Capital Quilters Exhibition 11-12 May 2024

It's only one week until our exhibition!!!

It's going to be great because we have some very talented members at Capital Quilters.  I've entered seven quilts.  Yes, SEVEN. 

One is a 12" x 16" challenge, so that hardly counts.

Two you've possibly seen finished here on my blog or in person.

Two others you would have seen progress photos of, but not seen them finished.

And the final two are total surprises!! These are quilts that I've completed without showing them on social media at all.  Not even my friends know about them.  And I'm not going to give any clues now.

Centre - My Vibrant Curiosities. Best in Show at our 2018 Exhibition.

Right - my La Passacaglia 

I love walking around our exhibition and trying to guess who made the quilts before I read the tags.  People do have individual styles and I enjoy matching people to their quilts.  

If you live close to Wellington, please do consider coming.  Bring your mum for Mother's Day.  Or ask your kids to take you as a treat.  

The Lower Hutt Events Centre is a lovely modern facility with an on site cafe and we're going to have five merchants too.  

I can't wait!

Capital Quilters' Exhibition

I've got exciting news to share.  Capital Quilters are having an exhibition in May 2024 in Lower Hutt. 

It's going to be on Saturday 11 May and Sunday 12 May which is also Mothers' Day.  Wouldn't be lovely to take your mum to a quilt show on Mothers' Day? You can look at the quilts together and then stop in at the on-site cafe for a bite to eat. 

Of course we're going to have merchants too so you'll have to allow time for shopping too.  

The Lower Hutt Events Centre is the lovely modern facility where we've held our exhibition twice before, and where the Symposium exhibition was held in October 2022.

I'm busy planning my entries now.  Each guild member is allowed to enter as many quilts as they wish, but entries will be scaled back if too many entries are received.  All quilts must have been completed since our last show in October 2020.  

I've got 3 quilts that are still WIPs.  Will I be able to get them finished in time? I'm not sure. 

We've also got two challenges running so I'm thinking about what I'm going to do for them.  I always like seeing mini quilts hung together and especially when they've got a common theme.    

So, there's a lot happening.  I encourage to visit the show if you possibly can.  The Capital Quilters exhibition back in July 2014 is what got me enthused about quilting.  I wasn't a member of the guild then but I walked around the freezing school hall and was amazed at the quilts on display.  Now I look back at those photos and I know all the makers and I am a member of Capital Quilters myself, 

(PS - our venue won't be cold - it will be warm and welcoming)

Auckland Festival of Quilts - the exhibition

We got a lovely surprise when we walked in to the Festival of Quilts and saw mum's Lucy Boston quilt had a ribbon it!

I was so pleased for mum because it really is a beautiful quilt and deserved something I thought.  

We met lots of friends at the quilt show, and made some new friends too.  Everyone was so nice, and I felt very relaxed because I wasn't involved in organising it.  

We even went to the prize giving on Saturday evening and mum received a monetary prize for her efforts.  We weren't expecting that!

The Auckland Festival of Quilts is held in a large indoor netball arena. There's plenty of room for the quilt show and the merchants.   There's also lots of natural light due the skylights, so the quilts all look great.  

I didn't take a lot of photos, but here are 3 quilts that grabbed my attention.  The first is by my lovely friend Diane Campbell and it won first place in the Large Amateur Quilt category.  It's a Caswell quilt designed by Corliss Searcey, and all hand appliqued and hand quilted by Diane.  It was lovely to meet up and congratulate Diane in person.

The second quilt I liked was also a Caswell quilt designed by Corliss Searcey, but it was different in quite a few ways.   Susan Wade, the maker, added a border and did stunning machine quilting on her quilt. Susan won Best Amateur Quilt for this quilt.  

I always look for Sue Flego's quilts when I go to Festival of Quilts.  Sue is very clever with fabric so I wasn't disappointed when I saw her Pinball Wizard quilt.  The hand quilting was extra special on this one.  

And then we did some shopping, of course.  We're both going to be busy now.  

It was a lovely weekend and I'm so glad I went and could share the excitement with my mum, Joy Hill.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Auckland Festival of Quilts

I'm writing this post in advance because I'm going to Auckland Festival of Quilts on Friday with my mum, Joy Hill. 

Mum has two quilts in the exhibition so we're going along to see them hanging, plus everything else of course.   

Here's mum's first entry - her blue and white Lucy Boston, all English Paper Pieced and hand quilted.

Mum loved making her Lucy Boston quilt and was naturally a bit sad when it was finished! 

Mum's other entry is a wool felt applique design by Wendy Williams called "Over the Hill".  I've only got these photos taken before she put the binding on, but isn't it beautiful? It's a very cute design, but mum's Kaffe border just sets it off perfectly.    

So if you're in Auckland I hope you get to visit the Auckland Festival of Quilts too.  There's going to be merchants (of course!) so we'll enjoy looking at their stalls too.  

Next week I'll show you my highlights from the exhibition. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Symposium entries

Symposium is open and now I can now show you the quilts I have entered.  

 

Gone Fishing by Brandon Mably for Kaffe Fassett Collective

First up are my Fiesta Flags.  This was a great idea by the committee to liven up the Sacred Heart College foyer where the Happy Hours will take place.  Each entrant had to make six double sided flags to the exact dimensions and then thread them on to a 2 metre long rope. 

I wanted my flags to be bright and colourful to reflect the Fiesta theme of Symposium.   So I chose my brightest fabrics and make them even brighter with feathers, ric-rac and baubles from Spotlight.  I had a lot of fun making my flags.  

Smitten

My second entry is in the 12" x 12" Resene Paint Chip Challenge which will be hanging at the Hutt Art Centre, just around the corner from the Lower Hutt Events Centre.  

Each entrant was given two paint chips to base their mini quilt on - a colour and a neutral.  My colour was a pretty pink called Smitten, and my neutral was Double Dutch White.  

I didn't have a lot of time to devote to this challenge, so when I saw some fabric in my colourway, I grabbed it and turned it into a mini quilt with both machine and hand quilting.  

My REAL entry is my Neptune and the Mermaid quilt that I started at the 2019 Auckland Symposium.  It's in the "In the Beginning" challenge section - for quilts started at the 2019 Auckland Symposium.  

I'll show more photos of this quilt in my usual upcoming Friday blog post, but in case you're looking for it at the Lower Hutt Events Centre, this is what it looks like:

Neptune and the Mermaid

It's hand pieced and hand quilted by me, from a pattern designed by Wendy Whellum.  More details on Friday. 

If you see me at Symposium with my fancy floral head band, do say hello.  

Quilt Symposium 2022

I haven't had a lot of time for quilting lately.  I've been busy organising my work conference, learning a new system for cricket registrations, and managing the communications for the Quilt Symposium 2022.  

The quilters in New Zealand get together every two or three years for a Quilt Symposium.  This time Capital Quilters are hosting the Symposium in Lower Hutt.  We've been busy booking tutors, setting up the rules the exhibition and arranging social functions.  You can read all about it here on our website:

https://www.quiltsymposium2022.co.nz/

Everyone admires our Block of the Month programme at Capital Quilters, so we decided to run Block of Symposium.  I've made 6 bears paw blocks and they are my entries into the draws.  We're hoping to get lots of blocks and will give away sets of blocks to lucky entrants.  

If you're in the Wellington region between 5-9 October I really encourage you to come and see the exhibitions at the Lower Hutt Events Centre (where Capital Quilters' exhibition was held in 2020 and 2018) and the Hutt Arts Society - just a short walk away.  I'll let you in on a secret - one of my new quilts has been accepted in to the exhibition!

There's also going to be a fantastic Merchants Mall at Sacred Heart College.  Anyone can visit the Merchants Mall - you don't need to be registered for Symposium.  

So start making plans now if you're a kiwi quilter.  We also have info about transport, parking and accommodation on our website.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mid-Summer Quilts in Motueka/Tasman

I'm finally home from my holiday in beautiful Northland, but now I'm wishing I was in Nelson at the top of the South Island. Then I could go and see the quilt show in Upper Moutere. There's only tomorrow left o catch the exhibition now, so if you're in the area, make plans to go to the Tasman Bible Church in Upper Moutere tomorrow - Saturday.  It's open from 10am til 4pm and only costs $4.

I was invited to be a guest exhibitor, so you'll see some of my quilts there too.  Here are some of the ones that I sent over, plus links to my blog posts about each of them:

Tongariro Crossing

We Built This City

You Spin Me Round

I was looking forward to attending the Auckland Quilt Guild's Festival of Quilts in February 2022, but they've had to defer it again to November 2022 now.  My mum has entered two quilts and they are ready to go, but the inevitable arrival of Omicron in NZ has event organisers hesitant to plan too much at this stage.  

I do have the Taupo Quiltmakers Exhibition in my diary, and I'm planning to be there between 24-26 June 2022.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party. Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter