Sydney Quilt Show and Craft Alive

Last month Mick and I had a fun day out visiting the Quilt NSW Show at Rosehill Racecourse.  We had a lovely time looking at all the stunning quilts and then browsing the Craft Alive stalls. We got down there fairly early, so had seen all we wanted by about two o’clock and Mick didn’t get too bored with it all.  (He does enjoy seeing the quilts, saying that it is like visiting an art gallery of textile arts.) Let’s have a brief wander around.

Firstly, this is the overall Best of Show.

Not your usual style of main winner.

There was a small travelling exhibition “Colours of Australia”.  There were so many interpretations of the theme, some political, some thought provoking, some reflecting the landscape and some your typical cutesy animals.  This was my favourite.

The winner of best miniature quilt.

Susan Reinhard, who several of us know, came second.

There was another small exhibition of art quilts entitled “Coastal Threads”.

And a second one entitled “Inland Threads” (I think).

We were more drawn to the latter as we love travelling the inland.

The winner entry of the Group Quilt was a stunning series of panels.  Just beautiful.

Mick particularly liked this Sashiko quilt. 

This was such a fun and quirky quilt and we were lucky enough to have a chat with the maker.  

Much of the designs were determined by the shape of the tiny scraps of fabric and many blocks were stitched while on the road.  Apparently, it is a companion piece to another quilt “Hoi Palloi”, depicting people.

Jackson Cook, of Armidale won best Movable Machine Quilting award, following on from his best appliqué award last year.  Not bad for a man still in his early 20s.

Another award to a male quilter was a Judges Choice Award to Molli Sparkles for this one.  It just looks like it is on fire, so a very appropriate title.

Now, I forgot to take a photo of the tag on this one, so cannot acknowledge the quilter. However, she was inspired by the historic chintz quilts and her applique blanket stitch on the broderie perse looked like it had been done with normal sewing machine thread.  I’ve never seen anything so fine.  The quilt is entirely made by hand.

Sue Reinhard had a second quilt entered.  It is beautiful, as is all her work.

I really liked this quilt by Caroline Sharkey.  She has a recurring theme of the outback and Uluru in particular.  I have a small piece of hers that I bought at Uluru as my souvenir, although it is nowhere near as spectacular as this one.

The Best Modern Quilt went to Belinda Betts from Orange.  It is good to see some country quilters receiving awards.

So, what am I drawn to?  It is often quilts that I can never see myself making, such as this one, which won Best Applique.

How about “Almost Perfectly Insane”? Stunning, but not something I can ever see myself attempting.  Splendid Sampler 2 was enough of a challenge.

I seem to always be drawn to quilts using old linens and this was no exception.  Unlike mine, that uses softer colours, this one used more traditional fabrics for a different affect.  Just lovely, and all hand quilted.

And one final one.  I seem to like quilts with lots of EPP and needleturn applique.

By then it was time for lunch, after which we had a look at the stalls.

It was good to see Anni and Peter from Hatched and Patched.

I did buy a few bits and bobs, but not too much.

We really enjoyed our day out.  It is worth the drive down.  Now to wait for a year till we can visit again.