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Newsletter for AMQA Inc members

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Feb. 2014

President’s Message- Jan/Feb 2014

Happy New Year everyone,
Well I’m sure there are many of you who are already back into the swing of things, I know I am trying to balance the needs of my boys on holiday and the quilting deadlines. Canberra has had some rather hot days, though I know there are many of you who face other challenges, fire and cyclones for example.  I hope you are all safe and nothing gets damaged.

The AMQA Quilt Show will be held later this year in conjunction with the AMQ Festival.  We’ve noticed some confusion about the names of our Association and Festival.  We hope you will help us to clarify things if you encounter any confusion.  We are both separate entities but have forged a partnership to work together and we are supported by Festival to run the AMQA Quilt Show. The current aim is to fill our sponsorship requirements which are separate to those for Festival. If you have any suggestions for businesses who might consider sponsoring our show, please let someone on the committee know. You can find an email address on the website for the committee members. We hope to make the show extremely successful with great prizes for all categories. I would like to thank the sponsors who are already supporting our show and providing some wonderful prizes.

Jan Foster - Red Shed Quilting
Bill and Leonie West - Westalee Designs
Hollyburton Park.
SA Quilters Guild.

2015 Member’s Challenge Competition Now Open!
Do you have an idea for a pieced design you think would be perfect for the next Member’s Challenge?  To enable as many people to enter as possible we are thinking way ahead and wanting to release the pieced design at our Quilt Show in 2014. This will give almost a year for quilts to be thought about and made.  If you have a design in mind, I encourage you to spend a bit of your downtime writing it up and submit it to the committee for use as the 2015 Member’s Challenge pieced design. All acknowledgements will be given to the designer as appropriate. The challenge is great to stretch our skills, try new techniques and help us be confident. 

We need

- a design that is approximately 40-45 inches square, ideally closer to 40inches but this will depend on the design. 
- instructions to make the pieced design and measurements for cutting etc. Any templates etc. in printable format, ie; PDF is good.
- a picture or photo of the finished design, not necessarily quilted.

The prize for the successful design is a free year of membership to AMQA Inc. Other designs will be held to consider for future Member’s Challenges.
We are hoping to make the challenge a travelling showcase which will be great for our industry and for our businesses.  To be able to offer the quilts for travelling we do need to make sure it is worthwhile. 4 quilts don’t really make a showcase. I encourage you all to consider designing and then entering the Member’s Challenge in 2015.



2014 AMQA Inc. Quilt Show

Here are another 2 categories for your consideration. Machine embroidery and Edge to Edge. The quilts in Category 7 must show a significant use of machine embroidery and the quilts are judged equally on both the embroidery and the quilting. 
Edge to edge is any pantograph or freehand quilting, as long as it is covering the quilt completely, we have seen some terrific entries in this category.  Challenge yourself.

7. MACHINE EMBROIDERY: Minimum of 240” perimeter and maximum of 480” perimeter. The quilt must incorporate machine executed embroidered blocks or machine embroidered appliqués or motifs as a significant design element. Hand embroidery, while beautiful, is not allowed in this category. Specialty threads and embellishments are allowed. The quilt will be judged equally on the quilting and machine embroidery.

8. EDGE-TO-EDGE: Minimum of 240” perimeter, maximum of 480” perimeter. An all-over-the-quilt pattern which is continuous-line derived from a pantograph or freehand quilting. The quilting design must cover the quilt completely from one edge to the other. Painting on fabric is permitted in this category
.
The show is a wonderful way to show off your quilting and also as a personal challenge.  The first quilt I entered was in the Edge to Edge category and I am challenging myself to try to enter as many categories as I can over time. Also, I really love to see my quilt/s hanging where so many can see them.

This is your Newsletter!
Remember if you have any news items or products reviews, helpful tips or techniques you’d like to share with the members please write a brief article and submit it to the newsletter editor for inclusion in the next newsletter due out.  We are aiming to increase the frequency of the newsletter and appreciate anything you have to contribute. Some of us have lives outside of quilting, yes really!   How do you make it work?  Tell us your story and any hints and tips you’ve discovered along the journey.
Best wishes for those who have children heading back to school.  Most will have started by the time you are reading this. Have fun kids!
Happy Quilting
Raylee Bielenberg


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An update by Veronica Prendergast. Her group "Tropical Delights" created this gorgeous quilt to raffle for the Royal Flying Doctor Service... 



Attached is a photo taken with members of the Royal Flying Doctor Service on the day the raffle was drawn.  A lady in Innisfail won the quilt and she was quite overwhelmed.    Over $10,000 was raised with this quilt, which we and the RFDS were quite pleased about.    In the photo the lady at the front in jeans is the fundraiser for the RFDS and she herself has raised $50,000 in one year alone for the RFDS her name is Ruth.   I’m in black and white on the opposite side.

Veronica Prendergast.

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NSW Longarm Quilters Get Together

I have been threatening to hold a Longarm Quilters get together for a LONG time, and have also been discussing this get together with Sharon French from "Morning Star Quilting" for a LONG time.We finally got our act together and  Sat. Feb. 8th 2014 was the chosen date, held on the Central Coast of NSW at Charmhaven where I run my quilting service "Red Shed Quilting".... in a factory bay.
 I had no idea how many people would attend as I simply threw the invitation out there and did not ask for RSVP's....wont do that again. Sharon and I were worried that we might be the only ones attending....eating scones on our own....wishing we had worn our stretchy pants....


As you can see we had a pretty good turn out. I wanted to create an opportunity for those of us in our area to get together and network, and just get to know one another better.
We were lucky to have Kaye and Bruce Brown attending from "The Finishing Touch" and also Joanne Knott from "The Quilters Quilter" showcasing some of her beautiful digital designs that she sells on her website. If you are not familiar with Joanne's work, take a look...


We had show-n-tell....


Leanne Harvey


Sharon French


Jan Wand


Cath Midsen


Clare Fairless-Lewis


Kay White


Kaye Brown


Beth Foster

Not everyone had show-n-tell....and that's OK...

It was a really positive experience, a lovely day with lots of discussion and way to much food.
We have decided to hold the get together's fairly regularly, changing the  venue each time.
Sharon French is the host for the next get together. It will be on the Central Coast once again. May 3rd is the next date. I will post an invitation here with more details.
We will be asking for more show-n-tell, having a discussion on improving your facebook page, and a discussion on how to put a value on  your time.

Jan Foster

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Australian Machine Quilting Festival 2014 


All the Tutor's and classes are listed on the website....grab a cuppa and take a look...



Two more tutors for you..

Jamie Wallen




After a longarm purchase in the late nineties, Jamie Wallen began to develop his own unique style of quilting. He teaches his signature workshops and classes, Mystical Quilting series and Threadfusion. Jamie enjoys sharing his knowledge of quilting and his YouTube channel has become a hit. He continues to teach nationally and internationally. Home base for Jamie is Michigan City Indiana, where he is filming instructional DVD's, hand dyeing, quilting and teaching workshops. In 2013 Jamie was the recipient of the 2012 Machine Quilting Teacher of the Year.


Classes Offered by Jamie Wallen

Mystical Florals, Leaves and Vines
4hrs
Demo/lecture

Quilters can find as much diversity in surface quilting with florals as there is with feathers. "Mystical Florals" covers florals, leaves, and vine variations that will make your quilts take root in creativity. You will learn a myriad of designs using these elements for your customer and personal quilting and apply them to edge-to-edge, custom blocks, border, and sash designs. This class applies to all levels of Long-arm, Mid-arm, Short-arm or Hand Quilters. 

 Mystical Feathers
4hrs
Demo/lecture


Join Jamie and explore all feather forms including traditional, non-traditional, and stylized. Then discover how to use these options in allovers, and any custom shapes you run into in your client and personal quilts. This class is exclusively dedicated to feather work. If you've wanted to learn and apply a myriad of new, as well as classic feather styles, then this is the class for you! 


Mystical Grids 
4hrs
Demo/lecture

This Class covers Exciting new designs with the focus on Jamie's incredible Point-to-Point "Mystical Grid Designs". You will learn a myriad of designs using these elements for your Customer and personal surface quilting and apply them to Edge to Edge, Customized Blocks, Borders and Sash Designs to speed up your earning potential while making your surface quilting stand above the rest. This class applies to all levels of Long-arm, Mid-arm, Short-arm or Hand Quilters. 



Thread Fusion 
4hrs
Demo/lecture

Come prepared to learn a mouth-watering array of techniques and designs that will make your projects sing. In this class we will uncover exciting new textures and apply them to new set-ins, borders, blocks, and allovers. Participants will also learn "Outrageous fillers" to showcase these Unearthly Delights. Dragonflies, Lacey Hearts and so much more. Come experience the concept of "Threadfusion."This class applies to all levels of Long-arm, Mid-arm, Shortarm or Hand Quilters. 


Care & feeding of your A1 Quilting Machine
2hrs
Demo/lecture

Jamie will show you how to you keep your A-1 running at optimum performance. Jamie covers Daily Maintenance, Quarterly Spa Treatments, Behind the Back Cover Care, Behind the Faceplate Care, Machine Operation, Tension and more.


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Vicki Jenkin



We are thrilled to welcome back

Vicki Jenkin

Vicki started quilting in 1996 and quickly developed a love for both needleturn applique and machine quilting. She quilted on a domestic machine for 14 years and then in 2010 bought an A1 Elite, giving up her day job and taking the plunge into professional machine quilting, she now gets to indulge her passion every day! Vicki believes in getting out of your comfort zone and having a go...you don't know what you can achieve until you try.
Vicki has won a number of awards at state, national and international level. These include a Best of Show and Excellence in Domestic Machine Quilting at Victorian Quilters Showcase, Honorable Mentions at Houston and the World Quilt and Textile Show. Longarm awards include ribbons at MQX and MQS and 2011 Rookie of the Year award at MQX

Classes Offered by Vicki Jenkin

A Flock of Freehand Feathers
2 hrs
Demo/lecture

Feathers are fun, they look great and there are variations suitable for many styles of quilts. Learn the basics of feather anatomy and you will soon be stitching beautiful flowing feathers with minimal pre-marking! Heirloom feathers, frilly feathers, hooked feathers, batwing and axehead feathers, a pretty feather filler and more! Most of them don't even have any backtracking! Handout includes a workbook of all designs

Making Feathers Fit 2 hrs
Demo/lecture

Part of the beauty of feathers is they can be tailored to fit many different shapes. This class looks at fitting feathers in squares, circles triangles and other shapes as well as options for borders.
Primarily an ideas and design class suitable for both longarm or domestic machine quilters

Let's do Circle Work
2 hrs
Demo/lecture

Circle rulers/templates are very versatile and can be used to create many different block border and background designs. We will start with the basics of simple block and border designs, move onto curved crosshatch and more complex designs and finally combining with other motifs for those drop dead gorgeous border designs.
There are lots of ideas for all levels of custom quilting and the handout is a 20+ page workbook of designs to take home for inspiration!
Suitable for beginner, confident beginner!


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Did you Know that AMQA has its own face book page?....take a look and 'Like' the page so that you can keep up with the latest news....AMQA Inc.
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Do you have anything you would like to include in the next newsletter?
I would love articles and photos concerning anything quilting related in your area.
Send to   editor@amqa.com.au