Introducing our 2026 Quilt Show vendors: The Makers Stash

Quilt shows are a wonderful opportunity to meet and shop with online shops, and of course to see their stock in real life. We are delighted that The Makers Stash will be one of three vendors at our 2026 Quilt Show on 16 - 17 May:

Leela Gillett,  also known as Miss Leela, is the maker and designer behind The Maker’s Stash, a boutique patchwork business devoted to the gentle crafts of English paper piecing and slow stitching. Based in the Blue Mountains, Leela has been stitching for over 20 years and designs patterns, paper templates and curated fabric collections that celebrate mindful, hand-stitched creativity. Through her shop, tutorials and online community, she loves sharing the joy of slow stitching and encouraging makers to embrace beautiful scraps, traditional techniques and the simple pleasure of creating something by hand.  

She will be bringing curated fabric bundles, vintage sheet bundles, fabric packs, slow stitching packs, vintage linens, a small selection of EPP paper templates, threads and notions as well as my patterns and kits to the show.

You can preview how beautiful The Makers Stash range of fabrics and other products is on the website, and on Facebook and Instagram. If you love English paper piecing, you will find much to love, and if you are a beginner, lots of encouragement. 

April events

Peppin Heritage Centre Gallery
295 George Street, Deniliquin NSW

Gallery 76

76 Queen Street, Concord West 2138

Open 9 - 4 Monday - Friday; 10 - 2 Saturday and Sunday

Closed public holidays

Timeless Textiles Gallery

90 Hunter Street Newcastle 2300

Open 10 - 4 Wednesday - Saturday; 10 - 2 Sunday

Closed public holidays

www.aqc.com.au

QueanbeyanQuilters.org.au
QueanbeyanQuilters@gmail.com

bluemountainsquilters.com

Introducing our 2026 Quilt Show vendors: Fabric Garden

We are very pleased to have three local vendors attending our 2026 Quilt Show on 16 and 17 May:

Sue Miller’s Fabric Garden is at  

Level 2 Andrews House, 15/185 Military Road,

 Neutral Bay 2089 on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, 

and online at https://fabricgarden.com.au/

You can follow Fabric Garden on both Instagram and Facebook.

Fabric Garden specialises in modern quilting fabric, keeping up with latest releases, notions, threads, patterns, kits, and a range of crochets and knitting yarns and notions. Also on offer is a wide range of classes, including for beginner quilters, children, and teens. Sue teaches herself and invites guest teachers throughout the year.

This month Fabric Garden is hosting a two day Laura Hein Collage quilting workshop with accredited teacher Maru Sato, on 28 and 29 March. Details and bookings here on the Fabric Garden website.

You will be able to see our raffle quilt, ‘Bespoked’ hanging at Fabric Garden later this month, and to buy raffle tickets there.

We will introduce our other two vendors The Makers Stash and 60 Stitches in future posts.

You will see that there will be lots of fabulous shopping opportunities at the show!

More new finishes

A tessellating plus quilt always requires close attention
 to ensure that the simple square patches actually line up
so that they red as plus shapes to the eye. Elaine G’s use
 of high contrast colour and tone make the quilt vibrant
 but needed a high level of vigilance in their placement.

Elaine has quilted a variable grid to add interest for
 both the viewer and the quilter.

The quilt will be donated to a patient at Westmead Hospital.

Elaine’s 15 year old grandson asked her fora new cushion
for his bed when the one he’s loved since he was three
wore out. He is still a committed cat-lover, so Elaine re-made
the very same one, in somewhat more sophisticated colours
and prints to coordinate with his grown-up quilt.
He loves it - two excellent outcomes for a quilting grandma
- a quilted cushion worn out from use, and love
 for the requested replacement.

‘Cabin Fever’ is aptly named - during COVID lockdowns 

Miriam used a stash of scraps from her own collection and into 

her late mother’s. The long awaited result is a much loved, 

 eclectic mix of prints, replete with memories, stitched into 

a comfortable and comforting quilt loved by her family. 

Many of the pieces are small, the blocks are a miscellany of 

house blocks, log cabins, stacks and hearts made from many 

narrow strips, flying geese and others to be discovered - 

there is no pattern, but it is a completely cohesive design.

You might see this one at the #fairholmequiltshow2026 
16 - 17 May - look out for it!

More new community quilt finishes

Daphne likes to experiment with block pattern. This one is
cleverly less complicated than it looks.
The pattern is ‘Entwined’ from Quilt Expressions, available
 as a downloadable .pdf file

A whimsical ‘Crossroads’ quilt, made for our community
collection, by Miriam @sewmiriam.
The design is by Emma Di Stefano from Treehouse Textiles

Another whimsical community quilt, this one made
by Elaine G has a fun summery feel.

Elaine W has made numerous quilts with hexagon
flowers - this one is a welcome addition to the community
collection. 

New quilt finishes

 

You will be able to see Robyn’s big beautiful quilt up close
at our 2026 Quilt Show 16 - 17 May. Robyn particularly enjoys
hand stitching and embroidery, and has used both in this quilt.
The hand appliquéd circles are all Liberty, and only a few
prints are repeated.

The centre circles are  hand embroidered, with a
variety of designs and stitches. 

The print borders are also a Liberty print, and the sawtooth
final border is needle turn appliquéd to the lawn border.

Tessellating windmills of bright batiks - a new
quilt that Chris’s grandchildren are enjoying.

Denise’s big. beautiful ‘Patchwork of the Crosses’, quilt,
designed by Lucy Boston reaches to the floor over her
queen sized bed. That’s a lot of English paper piecing.
 Quilted by Laura.

You can read more about Lucy Boston in 

  Lucy Boston and Her Honeycombs, 

a blog post by The Maker’s Stash.

The Maker’s Stash is a Blue Mountains based business ‘celebrating 

the gentle art of English paper piecing and slow stitching’.

They will be one of three vendors at our 

Quilt Show 16 - 17 May 2026

March events

‘Echoes and Silences’ is an exhibition of works
by members of Untethered Fibres
Gallery hours Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 4 pm
(02) 67725255

14 FEB 2026—24 MAY 2026

Stitching Stories: 50 Years of Canberra Quilters

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

176 London Circuit, Canberra ACT

Founded in 1976 from humble beginnings in a Curtin home, 

Canberra Quilters has grown into a vibrant community built 

on friendship, creativity, and a shared passion for patchwork 

and quilting.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Canberra Quilters remains a 

vital contributor to Canberra’s arts landscape. The group skilfully 

unites a range of activities - including its annual exhibition and sale, 

the Quilts for Others program, and diverse special interest groups - 

forming a thriving and harmonious creative community.

Modern Quilt Show Australia 2026

www.modernquiltshowaustralia.com

Entries now closed

Early bird tickets now available

Instagram

Modern Quilt Show Australia

Facebook

Modern Quilt Show Australia

 

TEXStyle 2026
Presented by the
Technology Educators Association of NSW
 1 March - 24 April 2026

The TEXStyle exhibition is the annual showcase of
excellence in HSC Textiles and Design, enjoyed
by both the education sector and wider community.

Gallery 76

76 Queen Street, Concord West 2138

Open 9 - 4 Monday - Friday

10 - 2 Saturday and Sunday

Closed public holidays

www.yarnshow.com.au

Off to new homes

A lovely stack of community quilts being packed for delivery to Royal Far West, an organisation that provides services for children from rural and remote regions, that has  commissioned quilts for their young clients.

Fairholme Quilt Show 2026 - raffle quilt

Our 2026 raffle quilt is ‘Bespoked’, a nine block version of the quilt designed by Annette Ferguson, who has generously given permission for us to use her pattern. The scrappy strips were made by several members, providing a wide variety of colours and tones. The background fabric is a Victoria Findlay Wolfe low volume print. The large blocks create an appealing contrast between the low volume background fabric, and movement in the repeating directional changes of the ‘spokes’. 

Our thanks to Carol who coordinated the production, everyone who contributed and Laura who has custom quilted it. The finished quilt measures 68 inches (172 cm) square.

The second raffle prize is a modern quilted tote bag made and donated by Jeni.

 

Raffle tickets will be available from late February from Fairholme members, and will be readily available at the Quilt Show on 16 and 17 May 2026. The raffle will be drawn at the close of the show on Sunday 17 May.