February 2014 Friday Showcase

The first Friday Showcase for 2014 of The Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc., will have Sydney quilter Beverly Hunter as Guest presenter.

Bev is a frequent attendee at Friday Showcase and is always complimentary about the creative pursuits of fellow quilters, however, as can be seen by these images, Bev is herself, an extremely accomplished piecer, applique devotee and hand quilter.

  

She particularly enjoys the peace and tranquility that hand work involves, having first raided her extensive scrap bag, considered her colours, and designed fresh settings and placements to traditional block designs.

This careful and methodical approach has resulted in her quilts winning prizes at the many quilt shows she enjoys exhibiting at.

Please come and share in the visual delight of Bev's Quilts ... as she says ..."Quilts do the talking"

Dates : Friday 7th February

Time : 10am start.

Venue : Guild Office

             Level 5

             276 Pitt St, Sydney.

All Welcome!

2014 Quilt Show Entry Form

The next Sydney Quilt Show runs from Wednesday, 9 July to Sunday 13 July 2014 (not June) at the Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island Expo facility (not Darling Harbour). Entry forms are posted out to members with the Guild newsletter in February. You can also download:

• 2014 Quilt Show Entry Form (460KB PDF) 
• 2014 Quilt Show Volunteer Form (94 KB PDF).

The closing date for entries is Friday 14 March 2014. Please direct any queries to the Exhibition Secretary.

To enter a quilt in the Sydney Quilt Show, you must be a member of the Guild for the financial year. Membership is due 1 July each year for the year ending the following June.  Download a Membership Application Form (196KB PDF).

This is an overview of the categories and awards for 2014. (And don't forget the Red & White Special Category next year in 2015!)

CATEGORIES
Amateur:
1.  Traditional – Includes wholecloth, crazy, partial appliqué, hand and/or machine pieced and quilted.  Minimum size 120cm x 120cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
  1.1  Predominantly Hand Quilted
  1.2  Predominantly Machine Quilted
2. Predominantly Appliqué - Hand and/or machine pieced and quilted. More than 75% must be appliquéd.  Minimum size 120cm x 120cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
3. Small or Wall Quilt – Minimum size 40cm x40cm. Maximum size 150cm x 150cm
4. First-time Entrant - First entry into any State/Territory Guild's judged exhibition or competition or any National/International     judged exhibition or competition.  Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
5. Novice Quiltmaker– First time entrant where the quiltmaker started quilting after 1 January 2010.      Maximum size 290cm x 290cm

Professional:
6.  Traditional – Includes wholecloth, crazy, partial appliqué, hand and/or machine pieced and quilted.   Minimum size 120cm x 120cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
7.  Predominantly Appliqué - hand and/or machine pieced and quilted. More than 75% must be appliquéd.   Minimum size 120cm x 120cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
8.   Small or Wall Quilt – Minimum size 40cm x 40cm. Maximum size 150cm x 150cm

Open:
9.  Mixed Techniques–Anything Goes! Including embroidery, crazy quilting, embellishment, painting, trapunto and felting.  Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
10. Miniature – may be either scaled down patterns or your own original design, including postcards.  Maximum perimeter 200cm
11. Art Quilt - to be of an original design.  Maximum size 290cm any one side
12. Pictorial Quilt - To be of an original design and a representation of a person, place or thing.  Maximum size 290cm any one side
13. Group/Collaborative Quilt – made by 3 or more people  Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
14.1 Commercially Machine Quilted Quilt:Large- the entrant’s top, commercially machine quilted by another. Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
14.2 Commercially Machine Quilted Quilt:Small- the entrant’s top, commercially machine quilted by another. Maximum size 200cm x 200cm
15. Modern - New Traditions From Old Favourites - Modern quilts including those inspired by traditional block structures but  reinterpreted using non-traditional layouts. Maximum size 290 x 290 cm

Junior Quiltmaker:
16.   Junior Member A (up to Year 6) – Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
17.   Junior Member B (Years 7-12 including Year 12 work from 2013) –     Maximum size 290cm x 290cm

Special Awards include :

• Best Of Show
• Bernina Amateur Encouragement Award
• Bernina Junior Encouragement Award
• Retaining The Tradition Award
• Best Quilt Inspired By An Antique Quilt Award
• Creative Use of Colour
• Contemporary Art Quilt Award
• Best Hand Made Quilt
• Best Use Of Dyes & Pigments
• Excellence in Quilting Awards: - Hand Quilting (Amateur), Hand Quilting (Open), Amateur Domestic Machine Quilting, Domestic Machine Quilting (Open), Long Arm Machine Quilting
• Viewers’ Choice
• Hangers' Prize

Block of the Quarter

A simple and graphic stash-buster : The Four H - 9 inch Block  

Utilising just reds, blues and white, the pieces for this block are easily rotary cut, with one unit taking less than 1/2 hour to construct.

Please refer to page 30 of The Template November 2013 for accurate piecing instructions.

Either :  Post your completed self-named blocks to the Guild Office by Tuesday 11 February 

      or :  Bring blocks to the Burwood Meeting on  Saturday 15 February and hand in at the Welcome  Table.

All blocks go into the draw, and winner takes all.

Welcoming in a New Year of Creativity

The Guild Office is once again "Open for Business", and visitors in the near future can treat themselves to the loan of these library books...

With "Modern" quilts being the buzz word of late, it is worth exploring just how some quilts are attaining this new label.

The 9-13 July 2014, Glebe Island, Sydney Quilt Show has a rephrased Open Category Exhibition component : Modern - New Traditions from Old Favourites.

How can we as exhibitors or attendees accurately interpret and appreciate the subtleties of these entries?

Here are some identifying features of a "Modern Quilt":

• Big boxy pieced shapes in fresh colour palettes
• Graphic and dynamic designs using solid colours with contemporary flair
• Think "Modern Art"
• Pared back colour schemes : Less is More!
• Off center design construction 
• Dominant shapes using bright pops of colour, to provide stark contrast against "new" neutrals

The Guild Library is bursting with ideas. 

"Old" and Traditional designs can become Modern and Dynamic, just with a shift in interpretation , and these publications can spin one's thinking into new directions.

Please visit!