New finishes

Susan K designed these tiny rabbits, made a template and
taught Julie how to make them. They can be stuffed with
lavender or cloves, to keep clothes or linen fresh.

Julie has made many of them - at one stage ran out of room
 for them along the back of her long couch.

Val continues to work through her stash, making colourful,
quilts of great style.

A sound eye for colour and great design skills are evident even
in Val’s fabrics, and her quilts have wide appeal.

Lyn is nearly done with a collection of quilts for all her great
 nieces and nephews.These appliqued puppies will be popular!

Laura wanted to evoke a marine environment with this pieced
quilt. The batik feature fabrics are very effectively the water … 

… and the carefully chosen quilting design of seaweed
ribbons and bubbles adds a delightful underwater note.

October events

 

One-of-a-kind fabrics 

 Yarn, patterns and haberdashery 

Bargains you won’t find anywhere else 

The Sewing Basket is powered by Achieve Australia - 

your purchases support meaningful employment 

for people with disability 

Get your FREE tickets here: 

https://events.humanitix.com/the-sewing-basket-big-basket-sale-2025

There is always a craft section!

‘A map of memories + imagination’

Our quilt won first prize in the Group/Collaborative Quilt category at the 2025 Sydney Quilt Show yesterday!

‘A Map of Memories + Imagination’ is the work of fourteen members of Fairholme Quilters. Thirteen quilters pieced and/appliqued one block each of the on point quilt centre. Each represents a map of an urban area (from village to city streets) from the makers’ memories or imaginations, making a new imaginary improv map of a rural/ coastal town and its surrounds. It was long-arm machine quilted by Laura Ujhazy, another Fairholme member. The majority of the work is machine pieced. 

The project was initiated and coordinated by Jill O’Connor who did that her proposed map quilt would be more interesting if it included memories and imagination from sr real people rather than just her own. Jill put the blocks together and made the setting triangles, in consultation with the whole group. The other twelve contributing quilters were Roslyn Pullen, Jo-Ann Phillips, Elaine Gregory, Elaine Bright, Margaret Weir, Patricia Nerlich, Noelle Sona, Susan Kelly, Hilary Flynn, Susan Mackintosh, Val Nadin and Nerida Williams

The design was inspired by the many map quilts of real and imaginary locations made by quilters all over the world, that have been shared on social media, and our own memories and imaginations.

Our thanks to Quilt NSW for presenting and hosting the Sydney Quilt Show, and to the generous sponsors of our award, Down Patchwork Lane in Penrith.

The Sydney Quilt Show 2025 is at Rosehill Race Course 18 - 20 September 2025.

Roslyn accepted the award at yesterday’s presentation,
on behalf of us all.

A little hand embellishment was added after this
photograph was taken for the quilt entry.

The quilting design represents clouds above the bird’s eye view, the 
curves a gentle contrast to the angles and straight lines of the blocks.

Fairholme quilt at Sydney Quilt Show

We will have a group quilt hanging in the Sydney Quilt Show - fourteen of our members contributed to its making. And we’ve won a prize - we’ll find out what it is for and what it is, at the awards presentation on Thursday! Photos then.

New community quilt finishes

 We had a bumper show and tell of new community quilts last week!

This lovely butterfly quilt top was generously donated by
Janine Thomson, and quilted by Laura.

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Some of the hexagons in Elaine’s new community quilt
have had a long life, starting with Jill who made about 250
for a quilt that didn’t ever finish itself. The whole collection
was passed to Hilary who made a bag and a padded top
for a round keepsake box. Many hexies remained and were
passed to Elaine. It wasn’t enough by then for a whole quilt
but Elaine had complementary fabrics and made a finished
quilt, making more hexies and providing all the backgrounds,
borders, backing and binding. All of this took several years.

There might be some hexies left over, but we’re not
talking about that yet.

Lynette rediscovered these blocks in her stash, and finished
them into a quilt, several years after they were made

Sue C aimed for a simply appealing quilt, using
a coordinated collection of donated fabric.
A great result.

Lynette coordinated a workshop utilizing 2 1/2” fabric strips.
She collected up the leftover strips, and found she
had a good sized collection of pinks, for a fresh small quilt.

She’s now thinking about what other one or two
coloured checker board designs she might extract
from her extensive stash …

A much loved Afghani quilt

Val has a long history as an award winning quilter and teacher, and a very valued founding member and a Life Member of Fairholme. Currently she is decluttering and tidying in her sewing room. Some things are being dispersed (including some generous donations to our community quilts collection), but some are definitely staying put. This quilt is a keeper.  It was bought as an authentic vintage textile work hand made by Afghani women, several years ago at the now closed Afghan Interiors in Newtown that Val and Roslyn liked to check in on from time to time. Val recently brought it in for us all to see - it is spectacular, and very large!

The top was complete right to its finished edge, but had no
backing or batting. Its original purpose is not known.
The block fabrics are silks and velvets, and the patterns
are realised through both patchwork and embroidery.

Val added batting and a complementary cotton backing,
and hand quilted it, echoing the block designs.
 The hand quilting was a major undertaking for such a large, 
quite heavy quilt, but honours its hand-made construction.

Some of the silk patches are showing a little wear,
 but it is still a much loved quilt that decorates a
favourite chair and is regularly  used.

Some of the tiny triangle block borders are pieced,
others are embroidered. The tiny nine patches are
embroidered in braid-like strips.

The little stars are embroidered.

The quilted motifs on the wide red borders were chosen
from reference works on traditional Afghan designs.