Featured Quilter for 2017

We're pleased to announce that Anne Sommerlad is our featured quilter for the 2017 Springwood Community Quilt Show.

Anne is a Blue Mountains quilter and prolific pattern writer who teaches throughout Australia. If you haven't attended a class with her you have most likely seen her name appear in Australia's leading quilt magazines. She has just finished a DVD filming for Quilters Companion (#81) featuring machine applique products and also has projects in the current issues #80 and upcoming issues #82, #83.

Anne's techniques cross the whole spectrum of quilting from piecing, foundation piecing, machine and hand applique in styles from traditional to modern. Here are some pictures of just a few of her many quilts to show you the variety of styles she works in.

Chocolate Truffle

Catherine Wheels

Elizabeth Jefferson's Coverlet

Funky Felines

Hopscotch

 Free-Form Flowers

Raspberry Sundae

You can see we're in for a treat to see a whole display of her quilts taking center stage at the show! To see more of Anne's quilts visit her website and wander through the 5 pages of quilt patterns. With so many beautiful quilts to choose from it'll make you wonder how will she decide which ones to hang at the quilt show.

You can read more about Anne on her website, Anne Sommerlad Designs and follow her on Facebook here.

The raffle quilt goes to its new home

The winner of our 2016 raffle quilt was Lynda Toohey of Glenbrook.

Chris Jurd had the pleasure of delivering the 2016 Raffle Quilt to it's new home with Lynda this week. Luckily the sun came out for long enough to get these photos.

Lynda is an infants school teacher and a cross-stitcher and embroiderer. Although not a quilter herself, she can really appreciate all the hard work that went into the making of the quilt.

Lynda goes to Springwood Quilt Show every year with her sister to see the local entries. She made a special trip to the Sydney Quilt Show this year to have her photo taken with her prize winning quilt.

Lynda’s not sure whether she’ll hang the quilt on the wall in her lovely home or use it on a guest bed. Either way it will look wonderful.

2016 Sydney Quilt Show

The fun continues - we have more photos from the Sydney Quilt Show...

It's always a wonderful feeling to walk around the show and see quilts made by our wonderful Blue Mountains quilters amongst the many rows of quilts. Here are a few quilts made by quilters who are long time supporters of the Springwood Community Quilt Show. ( all quilts shown with permission from the quilters).

First up is Mariner's Carnivale made by Francoise Matter.

Francoise has used wonderful jewel tone fabrics perfectly to show off  Chris Jurd's Mariner's Madness pattern to it's best.

The description for Francoise's quilt reads:

"Mariner's Carnivale -  This quilt began at the Galong Retreat 2015. Our teacher was Chris Jurd. It was fun learning Foundation Piecing and using what I had in my stash."

Next up we have a beautiful Japanese inspired quilt called Fights of Fancy by Petal Davies. 

The description for this quilt reads - "Flights of Fancy is my representation of Japanese art and design using kimono silks and cotton fabrics and a range of techniques including Applique, Afghani piecing, hand and machine piecing , free machine embroidery and embellishment and soluble fabric."

The quilt includes so many beautiful details. The kimono silk adds a beautiful textural sheen. The quilting is reminiscent of Japanese raked sand zen gardens.

Petal Davies was the designer of The Springwood Community Quilt Shows 2011 Raffle Quilt, Mountain Magic.

From a Japanese garden to a Blue Mountains Aussie landscape. Suzanne Laird's 

Tree of Life - Mountain Bush Walk is a delight to behold.

Suzanne describes her quilt : 

"Tree of Life - Mountain Bush Walk

My interpretation of the Tree Of Life celebrates my bushwalking experiences in the Blue Mountains. Flower, Tree and Bird Forms were combined and reinterpreted in colours representing the delights of being in the bush. Cotton , linen varied threads."

Don't the flowers look happy, I'm sure those banksias are dancing. 

Such beautiful birds!! Suzanne's quilting also adds interest and an extra design feature through out the quilt.

And now for some shopping! 

There were quite a few familiar traders that also set up shop at the Springwood Quilt Show. I took all these photos first thing in the morning before the crowds of shoppers arrived. 

Lets say hello ...

Post Office Patchwork - Big smiles from Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains.

 Cherry Pie Designs - gorgeous quilts and beautiful fabrics.

Linen and Threads is the sister store of the Stitching Post in Katoomba.

Hatched and Patched, Anni Downs' stand was a wonderland of her unique designs.

Here's Karen ( on the right) from Sew Can I. Karen was working her magic at the Bernina Stand during the show. And yes - she did make her own tunic using Tula Pink fabric, isn't it great!

If you haven't already seen our award winning raffle quilt or want to see more Sydney Show quilts pop back and see the previous posts. 

Prize Winning Quilts

What a week at the Sydney Quilt Show! So many beautiful quilts as far as the eye can see. Of course the Springwood Community Quilt Show committee are still over the moon about our raffle quilt Lots of Dots winning first prize in the Group/Collaborative category. This makes 7 wins out of 10 years of entering our raffle quilts in the show, a great achievement.

Lots of Dots is a Chris Jurd design and the quilt was a group effort with members of the committee all pitching in to sew the blocks, assemble the quilt and of course our lovely Susie Anderson of Leura Quilting did the long arm quilting. 

Here are some of the members of the committee that made the quilt.  

Chris's smile says it all!

The Springwood Community Quilt Show is a not-for-profit show so the sponsors prizes are very much appreciated and will be great for utilising in our future raffle quilts and prizes for the show. 

Three cheers and many thanks to XLN fabrics for a very generous prize. They are the company that bring beautiful fabrics such as Kaffe Fasset and friends, Amy Butler and other Free Spirit designers, Marcus Fabrics and Quilting Treasures to our shores. Visit the XLN website to see the latest ranges. 

A huge big thank you to Accuquilt!! I took a photo of their stand early in the morning just before the show opened because for the rest of the show all you could see were the crowds milling around to learn more about their great products. 

Thank you so much to Vlieseline who sponsored a big bag of their products. There's lots of wonderful creations to be made with these.

The Springwood Quilt Show community had some other wins too!

Chris Jurd's String Stars won a Judges Commendation for String Stars quilt in the Small or Wall Quilt Professional category

The description reads - " "String Stars" foundation pieced using a modern palette and including varied borders. Machine and hand quilted with number 8 thread."

 Pamela Westmacott received a Judges Commendation for her quilt Razzle Dazzle in the Entrant's Top/Commercially Quilted, small quilt category

Pamela's description of the quilt reads - "Razzle Dazzle - a Chris Jurd class project pattern with my own design incorporated into this anything goes design. Another good scrap buster design of Chris's which is open to each individual's own interpretation. I enjoyed the challenge. "

The committee couldn't be more pleased that Rachaeldaisy's quilt Whizz Bang! won not just first place in the Mixed Techniques/Anything Goes category but also Best In Show!!

Whizz Bang! will be travelling around Australia to other Quilt and Craft shows but when it returns it will have it's turn to hang at the Springwood Community Quilt Show. 

To see more winning quilts from the Sydney Quilt Show visit the Prize winners Gallery here.

First Place!!!!

WooHoo!!! 

We are so pleased to announce that our 2016 raffle quilt Lots of Dots has won first place in the Group Collaborative category at the Sydney Show.

Chris Jurd, the designer of the quilt is proudly holding the First Place rosette, while the committee members who all helped make the quilt were doing the happy dance and cheering. 

A huge thanks to the sponsors and their generous prizes. 

XLN Fabrics

Accuquilt

Vlieseline

It was an amazing day all round but it whooshed by so quickly. We'll be back with more award winning quilts made by the Springwood Quilt Show community soon.

In the meantime you can see the award winning quilts on the QuiltNSW website and follow along their facebook page and Instagram for action packed updates.

Sydney Quilt Show 2016

Are you all set to visit The Sydney Quilt Show next week? 

Our raffle quilt, Lots of Dots will be one of the 400 quilts made by Quilt NSW members that will be on show as part of the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair.

Not only does the quilt show promise to be as amazing as ever but there will be some exciting displays being introduced this year. 

Hoop Display

An exciting sample of quilt hoops showcasing a diverse array of quilt styles will create an inviting entrance for visitors to the members area of the show. It sounds like a exhibit not to be missed.

Quilt NSW Groups

Quilt NSW Groups from around NSW will be displaying their work and be there on hand to chat to. This will be a great chance to see what different groups are doing, find out about their quilt shows or simply ask questions about being in a group.

Special Exhibitors

The two special exhibitors this year will be textile artist Carolyn Sharkey and quilter Merelyn Pearce. They will both have quilts on display for the duration of the show and giving floor talks each day.


Plus lots more - Meet the Teachers area, Quilt NSW Community Quilts demonstrations, and that's not mentioning any of the shopping.

Venue and transport

This is the last year the show will be held at Glebe Island before returning to the Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour. If you haven't seen the show at the current venue it's really worth seeing. The building is spacious and filled with light. There is lots of on site parking and the public transport is easy with free buses running from Central Station and free ferries from Darling Harbour and Circular Quay.

Handy links

Click on this this link for more information about getting to the show.
For more information about exhibits visit the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair website here
Keep up to date with the latest happenings on the Quilt NSW blog - Template Free.

But wait, there's more!

More photos from the show that is,  some random shots of people and quilts that haven't been shown yet. I don't think you can ever have too many photos of quilt shows.

Once again - Three cheers for all the wonderful volunteers who helped out throughout the show. Here is Kathy Mckenzie and Lorraine Lloyd doing a great job of receiving and organising the quilts as they arrived.

Some happy snaps overlooking the hall.

People admiring the quilts.

 The shops were busy all weekend!

I really wanted to take lots of photos of quilters next to their quilts but got caught up with other tasks. Next year I'll get more photos of quilters. I did get a couple though. Here is Liz Brockman next to her beautiful version of a Sue Spargo quilt called Bird Dance.

 Francoise Matter made this lovely quilt from a pattern by Susan Smith.

The show is always so full of colour and people that it's hard to believe an hour after the show has closed the hall looks like this.

 Most of the quilts are folded and ready for pick up and the frames ares just piles of poles. Another hour and the hall is empty.

One last photo. This shot was taken a few days after the show when Vicki M had washed the quilt block bunting and it was hanging on the line to dry in the autumn sun. As Vicki says " You know the quilt show is over when the bunting is washed and ironed".