Wartime Quilts exhibition goes to Melbourne to the Australian Quilt Convention AQC April 2016

If you missed the exhibition at Manly Art Gallery in Sydney where 35,000 people viewed this stunning quilt exhibition of wartime quilts, curated by Dr Annette Gero, it will be on in Melbourne for four days in April.

These are extraordinary Woollen Quilts - all made by men from their uniforms, dating from 1800 to 1950, and pieced in a myriad of tiny pieces (some quilts have 15,000 pieces). A collection of such quilts has never been shown before and their design and colour are mesmerizing. Not to be missed.  Annette has written a book to go with the exhibition which will be on sale at the show 

Wartime Quilts from Military fabrics

Australian Quilt Convention AQC

April 14-17, 2016

Royal Exhibition Building

Carlton Gardens

Melbourne Australia

10 am to 4.30 daily

Australian Embroidery Exhibition at Government House Sydney in January 2016

From the 15th to 31st January 2016, The Embroiderers' Guild of NSW will hold an exhibition at Government House, Macquarie Street, Sydney. 

It features items (including quilts) from the Embroiderers' Guild NSW's Collection, highlighting Australiana and Australian Embroiderers and Textile Artists. 

Image:  "Channel Country" by Jean Vere from the Guild Collection.  Poster:  Yvette Stanton

The exhibition includes traditional and contemporary pieces in techniques such as whitework, quilting, surface stitchery, machine embroidery, and pulled and drawn work.  Items include table linen, infant's clothing, kaftans, quilts, fancy work, embroidered plates and framed pieces.  

 The exhibition can be viewed as part of a Government House Sydney tour.  Tours are scheduled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, every half hour from 10.30 am to 3 pm.  Full details of tours (tickets, ID) are available under Visitor Information at  www.governor.nsw.gov.au.  Special extended viewing on Australia Day.

For other events in 2016 planned by the Embroiderers' Guild, see Embroiderers Guild of NSW

QSG of NSW 2016 Talks

The Quilt Study Group of NSW have published their series of talks for 2016. Please put these dates in your diary.

Kerry Easton from The Needlework Tool Collectors Society of Australia will give the first talk for 2016. She will display some of the needlework tools that we all take for granted and are of special interest to quilters. The talk will be at 2pm on the 13^th February 2016 at The Glover Cottages in The Rocks. 

For the 2^nd talk of the year Rhonda Pearce, who owned Post Office Patchwork at Glenbrook for many years, will talk to us. She has made and designed many award-winning quilts, including the famous “Insanity Quilt” exhibited at the 2007 Sydney Quilt Show, and “Baltimore Classic” which won 1^st prize in the traditional appliqué section at Houston in 2013. We will hear how she designed them, the steps involved and details of the particular techniques she used. This talk will be at 2pm on the 30^th April 2016 at The Glover Cottages in The Rocks.

 The 3^rd talk will be given by Megan Martin, Head of Collections and Access, at the Sydney Living Museums on Macquarie Street, Sydney CBD. Starting at 10am on the 21^st of July she will talk to us about the identification of the textiles they found between 1979 and 1981 in the under floor deposits at the Hyde Park Barracks. The talk, “What colour was that girl’s dress? The archaeological evidence of fabrics from Hyde Park Barracks”, will be followed by a tour of their new exhibit ‘Female Immigration Depot 1848-1886’ at the Barracks.  Numbers for the tour are strictly limited to 15 people who are members of the Guild. Please contact the Quilters' Guild of NSW Office to secure your place for the talk and tour. Please note: access to two of the floors at the Barracks building is by staircase only.

The last talk for the year will be held at 2pm on the 12^th of November 2016 back at The Glover Cottages. Kathy Doughty, who is well known to Guild members as a maker and designer of quilts, a judge at quilt shows, a quilt shop owner and writer of quilting books, has also designed three ranges of quilting fabrics - “Trail Blazing”, “Flock Together” and “A Wandering Mind”. She will talk to us about why she produced her own fabric ranges, the steps involved and her experience of dealing with this aspect of the quilt industry. 

 Anyone who is interested in quilting and quilt history is welcome to come along to The Quilt Study Group of NSW talks. The Glover Cottages is a beautiful light-filled venue for the talks and it is an easy walk from either Wynyard or Circular Quay train stations. Afternoon tea is provided and the talks start at 2pm. Check the Quilt NSW’s website or the latest Template Newsletter issue for more details.