Authors Maro Vanezis |
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Once every two years the community of Hunters Hill Quilters in Sydney put on a quilt show in aid of a chosen charity. This year, as they have done since 2003, they were supporting Giant Steps, a local school for autistic children. Having helped raise funds myself for Nicosia's Autism society in the past and recently having set up a special charity section at our Patchaouri 2014 exhibition for the Sophia Foundation for children, I was really keen to go and see how things happen for charities in OZ and in a quilty way!! They raise money from admission to the event , a raffle , the sale of donated quilts and through the sale of various handmade smaller items. I managed to take some really quick photos for all you quilters to get a feel for what was there...sorry about the quality but the lighting was not great for photos and you had to be really quick before someone stepped into the picture!! There were a total of 51 quilts displayed by the members of Hunters Hill Quilters this year . I have linked a few buttons below to sites for those interested....Maro PS. Happy first day of Spring/Autumn !!
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 Unbelievable...got a call to say my stuff has arrived and will be delivered ...so I guess I am still waiting , but not for too much longer. So far it has been 5 months since I packed some essentials for the big move to Sydney. Have also still been filling in forms left right and centre and trying to source various crafty items. Found some bigger googly eyes and made up a few more kiddie purses....still haven't perfected the stitching on vinyl, pretty difficult for mum's machine. Have also made a few random cushions and a basket and some bunting for a special little girl's christening... 
 I am still waiting for my 12 boxes of important stuff to arrive (packed mid march and won't be arriving now till mid Aug...grrrr). In a few of those boxes are my fabrics , notions and my sewing machine. I can't go a week without wanting to get onto my machine so you can imagine the frustration, but, luckily my mum sews and so I have had the chance to do something other that filling in all those red tape forms you have to fill in when you move to another country..( have realized I hate filling in forms as much as I hate ironing...maybe even more so ! )
 All seen at the Craft and Quilt Fair I visited in Sydney last week. Sorry to those who are breaking out into a sweat just reading about wool, at home, locked inside due to the summer heat... When I managed to pries myself away from looking at quilts I took a few snaps of yarns and fibers that caught my eye. Some of the photos do not do justice to the colours and textures but hopefully give an indication of the standard of the artists and crafty people who were exhibiting.
My two favourite yarn shops ...feel like I really have to start knitting, crocheting or weaving...something ...
 One shop I have tracked down already in Sydney is 'Material Obsession'.For me it was a Material session as the photo says !!...any excuse...actually I refrained and only bought some wool felts... It's in a handy position with lots of free 3 hour parking available a 3-5 min walk away...that's a steal for inner Sydney believe me. I have also been to another couple of quilt and craft shops but unfortunately had no camera at hand....however, I am going to the Sydney Quilt Fair this week and will definitely post about that for all you quilters and those who may be interested...can't wait , and, knowing me I won't be able to sleep the night before !! Material Obsession is a typical inner west suburban house that has been converted into a shop. There are 3 small rooms and a corridor which are filled from floor to ceiling with fabrics, notions, samples of work for classes, rulers ,threads, pre-cut pieces of wool felt etc and something I had not seen before, pre cut paper hexagons and other shapes in a variety of sizes...no more downloading or drawing, then, cutting out papers!!! (since then I have seen these paper shapes sold elsewhere too..) Kathy Doughty was not in her shop as she was in the USA but Carolyn Davis was, and, kindly allowed me to take these photos. Carolyn has a fabulous quilt in the shop made of hexis with a big - leaf black and white border print that sets it all off and makes it different to other traditional hexagon quilts. She loves quilting by hand using embroidery floss, and so do I, but ,not for all quilts... maybe it's because they don't have many patterns available from their compuquilter service!!!!! Luckily, I have since been given a couple of leads of long arm quilters and will have to make up a couple of small quilts (when my machine and stash arrive) to try them out!!I can hear Irene (our Cyprus Gammil Long arm Quilter) saying.."Watch out the fussy one is in town!"...well yep Sydney...here I come!!! There is another room downstairs , where all classes and workshops are held and I will have to book in for a session in the future to discover that corner of the grotto. And that's exactly what it felt like, a Kaffe Fassett grotto with lots of colour and big bold patterns.Yes, there were more subdued fabrics too , plains , stripes and Kathy's first range of fabrics "A Wandering Mind" , but for me the big and the bold "Kaffe style" stood out as having first place in the shop ...Maro http://www.materialobsession.com.au/epages/mama12093.sf http://www.kaffefassett.com/Home.html We would like to thank everyone for helping us create the Sophia Foundation quilts at our Patchaouri 2014 exhibition last February. It was loads of fun, for young and old, and was wonderful to see how much thought and care people put into placing their "patch of love" onto the design board .The look of delight on the children's faces when they realized that their fabric square would stick just by caressing it was priceless. With all the excitement we managed to finish 2 quilts. The first a classic one patch and the second we decided to create a 4 patch square from the same colour family to create a different look . Both quilts will be used by the Sophia Foundation for Children to raise funds for their charity work in Cyprus. The quilts are to be raffled after the summer heat subsides and in time for the lucky winners to use them this Christmas. Will post all the details once the raffle is organized but for now enjoy the summer and a huge thank you to all who participated in making these quilts from start to finish and edge to edge and ...definitely brimming with love...
For everyone who was not there : On December 21st last year another charity event was organized at Omikron gallery for The Sophia Foundation for children. This time it was not for the children for Africa but for those closer to home, in Cyprus whose families have been severely affected by the economic crisis. It has taken me a good 5 months to post about this and upload these photos as we have had to get through the Christmas madness, setting up an exhibition ....( see our Exhibition Patchaouri 2014 page for a glimpse of how we spent our opening night ) children , family and students , moving to Australia , renovations etc. which, have all demanded a lot of our time ... Hope you enjoy the slide shows of the exhibition and pashminas that were all available for auction , and yes it was a HUGE success and managed to ensure 8 schools could be set up with kitchens, and, supply meals for their students for a year ... we hope they are all having a Happier New Year....Maro And a few closer photos of some pashminas : Ps : Apologies for not writing the names of all creators , memory failing and list in a drawer approx. 1400 km away !!! If you would like to see Patchaouri's contribution to the exhibition please click on the button below to see the blog post .. We are feeling quite excited these last few days. We will be having an exhibition to show our work of the last three years. We are now taking care of the last details on our quilts, setting up the exhibition hall and organizing the opening event .
This year we have introduced two new activities to our exhibition: We will be offering visitors a glimpse into part of the quilt making process, while at the same time supporting needy children in Cyprus. Our guests will be invited to participate by adding a piece of material to quilts that will be designed and sewn on the spot. The final quilts will be donated to the Sophia Foundation for children to raise money for free lunch-time meals in schools. We would love to see you there !
On the opposite end I used an upcycled neck tie and made a "fylacto" to incorporate this Cypriot tradition of keeping a chid from harm...and sewed the tiniest blue bead to represent the "evil eye".
Finally signed and sealed in a bright ,mustard wool felt pocket for ,safe keeping when not in use .The pocket is lined with silk and secured with a leather "button"... BUT, today it's unwrapped and part of this special, important event.. ..Maro
...Some for presents, new and old.
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