Author Archives: eastwoodpatchworkquilters

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About eastwoodpatchworkquilters

We are a group of passionate patchwork quilters who meet weekly in the suburb of Eastwood in Sydney NSW Australia.

5000 Poppies

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poppies

This sounds like a great project to become involved in. Come on EPQ members – make some poppies.

Excerpt from the blog 5000 Poppies:

Between 2014 and 2018 Australia will commemorate the Anzac Centenary, marking 100 years since Australia’s involvement in the First World War. And in 2015, there will be a large number of activities commemorating 100 years since the Anzac Gallipoli landing.

From its association with poppies flowering in the spring of 1915 on the battlefields of Belgium, France and Gallipoli, the poppy has become a symbol of both great loss in war and hope for those left behind

As part of the 2015 Anzac Commemoration, the 5000 Poppies project will be “planting” a field of more than 5000 poppies in Fed Square Melbourne as a stunning visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women for more than a century of service in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

We are inviting all crafters to participate in this meaningful and heartfelt project.

You are asked to hand make one or more poppies.  They can be crocheted, knitted, felted or sewn from any materials.  Any shade of red can be used and poppies should be no more than 15 cm in diameter.  There is no entry fee and contributors are asked to provide their own materials.  There is no barrier to involvement and no limit to the amount of poppies that can be submitted.

For more information about how to make the poppies and how to submit, go to the blog here

Creative Textile Show

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This is a brand new show added to the round of craft shows presented by Expertise Events.

A textile art show of this type has been eagerly awaited since the demise of the Brisbane Textile Art Show. The good news for us is that the venue is even closer.

Creative Textile Show,  May 2-4 2014

National Convention Centre

Canberra

Click here to access the website

When is a quilt not a quilt?

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When it is wood of course!

wood quilt

This beautiful ‘quilt’ is actually a wood carving by Fraser Smith. He creates the most stunning sculptures of textile items including quilts, coats, other clothing and hats. to see a gallery of Fraser’s work on his website click here

Into Craft recently featured an interview with Fraser Smith and a link to his YouTube clips, to see both click here.

EPQ receives Australia Post Our Neighbourhood Community Grant

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We are very proud to be the recipients of a community grant from Australia Post through their Our Neighbourhood Community Grant programme.

AUSPOST

Eastwood Patchwork Quilters supply little quilts to the Social Welfare Department of Sydney maternity hospitals. The quilts are offered to parents of babies who have died, to wrap their baby while they say goodbye. The group completes about 350 quilts per year which are distributed to three hospitals. The hospitals would like more and have suggested they could use twice that number, and other hospitals have requested our support.

Recently a hospital which supports Aboriginal Health in one area has requested the use of indigenous type fabrics be used in some quilts.

The financial grant will be used to purchase bulk supplies of suitable materials to expand the scope of this venture for the next twelve months. At present the group supplies some fabric which is supplemented with donations from members.

The committee anticipates preparing individual quilt kits with all materials included, ready to be distributed to members for construction of the little quilts. A small fabric label will be sewn to the reverse of the quilt noting it is a gift from Eastwood Patchwork Quilters.

First Quilter in Space

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space

When astronaut Karen Nyberg is launched to the International Space Station, she’ll bring something entirely new to the space frontier: the art of quilting.

“I enjoy sewing and quilting,” she explained during a televised interview from Moscow. “I am bringing some fabric with me, and thread. I’m hoping to create something. I don’t know what yet it will be — that’s part of creativity. It comes with the feeling of the day. So I have the supplies at my hands to create, if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so.”

When she’s launched into space on May 28, she’ll be taking four “fat quarters” with her (pieces of fabric that are 18 by 22 inches), along with some needles and thread. But up-cargo limitations and safety issues mean she can’t take a sewing machine, an iron, paints, a rotary cutter or other common tools of quilters.

Read more about Karen here

Faye’s Little Haberdashery Shop in Manly

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Robyn reports,

We once had an article in our newsletter about a tiny shop in Manly. It made the local Manly paper because Faye Morley was robbed. So, the local community held a ‘cash mob’ to come and spend up big in her little shop
Faye is 99.

I had tried twice unsuccessfully to go and visit. The first time I couldn’t find it as the address reads Park Lane Arcade off The Corso. This isn’t the case as I discovered on my second attempt, thanks to the girls in the library, that it is somewhere off Market Lane,  near Whistler St and Sydney Rd opposite the car park. So, I found The Park Lane Arcade (definitely no Park Lane) and a brown door, labelled 3. Many doors lined the art deco arcade and all had numbers, few had anything else. I didn’t think this could possibly be it…………..how small could the shop be?

shop

Third time lucky, around 11am on a Thursday. Door was open. Wow, tiny, tiny, tiny. I had a look around ……………..you stand in one spot and turn your body; then I woke up Faye who was napping behind the counter. She was  such fun to talk to although she repeated things a bit .

shjop

…………..she’s owned the shop for 15 years; belonged to her daughter-in-law (I think); doesn’t even make enough to pay the rent, but just good to keep the money in Manly;

“just buy 10cm, no point buying more than you need; all the buttons are made in Australia; just buy however many you need -I don’t sell them in packets here……………”

I was hoping to find some treasures. I found  dust and some pretty ordinary haberdashery bits. I really needed some needles and thread but she was out of those at the moment.

I had taken some of our quilt show flyers to leave on the counter. She seemed quite excited by the idea “oh, my daughter is a quilter, she lives in Mt Wilson”. Anyway, not sure if the half a dozen flyers I left got buried under the stuff on the counter but hey, was a delight to meet her and a lovely step back in time.