Front page news

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Apatchy Kaye

It’s been a big week at Apatchy Quilting. One of the major items to report is that I made the front page of the latest issue of Down Under quilts magazine! That is to say my quilt has made the front page – see there in the bottom left –

And not only that but inside there is a two page spread – yes two pages – on the making of what has become known as ‘the Bowie quilt’.

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It was such a thrill to see this in print and I have to say, to quote one of Bowie’s songs, this quilt has “opened strange doors that we’d never close again”. It must have inspired me too because I did some work on Sunday on another smaller work. Well what else are you going to do when it’s a heatwave outside and the air con beckons?

Apart from my creations, last week marked the beginning of classes for this year. Rather than holidaying in exotic places or re-arranging their sewing rooms, many of the Apatcheez had finished projects to share. And here they are to share with you…

Debbie and Jan started off the run with these fabulous items –

The sweetest Tilda bunny;

A new project to hold other projects made by the untiring Debbie;

Jan finished this quilt with its whimsical embroidered details;

and then whipped this one up too. I think Jan is the first to finish her Foxley Village project or is there someone else out there that hasn’t been to show-and-tell yet?

Not content with finishing large projects Jan also made this very cute purse from fabric the Apatchy Santa gave her;

oh and managed to make these two bags as well! Does this woman never sleep? Apparently not.

Meanwhile Angie showed us how to model an apron in a very professional way and that was about it for the evening class – not a bad run was it?

And so now the gauntlet was thrown down for the Wednesday girls – and they did not flinch. Dee was up first and brought in her collection of beautifully embellished tape measures. These are destined to be gifts during the year to those lucky enough to be on Dee’s good list. By the way the bunny in the middle of the top row is surrounded by grub roses – isn’t he delightful? Then the pink one next to that is covered with tiny beads. Actually they are all divine. Which one is your favourite?

Now you knew Sharyn was always going to be a contender and she brought in a pile of finished work. She’s been practising her free motion quilting, which is something we should all be doing, and she’s getting quite good at it too.

And then there was this Dresden plate runner;

and another made from leftovers from a sampler quilt. See what you can do when you actually use your scraps rather than filing them!

But wait there’s more;

and even more. These runners really have a lot of movement with the swirls of the pattern don’t they?

Robyn has become very adept at making these hexie pouches and has been hounded by friends and family wanting one – you can see why can’t you?

I wonder what this week will bring – fame, glory, more quilting….

Until next time hope you have happy quilting

Kaye

PS I do have some copies of the Down Under Quilts magazine in question if you’d like one. Apatchy Quilting will be selling them now – well you have to get behind a local product now don’t you?

Double Gold!

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Apatchy Kaye

All classes and some remote Apatcheez have been very busy making and finishing lots of projects but this post I wanted to show you the ‘Nature’ challenge entries. We had a record 17 entries and, since a picture paints a thousand words here are the photos of these wonderful entries. In no particular order:

Lynette’s butterflies –

Pat’s asymmetrical depiction of the four seasons –

Suzanne’s very amusing testament to the unfinished –

Robyne’s very sweet little Tilda birds –

Faith’s chair cover adorned with Dresden plates and native birds –

Bev’s French-braided rainbow fish –

Chris’ whimsical beaded garden –

Julia’s perfectly paper-pieced blue wren cushion –

Sharyn’s upper class chook cushion –

Joananne’s rhapsody of lilac and lavender –

Robyn’s attic-window-view of a garden –

Elaine’s thirsty magpie –

Jan’s quilted teabags –

Debbie’s vintage upcycling – sunshiny explosion – apologies that this quilt was draped over the piano so you can’t see the whole here –

Margaret’s beautiful tree of butterflies –

Teresa’s scene of Cradle Mountain – a wonderful souvenir of a recent holiday –

and finally June’s reminiscence of a holiday to New Zealand –

Oh and I made one too, which was only for display. I called it ‘middle Age’ –

It was great fun trying to guess who had made each piece and it was extremely difficult to vote for just one – which is why we have Viewer’s Choice and I don’t have to choose one! As it happened there was a tie and the winners were………..Elaine and Margaret with their very creative artworks –

Aren’t they amazing! these girls have certainly set the bar high for next year and it was mentioned that they are both Wednesday Apatcheez but we won’t go there now.

We had a great day with presents –

and lucky door prizes (thanks to XLN Fabrics for the bundles shown here) –

as well as the visual feast of the challenge quilts and some Christmas food – what else is there?

Until next time (when I’ll update you with some more finished projects) happy quilting

Kaye

Go off like a frog in a sock

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Apatchy Kaye

The title of this post is Aussie slang for “to be very excited”. It’s what my number 1 son said I should be doing (in the context of “if I were you I would be going off” etc – like the aforementioned imprisoned amphibian)!

Now I know you’ve probably had your fill of seeing my David Bowie quilt….

and you’re probably sick of hearing about the prizes won at the Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair last week

prizes

and I know you probably think I’ll need a bigger hat soon but, guess what……….

viewers-choice

this morning, at Queensland Quilters meeting, I received the Viewer’s Choice Award (thanks to Logans Patchwork Fabrics).

So I’m still doing a happy dance – and will be for some time….boom boom shake the room!

Kaye

Travel, Shows and Celebrations

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Apatchy Kaye

A lot can happen in three weeks. Sometimes you stay put and sometimes you get out. It was that kind of time this month. First there was a trip to Warwick for the Jumpers and Jazz Festival – where everything, whether it moves or not, is wrapped in wool

Then there was a visit to Vanuatu where the sun almost always shines and photos look like they’re fake (but aren’t)

Where the flowers are as bright as the ladies’ dresses:

And where there is time to relax and reflect on the meaning of it all:

And finally a quick trip to Melbourne. On arrival I found that the National Gallery was exhibiting ‘The Making of the Australian Quilt’ – an exhibition to showcase the rich heritage of Australian quiltmaking from the ‘Rajah’ quilt (made by female convicts on the voyage to Australia) to quilts from the 1950’s. Here are some of the key works:

quilt 1

The hexagons that make up this quilt (by Prudence Jeffrey made around 1857) are only 1/2″ across – proving that some people were mad back then too!

quilt mary jane hannaford

This quilt was made by Mary Jane Hannaford and includes a little poem to remind the reader to do the right thing.

quilt misses hampsom

And this sampler quilt made by the Misses Hampson around the turn of the century shows Australian motifs.

I must say, even though I had seen many of the quilts before, they were certainly inspiring, especially some of the crazy quilted pieces that were made from the finest velvets, satins and silks.

While I have been gallivanting around, there have been several wonderful projects that the Apatcheez have finished – really it is like a factory here sometimes.

We also passed a bit of a milestone last week – it was Apatchy Quilting’s 8th birthday! But was there cake and streamers – oh no – the girls just kept working –

Pat finished this set as a gift for someone special. Apparently the origami folding at the top left was a little challenging.

While Margaret finished her set which includes sashiko – again a gift for a lucky someone.

Margarets fish 3

To celebrate the birthday though we will be having our annual birthday sale this week so come in and say hello and grab a bargain.

I have also been asked many times over the past few weeks about this year’s challenge. As you know we have a challenge every year and it’s time to announce the theme for this year. (See I hid it here so you had to read all the way through until you found it – tricky eh?) Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make a quilted item that is inspired by the theme. All the entries will be displayed at the annual Christmas gathering – to be held this year on Saturday 3rd December. This means that your entry must be in by the 2nd December.

As I mentioned this year the challenge will be to make a quilted item (it could be a quilt, wallhanging, bag, garment…..) that fits the theme. Again this year the theme is a word and the word this year is (drum roll please) ……’Nature’

So get your creative juices flowing – if it’s animal, vegetable or mineral it will fit the theme. From a pebble to a mountain, a leaf to a forest, an insect to an elephant – all fit. I can imagine some ideas coming to life on the fabric. Hope you can too.

I’m sure we’ll talk more about this and I’ll give you more information about the venue and so on as we get closer to the time of the unveiling.

The other big news is that the world outside Apatchy has been taking notice of the Apatcheez. There are always quilt shows asking for entries and it is sometimes a little daunting deciding whether or not to enter – will my work be good enough? Will people criticize it? Will I win a ribbon? Personally I think you should go for it and as someone once said “sometimes you win, sometimes you learn”. It gives you a different perspective when you see you quilt hanging with others and it can be a useful exercise where you can see aspects that could be improved. If you do happen to win a ribbon well that’s a bonus. I have entered my latest quilt in the Queensland Quilters Show and will know next week whether or not it has been accepted.

Over the past couple of weeks the EKKA was held here in Brisbane and three of the Apatcheez were successful – Robyne won third with her Roseville Album, Christine won ‘Best Hand Quilting’ and Lesa took out the viewer’s choice prize for her ‘Roseville Album’. I’ll try to have photos for next week. Congratulations ladies you are champions!

Until next time, happy quilting

Kaye

15 minutes of fame…

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Apatchy Kaye

Excitement at Apatchy this morning. I may have mentioned (a couple of hundred times) that my quilt ‘My Top 40’ was chosen to represent Queensland in the upcoming Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne. Indeed several Apatcheez will be making the pilgrimage to the Exhibition Building and will see it there.

So… the latest email from AQC talks about the quilts that are on show and provides a link to the ‘Best of the Best’ page – and whose quilt is featured do you think???? So proud – thanks Lesa for early phone call telling me!

AQC page

Until next time

Happy quilting – really happy quilting

Kaye

2015 Challenge Winners

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Apatchy Kaye

The Apatcheez had a great time at the Christmas party/Challenge reveal on Saturday. This is the fifth year we have run the challenge and three people (Jan, Chris and Lynette) were rewarded for having entered a project each year. That’s what I call consistency. We had twelve quilts this year and they were so interesting it made it very difficult to judge. Just think how great it would be to have 27 quilts on display – that’s how many attended our party. So there’s a challenge for next year – if you didn’t enter this year you’ve got 365 days to come up with something for next year!

We continued with the Viewer’s choice method for both the winner and runner-up. With such a wide brief it would be too difficult to find someone qualified to make a decision – so I leave it to you! You’ll recall that the theme this year was ‘Home’.

I apologise for the quality of some of these photos but I know you want to see the entries NOW and this is what we have to work with. I’m sure the teenager-in-residence must be responsible for the blurred ones….

So….drum roll please….. this year’s winner was actually two people as there was a tie so this year’s winners, and the recipients of a $100 Apatchy Quilting voucher (that’s one each they don’t have to share) are…..

Julia – she used photographic fabric to create this beauty

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and Lesa – who, again, used non-traditional methods including Inktense pencils to create this masterpiece –

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Again, I apologise for the poor photography here but the reflective glass in the frame made a photo extremely difficult. Blame this one on me.

And the runner up, for a second time in two years, and the recipient of a $50 Apatchy Quilting voucher is Margaret with this wonderful creation

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We were all looking at this on the day and every time you looked you found another little detail – it really is a lot of fun.

Several people mentioned how difficult it was to put only one project’s number in the prize box and you can see why when you have a look at the entries. Here are the remaining entries –

Angie actually followed a pattern to make this – something she doesn’t always do – and she did a great job. Look at those points….perfect!

Pat, a first-time entrant made this little piece based on a quilt she made for her daughter. It isn’t sideways but the number is – we fixed that after the photo.

Faith, another first-time entrant, gave us one of the blocks from her Baltimore Santa quilt. She used to be devoted to reproduction fabrics but I think you can see that we’re turning her to the light side! Beautiful needleturn work on this one.

Jan made this for her son. It is a drawing of his old house mounted (very cleverly with magnets) to an old piece of tin from the property and used barbed wire as a hanger. We thought it might be a problem with health and safety handling this one so we put it up out of reach!

Maureen showed us the life she leads when she she goes off with her caravan club buddies – and it certainly looks like a good one.

Lynette pleased everyone with this fantasy garden, complete with dense quilting which is her forte.

Dee, another first time entrant, made this lovely quilt. She is such a well-travelled lady and this amusing quilt showed us a home of another land – love the fur-lined hood!

Chris didn’t disappoint – delighting us with this whimsical landscape that is so much her style. Who wouldn’t want this hanging in their sewing room to inspire them?

And finally, Robyn’s entry is here.

The photo doesn’t do this one justice as there was so much to see in the multiple applique pieces – great work Robyn!

And I also entered a quilt – just to show solidarity with those brave enough to enter the competition. It had to be done in three nights so it had to be simple and it had to be graphic. So here it is…

XLN Fabrics, who are the purveyors of the beautiful fabric I tempt you with – the Amy Butler florals, the Tula Pink fantasies and the Kaffe Fassett Collective colour explosions, very kindly donated fabric bundles for the lucky door prizes. Here’s Heather very happy to win hers –

And here’s Faith, the-quilter-formerly-fond-of-reproductions-fabrics-but-now-almost-converted-to-COLOUR with hers –

I would also like to thank Teresa who brought her houses quilt in as an exhibit – unfortunately I didn’t get a very good photo of it by itself but you can see it in the background here

That photo shows Chris opening her secret Santa gift – this year we swapped needle cases and I think everyone was satisfied with their choice. As one person said “there were no duds this year”. Absolutely!

The other nice thing was the community that the group has – even though many only see each other at this time of year. The morning classes rarely see people from the evening classes but, as the teenager-in-residence says ‘there were no skirmishes’.

He distinguished himself by working flat out at the front desk – giving people their viewer’s choice forms and writing out raffle tickets. Here he is during peak time

And lots of people helped pack away at the end of the day which was really appreciated. Some washed up –

some wrapped leftovers

and some re-arranged furniture even though they were told not to “in their condition”.

Generally, everyone had lots of fun

There were more prizes, more gifts and more smiles but you get the idea. So thanks everyone for a lovely day. Until next time

Happy quilting

Kaye

Are you up for a challenge?

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Apatchy Kaye

It’s that time of year again when we issue a challenge to all our clever ladies to come up with a quilt that will fit a theme and be shown at the Christmas party event at the end of the year. Before we talk about the challenge let’s talk about our Christmas Party – it’s only4 months away – I know hard to believe isn’t it?

Generally at the Christmas Party we have a ‘Secret Santa’ gift swap where everyone brings a gift to exchange. This year we thought we’d try to be a bit more creative – actually it was Jan who suggested it so all kudos to her – instead of bringing a gift this time we want you to bring a pincushion to exchange.
All those who bring a pincushion will take one home. Here’s your chance to try a new technique or just ‘de-stash’ a little. All you have to do is:
1. Make a pincushion.

2. Wrap it up in Christmas paper (the mystery makes swapping more exciting!)

3. Bring it to the Christmas party

4. You will receive a number and when your number is called you choose a ‘gift’ and get a pincushion to keep!

Need some inspiration? There are lots of pincushion patterns at Apatchy or you could create your own!

And now on to the challenge……
We have had some wonderful exhibits in the past and the more there are the more interesting and fun the event – so if you haven’t entered before why don’t you have a go this time?
This time the rules are a little different in order to leave the event open to more types of work – which should make it all the more interesting!
So here are the guidelines:
– The challenge runs until 21st November 2014.
– There are two prizes – the winner judged by a neutral party; and the Viewer’s Choice Award
– You may make anything you like as long as it’s either quilted and/or embroidered. It can be machine or hand stitched.
– If it’s a quilt then make sure there is a hanging sleeve so we can hang it at the Christmas Party. Likewise other works should be able to be ‘shown’ at the display.
– Write a few words about your project including how it fits into the theme and you’re done.
The Christmas party will be held on Saturday 22nd November (earlier than previously advertised) and this event will also see the drawing of the raffle for the group “Flowers for Trudy” quilt – all proceeds of which are going to the Blue Nurses.
Oh and you’re wondering about the theme – well here it is….
Drum roll please, or maybe a fanfare on a trumpet…… the theme this year is

MUSIC

Maybe it’s a favourite song or artist that inspires you, maybe it’s the harmony of hundreds of hexagons, perhaps a quilt for a loved one with musical instruments, or a landscape of the Austrian alps (the hills being alive with you-know-what or a skirt with guitar fabric (told you it didn’t have to be a quilt). Away you go…create my beauties
Here’s some inspiration:

Winners are Grinners!

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Apatchy Kaye

Well it has certainly been an inspiring weekend for some Apatchy girls – at the show at Brookfield two of our girls swept the awards – Lesa with her magnificent modern Baltimore and Chris with her wonderful tea cosies. Have a look at the photos and tell me they aren’t happy. Great work ladies, congratulations!

What a champion!

And here’s the winning tea cosies:

Chris is a winner!

Chris wins again

Chris makes her third cosy and takes a hat trick

A little peep at Lesa’s prizewinning quilt

Challenge revealed!

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Apatchy Kaye

The gathering we had yesterday is what Apatchy people call a Christmas party. To those of you who have never attended one of these parties it is more of a delight for the senses.

Yes each person brought a plate of delicacies for all to share and yes we mingled and chatted and exchanged gifts and laughed. Yes we even had ‘secret Santa’ – a time to be amazed at how ingenious our ladies are in being able to buy lovely things for just $10 or perhaps to be amused at the reaction of some as they opened their presents. The thrill of expectation is always exciting and here was no exception.

We even had a visit from the Christmas fairy – unfortunately our Apatchy Santa (the teenager-in-residence) has hung up his over-sized shirt and polyester beard and declared this year that he is too old for such nonsense. Fortunately another generation is available to carry on the tradition (in the form of Miss B) although she can only appear as Santa’s representative.

The highlight of the day was the display of the challenge quilts – 14 in all – not bad when you consider there were 34 people present – I’d say that’s as good a percentage as any quilt group can manage. And manage my clever people certainly did. What a wonderful display of quilts of all techniques, colours, sizes and shapes. Congratulations to Robyn for winning the judge’s prize and well done for being the most surprised winner ever. Congratulations to Elaine for her ‘highly commended’ award and to Cathy for her ‘Viewer’s Choice’ award.

Moreover, congratulations to all of you who were brave enough to enter your quilts so that we could experience such a wonderful treat. And thanks to my Apatchy ladies for being the best customers a quilt shop could have. Thanks for a wonderful day and a wonderful year.

Here are some photos of the day so those of you who couldn’t make it can see what missed. Prepare to be dazzled………

Unfortunately when you take photos of quilts hang on the wall they become somewhat skewed and you don’t see them as beautifully as you would have if you were at the show – but you can see the general idea. I’ll try to put each quilt and it’s creator on as an individual image on ‘Your Gallery’ over the next week. Here’s a great photo of the winners of the awards – talk about ‘winners are grinners!’ Well done Robyn Cathy and Elaine:

A Challenge is Announced

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Apatchy Kaye

We had a great day on Saturday with Laura Macpherson showing us how to do altered books. We had such a good time that it was difficult to leave and that wasn’t because we’d glued our fingers together! The class was supposed to finish at 2.00pm but we didn’t finish until 3.00pm and even then….. There were books with teacups, birds, elephants, Paris, bats and the sea. Laura showed us how to make them our own and showed us lots of different techniques from watercolours to carving to make a unique piece. Thanks Laura for giving us a new addiction!

It was great fun playing with paper, paint, pencils,glue and fabric and we all found inspiration from a range of places although it was quite a challenge for some of us. Just look around you and see how things can ‘speak to you’ whether it’s for an altered book or a quilt or some other challenge! I found these tulips were quite inspiring – they were a gift from Di for Apatchy’s 5th birthday. You can see a wall hanging that June made for the same event on ‘Your Gallery’.

Many of us are looking forward to a retreat at Esk this weekend. Hopefully there will be many pieces completed during our sojourn (well started anyway). It will be like having a holiday…………

Now this leads us nicely into another subject. It’s about time that we have another challenge. This annual event has become something of a tradition at Apatchy and this year is no exception. So…. Announcing the 2013 Apatchy Challenge – here’s the rules:

– the quilt can be any shape but the combined total of all sides should be between 72″ and 160″ (so if you’re making a square item it will be between18″ and 40″ square.)

– any shape is allowable but it must be able to hang from a rod at the challenge prize event (so generally this means a sleeve on the back please)

– the quilt must be hand or machine quilted and bound

– the quilt can be any style and incorporate any technique (appliquéd, pieced, beaded, art quilt or traditional) as long as it fits the theme.

– your entry must be received at Apatchy no later than 22nd November, 2013.

– winners of the Challenge and Viewer’s Choice will be chosen at the Christmas party in early December (actual date to be advised but either 30th November or 7th December) when quilts will be returned to their creators.

and the theme for this year is …………………….

HOLIDAY

………so off we go!

Smoke Signals from a Log Cabin

Apatchy Quilting's Blog

Category Archives: Awards

Front page news

Double Gold!

Go off like a frog in a sock

Travel, Shows and Celebrations

15 minutes of fame…

2015 Challenge Winners

Are you up for a challenge?

Winners are Grinners!

Challenge revealed!

A Challenge is Announced

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