Photos from the Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2019

• Patricia Belyea, of Okan Arts has published a series of blog posts, including beautiful photos, starting on 21 January 2019 about the 2019 Tokyo International Quilt Festival held last week,  the people and some events and places nearby.

Okan Arts is a business in Seattle, dealing in artisan quilts and Japanese textiles. 

You can also see Festival photos on the Okanarts Facebook page and on Instagram

• Tanya has published 5 posts from 27 - 31 January with many photos and detailed descriptions, on her blog By Taniwa, including close-ups of her visits to the quilt show.

All the best in your new home Sue

A week ago we said goodbye to Sue B, over morning tea (of course!) as she headed just a bit too far north to get to our meetings regularly. We will miss you Sue, it has been lovely having you as member of Fairholme. Thank you for your many contributions. We made her a One Hour Basket, and filled it fabric to remind her of us, and wish her all the very best in her new home.

Just some of Sue's lovely quilts and bags

We made her a One Hour Basket, and filled it fabric to remind 

her of us, and wish her all the very best in her new home.

Show and tell - summer sewing

Lots going on, even over the holidays ...

Helen has joined in an Instagram based sew-along focussed
on fussy cutting using diamond shapes for EPP ...

... this month's colour is coral. She's got the hang of it.
To join in, visit @naomialicec on Instagram.

Sharron used the very latest Tula Pink range for her little zip 
pouch made from a new @sewmiriam pattern, that has 
a very stable base.

Hilary saw this woolly baby blanket many years ago in
Paducah, Kentucky ...

... and decided to make it herself when she saw this block!
And she has finished it during a very hot January.

She’s not sure where this is going next, but Pat is getting to know
her wedge ruler and its built-in maths with vibrant results!

"Tidying up', Daphne came across a jelly roll pattern
in a magazine, and knew the Maypole jelly roll in
her stash would be perfect.
So she stopped tidying, and made it up, just like that! 

Julie's scrappy disappearing nine-patch has used up
all the scraps from our 2018 Pink quilts.

Reading, viewing, listening online

Still on holidays? Too hot to really get stuck into actual sewing/quilting yet? Here are some links to articles you might enjoy reading under the fan, with a cool drink. Some of them have been on the 'to post' list for a while ...


Craft is not trivial

.. when we talk about our craft practice – around how to make with more thought and intention - that we are reduced to a bunch of people who aren’t acknowledging their privilege? That we become people who don’t care about the real issues in the world as we are obviously thinking too much about this trivial hobby. This thinking is prevalent more widely too, in discussions about slow fashion, and food choices, and environmental stewardship. If we care about any of those things we are simply not acknowledging our privilege. I don’t think this is true.
We can acknowledge our privilege, work towards change, and also spend time talking about, and doing, a thing that brings us pleasure and joy and purpose and meaning. And well-being ...

The Craft Sessions, 4 January 2019 

The History of the Color Red: From Ancient Paintings to Louboutin Shoes

Red is not only one of the primary colors, it’s also one of the first colors used by artists—dating back to prehistory. Ranging from orange tinges to deep wine hues, throughout history the color red has held special significance for cultures around the world ...

Jessica Stewart, My Modern Met, 26 September 2018

An Important Archive of New York Quilt History Is Being Digitized

The American Folk Art Museum is digitizing the New York Quilt Project, an archive of over 6,000 quilts and their histories. 

... Started by the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) in the 1980s, the archive includes information and photographs of over 6,000 quilts, mostly made before 1940. Now AFAM is digitizing these materials to make them more accessible to researchers. 

... The vast majority of these quilts are not at the New York City museum, but are heirlooms in private collections, whether an attic in the Catskills or a quilt trunk in Brooklyn. 

Allison Meier, 20 December 2017.   A little more information here, the two year project should be approaching its finish date.

Sewing for Mental Health – How Sewing Can Improve Your Mood

... telling yourself to not do something, even if you know it’s not in your best interest, doesn’t alleviate the original distress. Having an alternative healthy coping strategy in advance is critical. A creative outlet or engaging in a repetitive craft is an empowering self-regulating and soothing tool during particularly stressful times ...

Amanda Carestio, Sew Daily, 10 October 2017

The Sleep Quilt

... The Sleep Quilt is unlike any other quilt you will have seen. Commissioned by Tracy Chevalier, it is entirely stitched and quilted by prisoners in the UK.

Each of the 63 squares explores what sleep means for them. A moment of escape for some, for others a dark return to all they most regret in life, sleep has a great significance in jail that is only strengthened by the difficulty of finding it in the relentlessly noisy, hot and cramped environment ...

The Textile Blog, 21 September 2017

Author's Quilt on Display in Beatrix Potter's Home

Planning a visit to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse, today a historic home and museum in Cumbria? Well, now when you tour the lovingly preserved home, you'll get to see a beautiful quilt created by none other than Michele Hill, author of Stitching with Beatrix Potter! Michele tells us the whole story ...

Deirdre Quirk, C and T Publishing, 23 March 2017

Globetrotting Artist Uses Bike-Powered Sewing Machine To Stitch Live Portraits Anywhere

Harriet Riddell travels the world creating stitched tapestries from life with her pedal-powered sewing machine. Traveling to exotic locations to capture the sights in plein air compositions is nothing new, but an intrepid British artist is blazing a new trail of in-situ artworks with her sewing machine ...

Andrew Salomone, Creators, 25 March 2017

First show and tell for 2019

We're back from our summer break, and lots of sewing has been happening. It has been too, too hot (when we're not having storms!) for much in the way of finishing quilts, but we will be ready for the cooler weather when it comes!

Adrienne pulled out an older unfinished project to work on - it 
is tiny and exquisite, currently about the size of an A4 sheet of 
paper, foundation pieced. Those tiny columns of flying geese 
at top left are the borders - there is one more to make, and 
Adrienne hopes the construction method comes back to her soon!
From a pattern by Anne Sommerlad Designs.
Here are the measurements for the curious:
Size of quilt now - 13 1/2" x 11 1/2”
Flying geese borders 1 1/2”
Small blocks are 2” square
3rd border cut 1 1/2” so will end up 1”
Finished size 15 1/2” x 18”

(Sue H's version of this same design appeared in this post from two years ago)

Daphne is pondering a border for her disappearing four
patch community quilt - it looks so crisp and summery!

Daphne also tackled her batik stash to produce these bright
and happy improv square-in-a-square blocks - and made
no dent in it at all, she says!

300 small red yo-yos (Suffolk Puffs) have been keeping
Denise occupied.

Helen's friend admired a similar quilt she made, so being a
great friend, Helen made one for her in these pretty fabrics
... and then realised that her friend probably really liked the
colours in the red, black and white original. So she's
making another one in those colours!

Julie has recently spent several weeks in hospital with a
challenging condition. She had cut out many hexagons for
this quilt, and was able to work on them from time to time
during her hospital stay. She calls it her sanity quilt.
Beautiful, soft, soothing.

After a very few weeks at home, Julie decided she needed to
catch up with the community quilt she had intended to make.
She had selected fabrics from the community stash, and
has married the berry colours of the sashing and borders
beautifully with the patches.

Sue's sewing machine is thoughtfully placed very close
to the air-conditioning outlet in her sewing room, so she
happy to add the side borders to her jelly roll quilt, and
has pattern-matched the backing ready for it to be quilted.

Susan's current project, a quilt requested by her ten year old
step-grandson expresses how many of us feel at the height
of this very hot summer! His favourite colours are red, orange
and yellow, and she wanted to use prints that he will not
grow out of quickly. Nailed it.

Calendar blocks

Some Instagrammers post 'month marker' images, to act as easy to find date stamps on their accounts, helping to keep track of when things were posted. Each image on Instagram has a date stamp, but you can't see them until you open the image. 

Last year Miriam made a quilt block for each month using her extensive collection of quirky cowboy prints (you would not believe how many cowboy print fabrics there are out there!), and by the end of the year had a quilt's worth of themed blocks ready to sew together. In 2019, Jill is joining Miriam in what is like having your own private block of the month, helping you to find Instagram posts, and maybe making a dent in the stash. The quilt at the end is a bonus.

One of Miriam's 2018 patchwork cowboy blocks
- really looking forward to seeing this quilt finished!

Miriam is making scrappy Plus and Cross block month markers
 from her stash in 2019.

Jill is making 15" Winged Star blocks, each with a Monika
Fosberg bird from her Savernake Road designs at its centre, 
and stash fabrics for the wings.

Which way is up?

We pin baste a lot of quilts during our monthly community sewing days, and we rarely remember which way the batting is designed to go. Especially if you use a variety of brands and types of batting, a well illustrated reminder such as this blog post by Suzy Quilts will be useful:

Batting seems pretty straightforward ... so what else could there possibly be to talk about? We need to talk about the sides of batting, and how to make sure we stay on its good side ...  Is there a right side to quilt batting? Suzy Quilts, 20 December 2018

• The link has been added to our page of 'Quick links to techniques and resources', along with the link to Spring Leaf Studios' series of posts on 'quilt-as-you' go techniques.

Summer break sewing ...

We're taking a break from regular meetings for a few summer weeks, but sewing is still happening, as evidenced by these posts from some of our members on Instagram ... looking forward to a big show and tell session when we reconvene the week after next. Enjoy your summer sewing, wherever it takes you.

Louise's felt embroidery took a turn for the three dimensional
with these stunning little birds 

Nerida has finished a bright and happy baby quilt ...

... and put the binding on her jelly roll quilt from our
October sewcial day 

Jenn generously made a quilt for one of her children's teachers.

Daphne is working through her batik stash
- aren't these blocks fun?

Sue's transport quilt, made from a retro-look panel donated
by a friend has been quilted by Laura ...

... the backing and binding pick up the colours from the front ...

... some of the images from the panel 

Jan went 3-D with these very sweet baby gifts.

Sue C's first finished top for 2019! It was started in
2009, when she bought a collection of chambray
blue batiks that look fresh and cool with their white
sashing. Quilting design under consideration.

Happy New Year