it is all about making quilts,” she reveals. “My first quilt is about 20 years old, a log cabin that I made from leftover dress fabrics ...

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Varied show and tell

This week's show a tell was a great mix of clothing, bags, blocks and quilts not-quite-finished ... 

Diana modelled her jacket made in a two-day workshop
with Lyn Hewitt. She chose the rich gold and navy fabric
without realising that the pattern was for a reversible jacket,
but she decided the gold fabric was never going on the
inside, so she lined it with and 'ordinary' navy fabric.
A reversible version is now on Diana's sewing agenda - a
good recommendation for the pattern and the workshop.
Not only does the jacket look good, it folds very flat
for packing, so would be good for travelling.

Hilary told us that she was going to show us the world's most
boring quilt - but she was wrong! The feature fabric in the alternate
blocks features opera houses and opera related prints. The quilt
started as a narrow bed runner for an opera loving friend, but it
told Hilary it needed to be a full sized quilt.  We loved it.

Sharron made a Very Big Bag - it would be ideal for carrying
 a big quilt, or travelling for a week or so!

Hilary (who made Sewmiriam bags for everyone in her book
club for Christmas), took some of the left over blocks recently
donated to our community quilts program
, and started to
make a quilt. But before she knew it they had become two
bags to be donated the craft stall at our quilt show in April!

Jenn took the concept of  see-through pockets in a sewing
 supplies pouch, repeated it on the inside, and re-sized it to fit
in her handbag for easy carrying, especially for the waiting
(i.e. hand-sewing) time at her young children's activities.


English paper piecing supplies, always on hand!
Jill joined an Instagram based 'sewalong' started by two Canberra
quilters, to make a quilt/blocks from Elizabeth Hartman's 2014
book Patchwork City. She is making the Eastside quilt using
the 25 5" x 8" blocks designs
( plus 11 duplicates to make it bigger) 
and put them together in the Eastside layout. Now for quilting.
Check out #patchworkcitysewalong2018 to see what others
are doing and/or to join in.
There are 75 original new  block patterns in Patchwork City,
which is readily available from Australian booksellers,
online and in a Kindle edition.
Janet is waiting for a delivery of fabric for a big project, so she
is using the time to catch up a little with her Splendid Sampler
blocks - she is half way through the 100 blocks, and it has been
interrupted for a while, but it is still very much on the 'to do' list.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Community quilts

The community quilt sewing does not all happen at community sewing days. Every week, someone will hand over a quilt top, or a finished quilt, some of which we know about, some a delightful surprise. Sometimes it's a length of fabric for backing or binding, or a quilt made by others that another member has sewn the binding on - our members are generous, and thoughtful.

Robin W has a considerable stash of beautiful blue fabrics,
and she has generously shared some of it in this lovely
quilt top for our community quilts collection. 
The gorgeous saturated turquoise background fabric is
actually a cross-hatch print with a darker blue overlay.

Margaret K likes to make quilts for children, and she does
so often for our community collection. This one features
a sweet vintage-look print, and was quilted by Julie.

A fun log-cabin variation, made by Margaret K
- such bright, happy colours.