Australian Quilt Show/Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair 2023

Note that these events are the new Australian Quilt Show, and Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair presented by Expertise Events for the first time in 2022. The Sydney Quilt Show, a Quilt NSW event, is scheduled for September, at Rosehill. Twice the opportunities to see quilts and shop.

Entries are open now.
https://craft events.com.au

https://zwww.craftfair.com.au/wp/Sydney/

‘Huskisson Holidays’, made by Elaine

‘Huskisson Holidays’ is Elaine’s artfully executed celebration of the very beautiful town on Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast. 

The gracefully aging fence was Elaine’s own design,
based on a Fibonacci sequence for its dimensions. 

 It started with the bargello background made with
 beachscape prints, embellished with machine embroidery,
appliqué, a little drawing, and hand and machine quilting. 

Bird tracks on the reverse were drawn on the fabric.

Gary the seagull and his lunch are not part of the quilt
 but are part of a seaside installation in Elaine’s stairwell.

McDonalds donated the container, and Elaine knitted the chips!

Recent community quilts (1)

 

‘Electrum’, designed by Ann Siewert, made by Jo-Ann, in a
complimentary modern, graphic palette  of prints. Jo says it
is easier to make than the finished design suggests.

Quilted by Laura, in a contrasting modern design.

Elaine G has used a pretty collection of blossom prints
for this restful quilt.

Daphne’s disappearing nine patch quilt also uses a quiet
palette that will promote rest.

This one isn’t quiet! The top was found in a thrift shop,
perhaps because the outer borders were problematic and
prevented the whole top from sitting flat. Hilary took on
its rehabilitation, removed the borders, adjusted the
measurements by adding and removing pieces, and preserved
the work that originally gone into piecing the top,
and it’s colourful design.

Hilary’s work produced a flat top that Laura quilted with
a graphic straight line edge-to-edge design.

The backing is a batik cotton that Hilary dyed in a workshop
in Indonesia, that has been waiting for a quilt.

Quilts as the subject of fine art

Just two examples …

Susan Schmitt Fine Art - Quilted Women

‘… I believe you must paint what you know, and therefore I wanted to make more a contemporary presentation. I love color and pattern, and because I have quilted a little bit, I am always happy to cut patterns up and reassemble them. I do it with my paintings all the time, always thinking the reassembly is exactly like making a quilt. The quilts from my family are assemblages that represent the women who made them. They have bits of older dresses, or beautifully embroidered squares incorporated into them. They were made with care and love of fabric and are a pleasure to hold. I just can't imagine how anyone could not feel the love and connection to the quilter when presented with one of these beautiful treasures …’ Susan Schmitt, 2021

You can also find Susan Schmitt Art on Facebook and on Instagram.

The Dignity Sculpture, South Dakota

The iconic Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture and its maker  Dale Lamphere is featured in the current issue of Quiltfolk magazine, focussed on South Dakota. A preview is on the website, and on the Quiltfolk Facebook page (16 November 2022), and on Instagram (16 November 2022), with a number of photos:

Sculptor Dale Lamphere isn’t a quilter, but he’s made one of the country’s most visible quilts. Composed of 128 stainless steel diamonds, the traditional Lakota Star quilt unfurls from the back of a 50-foot-high, 12-ton sculpture of a Native American woman outside of Chamberlain. Read about how Dale constructed one of South Dakota’s most famous landmarks, Dignity of Earth and Sky, with the help of engineers, auto experts, and yes, quilters in Quiltfolk, Issue 24: South Dakota.

A short video of Dignity lit up at night can be seen on You Tube here. 

A Google search on ‘Dignity sculpture’ will find many more images of this beautiful work.

 These photo files are licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International 

Quilts in Canberra, Braidwood, Bungendore: November

One weekend: 
26 - 27 November 2022

Two Quilt Shows:
Bungendore Quilters and Braidwood Airing of the Quilts

Show and tell …

All of the fabrics are richly coloured batiks in Susan Mac’s
New York Beauty quilt. The background fabric is subtly
patterned. Susan stitched the leaves by hand, using
needle-turn appliqué, and the NYB blocks are
foundation pieced.

Val used the additional time at home to make quilts (almost)
entirely from her stash. 

This one drew on her stash of florals and a length of a toile
print, with a rare shopping excursion for the border fabric. 

Laura quilted it with a floral motif.

Not a quilt at all yet - Lynette was introduced to 

Marimekko fabric for the very first time on a recent trip to 

Finland, where she found this quilt-sized piece 

at ‘Santaland’. She thought it would make a good backing, 

but we are working to convince her that it could be a 

spectacular wholecloth front.

A very charming baby quilt made by Nerida.

The block centres are fussy cut and appliquéd to a circular
background, appliqued again onto their background squares.

Pat’s pieced triangle zig-zags and floral appliqué is
made from a Kathy Doughty pattern.

International quilt shows - photos online

These two large international quilt shows have been held over the last few days. If you didn’t get there, you can see many of the quilts here online, with excellent photography and commentary. Both Okan Arts and the International Quilt Festival (Houston) have published many posts from the shows on Facebook and Instagram.

World of Quilts 2022, Yokohama:  3 - 5 November 2022
https://okanarts.com/blogs/blog/yokohama-2022

After the cancellation of the Tokyo Quilt Festival nearly two years ago, a new Japanese quilt show is strutting its stuff. While the Yokohama International Quilt Show is smaller than the famed Tokyo event, it’s no less elegant and exciting … Victoria Stone, Okan Arts blog.

International Quilt Festival Houston 3 - 6 November 2022

https://www.quilts.com/quilt-festival/judged-show-winners/
Judged show award winners. International Quilt Festival has its own You Tube channel.

October sewing day

Once a month we sew together for several hours, either on community quilts or our own. It’s a good time to consult with others, or find help with something we’re stuck on. Sometimes we pass a quilt on to someone else to work on, or we collaborate to baste quilts on large tables (no-one’s favourite part of quilting, or prepare them for a long arm quilter. Sometime we just chat, drink tea or coffee, eat together, or look at fabric, rearrange the stash or have a bit of a sort and clear. We’ve been doing it for more than twelve years now, so it must be working. Here are some of the things we did recently …

Susan sewed lots of little strips together …

… but there was a plan.

One of two wonky tree quilts made from
the blocks made at the AGM …

… constructed and quilted by Nerida.
 Both now added to our community collection.

Hilary is attaching the binding to a rescue quilt
 - finished photos soon!

Nerida is making a modern quilt for a nephew turning 18.

Noelle made this large quilt some time ago,
and it has found a home with a Lismore family
affected by the floods.