Sunday, June 29, 2025

Community quilts

Helen who organises distribution and delivery of our community quilts has done a count for the financial year ending 30 June 2025: we donated 75 quilts to a variety of community organisations and individual community members. A great effort, our thanks to everyone who contributed in so many ways.




 

Here are some of the community quilts currently in progress that will be counted in the next financial year’s tally:

Being made by Jill




Being made by Sue




Being made by Susan Mack
‘Plaidish’ quilt designed by Erica Taylor Jackman,
Kitchen Table Quilting




Tuesday, June 24, 2025

In progress

A very nice collection of finished quilt tops well on their way to being finished community quilts.


Susan K put her ‘Quilt Builder Card Deck’, a Christmas gift
from her husband, through its paces, and we scored
 a new community quilt. Product review here.


‘Squiggle’ is a clever, lively design using only squares
and half square triangles, made even more lively by
vibrant fabrics from Daphne’s stash.



Paired flying geese made flights of arrow heads in
Susan Mack’s newest community quilt.



Sit and Sew days are a great opportunity to pin badge
quilts on large tables with extra hands to get it done quickly.
Noelle brought in a 30s reproduction beauty that has been
lingering in her cupboard.





 

Friday, June 20, 2025

July events






Showcasing three craft practices from different regions of Japan, 
this exhibition features craft practices including a ceramic artist
from Karatsu (Yukiko Tsuchiya), a maki-e lacquerware company
(Hikoju Maki-e Co. Ltd.), and a sashiko needlework collective
 turned ‘brand’ from Ōtsuchi (Ōtsuchi Sashiko).⁠
The Japan Foundation, Sydney
Level 4, Central Park
28 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008

GALLERY HOURS
Mon–Fri: 10am–6pm
Sat: 11am–4pm
Closed Sundays and public holidays

https://sydney.jpf.go.jp/events/crafting-







A group exhibition of sustainable textile and fibre art. 
Curated by Catherine Gibson, the exhibition will showcase artworks 
that "thread lightly" on our planet, all of which will be made 
from at least 75% sustainable materials. Work will come from over 
25 artists, utilising diverse techniques including weaving, 
knitting, mixed media, embroidery and print.

Threading Lightly will also delve into the rich lineage of 
eco-friendly practices in textiles through integration of examples 
from the Embroiderers` Guild NSW historic collection. 
An accompanying events programme will be presented 
by researchers and students from UNSW.

Gallery76 by the Embroiderers' Guild NSW
76 Queen St, Concord West, NSW, 2138
Weekdays 9-4 / Weekends 10-2
Instagram: gallery76_queenst

A further four exhibitions are listed to be held at Gallery 76 from August to October 2025 



NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA
MELBOURNE
4 JUNE - 5 OCTOBER 2025


This exhibition displays historically significant and visually 
dynamic examples of costume and fashion from Japanese history, 
and establish a creative lineage to the most experimental and 
innovative fashion designers of today.


Monday, June 16, 2025

Lyn’s ‘By Annie’ bags

Lyn has used her need for bags suitable for air and road travel to help regain her sewing mojo, and found just what she needs in the Patterns by Annie catalogue. The bags are complex and can be challenging to construct, but Lyn has very impressive sewing skills, and she appreciates the detail in the patterns, and the tutorials available.


Her ‘MJ’s Messenger Bag’ allows Lyn to keep her
carry-on items close …


… and organised, while packing in a lot.


Her dazzlingly bright ‘Back At Ya’ backpack is
 made with Tula Pink fabric …

… and will be easy to spot.

It has an impressive number of pockets …

… of ingenious construction, with many uses.

Thursday, June 12, 2025

New community quilt finishes (2 of 2)

The large offset flying geese are great fun in
Elaine G’s latest community quilt

Noelle gathered her Christmas print scraps and
coordinated prints for her framed four-patch quilt.

Quilted by Laura.


Susan Mack made this very appealing child’s or baby’s
quilt from a coordinated range of fabric kindly
donated to the community stash.




Elaine W has been stitching her scraps into
hexagon flowers …

… and then then onto background squares
to make a cosy lap quilt.

 

Sunday, June 8, 2025

Reading, listening, viewing



 

I love how we can choose our own adventure through quilting and textiles. Not only can we make and design, but some of us dive deep into research. And then we share the knowledge through lectures, books and magazines. Teresa Duryea Wong is not only a multi-published author, but also lectures on quilting around the world … Karen Brown, Just Get it Done Quilts, 3 June 2025

One Year After an Uncomfortable Choice for Best of Show
… What We Will Use as Weapons: A List of School Supplies is the title for this provocative work of art that features school supplies hurling toward the center on the front and an assault rifle on the back. This long, narrow quilt is the actual size and shape of a door. An outline of a human is stitched through the layers. On the front, the person is meant to represent a shooter, and on the reverse side, a teacher … Teresa Duryea Wong, Quiltfolk, 22 April 2025


Migrants learn English and find new friends at outback sewing classes

… In Mount Isa, CAMS facilitates weekly sewing classes, where women from different countries come together to sew, drink tea and practice their English.

"It's an opportunity for those who are quite capable of sewing to teach the beginner sewers as well — [it is] a great opportunity to interact …”
Maddie Nixon, ABC North West Queensland, 21 May 2025


Harriet Riddell travels with her sewing machine pitching up in unusual locations from the informal settlements of Nairobi to the tea fields of the Himalayas. Through free motion embroidery she captures her surrounding environment and the people she meets … Harriet encourages her street audience to pedal a bicycle which generates electricity and powers the art. This increases the interaction between her, her subject and the art its self. Other times, batteries and solar panels are used to generate energy for her stitches … Harriet Riddell, InStitchYou.com

Thursday, June 5, 2025

A very colourful Big Morning Tea

We held a colour-themed Big Morning Tea to raise funds for the Cancer Council, and for a bit of fun to usher in winter.  Each table was assigned a rainbow colour and each group rose to the table decoration, food and clothing opportunities offered, and added a touch of humour.




Let’s begin with the very dignified ladies in lavender (note the tiara in 
particular) with their purple patchwork tablecloth, and the chair decorations:





Next are the elegant women of the green - beautifully coordinated table 
decorations, including green flowers, delicate foliage, imaginative use 
of apples, artichokes and avocados. The china is very fine indeed.





The yellow table also featured fruit and flowers, and pretty china. 
A playful cluster of fluffy ducks carried the yellow theme forward, 
and in just the week before the event knitting sorcerer Susan Mack
 magicked up the wonderful woolly three dimensional pineapple tea cosy …
Two yellow-clad Susans are missing from the photos - 
they were taking them.





Meanwhile, the red table decided to do Christmas in June. 
They brought very red food, candles, Santa Claus, a pointsettia 
in season and a copy of ‘The Little Red Hen’ possibly stolen 
from a grandchild. It looks as though Marilyn and Helen 
might have sung a carol or two.






The blue table and its decorations were definitely on point - willow 
pattern china, a blue paisley tablecloth, blue clothing - 
until it all went down a deep rabbit hole accompanied by Alice in a 
flamingo apron, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the 
Queen of Hearts, straight out of Wonderland. 





The orange table was a picture of 70s retro (how could it not be?), 
with orange drinks, crockery, the tablecloth that might have been a 
sheet, but pretty straight. Until you notice the little zoo on and around 
the cake stand … note the little rabbit munching a carrot.





Very creative and colourful. We raised a tidy sum and had a lot of fun.
Thank you for the thought and effort you all put into the morning.

📸. Susan Kelly and Sue Crowe - thank you.