Position Vacant: Meeting Co-ordinator

The committee is looking for some one to fill the position of Meeting Co-ordinator. The Meeting Co-ordinator is mainly responsible for arranging the meetings at Burwood RSL Club including guest speakers, demonstrators and visiting shops; greets members and guests; and runs the block of the month and lucky door prizes. (Full position description here.)

If you are interested in this position, please contact President Lorraine.

Block of the Quarter - March 2008

The first Block of the Quarter for 2008 will make a bright and cheery "i spy" children's quilt. All the instructions for this 6 1/2in Blocks in a Box block are in the current issue of The Template newsletter but here is a colour image to help you choose a happy conversational print for the fabrics:
Please note that the Block of the Quarter will be drawn at the away meeting in Batemans Bay on Saturday 5 April. You can participate in the Block of the Quarter by bringing your TWO blocks along to the meeting or posting them into the Guild office by no later than Tuesday, 2 April 2008.

Textile Talks at the Powerhouse Museum

Coming up this week are two illustrated talks at the Powerhouse Museum on Sunday 30 March and on Wednesday 2 April (free with museum admission, no bookings required).

Sunday 30 March, 2pm, Camel Caravan
with Susan Scollay associate of Josephine Powell,
Contributing Editor of HALI

Josephine Powell, who recently died at the age of 86 years, was a renowned American photographer and ethnographer who spent the last thirty years of her long and extraordinary life based in Istanbul. Her mission was to document the life of Turkey's dwindling population of carpet weaving nomads and to form a collection of tribal weavings. Her aim was to leave behind a body of work that would enable future generations to know about a textile culture and way of life that was fast disappearing. In this talk Susan Scollay will show slides taken by Josephine in the late 1980s during the summer migration of the Saçıkara tribe in Anatolia. It was the last time this group of nomads used camels rather than motorised transport on their annual trek. Susan will also show images of the major exhibition of Josephine's kilim collection displayed at the Yildiz Palace in Istanbul in April 2007.

Wednesday 2 April, 12.30pm
Embroidery from the Powerhouse Museum collection
with Christina Sumner Principal Curator, Design and Society

The Powerhouse Museum's embroidery collection is richly diverse and representative of the majority of the world's great embroidery traditions. This talk, illustrated by examples from the collection, offers an introduction to this highly decorative aspect of our specialist textile holdings. Embroidery is typically ornamental; it is also often used to strengthen a fabric and, when decorating clothing, may convey information about the wearer's social circumstances. The Museum's embroidery collection has been growing steadily since the early 1880s; the objects chosen for this talk reflect a range of materials, techniques and cultures and include 17th century English beadwork, a child's hat from Afghanistan, an early Tasmanian sampler, a late 19th century American quilt, a Japanese wrapping cloth, a raphia dancing skirt from Zaire, a gold-encrusted Punjabi waistcoat, and an Akira Isogawa dress.

These talks are part of the Powerhouse Museum Talks After Noon program. For other talks and more information go to www.powerhousemuseum.com/whatson

re-fabricating environments: Call for Entries

After consultation with Braemar Gallery, Springwood, the re-fabricating environments exhibition, expected to be held in the first half of 2008, has now been postponed to the end of the year. The new dates for the exhibition are 31 October to 7 December 2008 and the new closing date for submissions is Friday 3 October 2008.

You are invited to explore and give material expression to your connection with the various environments that surround us as members of communities – globally, locally, personally, living in natural worlds and those human-made.

Entry is open to all quilters resident in Australia. Quilts must be an original design and will be selected on the basis of innovative use of the medium, must be predominantly textile, and comprised of at least two layers stitched together. Size: no more than 150cms wide; any reasonable length. Entries must be submitted no later than Friday 3 October 2008. Please contact Annabelle Solomon on with any further inquiries.

Download re-fabricating 2008 Entry Form

Cotton & Canvas Exhibition @ Mudgee until 10 April

You are invited to an exhibition of quilts and paintings at High Valley Wine & Cheese Co, Cassilis Rd, Mudgee. The quilts are by Guild member, Belinda Betts, and the paintings are by her mum, Robin Bell. The exhibiton runs to 10 April 2008.

Paducah Semi-finalists

Congratulations to Guild members, Esther Aliu, Judith Day, Julie Haddrick and Lisa Walton for being selected as semi-finalists in the American Quilter's Society 2008 Show & Contest at Paducah. Best wishes for the prize announcements coming up in late April.

Esther, Judy, Julie and Lisa were all prize winners at the 2007 Sydney Quilt Show and you can see their quilts in the gallery on the Guild website. You can also view more of Esther and Lisa's quilts on their blogs (see sidebar). Please e-mail me if you are a Guild member and would like your blog added to our blog roll.


Nightshade by Esther Aliu
First Prize, Mixed Techniques-Anything Goes (Professional)
Sydney Quilt Show 2007

Revised Newsletter Deadline - 8 April

The Committee is thrilled (and relieved!) to report that someone has stepped up to the important role of newsletter editor for The Template and is busily working on preparation of the June issue. The deadline for content for this issue has been extended to 8 April. If you have an article, calendar item or other contribution for the newsletter, please send your e-mail to the Template Editor.

PS: Your March issue of the newsletter will be in your mail box very soon.

Robyn Ahern: Guest Speaker for April Away Meeting

It's less than a month until the Guild's "away" meeting at 1pm on Saturday, 5 April 2008 at the Bocce Club at Malua Bay, 12 kilometres from Batemans Bay. The [new] guest speaker will be Robyn Ahern, editor of Patchwork & Stitching magazine bringing her own brand of humour to the presentation and sharing over 20 of her own quilts together with a selection from her antique quilt collection.

There will be numerous door prizes so, if you're planning to join the coach trip from Sydney, make sure you get your booking form into the office as soon as possible. If you are from the Batemans Bay area (or anywhere else for that matter), please join us for a fun afternoon. Non-Guild members welcome!

Georgetown Circles by Robyn Ahern

Sydney Quilt Study Group AGM

The AGM for the Sydney Quilt Study Group is set for:

Saturday, March 15th 2008 at 1.30pm
Venue: Guild office, Level 5, 276 Pitt Street, Sydney

Dr. Gero is the guest speaker. She will discuss her extensive quilt collection - what she looks for when adding quilts to her collection and what is the current focus for her collection. She will also discuss why some quilts have left her collection as no longer relevant to it and what she does to document and store her collection. Her talk will be illustrated with many of the quilts in her collection. Don't miss this treat!

Guild Workshops at Campbelltown

In order to better service all our members, the Guild is looking to expand the range of venues where it conducts workshops. To get the ball rolling in 2008, Yvonne Line will be conducting two Sunday workshops at the Campbelltown Arts Centre in April. In addition, commencing on 15 May, Barbara Gower will be teaching an eight week beginner's course in patchwork and quilting.

Campbelltown Arts Centre is a new venue for the Guild that is sure to become a firm favourite. The Centre has excellent facilities including a cafe, two gardens in which to have a lovely lunchtime walk. The centre is located five minutes from the express way, has ample parking and is wheelchair accessible.

See the Guild website for more information about the Guild's workshop program.

Seeing Red

Guild members are invited to submit work for the selection of Art to Wear 2008, inspired by the colour RED. Entry forms are available from the Guild office or you can download the Art to Wear Entry Form in pdf format. The closing date for entries is 1 April 2008.

The ‘Art to Wear’ is an exhibition of garments displaying superb technical skill and artistic merit, open to all members of the Quilters’ Guild of NSW Inc. This is a two tier exhibition attracting both professional and student entries.

7 March Friday Showcase: Noelene Lutton

Noelene Lutton presents the March showcase at the Guild Office at 10am, Friday 7 March 2008. After completing a 4 year textile course before she was married, Noelene has always been interested in all forms of craft and sewing. As a needle in hand is her form of relaxation, patchwork became Noelene's passion about 10 years ago. Noelene describes herself as a very traditional quilter with hand piecing and needleturn applique featuring in most of her quilts.

Calling Quilt Show Volunteers

Entries for the Sydney Quilt Show 2008 close TOMORROW, 29 FEBRUARY. If your forms are still sitting on your sewing table (or you need to download the entry form), complete them and stuff them into an Express Post envelope and into the mail box NOW. A don't forget to include your volunteer form (download).

Even if you are not an entrant this year, we encourage all Guild members to volunteer for a roster shift or two. The quilt show is a significant undertaking and a strong pool of volunteers will ensure that the team is fresh and enthusiastic to carry out the following important tasks:

• set up (Tuesday 10 June) especially in the morning;
  
• floor monitoring/white glove duties;
• catalogue sales;
• membership renewals and inquiries;
• raffle ticket sales;
  
• demonstrating quilting skills;
  
• treasurer assistance; and
• take down (5.00-7.30pm Sunday, 15 June).

For set up and take down, we are also looking for some strong young men (under 60 years is good!) to supplement the "Old Faithful" team of husbands that turn up every year.

Imagine That!

Visitors to the Newcastle Craft & Quilt Fair (29 Feb - 2 March 2008) will have an opportunity to view 50 spectacular art quilts from the Husqvarna Viking International Quilt Competition - Imagine That! These quilts are in Australia for a short time only as part of a world tour and come from countries such as Israel, France, Japan, Germany, Hungary, the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada.

Last chance to view the new quilt 2008

The new quilt 2008 contemporary quilt textiles exhibition closes on Sunday so this weekend is your last opportunity to view this exciting selection of works by leading Australian textile artists. For further insights into the exhibition, don't miss out on:

the new quilt 2008- Curator's Floor Talk
3pm, Sunday 24 February 2008
Floor talk by exhibition curator Christina Sumner, Principal Curator,
Design and Society, Powerhouse Museum

Barbara Macey, Mist 1, 2007
log cabin patchwork, cotton fabrics,
94cm x 94cm

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!

Reminder: 10 days until QS2008 Closing Date

Don't forget that the closing date for entries for Sydney Quilt Show 2008 is Friday, 29 February 2008. That's just ten days away. Entry forms are available from the Guild Office. Alternatively, you can download the following forms in pdf format:

• Quilt Show 2008 Entry Form (210KB)
• Quilt Show 2008 Volunteer Form (143KB)
• Membership Application Form

2008 Raffle Quilt

Away Meeting: 1pm 5 April 2008 @ Malua Bay

This year the "Away Meeting" will be held at 1pm on Saturday, 5 April 2008 at the Bocce Club at Malua Bay, 12 kilometres from Batemans Bay. The guest speaker will be Robyn Ahern, editor of Patchwork & Stitching magazine sharing over 20 of her own quilts together with a selection from her antique quilt collection [updated 12 March].

The Guild is proposing a coach trip from Sydney for a weekend of quilting, shopping and fun.

Cost: $320 Twin share accommodation or $386 for a single room
(all meals included except for one morning tea and one afternoon tea)
See here for more information

There are 60 spaces available on the coach and the Guild hopes to fill them all. To assist with planning, please let the Guild office know if you are interested in joining a coach from Sydney for a fun weekend excursion. Tel: (02) 9283 3737 or e-mail.

Land of Patchwork 1 & 2 by Yvonne Line

Calendar Challenge Quilt Slide Show

You can view a slideshow of 62 quilts made by Guild members to celebrate the Guild's 25th anniversary:

These quilts are featured in a striking 2008 calendar. The Guild has a limited number of these calendars left and is offering them at the reduced price of $10. Buy ten and the Guild will pay for postage within Australia. And if you are signing up as a new member*, you will get one FREE! Contact the Guild office to arrange your purchase.

*New member is defined as either totally new to the Guild or a person who has not been a member during the three year period immediately preceding their membership application.

World Quilt & Textile 2008

Australian quilters are invited to be part of the World Quilt Competition.

2008 entry forms are available from Australian World Quilt & Textile coordinator Sue Dennis. Send a business size SSAE to 31 Shelley St, Sunnybank 4109 QLD or down load from www.suedennis.com.au Entry submission deadline is mid May, notification mid June and delivery of quilts early July.

Cash prizes are given for traditional & innovative quilts and include awards for Best of World, Best Use of Colour, Best of Country- first & second & Viewer’s Choice.

In 2007 Australians (and Guild members!) Eileen Campbell was awarded Innovative Best Machine Workmanship and Esther Aliu- Traditional Best Machine Workmanship with Best of Country Australia awarded to Marlene King and second Clare Fairless. 10 countries were represented.

The World Quilt Competition 2008 will be exhibited in Manchester New Hampshire, the Pacific International Quilt Festival Santa Clara California & the Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition.

     
Left: Nightshade by Esther Aliu
Right: A Flash of Lorikeets by Eileen Campbell