Sunday 25 June 2017

QuiltNSW - Sydney Quilt Show - I'm a winner!

Wow!! What a crazy few days that was!

Many of you know that I entered my la passacaglia into the QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show in Australia.  I was there for the prize giving on Thursday and was totally stunned when I won the top amateur prize!!


Yes, I won the Bernina Amateur Encouragement Award and the prize is a Bernina 215, very kindly donated by Bernina Australia.


Bernina Australia are lovely and they are sending a machine to Nancy's Stitch Studio in Wellington for me to collect.  I didn't want to have to try and bring it home on the plane yesterday.



I also won a Judges Commendation in my category - Pieced Quilt and Hand Quilted (Amateur). That's the blue ribbon pinned on my quilt.


So it was an amazing day which seemed to just fly by after the prize giving.  The congratulations kept flying in on Instagram and Facebook.  If I haven't replied to you personally, please accept my thanks now.

I met so many people who follow my blog, facebook or Instagram at the show! Thank you all for coming up and saying hello.  My friends were laughing that every 10 minutes or so someone would say, "Are you Wendy? You don't know me, but I follow your blog."

The first kind lady approached me on the first morning at 8.55am before the doors even opened to go in, and it continued until I was walking to the exit at 4.30pm closing on my last day.  You're all so kind and it was lovely to meet you all.  Thank you for reading my blog and being interested in what I make. I don't do selfies, but if I did I could post at least 30 selfies here with blog followers I met at the show.


So now my quilt is showing on the QuiltNSW page of winners.  What an honour.  You can click here to see more winning quilts from the show, and I'll post some of my favourites in a separate blog post soon.


If you'd like to know more about how I made my la passacaglia quilt, you kind find all my previous blog post on the tab at the top of the page, or by clicking here.

Final advice:

This success is a story in not giving up. Many of you have told me my quilt is beautiful and it has inspired you to start making your own la passacaglia.  I've also been told many times that I must enter it into a show and let other people see it in real life.



My own guild (Capital Quilters) hasn't had a show since I joined because the hall we would use has been demolished and is being rebuilt due to earthquake risks.

Our national show - Quilt Symposium - is only held every two years, but they require all quilts to be original designs, so I couldn't enter la passacaglia in that show because it's from a pattern by Willyne Hammerstein.

Last year I applied to have my quilt included in the Quiltmania exhibition of 20 la passacaglia quilts at the Houston quilt show in 2016.  My quilt wasn't selected and I was naturally quite sad about that. I would have loved to have had my quilt at Houston, even though it would have been for exhibition only, and not judged.

So then I emailed the Auckland Quilt Guild to see if I could display it at the Auckland Festival of Quilts in November 2016, even though I'm not a member of that guild.  I said it could be for display only, and not judged.  But they came back and said they only allow entries from people who live north of Taupo - and unfortunately I don't.  That's fair enough, it's their guild and they make the rules.

Undeterred by two rejections, I joined QuiltNSW because they allow international memberships, and allow each member to enter two quilts into their show each year.  I'd seen photos from their show in previous years and knew their quilts were beautiful.  I just wanted my quilt to hang in a show and let other people see it in real life. So I joined QuiltNSW a year ago, and entered my first quilt show.  And look at the result!! I won the top amateur award.

So the moral of this story is, don't let a rejection put you off.  If you think your quilt should be in a show, keep trying until you find the right show for you.


Thank you to QuiltNSW and Bernina Australia.

42 comments:

Frances Meredith said...

Well done, well done, well done! Your face poped up on Facebook here in the UK, your success is know the whole world over!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

congratulations - I was looking at the winners a couple days ago and saw yours - and I thought well done - I knew you had hoped to have it shown in Houston and I would have seen it personally then - I really think yours is way above any I saw there

Websterquilt said...

Congratulations! Well deserved. It's a stunning quilt.

Jenny said...

HOw wonderful Wendy - congratulations of your wins, plus a new machine. Well deserved of course, that quilt is amazing. Don't come down to earth too soon, just enjoy your success a while longer!

Razzle Dazzle Quilter said...

Congratulations. Well deserved recognition. And well done for not giving up!

Helen said...

congratulations....such a beautiful beautiful quilt. And what good advice.

Susan said...

Congratulations again Wendy! To say I was thrilled was an understatement! You rightly deserved this honour, awards and prizes! I expect the local newspaper will be doing a story about your success soon! And enjoy that new sewing machine too!

Michele Hill said...

Congratulations Wendy! Good on you x

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

Congratulations! You should enter AQS Paducah next spring. They get lots of international entries. I bet your quilt would win in the Hand Quilted category.

Vyv & Mac said...

Our Heartiest Congratulations, Wendy - well deserved recognition. You have a great mentor in your dear Mother.
Best Wishes & love from your proud in-laws, Vyv and Mac.

Unknown said...

Well done. Its wonderful.

Alison said...

Oh Wendy, well done! Your delight shows on your face. Enjoy it all! Hope you picked up some other goodies while at the show and we might see your haul at some stage.

margaret said...

congratulations a foregone conclusion it really is an amazing quilt and deserves all the ribbons and praise that you received. Have fun with your new machine

Tine said...

congratulations from Belgium,
well done. Tine

Julia T said...

Congratulations once again :) I'm so glad you finally had the chance to show your amazing quilt. I'm one of those people who felt in love with LaPass because of you! I'm struggling to start it but I don't care, it's a lovely project and I love it. You also inspired me very much about handquilting too!
Thanks for the great lesson... never give up!!

Kunzfrau said...

Toll! Herzlichen Glückwunsch. Diesen Preis hast du dir auch verdient!

Gruß Marion

mangozz said...

Congratulations! That is quite an honor and your quilt is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!

Lisa said...

Well deserved winner! I love my Bernina 215, hope you do too!

Kyle said...

Congratulations. Your quilt is stunning and I'm so glad you had the chance to share it with so many! Plus you got to attend the show as well!

Unknown said...

What a great story Wendy. Keep on keeping on! Well done.

Lori said...

wow your quilt is gorgeous. Great job in not giving up. YOU DID IT!!!
A huge congratulations.

Lorraine said...

Well deserved I might add as it is a beauty Wendy :)

Cathy Melancon said...

I've said it before, your La Pass is my favorite! Your perseverance has paid off!! Congrats on these well-deserved honors!!!! 👍🏻

Rosa said...

Congratulations!Well done!!

Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio said...

Wow Wendy congratulations! You do beautiful intricate work so it doesn't surprise me that you won! Your top goes so well with your quilt with all the colorful circles on it. What a fantastic prize winning a Bernina! Bernina's are fantastic machines. Enjoy creating more award winning quilts on your new (or old) machine.

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said...

Congratulations, Wendy! I watched the progress of this quilt and loved the colors and the pattern. You kept moving along on this project all the way to completion. I couldn't believe it wasn't selected for the Houston show. I'm so happy you were able to put it in this show and that you won so many awards, including the Bernina sewing machine!!! These were well deserved awards.

PaulaB quilts said...

Wendy, ever since you started this quilt I have been amazed at its intricacy and color. It's probably the most beautiful one I can recall. My heart goes out to you hearing of all your attempts to show it. These awards were so well deserved. Do try the AQS in Paducah so all your American friends can see it. Congratulations!

Sandi said...

Perseverance must be your middle name Wendy! Congratulations on such a great and deserving win! May this be the first of many well deserved recognitions.

Kris said...

Congratulations..so wonderful!

Linda said...

Congratulations - so very well deserved! - for your success at the Sydney Quilt Show. A wonderful quilt, so it should jolly well have won a prize. No wonder you look so happy.

Raewyn said...

Congratulations on your win and for what sounds like an amazing weekend! Your tale of perserverance is an inspiring one, well done!

Sarah said...

Congratulations, fantastic that you won and rightly so, it's a beautiful quilt!

Mary Ann said...

Congratulations!!! Your quilt is so gorgeous and am happy to hear about your wins at the quilt show. I wonder what the others looked like for the Houston quilt show?? Am thinking will have to try and research that. I really enjoy reading your blog. survivor972002@midco.net I am from the USA.

Barb said...

Congratulations Wendy!!! So well deserved for your fabulous quilt.

brenda said...

Congratulations Wendy! I love that your outfit matches your quilt.I was just in Australia visiting from Canada and started following a number of blogs from Australia and your name came up so I am now following you too.

Farm Quilter said...

Congratulations from a blog reader in the United States who didn't get to come to the show!!! What a totally awesome outcome for your splendid quilt!!! THREE ribbons AND a new Bernina!!! You are so right to encourage your blog readers to keep entering their quilts in different quilt shows - you never know what the result will be!

Tawa said...

Well done Wendy, it is a beautiful quilt. I'm afraid my EPP project hasn't moved on since the classes at Wellengton Sewing Centre, but now I have the flu, I might just grab it out. Persistence is the key, as you said.
Congratulations again.

Wendy said...

wow, well done Wendy! Very well deserved!

Ruth said...

I had bookmarked this to come back to when I could to say congrats and am delighted for you! Having followed your progress on this and your mums quilt and all the encouragement you give those working on their own hand pieced quilts I am so happy you ribbons and awards and lots of congratulations from us all for all your hard work and support!

Rachaeldaisy said...

Huge Congratulations again and it was a treat to meet you in real life. I love your advice to never give up and to enter your quilts and not be deterred by rejections. You just never know what can happen.

Schulz Family said...

So so so amazing. Well done.