Showing posts with label Fairholme Quilt Show 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fairholme Quilt Show 2026. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Roslyn: craft stall magician

 It looks like magic - the appearance of a fully stocked craft stall offering hundreds of items made and donated by our members, all beautifully presented and individually packaged and priced, ready for business from the first minute our Quilt Show opens. 

But it isn’t magic, it’s the culmination of two years of creativity, skills and hard work. While members work on individual items, Roslyn Pullen turns her creativity, skills and hard work to managing the whole: the build up of the stock, keeping track of what’s been made, storing, packaging and pricing every item, planning the display and welcoming customers.



Roslyn has been an active member of Fairholme from its earliest days, and has taken on many roles. For the last few years she has developed the craft stall into a much appreciated fundraiser with hundreds of very happy customers at quilting shows and smaller events.Roslyn and her family must be grateful for the brief respite they have from being the craft stall warehouse in between events, but Roslyn will already be casting an eye over what little remains and how that might inform planning for the next one. 


Roslyn is ably assisted by friend and fellow Fairholme quilter Jo-Ann Phillips - storing and transporting loads of stock, setting up and manning the stall. Jo-Ann says she just does as she’s told, but we know it’s much more of a partnership than that. 




This year for the show Roslyn enlisted the help of Chris Roy, another Fairholme member, to put together vintage style packs of fabric, trims, threads and linens, for use in slow stitching projects - a new, and successful line for the craft stall. There will be more.



The front foyer of our show venue (Thornleigh Community Centre) lends itself to becoming the craft stall, being visible and accessible on the way into the show and on the way out, and with good light from its north and west facing windows - it’s one of the busiest ares throughout the two days.






Thank you Roslyn and helpers for the work and talent you have put into the craft stall over the years and in 2026, and to everyone who has supported the stall by making and donating to it, and by buying from it. Congratulations on its success. We look forward to the next one.

Monday, June 22, 2026

Putting the quilt display together

For the Fairholme Quilt Show, we appoint a subcommittee to plan every aspect of the two day event, which starts work about a year in advance. Helen Battellino was the 2026 Show Coordinator, guiding the whole process - thanks to Helen and the committee for a great job that resulted in a very successful event. Here’s how we put the quilt display together:

Members are asked to submit their entries about three months in advance of the show, so that the floor plan of the venue for the whole event can be developed, and frames ordered from Quilt NSW. The display is mounted the day before opening. 

We called in family and friends to help us get the quilts up and down gain for our 2026 quilt show last month - we could not have done it without them, and thank everyone that made it possible. Some of the men have done this over many years and have worked out a system to minimise bending and ladder climbing. It all fits together on the day to a floor plan drawn up by Sue Crowe, who worked with Ric Battellino to overseeing the frames construction on the day.

The quilts are delivered with a label attached showing each one’s exact position in the display plan.

Anyone who has been involved in putting a quilt show together will know that pulling down is much faster than putting it up.



The poles and hanging rods are ordered according to
 the measurements of each quilt entered in the display plan,
drawn up by Sue 


Tabletop construction of the rows reduces bending
and ladder climbing





📸 Ken Martin



📸 Ken Martin

Saturday, May 16, 2026

From above …

It’s been a great first day at the 2026 Fairholme Quilt Show - thank you all who came, saw, enjoyed and shopped!

We were delighted when professional photographer Ken Martin offered to shoot a drone video of the 2026 Fairholme Quilt Show when the set-up was complete. Thank you Ken for this special record:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x9gkj14kbjk7fp1gesttb/Quilt-Show-2026.m4v

The show is open again tomorrow, Sunday 17 May, 10am - 4pm, at Thornleigh Community Centre.

#fairholmequiltshow2026

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Next weekend!

We’re at the pointy end of preparation for the 2026 Fairholme Quilt Exhibition, opening next weekend, and we are ready! Set-up day is Friday, doors open 10am Saturday and 10am Sunday.




In addition to the quilt display, the show will include our raffle quilt, and:














Sunday, March 22, 2026

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 Leelais 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. 

Thursday, March 12, 2026

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, 

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!




Saturday, March 7, 2026

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!