A little reading …

… for when you’re not quilting …

Adelaide River's biodiversity slow-stitched into a community quilt by more than 80 women

The quilt depicts the animals, plants and biodiversity found in the Northern Territory's iconic Adelaide River system, which is best known for its crocodiles.

The river is almost 240 kilometres long and flows through several Top End regions, including floodplains on Limilngan-Wulna land.

Before the stitching began, each participant was given a list of plant, fish and animal species along with several pieces of recycled calico dyed with indigo to represent water … Felicity James, ABC Darwin, 16 April 2022

 

Retired Astronaut launches a fabric line inspired by her views of Earth

Seeing Earth from space is a privilege afforded only to a select few highly trained individuals—the rest of us have to settle for photos and videos. Now, those views can also be incorporated hinto quilts and other crafting projects thanks to a new fabric line from retired NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 April 2022

Earth Day - Earth Views

Introducing “The One” 68” x 73” featuring Earth Views from Robert Kaufman by designer Karen Nyberg, a retired astronaut, conservationist, textile artist and quilter … Karen Foster, Capitola Quilter, 22 April 2022

QuiltNSW survey - ends Tuesday 19 April

www.quiltnsw.com

 

Sydney Quilt Show 2022 announced

New dates and a new venue for the Sydney Quilt Show have been announced by QuiltNSW:

www.quiltnsw.com

QuiltNSW proudly presents QuiltNSW Exhibition 2022 at the Grand Pavilion, Rosehill Gardens Racecourse, Sydney from Friday 21 October to Sunday 23 October 2022 (10am-4pm daily).

Save the date! This exciting event includes the Sydney Quilt Show, a selection of prize winning quilts from the 2021 online show and a vendor marketplace. 

Share your quilt! Entries open on Monday 6 June 2022 and close at 5pm Thursday 30 June 2022 (Sydney time). Online entry only.

Quilty long weekend reading

It's the Labour Day long weekend here in NSW, so no meeting and show and tell for us on Monday. Here is some quilt related reading and pictures to entertain you over the break ... hope you get time for sewing too.

A little piece of Australian history

Addicted 2 Fabric, 25 September 2019

Every quilt has a layer of storytelling, but for this special quilt recreated by South Australian pattern-maker Lessa Siegele, the story began all the way back at the beginning of quilting in Australia ...

Fabric of Life

Rich Warren, Ohio Magazine, July 2019

Artist Nancy Crow draws inspiration from near and far to create beautiful and inventive quilts that take the medium to a new level ...

Artist's polychromatic quilts tell powerful stories using recycled fabrics,
Kimberly Mok, Treehugger,  5 March 2019

 ... some of the seven "R" strategies to shift toward a more sustainable fashion industry include reducing, reusing, recycling, repairing, researching, renting, and of course, repurposing. A great example of repurposing with inspiring results is Brooklyn-based textile artist Bisa Butler, who creates these stunningly intricate quilted tapestries that are primarily made with vintage and repurposed fabrics. 

But Butler doesn't just strive to bring a bit of environmental consciousness in her choice of materials, she also strives to highlight the richness of African-American culture as well through her polychromatic portrayals of everyday citizens to historical figures like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Basquiat, and Josephine Baker ...

One from the LA Times archives, recently posted online:

The Quilt Circle: How to make an American movie? Start by piecing together a network of OC seamstresses
Kathleen O'Steen, Los Angeles Times, 6 October 1995

When they needed quilts, the producers of the movie 'How to Make An American Quilt', based on a novel written by Whitney Otto at UCI, they called Patty McCormick of Corona del Mar ...

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.

Ingenious patchwork

Val brought in an interesting news clipping this week, that we were delighted to find online as well. We are so lucky to be able to drop into one of several local quilt shops when we need more fabric, or dip into our own or friends' extensive stashes ... Scroll down to about half way through this story to see the mention of the patchwork, and a photo:

Dharavi Biennale puts Slumdog Millionaire slum back in artistic spotlight

Amrit Dhillon Sydney Morning Herald, 27 February 2016

Slums are ugly, crowded places that generate rubbish, not art, let alone art festivals like the Venice Biennale. But Dharavi slum in Mumbai ...  starred in Danny Boyle's 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. And now it is proudly hosting the "Dharavi Biennale" ... 

... The name is a playful tease ... The aim was to provide an opportunity for creativity ... the Biennale was conceived to give an opportunity for artistic expression to its young residents, a luxury which the struggle to survive does not allow them ...

... The works are well conceived and executed ... A group of women took scraps of waste denim to create a giant patchwork map of the slum. To mark buildings such as toilets and shops, and water pumps, they used buttons, covered bottle tops, and embroidery. To show the railway tracks, they ingeniously used zips ...

The craft of politics ...

We don't see much quilting and other craft in the news sections of daily print media, and when we do, it is not usually aligned with politics. This article from today's Sun-Herald hits that spot:

Craft activists are changing the world, one stitch at a time
Joanne Brookfield, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 2016

Concerned citizens have always taken to the streets, to rally, wave placards and chant for change.

Some end up in scuffles with police as a result, or locked up. Other activists intervene more directly , chaining themselves to trees or bulldozers or getting into small boats and placing themselves between a whale and a harpoon ... And then there are those who knit ...

Where do all the quilts go?

We give away about 60 quilts each year through our community quilts project. We often don't know who has received them, or what they mean to the people who receive them, and that is fine: once they are given, they are no longer ours, and we trust the role they can play.  They won't all be kept and cherished, and we hope many will wear out from use. Sometimes we do know that a quilt has been much loved, and that is always nice to hear. A heart warming story about a quilt that has done its job very well for a very long time circulated through social media this weekend:

The man who kept a quilt for 70 years

Camila Ruz, BBC News Magazine, 17th October 2015

After World War Two, thousands of British families were sent packages of food from strangers in the US. But nine-year-old Joseph Briddock and his family were given something unexpected. Seven decades later he is still keeping it safe ...

Canadian 'touch' quilts

In 2013 we made this tactile quilt (see this post for detailed photos of all the blocks) at the request of the diversional therapists at a nursing home. It is larger than a lap-quilt, and hangs on an easily accessible wall so that it is available to the residents at any time.

This Canadian article reports on the effectiveness of lap 'touch quilts' for people with dementia in hospital:

Quilting to change quality of life for those with dementia Janice Henderson, Ottawa Citizen, 1st May 2015
Touch quilts are textured lap quilts designed for those who need sensory stimulation, especially those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Straightforward to make, these charity quilts have an incredible impact on quality of life.According to the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, “sensory stimulation can increase happiness, enjoyment and relaxation as well as lessen sadness and fear”. Touch quilts can provide dementia patients with sensory stimulation, reducing unwanted behaviours without requiring sedatives or physical restraints ...

We have recently completed another special commission for the same nursing home - more on that in a few weeks.

A story about a boy, a proud father, and a quilt ...

Here is a lovely, but very poignant story, to warm a quilter's heart - but it does come with a tissue warning ...

• Preemie Baby Nearly Dies But Returns To The Hospital 13 Years Later To Repay A Kindness.

One day Tentmakers exhibition in Canberra, Saturday 28th September

Great photos of the tentmakers at work accompany this news story about a one day exhibition at the Egyptian Embassy in Canberra, tomorrow:

Master quilter brings wares to Egyptian Embassy for open day

Emma Macdonald, Canberra Times, 26th September 2013
The ancient craft of Egyptian tent-making maybe revered in the West for its intricate applique, but in Egypt, its considered simple, common, and often no better than graffiti.

But a master quilter and wife of former Australian ambassador to Egypt is on a one-woman crusade to change all that.

Jenny Bowker, who spent four years in Cairo when her husband Bob was posted there between 2005-2009, said the appetite for the massive handmade artworks was growing internationally ... read  the full article here.

Stereotypes, politics and ... quilting!

Patchwork and politics are not commonly linked, but Generation Q has drawn attention to and participated in a robust discussion about government funding for a highly regarded quilting museum, prompted by an editorial in the regional press, based on stereotypes and politics:

 A few days ago, our creative director Megan Dougherty nosed out a newspaper editorial written by the Chattanooga Times Free Press that slammed the use of public funding for the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In particular, the paper contends that federal monies are wrongly pledged to the IQSC because its focus is too narrow and it does not benefit the majority of the population. Besides, nobody but “Aunt Bee, The Waltons and Ma Ingalls” are interested in quilts anymore.  It’s just another “pork project.”

... read the full Generation Q blog post Notions: Porky Patchwork? here.

• International Quilt Study Center and Museum

Quilts at The Department Store, Wauchope

If you in the NSW mid-North Coast area, this Wauchope Gazette article says you will be able to enjoy a quilt show while you shop from today, although it doesn't say how long the Wauchope Patchwork Quilters display will be hung.

Boy quilters add to our social fabric

Today's Canberra Times has this report about two young brothers making quilts for the Canberra Quilters 2012 Exhibition scheduled for 9 - 12 August.

Quilt radio

Are you looking for another way to learn about quilting, or to keep up with your favourite quilters? 

If you're reading here, you probably have a list of favourite blogs you visit from time to time, you might belong to an online quilting group or guild, a local or state guild, attend exhibitions, read/buy magazines (some of which come with CDs or DVDs attached), have your own collection of books, or have access to a quilting library or books and magazine through your local library, you might tune into TV shows via pay TV or online TV, quilting apps are beginning to appear ... and have you discovered quilting radio?

Pat Sloan's radio show for American Patchwork and Quilting is broadcast weekly, with each program then being made available as a free podcast, so that those of us who cannot tune in to the live broadcast can catch up.

The 4th June show features interviews with a curator from the International Quilt Study Centre, with a fabric designer, and with Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, authors of Quilting Modern (see our previous post on new books).

Click on the button below for the radio show's home page, and links to archived podcasts:

Of course, there other quilters who podcast (and vidcast!) - just enter 'quilt podcast' into your favourite search engine to find more ...

Why quilting improves your health in ways even exercise can't manage

We all knew this, didn't we?  Still, the scientific evidence might be useful .... the (UK) Daily Mail reports on a Glasgow University study that found that quilting is better than exercise! 

The article concludes that "the craft industry contributes around £3 billion a year to the UK economy", and Anne from Ware commented "3 Billion spent on crafts in the UK? Don't tell my husband - he would be convinced most of it was me!"

Click here to read the article

Thanks to Brenda Smith for the link (via Facebook)

A little quilt movie

Here's something to keep you amused while the latest pics of members' quilts get themselves organised - a very nice animation from Gayle Thomas, produced by the National Film Board of Canada:
A tribute to the unique and long-established art form of patchwork quilting, this abstract animated film uses computer and experimental techniques to choreograph quilt motifs and designs to music.



Or click here - guaranteed to make you smile and tap your feet.

Quilt Show in the Herald

How nice to see a large photo and a story about the Sydney Quilt Show on p. 5 of today's Sydney Morning Herald.  The photo showed several rows of the quilt exhibition, taken from overhead.  Unfortunately the photo does not appear with the online article, but the story is here. 

Cover stories

This article published in the Guardian (UK) last weekend was prompted by the current exhibition at the V & A.

From a gift for a dying husband to a celebration of a son's coming of age, Elizabeth Burke meets five women who stitched the essence of their families into some very special quilts ...... Read Elizabeth Bourke's article online here - you might recognise these women .....