Sydney Quilt Show 2012 Button

The 30th annual members' exhibition of the Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc, the Sydney Quilt Show 2012 runs from 13-17 June 2012. Please assist in promoting the show by adding the 2012 quilt show button to your blog or website. Here is the html code:

<a href="http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/"><img src="http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshowbutton.jpg" alt="Sydney Quilt Show"  /></a>

If you have a Blogspot blog, go to Dashboard>Layout>Page Elements>Add Page Element. Choose "HTML/Javascript" as your page element, click "Add to Blog", cut and paste the code and click "Save Changes". On the "Add & Arrange" page elements page, you can drag and drop the button at the desired place in your side bar. The button should look like this.

Please contact the Guild Webmaster if you require assistance.

PS: If you downloaded the code for the previous quilt show buttons, you will see that it has been automatically updated to display the 2012 button - no further action required!

Guild Office Closed - 11 December to 9 January

This is a quick post to remind members that the Guild office will closes at 3.30pm today for the holidays and will reopen on Monday 10 January 2011. Library loans will be automatically extended for the period. (Please do not attempt to return any library books over the office holiday as the mail hold sometimes doesn't work for parcels.)

On a related note, this blog will be taking a holiday break too. Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season. If you are able to get some creative time over the summer, here is a list of categories and awards for the 2011 Sydney Quilt Show to assist you with planning your entry:

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
2. Predominantly Appliqué - Hand and/or machine pieced and quilted. At least 75% appliqué;
Minimum size 140cm x 140cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
3. Mixed Techniques – Anything Goes! Includes embroidery, crazy quilting, embellishment, painting, trapunto and felting. Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
4. Small or Wall Quilt – Minimum size 50cm x50cm. Maximum size 150cm x 150cm
5. First-time Entrant - First entry into The Quilters’ Guild of NSW Inc Members’ Show. 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. At least 75% appliqué;
Minimum size 140cm x 140cm: maximum size 290cm x 290cm
8. Mixed Techniques–Anything Goes! Including embroidery, crazy quilting, embellishment, painting, trapunto and felting. Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
9. Small or Wall Quilt – Minimum size 50cm x50cm. Maximum size 150cm x 150cm

Open:
10. Miniature – may be either scaled down patterns or your own original design, including postcards and journal quilts. Maximum perimeter 200cm
11. Art Quilt - to be of an original design with no similarity to the works of another Artist.
Maximum size 290cm any one side
12. Pictorial Quilt - To be of an original design and a representation of a person, place or thing with no similarity to the works of another artist. Maximum size 290cm any one side
13. Group/Collaborative Quilt – made by 3 or more people, including at least one Guild member.
Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
14. Commercially Machine Quilted Quilt - the entrant’s top, commercially machine quilted by another.
Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
15. New Traditions From Old Favourites - New quilts designed and inspired by traditional block structures reinterpreted using non-traditional layouts. Maximum size 290 x 290 cm

Junior Quiltmaker:
16. Junior Member A (up to 12 years old) – Maximum size 290cm x 290cm
17. Junior Member A (13-18 years old) – Maximum size 290cm x 290cm

Special Awards include :

• Bernina Best Of Show
• Down Under Quilts Award for Best Use Of Colour
• Retaining The Tradition Award
• Best Reproduction Inspired By An Antique Quilt Award
• Contemporary Art Quilt Award
• Best Use Of Dyes & Pigments
• Awards For Excellence In Quilting : - Hand Quilting And Home Domestic Machine Quilting
• Encouragement Awards
• Viewers’ Choice

Please direct any quilt show entry queries to the Exhibition Secretary.

Calling All Blogging Members

Are you a current member of the Quilters Guild of NSW? Do you keep a blog with a focus on quiltmaking and other creative endeavours? If so, you are welcome to send a request to the Guild Webmaster for your blog to be added to the Member Blog Roll that can be found in the sidebar of this blog and on the Cyberspace links page on the Guild website. The webmaster will be updating these listings shortly.

Treasure Trove of Guild Member Blogs

If you are a current member of the Quilters' Guild of NSW and have a blog about quilting, you are welcome to e-mail the Guild Webmaster to apply to be added to the member blogroll in the right sidebar. Here are just some of the treasures you will find if you go surfing through the member blogs:

• Esther Aliu has released the third part of her fabulous (and free!) Red Delicious Block of the Month;
• Nicole Bridges has embraced "now" as her power word for 2009 as she prepares for her forthcoming exhibition and shares some of her artwork;
  
• Jenny Bowker gives us a sneak preview of some exciting quilts in progress;
• Helen Godden lets us in on the secrets of free motion machine quilting;
  
• Pamela Priday has recently joined the blogosphere and a journal quilt challenge and is having great fun experimenting with different techniques;
• Rooruu and Maggie revel in observing the patterns in the world around us;
  
• Brenda Smith offers a range of quilting and blogging related tutorials including experimenting with Alternative Quilt Finishes;
• Erica Spinks often writes about her favourite quilting books and her latest discoveries using the EQ6 quilting software program;
  
• Lisa Walton is stretching her creative muscles and shows us some of her coursework from her the City & Guilds course she is undertaking; and
• Amanda, Bernadine, Kathy & Sarah share the joys of quiltmaking.
  

Take a look at what these creative Guild members are up to and don't forget to leave a comment while you are there.

Quilt Show 2008 Button

Preparations for the Sydney Quilt Show 2008 are well underway. If you would like to add the QS2008 button to your blog or website, here is the html code to insert into your blog template or webpage:

<a href="http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/"><img src="http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshowbutton.jpg" alt="Sydney Quilt Show 2008" /></a>

If you have a Blogspot blog, go to Dashboard>Layout>Page Elements>Add Page Element. Choose "HTML/Javascript" as your page element, click "Add to Blog", cut and paste the code and click "Save Changes". On the "Add & Arrange" page elements page, you can drag and drop the button at the desired place in your side bar. The button should look like this.

Please contact the Guild Webmaster if you require assistance.

PS: If you downloaded the code for the Quilt Show 2007 button, you will see that it has been automatically updated to display the 2008 button - no further action required!

First Blog Anniversary

This week marks the first anniversary since this Guild blog was officially launched.

As you will see from the counter at the bottom of the sidebar, the blog has had over 10,000 visitors in that time. As far as we know, this is the first and only blog by a major Australian quilting guild. The Committee hopes that members (and prospective members!) have found the blog a valuable resource to catch up on all the latest Guild happenings and other quilting related events. To ensure that you don't miss out, we encourage you to electronically subscribe to blog updates by either of these methods:

Enter your email address to receive new postings to this blog via e-mail
(Remember - you can unsubscribe at any time)


Powered by FeedBlitz
OR

If you subscribe with Bloglines, this allows you to set up a list of your favourite blogs on your computer. Then you can simply go to the list to see if a new article has been added to any of the blogs. This is much more efficient than manually checking the blogs one by one and means that you can quickly get back to quilting or other activities:-)

You can also subscribe to the Comments feed:

http://quiltersguildnsw.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default/

Comment moderation has been set up on this blog which means any comments will be reviewed and approved before they show up but most messages are cleared promptly. While we have received only a handful of comments in the first year, we hope that more comments will be made in 2008 as this is all part of the fun of blogging and blog reading. Alternatively, if you have a news item that you think might be suitable for posting on the blog, you can e-mail details to the Guild Webmaster.

Going Pink

As you can see, as part of an international initiative to support breast cancer awareness, the Guild blog is Going Pink for October. One in eleven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 75 (and men get breast cancer too). Early detection significantly improves survival rates so it's important to be aware of detection methods such as:

• self examination;
  
• medical examination; and
  
• screening mammography - this is done on an asymptomatic basis (no sign of changes) free of charge for women who are 40 years of age and above at Breast Screen Australia on 13 20 50.

This October, the Guild encourages you to educate yourself about the multiple issues related to breast cancer, then take that newfound knowledge and tell someone else what you’ve learned.

New Beginnings

Blogging is a powerful social networking tool and enables people all over the world to share their passions and interests. Former Guild committee member, Chrissy Sheed, now resides in New Zealand and has recently ventured into Blogland with her aptly named new blog: Chrissy - New Beginnings.

Chrissy also enjoyed success in the Guild's 25th anniversary exhibition, Sydney Quilt Show 2007, and was awarded first and second prize in the Miniature Category with her delightful quilts Waltz of the Flowers (left) and Erica's Hearts:
    
If you are a Guild member, and have a quilting-related blog, contact the Guild Webmaster to have your blog added to the Guild's blog roll in the side bar (see right).

Keeping up with this blog

Since this blog was officially launched nine months ago, readership has steadily grown. The Committee hopes that members (and prospective members!) are finding this blog a valuable resource to catch up on all the latest Guild happenings and other quilting-related activities. To ensure that you don't miss out, we encourage you to electronically subscribe to blog updates by either of these methods:

(1) Enter your email address to receive new postings to this blog via e-mail
(Remember - you can unsubscribe at any time)


Powered by FeedBlitz
OR
(2) Signing up with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Service such as:
OR

If you subscribe with Bloglines or Google Reader, these services allow you to set up a list of your favourite blogs on your computer. Then you can simply go to the list to see if a new article has been added to any of the blogs. Remember, if you have a news item that you think might be suitable for posting on the Guild's official blog, you can e-mail details to the Guild Webmaster.

A New Member Blog

Those of you that attended the December 2006 meeting at Burwood will be aware that former Minutes Secretary, Monica Johnstone has left Australia to take up an exciting new job in America. Monica continues to be a member and strong supporter of the guild (and, indeed, has the honour of being the first entrant for Quilt Show 2007). You can follow Monica's adventures on her new blog: Monica in Michigan

Remember, if you are a guild member and have a blog you would like to share with others, you can e-mail the Guild Webmaster to be included on the member blog listings.

Blog Housekeeping

Apologies to any subscriber that received multiple updates overnight. This happened because yesterday this blog was upgraded to Beta Blogger. In the process, some of the layout was also a little scrambled so you may notice some "tweaking" from time to time as I get images of those lovely Mini Marvel quilts back into the side bar.

The good news is that the new format enables "labels" to be applied to posts. This means that you can quickly find all blog entries relating to Quilt Show 2007 or Workshops and so on by clicking on the relevant label at the end of the post. Try it and see what I mean!

Official Blog Launch

Today is the final Guild general meeting of the year and, as a kind of Christmas present to Guild members, we will be officially launching this Guild blog. Welcome to all new readers who are visiting for the first time!

The Committee hopes that members (and prospective members!) will find this blog a valuable resource to catch up on all the latest Guild happenings. To ensure that you don't miss out, we encourage you to electronically subscribe to blog updates by either of these methods:

Enter your email address to receive new postings to this blog via e-mail
(Remember - you can unsubscribe at any time)


Powered by FeedBlitz
OR

If you subscribe with Bloglines, this allows you to set up a list of your favourite blogs on your computer. Then you can simply go to the list to see if a new article has been added to any of the blogs. This is much more efficient than manually checking the blogs one by one and means that you can quickly get back to quilting or other activities:-)

Neither of these services will notify you if comments have been left on the Guild blog. Nevertheless, we hope that you will leave comments from time to time as this is part of the fun of blogging and blog reading. Comment moderation has been set up on this blog which means any comments will be reviewed and approved before they show up but we anticipate that most messages will be cleared promptly. Alternatively, if you have a news item that you think might be suitable for posting on the blog, you can e-mail details to the Guild Webmaster.

As far as we know, this is the first blog by a major Australian quilting guild. The Committee is very excited about this initiative and welcomes feedback from members. Come back soon to see a selection of festive Artist Trading Cards from the swap at today's meeting: