The 9th Australasian Quilt Convention

The Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne was an incredible experience. The location, the atmosphere, the beautiful quilts on display, the fabric and quilt patterns – everything! And boy was it busy. Visitors who love quilts from all over Australia and beyond descended upon Melbourne for the 9^th annual AQC Show. Many visitors came to the show each one of the 4 days to look at displays and stores, to take classes and attend seminars. It was lovely to see some ladies visit us every day of the show.

Bill and I set up our Make and Take space within the McCall’s Creates stand where we showed the McCall’s Collection of patterns and a display of how our patterns could be used with paper or fabric – or both. Throughout the show we offered visitors the chance to create a simple but beautiful gift tag using the 1 inch punch, paper, luggage tag, ribbon – and of course some bling. It is one of my great joys to see people use a sewing machine for the first time and see the sewing spark ignite. I always hope it is the start of a life-long love of creating with one of the greatest of all inventions – the magical sewing machine.

Here are a few pictures from the show.

Yes - it was pretty busy at the show

Having fun

One of my favourite stands L'uccello http://luccello.blogspot.com.au/ Must visit next time in Melbourne!

Our lovely stand neighbours Mai Misaki http://maimisaki.com/ (beautiful Japanese quilting) and Prudence Mapstone http://www.knotjustknitting.com/ Enough to make me take up knitting or crochet. Gorgeous!!
 

Make and Takes are always popular

The magnificence of The Royal Exhibition Building

Having a talk about using the patterns with fabric instead of paper.

 

Next post I will show some pictures of the absolutely beautiful quilts on display.

Experimenting with Washi craft tape.

Washi tape is created in so many beautiful colours and designs and seems to be one of “the” craft products at the moment. I have been wondering how I can use it in Paper Quilting. I was a bit concerned about the self- adhesive backing on the Washi tape because double-sided craft tape plays absolute havoc with the needle on your sewing machine. Well, I’ve now used Washi tape on a couple of quilt pattern designs – and so far so good. The adhesive on the back of the Washi tape is not as sticky and doesn’t seem to be attaching itself to the sewing machine needle. I’ll keep experimenting – but in the meantime – why not have a go at adapting your Paper Quilt Patterns with strips of Washi tape. Use the pattern piece to trace around onto a plain piece of 180-200gsm paper first as any line or words will show through the Washi tape as it is very transparent. Sew the tape together as you would with other projects. There is no need to retrace the image design onto the Washi tape as the first tracing line will show through. With all the beautiful designs out there – you will be sure to get a great result. And it’s really quick too.

The Autumn Papercrafts Festival - Penrith, Sydney

I am just back from the wonderful Paper Crafts Festival at Penrith. What a week-end! It was great to catch up with the other store owners and customers (many who have followed my journey since the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show back in 2007). So many happy people enjoying the latest crafting products. I don’t have too many pictures – as we were SOOO busy which was fabulous. We set up a Make and Take table again and we were so happy that everyone, (women, men and children) 

We had a great space at the show. Here is Bill setting up the booth.

of any age, realised just how very easy and how much fun Paper Quilting is. We’ll be doing it all again next week at The Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne.

Make and Take table on the first day of the show.

It was lovely to see a family creating gift tags together.

Sunday was VERY busy