my fabric treasury

Last weekend I visited my mother on the Gold Coast for a few days. As the acclaimed exhibition, Quilts 1700-1945, is on at the Queensland Art Gallery we decided to drive up to Brisbane to see it on Saturday.
The original exhibit, Quilts 1700-2010 Hidden Histories, Untold Stories, was put together by the Victoria and Albert Museum of London and shown in 2010. It was one of the most successful exhibits ever shown at the V&A, with visitors coming from across the UK and around the world. Although, some visitors were thwarted in their efforts to see this wonderful exhibition by the eruption of the Finnish volcano in August 2010, closing down air travel around Europe and delaying flights from the Southern Hemisphere for over a week.
The volcano had been threatening to erupt for months, first spewing lava in March that year. It chose to erupt the day I was due to fly to England, with a group of 17 quilters, to visit the annual Festival of Quilts and Birmingham, Pour l'Amour du Fil in France and various other significant textile destinations, including the exhibition at the V&A. Due to the clouds of ash, all flights were cancelled and we were turned away at the check in counter.
To be able to see the smaller, curated version presented exclusively in Brisbane was a dream come true. It's always fun to see quilty things with my mother, whose been a quilter for more than 30 years!
My memories, plus the book, will be permanent additions to my textile treasury!  (At only $39.95 the book is great value!)

I was lucky enough to further enhance my textile treasury with three quilts that mum gave me...

Amish Thousand Pyramids

She made this Amish Thousand Pyramids in the early 80s. It hung on her walls for more than a decade, spent a decade or so in storage and now it's come to my house to adorn my walls.

It's a cutie

And she gave me this little cutie for safe keeping.

Family Favourite, hand pieced and quilted Whirly Gig

This much-loved family favourite was entirely hand stitched and quilted. I am going to sleep under it for the rest of winter, at least.

Thanks for spending time with me mum, and sharing quilts and enriching my textile treasury of memories, experiences and quilts. Oh, and thanks for sharing some of your stash to go with the new fabrics I bought at East Coast Fabrics (Burleigh Heads), for only $7 a metre!

what a treasure!

DWR - a new trend is coming on!

Double Edged Love by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Early this year, at the inaugural QuiltCon event, Victoria Findlay Wolfe won Best in Show for her quilt, Double Edged Love, a modern interpretation of the traditional Double Wedding Ring Quilt. Then in June this year, at the annual Quilters Guild of NSW (Australia) quilt show, Rings and Roses by Janet Treen won Best of Show. Janet’s quilt is very traditional.

Rings and Roses by Janet Treen

Inspired by Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s quilt, and following on from the success of the EZ Dresden Plate Challenge last year, the NYC MOD Quilt Guild have recently announced the 2013 Double Wedding Ring Quilt Challenge.

They partnered with EZ Quilting/Simplicity, Interweave and Juki to challenge quilters all over the world to use Double Wedding Ring templates or patterns to create a project, then enter it to win amazing prizes from numerous sponsors!

Don’t be afraid of the Double Wedding Ring! Google Double Wedding Ring Images and you will see lots of ideas, or look up photos on Flickr or Pinterest. To get your creative juices flowing, The Quilt Alliance (one of the generous sponsors) has put together a PINTEREST page with examples of Double Wedding Ring quilts included in their Quilt Index.

There are three categories that you can enter and you can enter up to three quilts – one in each category, but the projects must have been started this year – (I suppose that means I can’t enter the one I began in the early 80s based on Mary Ellen Hopkins' machine pieced method?)

SMALL: ONE RING! Easy! size: under 20in or smaller.
This is a great way to play and learn your curves, and try your own version of making this fun design!  

TRADITIONAL: 4 rings or larger 
Make the traditional double wedding pattern by using the template and your choice of fabrics…not straying to far from the traditional style. Four rings or larger for this category, must have three layers and bound.

MODERN:  4 rings or larger… ANYTHING GOES!  
How can you interpret the double wedding ring, put a MODERN spin on a traditional design? Piece it, applique, fuse, whole cloth? Possibilities are ENDLESS!  No rules other than it must have three layers and bound.

You don’t need to use EZ Double Wedding Ring Templates to enter this challenge. Check out this video to see how to use the EZ Double Wedding Ring Templates.

The judges are Darlene Zimmerman (EZ quilting), Vivika DeNegre (Interweave), Lisa Mason (president of NYC MOD), Victoria Findlay Wolfe (Quiltcon Winner, with Double Edged Love) and Elisa Albury (former editor of Quilters World).

 
There are amazing sponsors who have donated FANTASTIC prizes! See the website to see what you could win. Check out all the details over at NYC MOD Quilt Guild blog.