Report on Trudy Brodie’s QSG Talk on Strip Pieced Quilts

On Saturday the 2^nd May 2015, Trudy Brodie spoke on the topic of Strip Pieced quilts. She said she has always been drawn towards traditional quilts and described how the places she has lived have influenced her development as a quilter. 

Trudy first discovered quilting when her husband was posted to Washington for 3 years in 1978. Inspired by a friend’s Lone Star Quilt, Trudy sought out a 6 week beginner’s class in 1981. Starting with the obligatory Sampler quilt in the browns and restricted fabric range then available to quilters, Trudy next made her own Lone Star quilt, 'American Memories', in red, white and blue prints she had bought in readiness in Washington.

Trudy showed us a succession of the quilts she has made since. These first quilts were, of course, made using a 12 inch ruler, chalk to mark and dressmaking shears to cut the fabric.

By the time she returned to Canberra and joined the local quilting group, Trudy had discovered her love for strip piecing – helped by the use of those new gadgets the rotary cutter and purpose-made plastic rulers. She grew fascinated by 60 degree log cabin variation strip pieced quilts especially when she saw one Maria McCormick-Snyder made in “100 Best Quilts of the Twentieth Century”. Since then Trudy has made a number of them. 

By the time of the Australian Bicentenary she had really mastered this pattern, as her copy of her ‘Diamonds Aglow’ which is in the collection of The Powerhouse Museum, proves.

Trudy has produced a number of quilts on commission for Margaret Rolfe and been represented in quilt shows in Australia and overseas. 

As the range of quilting fabrics and designs increased, Trudy embraced them and during a year in New York in 1993, she took the opportunity to take as many quilting classes and visit quilt shows as she could.

Trudy shared a number of lattice quilts she has recently made, and also showed us a wonderful Round Robin quilt made as a friendship project with Japanese quilters.

After Trudy finished speaking, Karen Fail showed us some of her US 1940’s strip pieced quilts and a quilt she made for Judy Hooworth for one of her books. 

Kaye Graham also showed examples of her strip pieced quilts, including a simple but effective rail fence quilt.

Come along to the next Quilt Study Group of NSW talk on Saturday the 18th of July. Shirley Gibson will show us how she has made her wonderful collection of reproduction porcelain dolls and talk about doll making.

Saturday 18th July 2015 QSG of NSW talk by Shirley Gibson

On Saturday the 18^th July 2015 Shirley Gibson will give a talk on 'Dolls and Doll Making from 1700 to the Present' at The Quilt Study Group of NSW meeting. Shirley has been a member of The Quilters’ Guild of NSW since its inception more than 30 years ago. She taught dress making and millinery for many years at technical college. She has always loved sewing but is also an accomplished landscape painter, as well as being a patchwork and quilting teacher and a member of the Guild's quilt evaluation team. 

Shirley will show us all the components she uses in making her reproduction porcelain dolls - greenware, handmade wigs, shoes, and even knitted socks and crocheted gloves. The dolls are made entirely by Shirley herself. Some have up to five petticoats underneath and a hoop. Her dolls are mainly from the Edwardian, Victorian, and Georgian periods, and she has even made an Amish doll and her quilt. All the details have to be scaled down to fit the doll; for example smocking has to be smaller, the quilting finer and the wool split to make it a smaller ply for knitting. Her dolls are exquisite and have so much attention to detail. 

Come and join us at The Glover Cottages 124 Kent Street Sydney at 2pm for this most informative talk and display. Bring along your own dolls to show, and stay for afternoon tea afterwards. Guild members pay $5 and visitors $10.

June 2015 Jenny Bain Contemporary Quilt Exhibition at Wollombi NSW

Between the 13th and 21st of June 2015, Jenny Bain will be showing a number of her recent quilts and pieces in a shared exhibition in The Old Fireshed Gallery at Wollombi NSW.

Jenny received a scholarship from the Quilters' Guild of NSW last year and with it produced her "Corruption Cycles" textiles. It was a study of the implications of corruption in design with reference to political and social events. 

Come along to see Jenny's latest works. See http://www.wollombi.org/index.html for venue details.

Saturday May 2 2015 QSG of NSW talk by Trudy Brodie on Strip Pieced Quilts.

On the 2^nd of May, Trudy Brodie will give a presentation about the versatility of Strip Piecing. She has incorporated this piecing method into many of her quilts.  Other forms of piecing such as Lattice and Log Cabin will also be featured to show the style of Trudy’s quilts.

Bring along examples of your own strip pieced quilts, such as log cabins, jelly roll quilts, string pieced quilts etc., to share.
 
The talk will start at 2pm and will be held in the Meeting Room at The Glover Cottages, 124 Kent Street, Millers Point in Sydney. Entry is $5 for members of the Quilters' Guild of NSW, $10 for other guests. Afternoon tea is provided.

Report on 7 March 2015 QSG of NSW talk by Judy Day

Judy Day was The Quilt Study Group of NSW’s first guest speaker of the year on Saturday 7^th March 2015. 

Judy’s mother was a dressmaker and a sewing perfectionist, whose skills Judy believes she inherited. Judy loves handwork and has been a quilter for over 25 years. Her miniature quilts range in style from antique reproductions to Hawaiian, 1930’s, 19th Century red and green quilts and copies of early cot quilts. Judy shared more than 30 of her beautiful miniature quilts with us and described in detail what inspired their creation and exactly how they were made.

Judy has won many prizes for her quilts at quilt shows in Australia, as well as a number of prizes at The American Quilter’s Society quilt shows in USA. Two of her miniature quilts are exhibited in the “Oh WOW! Miniature Quilts Gallery “ in The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky USA.

Judy believes that patience, attention to detail and precision is important in making miniature quilts. She loves antique quilts but said she couldn’t hope to reproduce as many as she would like to in a lifetime, so by making them in miniature she can produce more. 

Judy’s advice for those wanting to make miniature quilts included sharing details about the threads, needles, fabrics and assembly techniques she uses.   

Most of her quilt patterns are taken from pictures of old quilts found in books. First Judy enlarges the picture using a photocopier (usually 300%) and then she drafts the pattern by using tracing paper. To select the most appropriate fabric Judy studies those used in the original picture using a magnifier. Nowadays she tends to appliqué her quilts as a whole cloth on muslin – even a beautiful clamshell quilt she showed us was made by this method. 

Please join us for the next QSG of NSW talk on the 2nd May 2015. Trudy Brodie will talk about all types of Strip Pieced Quilts.

War Quilts Exhibition at Manly 3 July to 22 November 2015

WAR QUILTS EXHIBITION

Curated by Dr Annette Gero 

Venue details: Manly Art Gallery & Museum, West Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095

Exhibition launch: Friday 3 July 2015, 6 - 8pm

Exhibition dates: 3 July - 22 November 2015

Open: 10am - 5pm Tuesday- Sunday

Entry: Free

This year marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. Gallipoli (2015) is a particularly significant event in the Australian WW1 memory. 

To mark this event, Manly Art Gallery and Museum has taken the initiative by putting on an exhibition of War Quilts from all wars.

Waves of migration have resulted in many people from all over the world bringing their own quilts from their home countries when they have settled in Australia.  These visual masterpieces date from 1770 through to the end of World War 2, and include many Crimean War Quilts including one made from 15,000 pieces. The quilts have been made from a variety of textiles, ranging from soldiers uniforms through to “mum’s make do” quilts made here in Australia after the war from blackout fabric.

Dr Annette Gero will give a talk about the history and story behind each of the quilts in the exhibition at the Gallery on Sunday 12^th July 2015 from 2 to 3pm.

The War Quilts Exhibition will also be published as a book, about the same size as “The Fabric of Society”

E mail annettegero@bigpond.com to reserve your copy at 30% discount 

Report on 8 November 2014 QSG of NSW talk by Brenda Gail Smith

The final Quilt Study Group of NSW talk for 2014 took place on the 8^th of November when Brenda Gael Smith gave a very interesting and informative talk about “Technology & Your Creative Practice”. 

Brenda covered all manner of things technical that can help you organize yourself and your quilting. 
She stressed that she was only going to cover easily accessible and everyday devices, tools, tutorials and applications, and she spoke to the many shared resources that are available on the internet. 

Brenda explained how she uses her digital camera in planning and recording her works; how she uses photo editing software for preparing images when entering quilt shows; and then covered the use of other software for exhibition planning. Finally she spoke about the commonly available Smartphone and iPad apps she uses and explained how you can set up your online presence via blogs or websites. The last area she covered was one many quilters and artists appreciate greatly – those bugbears of time management and keeping fit!

If you missed the talk and would like more information or would like to hear Brenda speak, check on her blog to see when she will be repeating it - http://serendipitypatchwork.com.au/index.html