Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#78 - 2016 i Quilters Companion

One of the things that’s wonderful about quiltmaking is how easy it is to source patterns and projects in a wide variety of styles, techniques and colours. Some of us might find a preferred way of working early on and stick with it throughout a lifetime of stitching. For others, there may be joy in trying lots of different approaches or staying abreast of new trends. Another common path is for beginners to be heavily influenced by those who introduce them to the joy of quilts before, over time, exploring and developing a personal style. Clare has assembled a wonderful mix of projects again in this issue, covering almost the whole gamut of possibilities. At one end of the spectrum is Katrina Hadjimichael’s machine-appliquéd, two-colour quilt, which also features Belinda…

Finished size: 137cm (54in) square Materials ❖ 3.5m (3¾yd) solid red fabric ❖ 3.2m (3½yd) cream and red print fabric ❖ 3.1m (3⅜yd) backing fabric ❖ Batting at least 155cm (60in) square ❖ Fusible web ❖ Machine-embroidery thread to match the fabrics ❖ Paper for foundation piecing — newsprint, tracing paper, freezer paper or the like ❖ Compass ❖ Standard and 80/12 jeans needles for the sewing machine ❖ Rotary cutter, ruler and mat ❖ Sewing machine with open-toe embroidery and ¼in feet ❖ General sewing supplies Note: Instructions are provided for fusible appliqué stitched by machine, but you can readily adapt them if you prefer a different method. The fabric for the appliqué background is initially cut oversize, then trimmed after the appliqué has been completed. The dogtooth borders…

Gillian has studied the award winners at the International Quilt Show in Houston over many years, particularly watching out for her favourite quiltmakers, such as David Taylor and Hollis Chatelain. “There are many wonderful quilt shows around the world,” she said, “but Houston does seem to capture the best every time. I lean towards creating art quilts of people, especially children, and observing what others are doing has been an inspiration for developing my own technique. However, I hadn’t ever entered a quilt in Houston myself. “I read the book 3 Cups of Tea – One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson years ago and, since then, I’ve followed the work of his Central Asian Institute (CAI) online in their efforts to…

Be there on the dot A dedicated group of quiltmakers from the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney have been busy making a fabulous quilt to be raffled at this year’s Springwood Community Quilt Show. The show, to be held from Friday April 22– Sunday April 24 at Springwood High School in Faulconbridge, will include a display of more than 150 quilts made by Blue Mountains quilters. In addition, one of QC’s most popular designers, Chris Jurd, will be the show’s featured quilter, with a special exhibition of her work. It was very fitting, therefore, that one of Chris’ award-winning quilts, Lots of Dots, was chosen as the design for the 2016 raffle quilt. The 26 individual circular blocks were made by a number of different quiltmakers using foundation piecing,…

March 12–13 Castlemaine Threadbear’s Appliqué Group’s 2nd Exhibition; Castlemaine Market Building, 44 Mostyn Street, Castlemaine Vic. A showcase and celebration of the quilts made by the members (both professional and amateur) with no judging or prizes. Proceeds go to Emma House in Warrnambool. Open 10am– 4pm. Entry $7. More information: Phone Corliss or Megan on (03) 5472 1881 or email info@threadbear.com.au. March 18–20 Barwon Heads Seachange Quilters of Barwon Heads Quilt Show; Barwon Heads Community Hall, Cnr Hitchcock Ave & Ozone Rd, Barwon Heads Vic. Raffle quilt, guessing competitions, handmade goods for sale, refreshments available. Open Fri 4pm–7pm, Sat–Sun 1 0am–4pm.. March 19 Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh Friendship Quilters’ ‘Quilt In’, in conjunction with Victorian Quilters’ Summer Gathering; Bacchus Marsh Public Hall (opposite Foodworks service station), Main Street, Bacchus Marsh…

A1 Craft and Quilting Ph: 0438 877 664, email: normabradley@bigpond.com, website: www.craftandquilting.com A Little Patch of Country 63 Princes Highway, Trafalgar, Vic 3824. Ph: (03) 5633 2311, email: sales@littlepatch.com.au, website: www.littlepatch.com.au A Piece of Cloth Ph: 0416 052 585, email: studio@apieceofcloth.com.au, website: www.apieceofcloth.com.au Australian Machine Quilters Festival Ph: 0448 256 214, email: info@amqfestival.com.au, website: www.amqfestival.com.au Appleyard Cottage Minto NSW 2566 (visits by appointment only). Ph: (02) 9603 4671, 0407 416 053, email: veronica@appleyardcottage.com.au, website: www.appleyardcottage.com.au Ascot Lane Distributors Unit 2/6 Woodbine Court, Wantirna South, Vic 3152. Ph: (03) 9801 6359, email: sales@ascotlane.com.au, website: ascotlane.com.au Asia Discovery Tours Suite 1302, Level 13, 370 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Ph: (02) 9267 7699, fax: (02) 9267 7866, website: http://asiadiscoverytours.com.au BeBe Bold Contemporary Japanese Textiles 25 Elton Street, Lismore, NSW 2480. Ph: (02)…

Finished size: 208cm (82in) square Finished block size: 18in square Materials ❖ 2.5m (2¾yd) dark blue print fabric ❖ 55cm (⅝yd) aqua print fabric ❖ 50cm (½yd) cream and aqua print fabric ❖ 90cm (1yd) orange print fabric ❖ 55cm (⅝yd) yellow tone-on-tone print fabric ❖ 50cm (½yd) cream and orange print fabric ❖ 2.2m (2⅜yd) solid white fabric ❖ 2.3m (2⅝yd) extra-wide (275cm/108in) backing fabric ❖ Batting at least 230cm (90in) square ❖ Rotary cutter, ruler and mat ❖ Sewing machine with ¼in foot ❖ General sewing supplies www.quilterscompanion.wordpress.com Cut the fabric From the dark blue print fabric, cut: ❖ five strips, 4in x width of fabric. Cross cut them to yield a total of 32 squares, 4in (A) and 16 rectangles, 4in x 4½in (C) ❖ one strip,…

How did you come up with the idea for this quilt? In 2015, the Quilters’ Guild of New South Wales challenged members and other textile artists to make a quilt in response to the theme “Evolution, Change, Challenge — A Contemporary Quilt”. Quilts that were juried into the exhibition were to be hung at the Hazelhurst Gallery and Arts Centre during August and September to coincide with the Labours of Love: Australian Quilts from 1850–2015 exhibition that was being held at the same gallery. The evolution and change theme spurred my thoughts. Exactly 20 years earlier I had made a quilt and entered it for the Australia Dreaming, Quilts to Nagoya exhibition that the Guild organised. At the time I really had no idea what I was doing — I…

Finished size: 198cm x 137cm (78in x 54in) Materials For the front of the quilt ❖ Assorted print fabrics to total approximately 1.6m (1¾yd) (blocks) ❖ 15cm (¼yd) black print fabric (sashing) ❖ 65cm (¾yd) scarlet print fabric (sashing and binding) ❖ 2m (2¼yd) solid white fabric (background) ❖ For the pieced back of the quilt — see note ❖ 20cm (¼yd) black print fabric ❖ 20cm (¼yd) scarlet print fabric ❖ 3.6m (4yd) solid white fabric Other requirements ❖ Batting at least 215cm x 155cm (84in x 60in) ❖ Rotary cutter, ruler, square ruler and mat ❖ White machine thread ❖ Sewing machine with ¼in and walking feet ❖ General sewing supplies Note: If you don’t wish to make a double-sided quilt but plan to use a standard single-fabric…

For this article I thought I would write about quilting gloves. Recently, while demonstrating at the Quilt and Craft shows nationally, I was astounded by the number of people asking me why I wear gloves while quilting. To me, a good glove is essential when using my sewing machine for either quilting or appliquéing. When manufacturing 100 per cent cotton fabrics for our quilting needs, the manufacturers include some chemical finishes on the fabrics to enhance the feel, texture, drape, handle and firmness of the fabric. These finishes can make the fabric slippery and hinder your grip on it, resulting in a loss of control over your quilt. Using a quilting aid on your hands greatly improves grip and control of your quilts. There are many options to help us…

Echidna Sewing Products Address: (Head Office) 56 Neumann Road, Capalaba Qld 4157 Phone: 1800 000 360 Email: sales@echidnaclub.com.au Website: www.echidnaclub.com.au The new Brother ScanNCut CM900 is packed with lots of great features including a 30 per cent larger screen, a 12in x 24in scanning area, wireless network connection, enhanced scanning, 1102 designs and 15 built-in fonts and SVG data readability. It cuts precise fabric shapes with ease, making sewing, quilting and appliqué projects easier to create than ever before. It has the ability to read Brother embroidery files containing appliqué stitch data for cutting appliqué pieces. Get creative with built-in shapes, intricate designs, borders, quilt patterns, fonts plus much more. You can also use ScanNCut Canvas, a free cloud-based web application, to edit and design your own cutting files. Price:…

Quiltmakers who don’t design their own projects are often unable to imagine how they might make a start in doing so. If you don’t have a background in designing original works and you’ve never undertaken any formal studies in the area, if you don’t perceive yourself as being especially artistic or creative, it can feel quite foreign to even dream that you might be able to develop a quilt pattern for yourself — let alone one that other people would be willing to buy. Time and time again we read in interviews with quilt designers that they get their inspiration from “everywhere”. But how does that work — do they just wake up each morning with three brilliant ideas for new projects? After all, the rest of us are also…

Finished size: 203cm (80in) square Materials ❖ 70cm (¾yd) brown and blue spot print fabric ❖ 45cm (½yd) red floral print fabric (centre panel and pieced setting triangles) ❖ 25cm (⅜yd) red print fabric (centre panel, Borders 1 and 3) ❖ 20cm (¼yd) cream and gold paisley print fabric (centre panel and Border 1) ❖ 35cm (⅜yd) cream print fabric (centre panel, pieced setting triangles and Border 2) ❖ 75cm (⅞yd) blue and gold paisley print fabric (pieced setting triangles and Border 2) ❖ 65cm (¾yd) red on cream print fabric (centre panel, pieced setting triangles, and Border 3) ❖ 40cm (½yd) tan print fabric (centre panel and pieced setting triangles) ❖ 20cm (¼yd) light blue print fabric(pieced setting triangles) ❖ 60cm (¾yd) olive green print fabric (centre panel, pieced…

In 2008, Leonie West designed her unique set of Westalee adjustable quilting rulers after becoming frustrated with traditional tools. These rulers went on to be featured on the ABC’s New Inventors in that year and won the Grand Final People’s Choice Award. Not a girl to rest on her laurels, Leonie has been working on another great invention for quilters: a ruler foot for domestic sewing machines. This foot is like a hopping foot used on longarm machines and is designed to be used with shaped, acrylic templates for free motion, decorative quilting designs. The ruler foot comes in four versions: a low, medium, high and high-shank special. You will need to purchase the correct foot for your machine as the amount of room at the bottom of the presser…

Tools Of The Trade Sewing Machine – Any machine can be used for quiltmaking. It is helpful to have a darning foot as an attachment for the machine for free machine quilting. Iron and ironing board – Make these readily available near your sewing machine so that all seams can be pressed to assist in accurate piecing. Needles – Most quilters favour a ‘between’ needle, size 8-12 for both hand-sewing and hand-quilting. Size 12, the smallest size, is usually used by very experienced quilters. Sewing Thread – Use any cotton or cotton-covered polyester thread. For machine quilting, use cotton, cottoncovered polyester, monofilament or decorative threads. Scissors – Have one pair with sharp points for cutting fabric and a second pair for paper. Marking Tools – Quilters use marking tools for…