The Quilt Study Group of NSW (a sub-committee of The
Quilters’ Guild of NSW Inc.) held their April meeting at The Powerhouse
Museum on Saturday April 24th 2010. All members of the Guild are welcome to attend and there are no longer additional fees.
This event titled “Hexie Madness” was designed as a
giant ‘Show and Tell’ featuring hexagon quilts in all shapes and sizes.
Members were asked to bring and talk about their hexagon quilts. The
turn out was most impressive with over 40 participants and many, many
more quilts. Brigitte Giblin (who has been a previous guest speaker for
the Sydney Quilt Study Group) was unable to attend but kindly sent 4 of
her recent quilts plus a number of quilts by her students. They all
feature hexagons, some in conjunction with appliqué and other paper
piecing designs.
Jennifer Corkish brought a number of her quilts,
again incorporating hexagons within the design and she even had a few
new and unfinished designs for students to anticipate making in future
classes. A number of her students also brought along their hexie quilts
made in Jennifer’s classes.
Pam Curtis could not attend but generously sent her prize winning hexie quilts for us to look at.
Daphne Massie brought the first block in her project
to replicate an old quilt found by her daughter; hopefully she will
bring more blocks to future meetings.
The highlight of the show was the quilt made by
Nolene McGuran which won Best of Show at the Quilters’ Guild of NSW Inc.
quilt show some years ago. Unfortunately we did have any quilt stands
so we couldn’t show this masterpiece of design to its fullest potential
but at the end we laid it out on the floor so everyone could get a good
look.
At the end of the meeting the room was ringed with
tables piled high with hexie quilts. I was so busy running around I
didn’t get the chance to count them or to get the names of many of the
makers - my apologies. Most of the members of the audience were fans of
“Hexie” quilts, and those who weren’t left the meeting as converts. For
example, on a recent Guild bus trip to Wagga Wagga, Margy Syrette was
surrounded by quilters making hexagons of various sizes so she decided
to try her hand at doing some. She was delighted to present her
completed quilt.
There was so much to inspire us with the variety of
design and fabric. It was a great day. Thank you to all who came along
for bringing along your hexie masterpieces and helping publicise this
most wonderful madness! Sandra Lyons.
