At our exhibition this weekend we have four great vendors with an amazing array of goodies to tempt us. Appleyard Cottage, Fabric Garden and Mercier are all based in Sydney and bring us a fabulous selection of fabrics and accessories. Wabi Sabi Design Australia are visiting us from Canberra and have the most unbelievable of Japanese fabrics and garments. 
Achieve Australia now has two new locations.
They have wonderful fabrics and all things textile related at very good prices and even better you are helping others when you purchase from them.
You may not have realised that the annual November sale at Craft Depot is now on, the catalogues are now digital. Here is the link to the sale catalogue
Have you been watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi? The bravery and skill of the athletes amazes me, no way would you catch me hurtling down a mountain head first on what looks like a travel ironing board!
But, I am really loving seeing patchwork everywhere through the games. On the banners, the competitor’s vests and all types of signage. 
The designs are, of course, based on a patchwork quilt. The designers, Bosco, wanted a design that would reflect the traditions of the Russian culture and reflect the ideals of the Olympic Games.
They stated “they had a wealth of choices to represent Russia’s rich diversity, but in the end we settled on something familiar, warm and welcoming: the patchwork quilt”. Patterns in the quilt pieces were taken from fabrics, ceramics, folk art painting and clothing.
Its fantastic to see quilts being used in such a high profile way, maybe it will encourage a few others to take up this traditional art form.
The official Sochi.ru website shows the patterns that were used to derive the designs, there is a sliding bar that links with images of the patterns that link to information about each pattern and photos showing the location of the patterns in the banners. Its well worth a look. Click here to be taken to the site. Then click on Look of the Games.
We are very proud to be the recipients of a community grant from Australia Post through their Our Neighbourhood Community Grant programme.
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.
How about this for a nifty storage idea!
Eastwood Patchwork Quilters Inc. 