Great Australian Quilts issue #13 2022

This issue has been awesome to put together! It has been such a delight compiling what are arguably Australia’s best quilts and quilters! We have invited award-winning quilters to share projects, techniques and their amazing award-winning quilts. We also share some of the winning quilts from Australia’s most auspicious quilt shows. During the Covid lockdowns of 2021, Australia lost one of its most loved and skilled quilters. Di Ford Hall was known to many, particularly in Victoria where she lived, but also around Australia and the world. Her warm personality and her amazing design skills were well-loved – we share a look back at Di’s life on page 102. Of course, Di’s fabric ranges were also well-loved. The last quilt she worked on was Windermere, made in her Windermere fabric range. This…

The inaugural Australian Quilt Show Challenge was shown at the Craft & Quilt Fair in Sydney in late June 2022. With a total prize value of $32,000, including a $10,000 cash prize for the Grand Prize, it was an exciting event for Australian quilters to participate in. The Australian Quilt Show Challenge is being shown at Craft & Quilt Fairs around Australia during 2022. For more information visit the website: www.craftevents.com.au/australian-quilt-show-prize-winners Best of Show – Grand Prize $10,000 Artist’s statement: A simple starflower sits inside a rose window. As time and knowledge (represented by the blue piecing) expands outwards the original starflower pattern evolves from organic shapes into geometric shapes to create a new but related design. Original elements are used again before the design falls back into the obscurity of time. Best of Show…

lynkeoghquilts.com lynkeoghquilts@gmail.com Lyn Keogh Quilts Materials • 75cm (⅞yd) solid cream fabric (background) • Assorted fat eighths of batik or hand-dyed fabrics in greens, browns, yellows and reds, ranging from light to dark in each colour • 25cm (¼yd) green batik fabric (binding) • 75cm (⅞yd) backing fabric • Batting at least 80cm x 60cm (32in x 25in). Lyn actually used two layers of batting in her project as she wanted to quilt it heavily and have the appliqué stand up from the background. If you’d like to do the same, you’ll need twice as much batting • Rayon machine embroidery threads to tone with the appliqué fabrics • Cream embroidery or Sashiko thread and a small embroidery hoop • Tracing paper and fine permanent-marking pen • Fusible web • Baking paper • Rotary cutter, ruler and mat • Sewing machine with ¼in and open-toe…

Deirdre Bond-Abel, Hat Creek Quilts www.hatcreekquilts.com.au deirdre@hatcreekquilts.com.au @hat-creek-quilts Materials • 3.4m (3¾yd) cream aged muslin • 30cm (⅜yd) Midnight Clear — Red (R570174) • 30cm (⅜yd) Good Tidings — Gold (R570173) • 30cm (⅜yd) Hearts Glowing — Green (R570175) • 30cm (⅜yd) Truth and Grace — Red (R570177) • 30cm (⅜yd) Faithful Friend — Red (R570170) • 15cm (¼yd) Good Tidings — Green (R570173) • 25cm (⅜yd) Hearts Glowing — Red (R570175) • 15cm (¼yd) Mercy Mild — Gold (R570171) • 30cm (⅜yd) Truth and Grace — Green (R570177) • 75cm (⅞yd) Spirits Bright — Black (R570172) • 55cm (⅝yd) black and gold print fabric (binding) • 3.8m (4⅛yd) backing fabric • Batting at least 190cm (74in) square • Semi-soluble fusible appliqué paper; Deirdre uses the Hugs n Kisses brand • Apliquick rods (optional) • ¼in bias pressing bar • Lightbox (optional) • Glue pen and glue stick • Monofilament thread • Rotary cutter, quilter’s…

Most of my quilts are based on the landscape, sometimes realistic but more often semi-abstract in design. The sky is certainly one of many elements I have enjoyed exploring. The sky has the potential to be an exciting feature to enhance and energise any landscape. With its endless capacity for change, it is the most flexible compositional tool that you can experiment with. I have found that whatever colour palette or style I choose, when I place the sky fabric in the position of the sky in my design, it will read as sky. It could be green or orange, or even black and white. It could be pieced, collaged or hand painted. If the colours of the rest of the landscape work in harmony with the sky, it will…

Renowned Australian textile artist, Jenny Bowker AO spent many years in the Middle East and Islamic countries including Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Malaysia. As a diplomat’s wife she observed up close the richness of Arabic cultures and the Islamic faith. The 10 quilts exhibited showed her life experience charged with the poetry and politics of the time, in celebration of the people she met and the places she lived. Following completion of her Bachelor of Arts Degree (Visual) in 1997, Jenny worked in textiles and decided “to make just one quilt”. Her work was noticed by Australian quiltmakers when she was living in Jerusalem. She was a member of the online group SCQuilters (Southern Cross Quilters) and she would share “postcards” that were words, not images, and all the members were…