More community quilts, more show and tell ...

Robyn L does brilliant things with her black and white stash,
like her latest interpretation of Miriam's small bag.
That 3D hexagon zipper pull is a nice touch, too.

Georgie is on the home stretch of her large quilt made in a
series of classes with Margaret Sampson George. The centre
medallion is based on the mid 19th C Jane Pizar quilt.
The final borders are on, but will be decorated with more
hexagons, and there is a little applique to finish on another
border. The background for the last top and bottom border
is a print of the Chicago underground map - a lot of fun,
like many of the other fabrics. There is a stunning backing
fabric just waiting  ... hand quilting coming up!

The fourth of our 'Missing U' quilts, from Sunday Morning Quilts
is finished! The two blocks that prompted this one were made
in the initial challenge round at Christmas 2013. Roslyn and Pat
made up another fourteen from pooled scraps of oriental style
prints and co-ordinates from individual members and our community
stash. It will be donated to the nursing home we support.

Elaine W made this pretty medallion style quilt with
half-square triangles surrounding the centre. The fabrics
came from her own stash and the community stash, and she
said that some date back 'many years'.
It too is for donation to the nursing home.

Sale!

New Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, Anna Marie Horner, A Day in The Country and more. 

Sale starts Monday 1st June until Saturday 13th June 2015.

This week's show and tell at Fairholme

Phyl (Georgie's sister) has finished her Margaret Sampson
George medallion quilt top, from our borders and elements
workshop with Margaret from last year - we had a quick look
just before it goes to Jo for basting on the long arm, for
Phyl to hand quilt it. So much to see!

Janice found some wonderful Frido Khalo ombie fabric for
her latest bag ...

...  and a goat for the reverse!

Robin W likes making small quilts by hand (piecing and
quilting) - this one will be donated to the Blankets of Love
program. The design is beautifully simple, with the arrangement
of the small squares giving the illusion of a circle. It would work
well in multiple blocks for a larger quilt too.

Some Bloggers Quilt Festival favourites

Being entirely partisan, here are some links to Australian quilters who have entered the Spring 2015 Bloggers Quilt Festival, beginning with our very own Miriam:

• Sew Miriam - scrappy category
• Bonjour Quilts - original design category
• Bonjour Quilts - modern quilting category
• Cat and Vee - mini category
• Cat and Vee - large quilts category  

• Snippets 'n' Scraps - home machine quilting category 

More might will be added to this list as they come to light ...

You are entirely responsibly for how much time you spend exploring these blogs, and the whole Festival!

'Living Colour' exhibition closes next week

A reminder that  the Living Colour exhibition, curated by Brenda Gael Smith and  currently at the Gosford Regional Gallery, closes next week, on 27th May.

Dates for other locations in Australia and the US are listed on the Living Colour website.

Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2015

The northern spring is time for the biannual Bloggers Quilt Festival, hosted online by Amy's Creative Side. Quilting bloggers (or blogging quilters) choose a quilt to exhibit online in a Festival blog post, enter into a particular category, and readers can vote once entries close (from 22nd May this time). There is also a vote for an all-over viewers' choice.  Winners are announced on 30th May.

Hundreds of quilts will be entered across the categories, giving readers a lot of gorgeous quilts to look at and vote for if you choose to. It is an excellent way to find new blogs to read, and to gather lots of quilting ideas ... just what we need!

An 'ordinary' family treasure

Amanda Jean Nyberg wrote Sunday Morning Quilts, with Cheryl Arkison - one of the most popular new books added to our library last year, so we know we like her style and approach to quilting.

In this recent post on her blog, Crazy Mom Quilts, she shares one of her first quilts that is still much loved by her family, flaws and all.

Many of us would have one with a story just like it ...

Community quilts

Our next community sewing day is next week, and we will soon be putting our mid-year quilt donations together for delivery. The stocks are building up, and it is much better to send them off to their new owners than to have them on our shelves for too long.  Three newly finished quilts were handed over this week:

The second of three variations on square in a square designs
made by Helen, this one featuring black and white sashings and
a scrappy piano key border. It was quilted by Jill, then Helen
bound it. It will go in the children's collection.

This one started as fabric challenge from Elaine W to Jill,
which took 2 years to be resolved, but is now finished
for a resident at the nursing home we support.

Some of the pink fabrics came from Dawn's stash, some of
the blocks and the border panels came from the community
stash. Dawn machine quilted it. This pretty little quilt will
also be for a child.

Next week we will make more progress on the Pittwater Quilts, and some other works in progress - we're not finished yet!

This week ...

Good mail from our Guild - our donation of quilts to
Sydney Children's Hospital was acknowledged in the
Quilters Guild of NSW magazine, The Template (the
second row of quilts were donated by Morriset Quilters),
and we received confirmation that our entry for the
Sydney Quilt Show next month has been accepted. 

Margaret warmed her shoulders with a beautifully soft
shawl hand knitted by her daughter, for Mothers' Day.
Isn't that touch of blue genius?

Nerida is finishing off a baby quilt for a friend's little boy
 who will arrive soon. She chose the patchwork fabrics
from the colours of the cow patterned backing fabric,
which she chose first!

Miriam's pretty pastel and low volume mini-quilt is on her blog, Sew Miriam, along with photos from her most recent bag-making classes.

Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair 2015

Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair
17th - 21st June 2015
Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island

Tickets to the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair and information about transport options to the venue are now available online, at the Expertise Events website.

We've received confirmation that our entry in the Group Quilt category has been accepted for inclusion in the Quilters Guild of NSW's Sydney Quilt Show!

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.

Jolly Stars progress

We learned to use Marti Michwl's acrylic templates for precision cutting and machine piecing in our workshop with Catherine Butterworth in March (and an earlier progress post here). Each of us made (or made a start!) on one block during the workshop, so we are keeping an eye on progress as more blocks emerge from our sewing rooms, and secondary design elements are revealed:

Lyn was the only one who completely finished her first
block during the workshop, and will be the first to have a finished
quilt. It is now with Jo for machine quilting, before going home
to Lyn's great-nephew by special request.

Lyn's background fabric is a graphic black line on white
- a great choice.

Pat's first six blocks (she's actually up to eleven now).
She decided to introduce more varied fabrics than she
originally intended, and is happy with the results.

Jill's unpressed 13 block version - now contemplating a border
pieced with the templates, or a bold teal with a hint of orange
print? It started out to be just five blocks, but they looked as
though they were waiting for more to join them. 

The fussy-cut centre square of the centre block is an
'unplanned design element' resulting from a shortage of the
star-point fabric - but a different and or fussy cut centre would 
work for all the blocks, as Catherine demonstrated during the workshop.

Also this weekend ...

It's May = month long sale at Craft Depot

Local quilters know it happens twice a year, May and November, and it's the 1st of May, so the month long sale at Craft Depot, our large local quilt shop in Pennant Hills is ON.

• Craft Depot on Facebook
• Craft Depot on Instagram: @craftdepot

Myth v Truth

Romantic quilting myths - busted!

As you explore this site on America's quilting history you will find the truth is often more fascinating than the myth.