Upcoming Quilt Shows

The Illawarra Quilters are holding their quilt show this weekend!! 

It's going to be an action packed weekend with lots of beautiful quilts on show and traders tables. They will be running workshops over the weekend, including Material Obsession teaching 60degree shapes, My Sewing Supplies teaching fussy cutting, Berry Quilt and Co is demonstrating how to make a Boro Bag, and Kate's Quilts is demonstrating Jen Kingwell's Halo Quilt. 

If you are interested email illawarraquilters@gmail.com or visit their facebook page, Illawarra Quilters facebook.

They even found a hall with a sewing related name - Ribbonwood Centre, in Dapto. 

All the details are on the flyer below. 

Have you heard about the Australian Modern Quilt Show that is to be held in Sydney on the weekend of November 25th and 26th?

It's shaping up to be a very special show with not just one but two overseas guests - fabric and quilt designers Anna Marie Horner and Carolyn Friedlander. Tickets are on sale now for their workshops and talks. 

You'll find more information on the Modern Quilt Show blog

or their facebook page . 

Not long now!

Show entries close tomorrow - hope we've got enough for an impressive display of local quilters' work!

As soon as we have all entries in we can start planning the layout - a massive task capably handled by Marilyn with all her draughting skills. Then it's Chris' task to produce the paperwork for the building of the frames and the actual hanging of the quilts - row by row.

Once the frames are ordered it's just a countdown to the Tuesday before the show opens when it all starts to happen in the hall. Willing helpers are everywhere marking the rows and building the frames for the quilts to hang on.

Thursday we actually hang the quilts and tweak the display for the opening on Friday at 10am. Can hardly wait!

On a different matter.....

We've been given a blogger's award - tho I don't know why because our posts have been few and far between lately! Jenni from Tapestry Moon has given our blog the Liebster Award

Here are all the details about the Liebster Blog award:

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

The Springwood Quilt Show blog is passing the award on to:

Mandy from http://mand-a-lin.blogspot.com.au/

Bjorg from http://bjobrablogg.blogspot.com.au/ (a follower from Norway)

Dee from http://pxpdeeozpq.blogspot.com.au/

Janelle from http://www.janellenoack.blogspot.com.au/

Lorna from http://ozquilter.blogspot.com.au/

On the road

the raffle quilt that is. Beautifully quilted and bound by Suzie Anderson from Leura Quilting.

It has started it's journey around our favourite local quilt shops to finish up at the show in April.

First stop was Karen Cunningham's Summer School in Blackheath then off to the Home Patch in Bathurst.

These pictures don't really do justice to the quilt - it is so much better in the flesh with lots of feathers surrounding the seven sisters blocks.

Doesn't the quilting look great from the back.

This little beauty is 2nd prize in the raffle. Pieced and quilted by our meeting co-ordinator Suzanne.

Lyn Alchin has agreed to be our guest quilter at the show. Can't wait to see all her beautiful work on display. She'll have patterns and bits and pieces for sale as well.

Our bookmark/flyers have arrived and will be going out to shops even as we speak. Keep your eye out for them - they have all the information you need to find your way to Springwood High School Hall on the last weekend in April.

Applications have been lodged with the RTA and all our bridge banners are being dusted off ready for hanging.

Entry forms are also being finalised and will be down-loadable (is that even a word!) from the sidebar of this blog early in February.

It's all hotting up and looking to be bigger and better than last year so stay tuned!

AND THE WINNERS ARE.........

Viewers choice with the most number of votes was "Dear Jane"

pieced by Julie Clarke

It was a very close count for 2nd and 3rd place, "Lots of Dots"

made by Chris Jurd came in 2nd

with "Just for Me" made by Wendy Spring close behind for 3rd place.

Well done ladies!!
The Springwood Community Quilt Show is not a judged show, visitors are given a viewers choice slip so they can nominate the quilt that stands out for them. These are placed in a box and counted daily. These slips are pinned to the corresponding quilts so the owner of the quilt gets to read any comments after they collect their quilt at the end of the show.

Congratulations to all the entrants in this year's show. The event would not happen if we did not have your beautiful work to display. If you are a local quilter please consider entering the show next year - last weekend in April and you can be part of this exciting event.

The committee would like to thank all our hardworking volunteers who gave their time over the three days of the show. Building the stands for the quilts, hanging the quilts (150 of them),

manning the entry desk, selling raffle tickets and helping in the canteen to name just a few jobs they performed. I almost forgot the pulling down of the quilts and stands. There were so many helpers it was done in record time - thanks again!

So many wonderful and inspirational quilts again this year. I know I am already thinking what I can do for the 2012 show, aren't you?

Raffle results soon.

Last meeting

SHOW BAGS
Big news at this months meeting, our first shopping tote bag arrived. We have ordered 500. Going by the general response, they may end up a collector’s item! The following year we will use a different colour for the bag, so make sure you pick one up as you enter the show or from any of the traders stalls in the hall, only $2 each.

Scenes from the last meeting and a few notes from Vicki our publicity officer.

Christmas and the holidays are well behind us now. As February looms, so does the first Quilt Show meeting for the year. A few members of the committee were unable to attend due to teaching, work and family commitments. None the less we soldier on. Lots to discuss and some final decisions to be made. Our secretary, Suzanne takes notes throughout the meeting and sends them to all members within the week as the official minutes.

HIGHWAY BANNERS
The news doesn’t stop there. This year we have been fortunate enough to have three more roadside banners made. We have been waiting on permission from RTA for a spare bridge over the Great Western Highway to be able to hang them. Starting from 4th April 2011 you should see a banner or two around. Very distinctive is our new Show logo. A schoolhouse block! A lot of thought went into it, and as one committee member pointed out, we have been holding the Quilt Show at a school for six years, why look any further!! How appropriate! The colour is Shiraz.
ENTRY FORMS
Emails will be sent out shortly with the entry form attached. Entry forms will also be distributed at local patchwork shops. If your quilt isn’t quite finished, don’t despair, get the entry form to us and you still have a small amount of time to finish. Everyone loves to see quilts. Large and small. Those with a story attached, from pictorial to the classic.

We try to squeeze in 150 – 200 quilts. So if you are entering more than one quilt, read the entry form carefully, as you have the choice of which ones get to be exhibited, if we are in the position of receiving too many. Keeping the show to a certain number of quilts, allows an adequate size of space for the traders, and plenty of space in between the rows of quilts for us admirers to stand back and admire. This also allows us camera happy people to take snaps of our favourites.

BOOK MARKS/FLYERS
Today we were very pleased to have our 2011 Quilt Show book marks from the printers.
Thanks to Petal’s colourful raffle quilt, this year they will certainly stand out at all the usual venues. The decision to promote the Springwood Quilt Show using bookmarks was decided on a few years back as a handy item for us girls to have in our diaries, handbags or on the fridge. Collect one for yourself and a friend from your local patchwork shop, library, selected shops and tourist information centre. If you know of a venue we may have missed, let us know, by clicking on the email icon, we would love to hear from you.

It just wouldn’t be a meeting without the supper! Suzie did a splendid job and to prove we do watch what we eat, a small slice of cake was left. Nice plate Suzie!

Keep an eye on our blog with a count down to show time!!!

The raffle quilt Mountain Magic pictured above and designed by Petal Davies has started it's journey around the shops. Here is your chance to buy a ticket in this beautiful piece - it's at
Michelle Marvig's Patchwork Heart in Penrith at the moment. Tickets are $2 each and the proceeds go to Springwood High School and our local RFS group.
2nd prize in the raffle is a Bernina sewing machine kindly donated by The Stitching Post in Katoomba - gotta be in it to win it as they say!
Now check this out - handy carry bags with our show logo on the front. Available at the show for $2 from all stallholders so you can cart all those goodies you've bought around in style.

We have also received our bookmark flyers advertising the show and these will be available in the near future at a quilt shop near you. It gives details of the opening hours and includes a map on the reverse to help you find us.

Entry forms for the show will be available soon from local quilt shops so keep your eyes peeled if you'd like to display your quilting efforts.

We encourage all local quilters to enter something in this community event. It's not a juried show but there are viewers choice prizes and lots of other things like lucky door prizes each day.

There'll be more news about the show more frequently now that there are only 97 days to go!! The counter at the top takes a little while to load but it will keep us all on our toes I can tell you.

So keep us in your favourites and we'll keep you informed about what's happening as soon as we can.

Progress

At out recent quilt show meeting we continued to work on the raffle quilt for next year under the watchful eye of Petal - the designer of the beautiful quilt.

We sewed ...........


and we cut ....................


and we made rocks and grass and all sorts of foliage from disolvable "plastic" hospital bags.

This is a smaller version of the end result and would you believe there are Magnum ice-cream wrappers in there somewhere! What will these art quilters think of next?

It has been an interesting exercise for those of us who are more traditional quilters and Petal is a fabulous teacher of all things associated with this technique.

We are on a mission to improve our signage for the show and will be purchasing new banners for the highway bridges and foam-core signs to point the way to the venue over the three days of the show next April.

Stay tuned for more information on the show as it evolves over the next nine months.

Posts With The Most

In my travels on the net it's always fun to come across things people have said about the Springwood Quilt Show. Here's some links to some bloggers' pages who have posts about the show.

Janice from jannimary came all the way from the Central Tablelands, NSW, to see the show.

r00ruu mentions the delicious refreshments the students of the High School provide.

Jenny of Stitches and Seams had a stall at the show. See photos of it, and some lovely quilts here.

Chris from Patchwork Fundamentals has a post with pictures of the unique treasures stall and more wonderful photos of quilts.

Rachael (that's me) from Blue Mountain Daisy has her view of being a first time entrant and volunteer at the show.

If you've done a post about the show or do in the future make sure you let us know and we'll create a link.

In the beginning

Welcome everyone to the first of many posts about the Springwood High School Community Quilt Show for 2011. How exciting to be up and running in blogland!
This is where you'll come to find out the latest news on what's happening in the lead-up to next year's show to be held over three days from 29th April to 1st May 2011.
Work has already started on the raffle quilt for next year which is being designed by Petal Davies and it's all hands on deck by members of the committee to do justice to her great vision.

Here's a sneak preview of the first layout of Petal's rendition of our wonderful Blue Mountains scenery to be depicted in a variety of fabrics and techniques.
Below is the box of 150 fat quarters we received as first prize for last years raffle quilt in the Group Category at Darling Harbour.
The ones in front will be incorporated in the quilt with others to be pieced as the backing.

We've started early for next year as there'll be a lot of work going into this magnificent quilt so pop back regularly to keep up with whats happening and please leave a motivating comment.

If you've got any queries about the show don't hesitate to ask in the comment section or by email.