March community sewing day (1)

We had no trouble keeping fourteen quilters busy last Thursday. It was a very hot day for mid-March, so we are very grateful for the air conditioning in our sewing space.

The first four of eight quilt tops for pin basting.

Marg K and Robin's quilts both have vibrant yellow backings ...

... Jill chose the dramatic Sarah Fielke print (donated by
Material Girls Down Under) from the community stash,
and a length of a Tula Pink design from her own stash
to back the two tops she made.

Helen's 2017 end-of-year challenge quilt is now basted,
with a navy and pink floral stripe backing

Lynette collected spotty fabrics from the community stash
and 'elsewhere'

Julie added a border to a donated quilt top,
and it too is now basted ready for quilting.

Lynette magicked up a Hunter star quilt top, that we
basted on Thursday. It is possibly quilted by now.

Weekend reading

Some quilty reading for the weekend ...

The quilts of Alias Grace: identification and tutorial roundup
Sew Mama Sew, 31 January 2018

'Alias Grace' is a 6-episode Netflix series based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name. (She’s also the author of the book and series, The Handmaid’s Tale.) I’ve seen many people rave about the show on social media–it is a great thriller–but my quilting friends seem to love it the most. And no wonder–quilts, quilting, and quilt patterns play powerful metaphorical and symbolic roles in the plot ...

Women's Quilt
Sienna Rodgers, House and Garden (UK), 7 March 2017

The Women's Quilt is a UK project that aims to raise awareness of domestic violence against women. First exhibited in 2017, it is on display at London's South Bank for International Women's Day 2018.

Designer profile: meet Janelle Noack

Melisa Luong, Cosy Project, 14 November 2017 

Janelle Noack lives in the very rural NSW Riverina town of Dirnaseer. In fact the town has a population of just 170! It is farming country and that’s exactly the life Janelle has led ... Quilt making for Janelle began when her youngest daughter started school. “I always had some needlework, knitting or sewing on the go; but now it is all about making quilts,” she reveals. “My first quilt is about 20 years old, a log cabin that I made from leftover dress fabrics ...

Varied show and tell

This week's show a tell was a great mix of clothing, bags, blocks and quilts not-quite-finished ... 

Diana modelled her jacket made in a two-day workshop
with Lyn Hewitt. She chose the rich gold and navy fabric
without realising that the pattern was for a reversible jacket,
but she decided the gold fabric was never going on the
inside, so she lined it with and 'ordinary' navy fabric.
A reversible version is now on Diana's sewing agenda - a
good recommendation for the pattern and the workshop.

Not only does the jacket look good, it folds very flat
for packing, so would be good for travelling.

Hilary told us that she was going to show us the world's most
boring quilt - but she was wrong! The feature fabric in the alternate
blocks features opera houses and opera related prints. The quilt
started as a narrow bed runner for an opera loving friend, but it
told Hilary it needed to be a full sized quilt.  We loved it.

Sharron made a Very Big Bag - it would be ideal for carrying
 a big quilt, or travelling for a week or so!

Hilary (who made Sewmiriam bags for everyone in her book
club for Christmas), took some of the left over blocks recently
donated to our community quilts program, and started to
make a quilt. But before she knew it they had become two
bags to be donated the craft stall at our quilt show in April!

Jenn took the concept of  see-through pockets in a sewing
 supplies pouch, repeated it on the inside, and re-sized it to fit
in her handbag for easy carrying, especially for the waiting
(i.e. hand-sewing) time at her young children's activities.

English paper piecing supplies, always on hand!

Jill joined an Instagram based 'sewalong' started by two Canberra
quilters, to make a quilt/blocks from Elizabeth Hartman's 2014
book Patchwork City. She is making the Eastside quilt using
the 25 5" x 8" blocks designs ( plus 11 duplicates to make it bigger) 
and put them together in the Eastside layout. Now for quilting.
Check out #patchworkcitysewalong2018 to see what others
are doing and/or to join in.

There are 75 original new  block patterns in Patchwork City,
which is readily available from Australian booksellers,
online and in a Kindle edition.

Janet is waiting for a delivery of fabric for a big project, so she
is using the time to catch up a little with her Splendid Sampler
blocks - she is half way through the 100 blocks, and it has been
interrupted for a while, but it is still very much on the 'to do' list.

Community quilts

The community quilt sewing does not all happen at community sewing days. Every week, someone will hand over a quilt top, or a finished quilt, some of which we know about, some a delightful surprise. Sometimes it's a length of fabric for backing or binding, or a quilt made by others that another member has sewn the binding on - our members are generous, and thoughtful.

Robin W has a considerable stash of beautiful blue fabrics,
and she has generously shared some of it in this lovely
quilt top for our community quilts collection. 

The gorgeous saturated turquoise background fabric is
actually a cross-hatch print with a darker blue overlay.

Margaret K likes to make quilts for children, and she does
so often for our community collection. This one features
a sweet vintage-look print, and was quilted by Julie.

A fun log-cabin variation, made by Margaret K
- such bright, happy colours.

First autumn show and tell

The purists will insist that it isn't autumn until the equinox, but the cooler days and the rain  here in Sydney are so welcome, we're happy to claim autumn and better quilting weather this week ... and just look at the gorgeous things we've seen so far.

Yvette 's tote bag looks great made with strips for the exterior,
 and stabilised with a fusible foam bag batting that is now
widely available in Australia under several brand names.

Yvette made Blueberry Ice for her sister, from a free McCalls 
pattern, now available from the Quilting Company, here. 
You can see that she is way past the 'practice' stage on 
her longarm, and her piecing skills are spot-on too.

Laurel was a first-time visitor this week. She had just collected
her Drunkard's Path quilt from the machine quilter on her way.
It is for family members who chose purple and goldy-mustards.
Asked if she had hand-pieced the curves, Laurel replied
that she has taken curved piecing classes with Chris Jurd,
and curves don't frighten her!

Jill found eleven little Polaroid blocks from a five year
old swap in a cupboard. so she made some more, added
borders and made a baby quilt. Her sister hand-quilted it
and added the binding, ready for them to gift to a new
baby expected in the family in a couple of months.

The little fussy-cut centres of the Polaroid blocks are 2 1/2"
and the coloured borders made them up to 6" blocks.

Anna Maria Horner - Australian workshops and lectures 2018

XLN Fabrics has announced that designer Anna Maria Horner will be touring Australia in June/July 2018 for a series of workshops and lectures. A complete list of dates and locations is available on the XLN's Instagram post of 19 January and XLN's Facebook post of 19 January.

Sydney:  Monday 11 July and Tuesday 12 July, at Material Obsession (booking link)

Joie de vivre - including works by Cathy Jack-Coupland

Joie de vivre 

Kate Jones, Jude Rose, Cathy Jack-Coupland

3 - 25 March 2018
Artsite Galleries
165 Salisbury Road, Camperdown
11am - 5pm Wednesday - Sunday

Community quilts 2018 (2) - recent finishes

We've only had one community sewing day for 2018, but there has obviously been plenty of community sewing happening at other times ...

Finished quilts handed in since the beginning of 2018

Lynette, who always makes a major contribution to our community sewing, has been on a mission to finish things off this new year - she has finished, or completely made all of the quilts below:

Lynette started this quilt for herself about twenty years ago. When she came across it recently, the binding was made, ready to attach - so she quilted it and did just that.

These blocks were started by a former Fairholme member
- Lynette did some updating and remodelling.

Three sweet little quilts made from printed panels.

This week's show and tell

Janet's 'Safe Harbour', made from The Painted Quilt's pattern,
for her husband, recalls the maritime environment of Canada,
where she spent some of her childhood and college years. It will
be hanging in our Quilt Show in April, where you will be able
to see the finely detailed piecing, machine embroidery and
quilting up close.

Nerida has replaced the final border of her 'Sweet Sunday'
quilt - it was originally cream, but she is happy that the red print
is a better choice. A very sweet quilt.

Elaine W really got into the spirit of the 2017 end-of-year
challenge. This is her third finished quilt from others' ufos!
The red and white border blocks were left over from Yvette's
red and white version of The Farmer's Wife, come to life as
a pretty medallion. Another excellent remake.

Robyn B had a a stroke of genius and asked her local
bootmaker to attach the handles she chose for new bag!

Pat's quilt for her sister Ann is finished, and ready to be
gifted for her birthday.

Patchwork, applique, crochet, embroidery - Robyn L is skilled in
them all. This bold embroidery on a linen panel will be a cushion.

Lyn L appliqued these cute pups for an expected grandchild,
who turned out to be twins.

Hilary is ready bind her second quilt for hanging in our
Quilt Show. A few hexagons left over from a previous
project grew into a whole new quilt - as they often do.