“A good friend is like a warm quilt wrapped around the heart.” - Anon.
Whenever you talk to a quilter, novice or professional alike, the word ‘friendship’ comes up early in the conversation. Like many other creative hobbies, quilting provides people with much more than stitching skills or an overflowing fabric stash, it provides them with a connection to others. For rural communities in particular, the opportunity to meet friends and bond over quilting is valuable but in the city too, especially as we re-locate more and more in search of work, affordable housing, or maybe a retirement location, quilting groups can serve as entrée into a whole new life.
In Queensland a group called The Creative Patchwork Cottage has been running for several years with the aim of pushing the boundaries of their craft. Spokeswoman and founder of the group, Glad Howard, says the idea came to her after attending a workshop run by tACTile, a group of ACT-based textile artists predominantly interested in art quilts. tACTile comprises six members: Jenny Bowker, Dianne Firth, Helen Gray and Beth Miller, with Beth and Trevor Reid working together in partnership. All the artists are individually acknowledged as leaders in the field of contemporary quiltmaking at local, national and international levels.
“The workshop was called ‘Breaking the Boundaries and Blurring the Edges’, explains Glad. “The challenge was then to find similarly minded quilting ladies who wanted to explore, extend and break the rules of traditional quilt making. The Gold Coast Quilters Guild members (of which Glad is one) were invited to come out of the closet and have the courage to play without the fear of the ‘quilt police’. The group is only small, about eight members, but each person is very supportive of the creative efforts of everyone else.”
Glad’s group meets once a month in the studio of one of the members. Not surprisingly, each meeting kicks off with a cup of tea or coffee and then the women discuss what they’ve been up to, what they have seen or experienced or experimented with in the previous weeks.
“It is a sharing of knowledge that can be quite stimulating. We then have a ‘Show and Tell’ and constructive discussion takes place,” says Glad. “The magazine ‘Quilting Arts’ quite often influences the practical activities that follow. Some of these activities result in quilt applications and projects but other times we just have a lot of creative fun. Sometimes it is satisfying not to feel you have to end up with a useable article. We have explored the possibilities of hand dyeing yarns and fabrics, working with synthetics, felting, creating fabric by layering and stitching, dyeing with tea bags and using the tea bags themselves to create fabric and have had a lot of fun with shaving foam.”
The members are in interesting bunch and amongst them are Barbara Ford, a milliner by training who used to work for the prestigious Georges department store in Melbourne. Today her interests lean more towards painting and how it can be used in textile art creations. There is also Laraine Pickett, an art teacher who explores how traditional blocks can be used in more creative ways to make a social comment, Lyn Hales, a prize winning traditional quilt maker who enjoys the freedom of playing with new materials and techniques, Jan Sly, a gifted sewer, Lu Evans, a knowledgeable spinner, weaver and dyer and, of course Glad, an experienced art and craft teacher who enjoys anything to do with textiles. Attending workshops is a passion and she passes on her experiences at the monthly meetings.
“We all have our own special skills and interests that we bring to the meeting,” says Glad. “Sharing and encouragement is an important part of what we are about.”
This, in fact, seems to be the most striking thing about the foundations of The Creative Patchwork Cottage. By supporting each other, encouraging each other to be daring in their work, and being open to new ideas and experimentation, the groups provides not just friendship but courage and audacity, possibly freeing these women to reach greater creative heights than they could have on their own.
“It’s important because quilters who have only known a traditional approach to quilt making can have the support of others to be more creative and do things differently... without the fear of the ‘quilt police’ condemning the work,” adds Glad.
While small in numbers The Creative Patchwork Cottage aims high in terms of achievements and Glad says one of their best moments in recent times has been having British artist and quilter, Kate Green, present them with an in-house workshop in 2006. “Kate is a well known quilt artist from the UK. Her workshop pushed us to the limits. Very good work was produced, not necessarily understood by either the creator or the viewer."
Future plans for the group involve putting on an exhibition this year, especially considering how supportive the Gold Coast Council is in encouraging the cultural development of its residents. “It offers free gallery space and funding,” explains Glad.
Also in Queensland is another group of avid quilters for whom friendship and quilting go hand in hand. Coorparoo is a southern suburb of Brisbane and the Coorparoo Quilters Inc celebrates its 25th anniversary this May with a special anniversary quilt show. Current President, Judy McLeod, says the group has around 90 members and, on average, 50 or 60 of those turn up to the meetings which are held twice each month.
A member herself for 22 years, Judy came to the group after an unfortunate brush with Lymphoma. “My sister, a quilter in Tasmania, said to me, ‘You’re stuck at home, you’ve wanted to start quilting, use this time now’ and so I did,” remembers Judy. “We have novice and experienced quilters alike. Come one, come all is our motto!"
For an annual membership fee of $15 and a $2 contribution at the door of each meeting you attend (this pays for supper) involvement in the Coorparoo Quilters is assured. There is always a raffle at meetings and often workshops are held where new techniques are learned, plus there are Work in Progress (WIP) days held every couple of months.
“Women come from Ipswich to Redland Bay, often driving more than half an hour each way,” says Judy. “Our name spreads through word of mouth and often sub-groups, friendship groups, form along the way. We pick up a lot of new members when we appear at the craft shows which we normally do each April and October. We’ve gotten quite a profile because of our ‘chook’ quilts. Frankly we’re probably a bit tired of doing them but people seem to love them.”
The Coorparoo Quilters are known for the quality of their work. Judy says many of the older members may have been taught by their mothers or grandmothers but younger members might initially learn through local shops “and, of course, those modern machines are wonderful and can do just about anything”.
The group tackles the practicalities of their hobby, recently forming a dedicated committee to focus on ideas for using up one’s hoard in tougher economic times. “Using strip piecing has proved popular,” says Judy, “as has the making of smaller items using scraps. Let’s face it, all quilters have a hoard and patterns and colour tastes change. These are good ways of using up older pieces.”
One of the most important goals the group has is supporting charities with their work. “We have a long term relationship with the Cancer Council of Queensland and we also support the MS Society. One of our young members, in her 30s, has the disease,” says Judy. “We do four quilts a year and they’re raffled at Art Union Raffles. We also always commit to at least two craft shows a year, Stitches and Craft in April and Craft & Quilt Fair in October.”
Day to day, though, more personal activities are undertaken by members. “Fun things happen such as six or so members might travel down to Melbourne together for the Australasian Quilt Convention but then we also make special quilts for each other,” says Judy. “We make heart quilts, one went to a member’s daughter recently who is extremely ill, but another member moved to the north coast and she was opening up her home to foster children for Christmas Day. We made up food parcels to help her out.”
Members’ ages range from late 20s and early 30s to 75. Of the original 10 founding members, four are still actively involved. Judy herself has been part of a friendship group that has been going for 20 years. The Coorparoo Quilters hold an annual Christmas party at a restaurant where they do a ‘Secret Santa’ and the last meeting of each year doubles as a supper with attendees (“all good cooks,” says Judy) bringing along a plate. “The group only became incorporated in 2008 and this was so we could go through the business of minutes with the committees and so forth,” explains Judy. “We wanted members to have more of a say in the direction the group was taking.”
See the Coorparoo Quilters
Stitches & Craft Show: 29 April - 3 May 2
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition
Craft & Quilt Fair 21 - 25 October
Brisbane Exhibition Centre,
Southbank.
Contact Glad Howard:
glad3@bigpond.com
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