Aurifil @AQC

The Australasian Quilters’ Convention is just around the corner (16-19th April) held at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building.

This is always an exciting event for quilters: an opportunity to see the latest in quilting trends, be inspired by the work of others, and shop for all things quilty.

Even the venue itself is full of inspiration!

Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Carlton Gardens

Stencil detail from Royal Exhibition Building….would look good as an applique border!

Here at Aurifil we have been very busy packing up stock for the Aurifil retailers to display on their stalls.

Packing thread for one of our retailers.

Some of the retailers are taking a range of individual spools in various thread weights, while others are running special projects (such as block of the month) and we have been making up small packs of specially selected threads for these.

 

We have also put together some new four packs, including 3 new reproduction basic collections, just perfect to give you a range of “go to” reproduction-coloured threads.

 

One of three new “Reproduction Basics” collections.

These little four-packs also make great gifts (for yourself too!)

New Four Pack: “Purple Passion”

New four Pack: “Bubbles”.

The retailers who we know will have Aurifil for sale on their stands are:

• Cherry Pie Designs http://cherrypiedesigns.com/
• Elm Grove Patchwork http://www.elmgrovepatchwork.com.au/
• Marg Low Designs http://www.marglowdesigns.typepad.com/
• Needles and Pins. http://www.kayesneedlesandpins.com.au/

Other Aurifil retailers present at AQC are:

• Barossa Quilt and Craft Cottage http://www.barossaquilt.net.au/
• Fifi’s Fabricology www.fifisfabricology.com.au
• Material Obsession www.materialobsession.com.au
• Millrose Quilting and Gallery http://millrosequilts.blogspot.com.au/
• Palm Beach Quilting https://www.palmbeachquilting.com.au/
• Sewn and Quilted www.sewnandquilted.com.au
• Somerset Patchwork and Quilting. www.somersetpatchwork.com.au

In addition, some of the talented 2015 AQC tutors including Deidre Bond-Abel, Kathy Doughty, Karen Styles and Lisa Walton use Aurifil thread.

Look out for Aurifil at AQC and be sure to make certain that you have all the Aurifil supplies you need to successfully complete your current and future projects!

It is January so it must be time for a Fabric Frolic

January in Melbourne means “Fabric Frolic” time from 16th to 25th.

Seven shops in the eastern suburbs collaborate to organise a splendid week of treats, shopping and competitions for the patchwork enthusiast.

This year I was pleased to see that two of the shops on the shop hop map are Aurifil retailers so be sure to stock up on your thread supplies when visiting Patchwork Passion and Palm Beach Quilting.

Patchwork Passion in Cranbourne has a good supply of Cotton Mako’ 28 for your blanket stitch applique & quilting.

 

and Palm Beach Quilting in Carrum Downs stocks an extensive range of Cotton Mako’ 50 for piecing and needle turned applique.

So it is time to get together with some friends and plan a road trip to visit these shops in the next few days.

 

 

 

The end of the year is nigh …

It is almost the end of 2014 and looking back all I can say is what a busy, adventurous, year it has been with lots of trade events and new directions taken for the business.

As always the final event for the year is the Australian wholesale Quilt Market, held in Melbourne in November.

Not a huge event by world standards, but still very important for Australian shops, and a great opportunity for us to put faces to names & voices that we have met by email, & telephone, during the year.

It is also the perfect place to catch up with many of the pattern designers who feature Aurifil threads in their work.

So let me introduce some of our favorite designers:

Marg Low uses a lot of Cotton Mako’ 12 threads in her designs

The Quilted Crow Girls have been using Cotton Mako’ 28 to applique their beautiful wool fabrics.

Zoe Clifton uses Cotton Mako’ 40 & 50 to piece, applique & quilt her designs.

Leanne Knell of Petals & Patches has started to use the Cotton Mako’ 12 for her stitchery designs.

The Australian Quilt Market is always such a great opportunity to meet people, to see what is new and go home inspired for the next year.

I wonder what we will do in 2015, after the 2013 market we decided to give our 2014 stand a modern twist with our Twenty First Century Round Robin.

Watch for more information about our “Twenty first Century Round Robin”  in the next post by KnitsnQuilts.

 

Excellent exhibitions

I have recently attended two quilt exhibitions, each one a treat.  The first was “Quilts in the Barn” and the second “Eastern Palliative Care Quilt Show”.  Each is held annually during spring in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and each is a fund-raiser for very worthwhile causes, breast cancer research and Eastern Palliative  Care respectively.  In this post I will share some photos of Quilts In the Barn. (Permission given).

My friend and I arrived right on opening time which meant we avoided a  long queue. Before very long things became very busy, especially so later in the morning when a coach-load of eager ladies arrived!!

Entrance to Quilts in the Barn.

This magnificent quilt was hanging in the entrance.  It is called “Homage to Sallie Anne” and was designed by Di Ford-Hall.  This version was made by Helen Hayes.  (Should I confess? …I too have a Sallie Anne lurking amongst my UFOs).

“Homage to Sallie Anne”.

One of the guest tutors/ exhibitors was  Brenda Papadakis of Dear Jane fame. Understandably there were some Dear Jane style quilts.

“Zutphen” made by Jenny Bear.

Another Di Ford-Hall design, this one made by Jenny Bear and called “Jane Austen in Texas”.

Here is a close up showing the fussy cut borders and quilting.

 

Close up of “Jane Austen in Texas”.

There were quilts made from hexagons. This is Jenny Bear’s Jane’s and Vera’s Garden. Lots of fussy cutting here!

This is a miniature hexagon quilt, stitched and quilted by hand by Marion Edwards.

 

This antique quilt caught my eye.

These quilts were made by Michelle Yeo.

The Quilted Crow girls Leonie and Deirdre were there with their shop.

The Quilted Crow shop.

Shoppers could see (and touch!) some of their latest offerings: their fabric range “Pomegranate Lane”, their wool range, “The Seasons”, and their hand-dyed velvets.  Aurifil Threads (Cotton Mako’ Ne 28 – on the grey spool) are available in two Quilted Crow Girl Collections which coordinate with their favourite colours.  Check out the collections at  http://thequiltedcrow.danemcoweb.com/shop/product/aurifil-threads/

They also had copies of their recently released second book.  This is one of the quilts which is featured in it.

All this viewing and shopping  is thirsty work and the bevy of helpers in the cafe did a great job!

Such exhibitions involve a great deal of preparation and work by many dedicated people, but provide a wonderful service and inspiration to us all. (Quilts in the Barn raised $16,000 this year). Well done!!

Round Robin Blocks for the 21st Century

This year we have been “Taking the Round Robin into the 21st Century” as a challenge at our work.  In February each staff member had to bring a 6 inch starter block in a designated colour from the colour wheel.  This week we took possession of ‘our’ block and now we have to  feature Aurifil threads on it to make it into a mini quilt with quilting and/or embellishments.

Back in February, I had to work with the colour Violet and make a 6 inch block.

Then every two months we were  to add borders of different sizes to each relevant quilt block.  Round two of mine was made by Judy using  a red-orange colour to create an asymmetrical border on four sides.

Then Yellow was choice of colour for Jenny, with an even size border on four sides ( no more than 3 inch wide) added.

Finally, a border on two sides, no more than 3 inches wide was added by Denise in Blue Green

Here are all the quilts (hung over some of the batting in the shop) showing the results.  It will be fascinating to see what everyone chooses to do with their individual quilts.

And a closer look of them (Jenny and Judy’s):

and the other two (mine and Denise’s):

We have been given some time to finish the quilts as they will be displayed at the Melbourne Wholesale Quilt Market in November – and if we are really keen and finish them before hand, someone may even blog about them earlier!!

My Waverley Quilt Show

A banner to quicken the pulse

Every two years my local quilt group presents the work of their members. I have been a member for 15 years and I went to my first Waverley Quilt Show just a few months after I moved to the area.

Every Quilt Show visitor received a bookmark

The quilts on display were all beautiful and represented every genre of patchwork from traditional to modern; hand pieced and quilted to machine pieced and machine quilted.
This year I entered my “Big O” Birthday Quilt. My friendship group, World Wide Wanderers, secretly worked on this quilt for a year. They even covertly contacted my husband to find out places of personal significance to me and then represented these places with its floral emblem.

My Big ‘O’ Birthday Quilt

 

Appliqué detail

I was so pleased to show off this quilt to the community. It represents so much more than a special birthday. It is a treasure from my dearest friends.

More appliqué detail

If you would like to see more quilts from our show, including the Viewer’s Choice Award winning quilt, visit Rose Lewis Quilting.

Cinderella Transformation at the Australasian Quilt Convention

The beautiful Melbourne Exhibition Building underwent a cinderella transformation yesterday as the quilts went up, the exhibitors stands were decorated and the classrooms were prepared for today.

Set up day was misting rain all day so I was pleased that I had loaded the Aurifil parcels into the van the day before, ready for an early delivery run into the city.

Even so, by the time I arrived the merchant hall was well on the way to being well dressed.

Orange fluouro vests were the standard dress for people, but the walls were looking much more appealing.

I love the way each exhibitor has stamped their own store personality on their display

Yesterday was a rumble of trolleys, and ripping of boxes, as stock was unpacked and displayed but for the next four days the hall will be a buzz of excited chatter as visitors discover amazing treasures of “must have” items.

I can’t wait to see the transformation.

Make sure you visit the Aurifil retailers to take home some thread treasures for yourself:

Stand 43    Cherry Pie

Stand 45    Elm Grove Patchwork

Stand 21    Fifi’s Fabricology

Stand 181  Millrose Cottage Quilting & Gallery

Stand 44    Miss Sampson’s Drapery

Stand 23    Needles & Pins

Stand 58    Somerset Patchwork & Quilting

Stand 55    The Quilted Crow

Each retailer has chosen the threads that are particular to the fabrics, designs & techniques that they are featuring at the show so you may wish to visit each one to build your collection of Aurifil.

Happy Treasure Hunting!

 

 

How to find Aurifil at the Australasian Quilt Convention

It is less than a week until the Australasian Quilt Convention opens so we have been madly packing threads for the various teachers, using Aurifil in their workshops, and the patchwork stores where it will be sold at the Expo.

Each exhibitor will stock the particular Aurifil thread weight that relates to their patchwork style and patterns, so take note of the retailer’s stand number, and the Aurifil product line, so that you will know where to find the thread weight that you wish to purchase.

Cotton Mako’ 50 will be found at:

Stand No: 43      Cherry Pie Designs

Stand No: 23      Needles and Pins

 

Cotton Mako’ 40 will be found at:

Stand No: 45       Elm Grove Patchwork

Stand No: 58       Somerset Patchwork & Quilting

Cotton Mako’ 28 will be found at

Stand No: 21       Fifi’s Fabricology

Stand No: 55      The Quilted Crow

Lana will be found at

Stand No: 181    Millrose Quilting & Gallery

Unfortunately none of the exhibitors will have the Cotton Mako’ 12 for sale this year, however you can always place a special order with us for collection at the Convention.

Cotton Mako’ 12 is the thickest thread in the range

PS:  Contact us before midday Tuesday 8th if you are wish to pre-order a particular thread weight or colour so that we have time to arrange for a collection point for your order.

 

Tuesday Treat: Not thread, or patchwork, but still a feast of textiles for the eyes

I worked on the hand embroidery on my “Welcome”  quilt at my patchwork friendship meeting last weekend.

While we talked I finished the embroidery on my “Welcome” quilt. Now I have to decide on the quilting thread colour.

Conversation always roves across numerous topics when we meet, including descriptions of the exhibitions that we have each seen since last time we met.

A couple of friends had been to see the costumes made for the Miss Fisher Murder Mystery series, another had been to see the Faith Fusion Fashions exhibition & I had loved the Art Deco fashions that were part of the Edward Steichen’s photography exhibition.

See the exhibition of the fashions of Phryne Fisher and her cohorts at Ripponlea

There is a veritable feast of textile fashion exhibitions happening in Melbourne, and around Victoria, this spring and summer  so I thought that it was worth sharing some information here.

Ripponlea has been hosting an exhibition of costumes designed for The Miss Fisher Murder Mystery TV series.  If, like me, you have enjoyed the series, and particularly the 1920’s fashions, there is still time to see some of the clothes worn by Phryne, and to get an insight into the designer’s workroom.  The Exhibition has been extended until 1 December 2013

The National Gallery of  Victoria has an exhibition of Edward Steichen’s photography,  accompanied by an exhibition of beautiful art deco clothing.  A brief summary taken from  the gallery notes describes the exhibition thus:

Edward Steichen & Art Deco Fashion comprises over 200 photographs and more than 30 garments. This stunning exhibition captures the sophistication of the modern woman and the elegance of high-end fashion from this golden age of fashion and photography.

From 1923 until 1938, Steichen was chief photographer for fashion’s most influential and glamorous magazines, Vanity Fair and Vogue. During this time Steichen created images that were imaginative documents of glamour, talent, and style. His work revolutionised fashion photography, and influenced generations of subsequent photographers.

The Edward Steichen & Art Deco Fashion Exhibition runs from 18 OCT 2013 – 02 MAR 2014

Exhibitions held at the  Immigration Museum in Melbourne always have a core message about how migrants have arrived and settled into life in Australia.

Faith-Fashion-Fusion

The gallery notes for one of the current exhibitions, Faith-Fashion-Fusion, describes it  as follows:

Faith, fashion, fusion explores an emerging modest fashion market and the work of a new generation of fashion designers, retailers and bloggers offering stylish clothing and fashion advice to Muslim women.

Faith-Fashion-Fusion is showing until 9 June 2014.

The Bendigo Art Gallery , known for its outstanding fashion exhibitions, is showing a selection of some of the world’s most influential designers from the past 40 years  in the Modern Love  exhibition.

The Bendigo Art Gallery is the exclusive venue for this exhibition in Australia, the first travelling exhibition of its kind from the FIDM Museum, LA.

Modern Love is showing until 2 February 2014

And it is not only womens’ fashions that are being exhibited this summer.  The Melbourne Museum is featuring Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style this summer.  The exhibition is showing from 1 Nov 2013 – 23 Feb 2014

Coming soon:

The Arts Centre has a new free exhibition,  All That Glitters, opening in November,  showcasing some of the gorgeous stage costumes from their Performing Arts Collection.  The highlights of the exhibition will be costumes worn by Dame Edna Everage, Kylie Minogue and Dame Nellie Melba.

The exhibition will  run from November 16th until to 23rd of February 2014.

More Reading:

About the Edward Steichen exhibition:

Drama of Exile

The Art Review

About “All that Glitters”:

  Arts Centre publicity office

Weekend Notes

A Visit with Family and Friends (and Fabric)

After several years in Australia, I finally had the opportunity to visit my family and friends in America.

I am always amazed at the changes that occur in places and people. I expect things to be just as I left them…

For the first time in my life, I had to get a rental car ALL BY MYSELF.  That probably doesn’t sound like a big deal to someone who travels all the time, but for me, it was new territory.

One of the things that made it easier was the destination. I was going to ‘have to’ pass through Paducah, Kentucky on the 1000mile drive to see my dear mother.

Only 71 Miles to go

Not the best picture in the world…I was driving with my camera on the steering wheel….notice the empty highway…

I had never been to Paducah and I was determined to go to Hancock’s and the National Quilt Museum.

My heart was pounding as I parked the car

After a tiny amount of retail therapy…..

I don’t really need anything…yeah, right…

Turn to the left….

Turn to the right….

I get back on the road heading further south.

This rocket greets everyone entering the State of Alabama

A joyful time was spent with my dear mother who has allowed me to borrow a quilt I had made for her from the Fall/Winter 1986 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine. It is hand pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted.  The label on the back has the’ finish’ date of 1991!

The Fall/Winter Quiltmaker Magazine

Mother said it was too good to use so it still looks like new.

My version of the cover quilt

A view of the hand quilting from the back

I left her with several quilts she has promised to ‘use’.

After all that driving I was ready for the long flight back to my Aussie friends and family.

A sight for sore eyes

Now that I am back in Australia, I am determined to be a tourist more often. We never think to be tourists where we live.  I would love some suggestions of destinations….  (Quilt related, please).