2022 ‘Top Nine’

Our 2022 ‘top nine’ most popular posts on Instagram includes one from our friends at Eastwood Patchwork Quilters’ quilt show that was so much enjoyed in July, after two years of no quilt shows.

From left to right, quilts made by:

Yvette @yvettes_keepsakes 

Nerida @neri.ams (work in progress)

Rebecca Hastings (Eastwood Patchwork Quilters) @eastwoodpatchworkquilters 

Jill @jilloconnor52a 

Miriam @sewmiriam 

Helen @patching_life 

Nerida @neri.ams 

Lynette’s Marimekko purchase from Finland (future quilt!)

Nerida @neri.ams 

Our thanks to everyone who made our quilting year so enjoyable in 2022.

Merry Christmas

 

Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2022

Mary Elizabeth Kinch is currently posting her tenth annual series of blog posts ‘Twelve Quilts of Christmas’, this year featuring circle quilts. 

This year I am celebrating quilts with circles by design. Circles represent unity, wholeness, a sense of completion, and the cycle of time. Even though quilts with circle designs can often be very energetic, drawing you in to the design, I find they can also provide a sense of peace visually. I hope you enjoy this year’s selection. Y’all know I sooooo believe that we have so much to learn from antique quilts!

You will easily find the previous years of ‘Twelve Quilts of Christmas’ in the Archives links on the blog. 

The series is also available on Instagram @maryelizabethkinch and her Facebook page Mary Elizabeth Kinch Quilts.

A treat to pore over during the holiday break.

Last show and tell for 2022

We’re taking a summer break from our regular meetings, but we have some blog posts up our sleeves until we get together again in January.

Jenn is a very generous maker of quilts to thank her
children’s teachers. This beauty is for her son’s teacher
who is transferring to another school in 2023.
She’ll love it Jenn. (Photo borrowed from Instagram)

Marilyn O bought her drawstring bag pattern at the
Sydney Quilt Show in October, and it is made and
in use already! Each side is a patchwork house block.

Julie has a ‘thing’ for owls, so when a friend needed a door stop,
she used an owl print to make an owl  to do the job!

We don’t know how she does it, but it’s always lovely to see
another finished quilt from Nerida! Visit her on
Instagram @neri.ams to see more of this one, and the
other two she’s currently working on
(Photo borrowed from Instagram)

Janice has been sewing Christmas treasures  - new
stockings for two little granddaughters to join the one she
made for her grandson when he was little …
(Stocking photos borrowed from Instagram)

… and a beautiful collection of hand embroidered decorations.

 

Crush!

The 2023 Kona Cotton Colour of the Year is Crush - the LookBook at https://www.robertkaufman.com/release/2023/coty/
has nine projects using ‘Crush’.

The Kona Colour of the Year promotes Robert Kaufman Fabric's range of Kona Cotton Solids, via a limited edition colour that will be available for one year only, from early in the New Year.

.

Achieve Sewing Basket shops

Note Sewing Basket shop closures over Christmas/New Year and temporary suspension  of donations.

https://www.achieveaustralia.org.au/the-sewing-basket

More show and tell …

 

Elaine chose a sophisticated palette and graphic design
for a new quilt for her 12 year old grandson, and he
enthusiastically approved.

Jo-Ann used a modern Zen Chic pattern and fabric bundle,
both designed by  Brigitte Heitland for this modern quilt top.
She says it took some concentration to place all the
pieces accurately.

Susan’s Christmas Tree quilt will literally light up her house.
She has cleverly ‘decorated’ the tree with shiny red beads
and strings of tiny battery operated lights on a fine wire.
The switch and battery are securely located in a small
pocket in the back.

The tree itself is constructed from many diamond shaped
patches of Christmas prints

One more wonky tree quilt - Robin’s trees are cool blues
and greens for summer.

And look at that fantastic backing fabric - all eyes.

Susan M is working on borders around the
complex centre of her machine appliqued quilt top,
 and thinking about how she will quilt it.

Recent community quilts (2)

A collection of four quilts for children made by Julie, all from the same pattern that is an excellent stash buster, user of scraps, and quick to make. Quilted by Laura.

Mostly vehicles and transport feature in the prints,
so of course it is pirate shops for the backing!

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.