At Fairholme this week

Although we didn't see a lot of finished quilts in 'show and tell' this week, we did see the beginnings of some new quilts from Sydney Quilt Show purchases, and progress on many other works in progress that bodes well for future blog posts!

A trip to the mid North Coast a few weeks ago gave Dawn
an opportunity to attend a workshop with Brenda Gael Smith,
where she made these glowing free-cut blocks with their luscious
curves. Five minutes after she was home, it was finished.

Jan Duddle is the lucky winner of our 2016 raffle quilt, Rousillon.
She generously agreed to allow us to enter it into the Sydney
Quilt Show, and called into our Monday meeting this week to
collect it. Jan is an experienced quilter, and long-term member
of Epping Quilters - she already has a place for it at home.

Fairholme quilters at Sydney Quilt Show (1)

Yes, this week is all about the 2016 Sydney Quilt Show. Some of our members have quilts hanging in the show, as is our 2016 raffle quilt, Rousillon which is having its last outing before being handed over to the raffle winner. Miriam kindly took photos for us, and she has posted a blog of her favourite quilts.

Julie White - Egyptian Memories (121) 169 x 149 cm
I designed this quilt around the Egyptian patterned
fabric of Gods and Hieroglyphs incorporating
complimentary patterns to highlight the design.
Machine quilted by Sue Olma, So She Quilts
(Photo: Miriam Jones)

Julie White - Tree of Life (127) 165 x 158 cm
The centre panel is from Michele Hill’s ‘Morning Glory’ quilt.
The borders I adapted from that panel adding other features,
the central top bird and the rabbits at the bottom. Quilt Design by
Michele Hill Machine quilted by Sue Olma, So She Quilts
(Photo: Miriam Jones)

Jill O'Connor - Cut Loose (138) 153 x 153 cm
Designed as a series of vague sketches, all pieces were free
cut with scissors or rotary cutter, without rulers . Essentially
design-as-you-go, in response to colour and shape. Improvisation
with intent, influenced by Gwen Marston's aesthetic.
(Photo: Miriam Jones)

Award winner Linda Steele has posted some of the 200 photos she took during her Wednesday visit to the Show, on her blog, here - well worth a look.

Sydney Exhibition centre at Glebe Island has posted an album of 37 photos from the Show on its Facebook page, here.

You can also follow Quilt NSW via Instagram: @quiltnsw and the #sydneyquiltshow2016 and on Facebook where you will find many photos.

We'll be at the Sydney Quilt Show in June

Rousillon, our 2016 raffle quilt has been accepted for the 2016 Sydney Quilt Show in June in the 'Group Quilt' category. One last outing before it is officially presented to its new owner.

Come and see it at Glebe Island - along with about 400 other quilts!

Next time you see Rousillon, it will be hanging on our Show

One more look at our raffle quilt, Rousillon, in the wild, before it is hung in our Quilt Show tomorrow.

Proceeds of the raffle will go to support Studio ARTES - you can donate directly to their urgent fire appeal here - or come and buy tickets at the Show. A basket of fabric, a newly released quilting book, and a beautifully hand-made craft item comprises the second raffle prize. The raffle will be drawn at the close of the Show on Sunday 10th April.

In other good news, in spite of their extensive losses, Gallery ARTES manager Lise Anderson has been able to curate a collection of artworks to display and to sell in their pop-up shop at the Show, so you can support their recovery just by coming and seeing the surviving work. 

Luckily Gallery ARTES is at a separate location from the main Studio, but some of the Gallery artists' work was stored at the Studio, and is expected to be damaged beyond repair by the fire, water, smoke and structural damage. Fire appeal information is here.

Quilt Show media

We've just collected the wondrous Stained Glass Quilt for exhibition at our Quilt Show this weekend - 8 -10 April, at Thornleigh Community Centre.

Thanks to the Bush Tele for their support in last weeks issue, and again tomorrow.

60 quilts a year - that’s a lot of community service

Fairholme Quilters, based in Pennant Hills for more than thirty years, produces 50 - 60 quilts each year that are donated to various community groups and causes where a quilt can provide comfort, security, warmth and a unique gift. Quilts go to children in foster care, natural disaster victims, nursing home residents, long-term hospital patients, and parents of babies who die before or shortly after birth. They range from tiny wraps to full sized bed quilts, depending on the need.

In 2015, a different kind of community quilt was requested by the chaplain at the Donald Coburn Centre at Castle Hill. Three Fairholme members, with the encouragement of their fellow quilters designed an original large wall quilt based on a traditional stained glass window to support residents with advanced dementia to maintain a sense of where they are, and why,  hung in a room used for chapel services. The Stained Glass Window quilt won an award in the prestigious 2015 Sydney Quilt Show, for a group quilt.

It will be one of the featured exhibits in the 2016 Fairholme Quilters Show to be held from 8th - 10th April, at Thornleigh Community Centre. An additional eighty-plus quilts will be on exhibition including a members small quilt challenge, and the personal work of the 39 Fairholme Quilters.

A new feature of this Show will be a guest exhibition of work by textile artists from Studio ARTES, in Hornsby, where artists with disabilities work in both recreational and professional art practices, and a pop-up Gallery ARTES shop.

A new quilt made by Fairholme members, Rousillon, is being raffled in conjunction with the show, with the proceeds going to Studio ARTES.

Rousillon on tour

Miriam has taken our 2016 raffle quilt, Rousillon, on tour - to Berry, Mittagong, by the water, and it is now settled at Cottage Quilt Works in Warriewood, where it can be seen, rather than being kept under wraps until its grand outing at our Quilt Show (8 - 10 April), and tickets are for sale there too

Both the raffle quilt and Cottage Quilt Works will be at the show - thank you for hosting it at your beautiful shop, Gerri Johns.

Thanks to Sew Miriam for the use of her photos - see her blog post, and more photos, here.

A nice coincidence ...

If you found the links between our  2016 raffle quilt being named Rousillon and the French town itself interesting, you might also be intrigued to realise that Rousillon was the location for the wonderful photography in Kaffe Fasset's book Quilts en Provence. This French online bookstore features several pages from the book that clearly show the beautiful townscape.

We learned this after choosing and publishing the name, but it's good to know that there is another quilting link, and it's a famous one among Kaffe Fasset's many fans.

Rousillon ~ our 2016 raffle quilt

Like make quilting groups and guilds we make a quilt to raffle at each of our 2 yearly exhibitions, with proceeds going to a local community group.

Our 2016 raffle quilt is 'Rousillon' - you can read about its making and naming below.

The raffle
The raffle will be drawn at the close of our 2016 Quilt Show, on Sunday 10th April. Tickets are available from Fairholme members, at the show (8 - 9 April 2016).

They are $2 each, or 3 tickets for $5. Proceeds will go to Studio ARTES Northside.

We do not have facilities for purchasing tickets online, but you can order tickets by mailing this form with your cheque or money order to

Fairholme Quilters Inc
PO Box 942
Pennant Hills NSW 2120

or email:

fairholmequilters@gmail.com

to arrange a payment by direct deposit to our bank account, and tickets can be mailed to you, closing on Friday 2 April. Please note that ticket orders can only be accepted from within Australia.

The quilt

Work on the quilt starts more than a year in advance of show - choosing a design, fabrics, allocating tasks, coordinating a timeframe that allows for quilting, and selling of the tickets is no small task.

Unpacking the fabrics

Our 2016 quilt was started late in 2014, when two of our members, Miriam Jones and Janice Freelander agreed to work together on a design and coordination. We had been donated 2 boxes of fabric from Quilt NSW from a quilter who was no longer able to use it. When we opened the boxes, we were delighted to find a generous amount of very fine quality fabric, much of it French in origin, and some of it in long lengths. One beautiful piece of red on cream toile was set aside for the backing - no-one wanted to cut it up.

A glimpse of the toile backing

Janice and Miriam chose block designs from the 'free block patterns' section of Jinny Beyer's website, and drew up a tentative arrangement. They prepared fabric kits for members who would piece the 6" blocks (all different), and set about drafting the setting of the centre, and borders. Having decided on an on-point setting, precision was required, and delivered. Of course we all enjoyed several opportunities to help decide on a final layout.

Our group is also fortunate that one of our members, Jo-Ann Phillips, is a professional long-arm quilter who offered to quilt an edge to edge design, as her contribution to the quilt. After several months' work, the last seam was sewn, the quilting was done, and the quilt was bound - finished!

Quilting detail

During the year, in planning for the 2016 Quilt Show we had invited a local supported art studio at which several textile artists make a range of beautiful art, to be our guest exhibitors. Studio ARTES will also be the beneficiaries of our quilt raffle.

The final task was to name the quilt. Thinking about connections with France, we took advice from a friend of a friend living in the south of France and interested in textiles. We were delighted with her suggestion of naming the quilt for the village of Rousillon in the Vaucluse Department.

Janice has visited Rousillon twice, and agrees that it is indeed one of the most beautiful villages in France. Built on deposits of ochre mined for dye used in the textile industry, most of the village buildings are painted red ... a lovely coincidence with the colours of our quilt.

The village of Rousillon is in a lavender
growing region, in the Vaucluse Department

Rousillon is famous for its red-painted buildings

A beautiful Rousillon door

Red ochre deposits around Rousillon - the region is
sometimes referred to as the Grand Canyon of France.

Thanks to Janice, for your spectacular photos of Rousillon.

Thank you to Miriam, Janice and Jo-Ann for the enormous amount of work they put in to produce this beautiful quilt, and to all the Fairholme members who contributed their skills and time so willingly.

An outing for the raffle quilt

We kicked of ticket sales in our 2016 raffle quilt at the weekend, with a stand at the Studio ARTES fundraiser in the Mall at Hornsby. It was a great opportunity to show the quilt to community members, invite people to our Quilt Show in April, and to meet some of the Studio ARTES members who will benefit from the raffle proceeds, and to see their beautiful work. They will be our guest exhibitors in April.

Meagan often works with textiles, and might have some work
in our exhibition. She was a great model for our quilt,
on a beautifully sunny day in Hornsby.

Naylin, Emily and Sarah are all members of Studio ARTES,
and were very willing to help us display the quilt.

Today we are going to take the quilt out again, to our Christmas lunch, where we will take some more photos, generally admire it, and maybe come up with a fancier name than 'the raffle quilt'.

2016 Fairholme Quilters raffle quilt

Our 2016 raffle quilt is finished ahead of schedule, so we took it out yesterday for a photograph in the afternoon light ... but the wind was up and gusty, so it became more a case of the 'quilt as spinnaker'! We will re-visit that exercise on a calmer day ...

However, we have an opportunity to sell tickets in the quilt this weekend, at the Studio ARTES Ride-a-Day fundraising event, so that's where we'll be if you want to get in early.  The quilt is approximately 80" x 60", hand and machine pieced, machine quilted (long arm), all cotton fabrics, with wool/polyester batting.

General ticket sales will open in the new year, when more details about the quilt will be released, and the raffle will be drawn on 10th April 2016, at the close of our Quilt Show. Watch this space.

Hornsby Mall
Saturday 5th December
from 10.30am

We will be located next to the fountain, between the Blu-Water restaurant and the south entry to Westfield (the David Jones wing).

Tickets will be $2 each or 3 for $5

Proceeds to Studio ARTES

A final preview

Out raffle quilt for next year's Fairholme Quilt Show (8th - 10th April 2016) is nearly finished. This is a last preview before final reveal.

We will be selling tickets at Ride-a Day-in-My-Wheels, the annual fundraiser for Studio  ARTES, the community organisation who will benefit from the raffle proceeds. They will also be guest exhibitors at our show. The fund-raising event is on Saturday 5th December, in Hornsby Mall.

We will be located next to the fountain, between the Blu-Water restaurant and the south entry to Westfield (the David Jones wing) - come along and see the quilt, and buy your tickets if you are in town. Details of how and where to buy them later will be posted next week.

The design is classic modern, combining precision piecing and
counterpanes to showcase the background fabrics.

This exquisite French toile is in one piece on the back, m
ing the quilt beautifully reversible.

The quilt-making process began a year ago when Miriam and Janice agreed to design the quilt and steer its completion with all of the group members able to contribute. We were fortunate to have a stash of beautiful fabric to work with, much of French in origin. They have done a wonderful job, and it will be ready ahead of schedule.

Our thanks and congratulations to Miriam and Janice, to everyone who has been (and is) stitching, has advised, reviewed and measured, measured and measured again, and to Jo who generously donated the long arm quilting. We even managed to win ourselves a pack of batting at the  Sydney Quilt Show earlier this year (thank you again Lyn, Peggy and Susan).

We are very happy with how it is looking, and we think you will like it too.

2016 Raffle quilt - a preview

Of course, we are making a quilt to raffle in conjunction with our 2016 Quilt Show on 8th - 10th April 2016. The raffle proceeds will go to Studio ARTES, who will mount a small guest exhibition within the main display, showcasing the work of textile artists working at the studio.

Work on this very special quilt has been in progress since early this year, under the excellent and expert guidance of Miriam and Janice, with input from many members. The fabrics are mostly French in origin, of very high quality, and were donated via QuiltNSW. It is now with our member JoAnn who is a very accomplished professional long-arm quilter, for her to add her magic.

We will start selling tickets at Studio ARTES Ride-a-Day event in Hornsby mall on 5th December (more about that in a few weeks). For now, here is a review of the finished top and the backing fabric ...

The individual blocks were made by group members

The on-point layout was designed and sewn by Janice and
Miriam, with much precise measurement to ensure it all fit
together perfectly.

A beautiful French toile, part of the donated fabric bundle was
chosen for the back - the quilt will be reversible.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making of this lovely quilt.

A second raffle prize of a basket of quilting and swing related items is being put together over the next few months.

You can follow the quilt's progress, preparation for the Quilt Show and out collaboration with Studio ARTES here, and via the Facebook page we have started to help promote it, on Instagram: @fairholmequilters #fairholmequilters #fairholmequiltersquiltshow2016