Show quilt labels - a guide

Springwood Community Quilt Show is to be held 22-24 April 2016, 10am-4pm, Springwood High School, with Chris Jurd as the featured quilter. You can follow preparation for the show on their blog, here. This recent post might be useful as we prepare for our own 2016 Show 8 -10 April:

• Tips for writing a quilt description

First community sewing day for 2016

Our five 'Pittwater Quilts' are now finished.
This one was sewn by many hands, and quilted and bound by 
Lynette.You can see all five here, with the story of their 
connection to Patchwork on Pittwater.

Lynette made this 'potato chip' quilt from a jelly roll in her stash,
and quilted 'in the ditch' with her serpentine machine stitch.

There was a fair bit of fossicking among the bright fabrics
in the community stash, as we planned several children's quilts.

Lynette is making broken dishes blocks using tans and browns
from the community stash. She always has several projects on
the go at once.

Sue C was sewing her 9 patched and spaces into a strongly
diagonal design, with lots of variety in the pretty, light value fabrics.

Elaine W laid out her soft and beautiful blue nine patches on
point, with silvery-grey counterpanes. It's looking gorgeous.

Georgie, Pat and Linda B made several tiny quilts for one our
local maternity hospitals, using the pastel colours, flannelette
and soft cottons they have requested.

This week at Fairholme ...

A friend gave Miriam an embroidered tablecloth as
a memento of her late mother. It was showing some
wear and deterioration, so Miriam decided to extend
its life by hand piecing some Joseph's coat blocks in
Liberty and other fabrics, and appliqueing them over
the worn parts, and repairing the crocheted edge.

Miriam revisited 'Kakadu Dreaming' (pattern by
Kathy Adams of KoolKat Quilting), which she
made for our community quilts collection in 2014.

Watching Sue's little blue hexagon teacups centre block
evolve into her magnificent, mostly hand-pieced quilt under the
guiding hand of Margaret Sampson George has been a pleasure.
The top has now been declared finished, and once backing
is chosen, Sue will hand quilt it.

QuiltCon 2016 winners online

A photo gallery of the award winners at QuiltCon 2016, the modern quilting convention being held this weekend in Pasadena is now online, here.

Several Australian quilters have won awards, including Molli Sparkles/Jane Davidson (Machine Quilting, Framed),  Katherine Jones (Applique, first; and EZ Triangle Challenge, third), Sofia Locke (Youth, first).

• Molli Sparkles blog post about his quilt No Value Does Not Equal Free … It Equals $2,252.40

Spectacular quilts - they might require several viewings. Images of all of the QuiltCon quilts will be posted, but you will also find them easily on social media, particularly on Instagram over the next few days, #quiltcon2016. 

Happy weekend viewing.

Stitch Castle Hill - this weekend

19 - 21 February 2016

Castle Hill Showground

Event page on Facebook

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.

The Splendid Sampler sew-along: 100 x 6" designer blocks over one year

Are you looking for a project that will introduce you to new block designs, many, many designers (including some Australians) and guidance from some very well known quilting experts? How about Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson as your guides?

The Splendid Sampler could be for you. Read up about it now - the first pattern will be released this weekend, and you can still sign up. It is very well organised, and looks like great fun. 100 blocks is a lot, but the free patterns will be released over a year (after which a book will be produced), and you could pick just the ones you feel compelled to make.

Cheryl Arkison is one of the designers involved - read her shorter take on the sew-along here.

Start here on the official site to find out how it will work, and all of the social media-based support and networking that will be provided .. and if you are a Fairholme Quilter, let us know that you are doing it!

Rumour has it that more than 10,000 quilters have signed up worldwide!

We can all look forward to seeing the variety of finished quilts after March 2017.

Vintage hexagons rediscovered ...

The Antiques Roadshow would probably call this vintage hexagon quilt top, made here in Australia in the 1950s/1960s, 'slightly bonkers'. 

It was made by the late mother of a friend of her sister, and rescued by Marilyn recently, when she discovered her sister and the friend preparing to remove the remaining hand-made cardboard templates at the edges, in order to 'do something' (unspecified) with it. Marilyn called a halt while advice is sought.

The flowers are made from a wonderful array of fabric prints and solids, mostly one fabric and a contrasting centre per flower, but with occasional rogue hexies where the main fabric might have run out. The soft olive green background hexies tie it together surprisingly well.

Marilyn remembers its maker well, and said it would have been made with a good deal of sherry and cigarettes consumed during the process - we thought 'Sherry and Cigarettes' might be an apt name for it. Further evidence lies within ...

It is a large top, with extensions at the top to accommodate
pillows, and is made up of about 150 hexagons

It took three of us to hold it up along its length ... 

Many of the hexagons were cut from cigarette packets,
mostly 'Turf' brand - an integral part of its history now,
and social history of the time.

It engendered a lot of interest and close inspection,
and Marilyn will follow up suggestions for expert advice
on its preservation and documentation.

Stitches and Craft: Rosehill

All details on the Stitches and Craft website

Recently at Fairholme ...

Sue C passed some of her extensive blue stash on to Dawn ... 

... who made placemats for the 2016 Quilt Show craft boutique

Pam kindly made a cushion to allow Barry to see the TV better
with his new multifocals ...

... and it worked so well she made one for herself as well.
They are even reversible!

Robyn L used some recent enforced 'quiet' time to hand
piece and applique this gorgeous little hearts quilt!
We are glad to have you back with us Robyn.

Lyn has also had some enforced quiet time, and used
some of it to finish her mosaic applique of a cat
- who resembles her beloved Josie. There are more
than 400 applique pieces in there.
It's good to have you back with us too, Lyn.

Jill's quilt top is 'improv' pieced without a pattern (there
were some (very) vague sketches), free cut without a ruler,
until the blocks were trimmed for joining.
Quilting is now under consideration.

Road to California winners

For those of us who like to see all the quilts, the award winning quilts from the January 2016 Road to California Quilters' Conference and Showcase can be seen online here.

There is much to enjoy - lots of categories, many awards, something for everyone.

Quilt Show: Southern Highlands

We haven't even started yet ...

Our first community quilts sewing day is still more than two weeks away, and already six finished quilts (in addition to the Blankets of Love already posted) have been added to our community collection, and two more have been seen having their bindings sewn down. Here are the latest ones ...

Sue C found this very versatile multi0coloured check fabric 
at Craft Depot - perfect to try out her large tumbler template 
with some bright scraps ...

... paired with a party backing fabric.

Helen had fun chasing down spotty fabrics in the
community stash and in her own, to come up with
this bright and cheerful quilt.

Pat was co-opted to quilt this top, trimmed down from a 
much larger one found amongst a very generous donation 
of fabric from a former shop owner. 
Another top is being put together from the remaining squares.
The new sizes will suit 'our' nursing home residents better.

Our members really are very generous - thank you!

More 'Blankets of Love'

Thanks to Robyn L, Helen (who made two), and Nerida for their  beautiful Blankets of Love:

Summer sewing ...

Quite a bit of sewing was done over the summer break ... here is some more:

This Fran's first quilt! Hand pieced, machine quilted!
The grey fabric has a small darker grey spot.
We can't wait to see what Fran tackles next.

Miriam made this beauty entirely over the break
- the design inspiration was the rose fabric in the centre.
You can read more about the process and see more
detailed photos in three posts on her blog, Sew Miriam, starting on 8th January

For the back of her quilt, Miriam used a new wide-back
release designed by Tula Pink.

Sue H chose fabrics similar to those in a quilt she had 
seen in Lancaster County PA to make this Anne Sommerlad 
design. The arrangement of the solid colours makes the 
little blocks glow. Oh, and it's a tiny A3 size (15.5" x 18") 
- not A4 as first exaggeratedly claimed here!

Noelle finished this beautiful quilt made with French General
fabrics, and hand delivered it to her daughter in London,
where this photo was taken! The applique was done by hand,
and it is hand and machine quilted.