Merry Christmas

Reading, viewing, listening …

Farm Life Quilt - National Museum of Australia 

Nettie McColive created the Farm Life quilt in the 1930s while growing up on an isolated dairy farm in South Australia. This quilt is one of three in the Nettie McColive collection. It measures 189 x 184 cm and is backed with a fine gingham material … Tony Armstrong’s Extrordinary Things Exhibition online and at the National Museum of Australia until 9 February 2025

Queer quilts, rebellious knitting and political pants: the radical world of textiles

… textiles have a history of marginalisation in the high art world; associated with women, domesticity, First Nations traditions, and queer and class activism. They have been ignored or dismissed by the “pale, male and stale” art canon.

Radical Textiles at the Art Gallery of South Australia revels in its rejections of this bias and in its enthusiastic reverence for expert craft …Van Badham, The Guardian, 29 November 2024

A seamstress's collection of hand-sewn creations keeps her memory alive in regional SA

Doris Odgers spent most of her life making clothes for herself and her community. Her collection of 1900s dresses, bathing suits, hats, lace, and more was recently on show in an exhibition to remember the life and fashion of a beloved regional woman … ABC News, 23 June 2024

Meet Korina Oswald

Currently my artistic practice is focused on community-based projects like the glass quilt, that involve artists from around the world. Leading community projects were first conceived in the aftermath of COVID’s isolation as a way to connect with glass artists who felt othered by the elitism of the fine art world. Much like quilt-making, glass has long been relegated to “craft” and its artistry has been almost completely absent from prestigious institutions. Oswald seeks to broaden the conversation of what constitutes fine art by creating a piece so large that it cannot be ignored … Canvas Rebel, 28 March 2024

International Quilt Challenge: “Our World Coming Together” Exhibition Catalogue 
Lions Club of Quilters Victoria

The Quilted Cahoon

The Cahoon Museum of American Art’s public art installation, The Quilted Cahoon, features a giant quilt made from recycled sails created by San Francisco artist Joe Cunningham that covers the facade of the museum building.

As part of the museum’s Streetside series, this unexpected and stunning quilt is designed to highlight the museum’s 18th-century Georgian architecture ... Cahoonmuseum.org

Follow the process on Instagram, Facebook and You Tube: https://youtu.be/WtM7P3CNhIQ

Linen Works 10m 23s

Join author and modern quilter Sarah Hibbert  as she guides you through the colourful quilts in her Linen Works Exhibition. Sarah combines hand stitching with linen textural fabric to create her modern artworks. Sarah’s gallery includes a selection of her recent work featured in her book From Collage to Quilt. Filmed at the Festival of Quilts (UK) 2022.  Arnold’s Attic

Sarah Hibbert: https://www.sarahhibbertquilts.com

Recent finishes (2)

Elaine has a large collection of blue fabric (she is not alone!).
She decided to put some of them together is this very
appealing quilt. She still has a large collection of blue fabric,
and now a beautiful quilt as well

The layout and quilting are both simple and straight forward,
the blue and white prints are the heroes.

Tiny cornerstones are a perfect choice. Elaine machine quilted
in the ditch along the sashing seams and is very happy with
 the simple hand quilting inside the squares recommended by Jeni..

Anne was asked to make a baby quilt for a new mother who
loves Winnie the Pooh, and came up with both a feature print
and background fabric in which Winnie stars.

You can see little Winnie among the flowers in the counterpanes.

Jenn’s quilts for her children’s primary school teachers are
legendary! Now she has a teen quilt holder to help
keep a record.  Her son thoughtfully chose which quilts
were for specific teachers.
First up is the ‘Aura Quilt’ designed by Nydia Kehnle and
Alison Glass, made in mostly Kona solids.

Teacher quilt 2 is not a published pattern, and Jenn says
 ‘I just use the same ratio of two squares and one rectangle
with sashing and then jumble it up together and it
always looks great’.

Teacher quilt 3  ‘Tone It Down’ pattern, designed by Lissa
Alexander, published by American Patchwork and Quilting.
 ‘I used up almost all of my Kona Snow here, and specifically
dug out my most vivid print scraps. There are some favorites in
there - Heather Ross dogs and gnomes and  frogs, carefully
hoarded Lizzy House twinkle stars, some original Koi…
I was so happy to work on this. So many fabric friends
…I enjoyed making all these tiny squares with perfect points.’

Last new community quilts for the year

The last few community quilts finished this year, although we know there are more than a dozen already started for next year.

Elaine G’s latest community quilt might not leap
out as a log cabin, but the blocks are quarter log cabins
with half-square triangle centres. The alternating rotation
of the blocks gives a further impression of complexity. Clever!

The backing fabric is a attractive cross hatch design
that would complement many quilt designs.

A community quilt request for a quilt in ‘beige tones’
perplexed Jeni for a while, as she prefers to work in colour,
but she pulled it together beautifully.

Complimentary backing fabric.

The addition of black and white prints enhances the calm
quietness feeling of the quilt. Quilted by Laura Ujhazy.

Jill hand pieced these simple blocks, then put them together
by machine. Mostly left over fabrics from earlier quilts.

The pretty gum blossom print on the back, designed by
Jocelyn Proust was a donation to the community stash.

Jeni’s ‘Shapes and Whimsy’ quilt

Jeni’s gorgeous ‘Shapes and Whimsy’ quilt combines her embroidery and quilting skills, and was made with techniques learned in a three day class with Karen John (who also designed the quilt) at My Sewing Supplies at Lindfield. Jeni is an accomplished embroiderer, but she learned some new stitches and ways of using embroidery to enhance quilting, piecing and appliqué in the class. 

You can find Jeni on Instagram @jenis.quilting, and Karen @karenjohn.31

It is so detailed, we think you’ll want to see each block in
closer detail.

The large sunflower is worked on the tiny yellow gingham
checking used in the second close-up flower photo
- a technique Jeni also learned from Karen.

Recent finishes (1)

 

An unusual take on a Christmas table ‘runner’ from Susan Mack

 - a hexagon shape and not a Christmas fabric used.

The bird print is a hint towards a more customary Christmas,
and looks fabulous.

Susan K calls this pouch a mash-up of two designs,
 the excellent #lolapouch (Sotak Handmade) and the 
#lottieprojectbag (Treehoyse Textiles)

She always finds interesting linings in her legendary stash.

 

Hilary found the fabric for both sides of her most recent
tote bag  in the Red Tractor Designs collection at
Patchwork Plus in Blackheath.

She said she didn’t need another bag,
but she did need those panels!

December ‘24 - January ‘25 events

 

Exhibition dates: 23 November 2024 - 28 January 2025
Exhibition title: 
Margaret Oppen and Roma Field Competitions Retrospective
Artist name(s): Embroiderers' Guild NSW

This retrospective exhibition features past winners from the 
two competitions held by the Embroiderers' Guild NSW - 
the Margaret Oppen and Roma Field Prizes.

Gallery 76
76 Queen Street Concord West 2138

Exhibition dates: 23 November 2024 - 28 January 2025
Exhibition title: Student Showcase
Artist name(s): Embroiderers' Guild NSW

The Embroiderers' Guild NSW proudly presents a stunning 
collection of student work produced over the past year.

Gallery 76
76 Queen Street Concord West 2138

Check gallery opening hours here

Where some of our community quilts go

Most of our community quilts are given to individuals or to other community organisations that distribute them to their clients, and occasionally we are able to donate a quilt for a fundraising activity that benefits a larger number of people through that group’s work. These are just a few examples.

Ten community quilts were delivered to Lifeline to add to
hampers for community clients, gratefully received.
They will be matched to each clients needs and taste,
 wrapped as a gift.

We recently donated this quilt to an event raising funds
 to support children in Cambodia, at the request of one
of our members. Together with another donated quilt
 it raised $3,700 for the Cambodian Children’s Fund.
 The quilt was made from a donated pieced centre, and
a second donation of the pieced borders. Marilyn skilfully
put it together by appliquéing the centre to a background
fabric and joining on the borders. It was quilted by Yvette.
You can read more about the quilt in an earlier post here

New community quilt finishes

Susan K dived deep into her stash for her version of
Suzy Myers’ Batiks Gone Wild quilt. It is a simple block
to make, with a clever layout - simpler than it looks finished.

Quilted by Laura

The backing fabric was donated by Hilary who intended it
for dressmaking, but changed her mind.

Elaine G also used the ‘Batiks Gone Wild’ pattern, and
achieved quite a different look by limiting her fabric choices,
using a bold print, and adapting the proportions of the sashing.

‘Plaidish’ quilt, designed by Erica Jackman at
Kitchen Table Quilting, made by Jill. 

Simply quilted with straight lines, most of the fabrics,
including the batik backing came from the community stash.

Another quilt made from blocks made by workshop
participants at last year’s AGM, blocks put together
 and quilted by Lynette.

Former Fairholme Quilter Mareijke generously donated this
quilt top when she was packing up her home to move away
from the city. It has been quilted by Laura and bound by
Lynette, and added to the community quilts collection..