Kincumber Retreat May 2023.

The last weekend in May 2023 saw 18 SydMQG members head north out of Sydney towards the Central Coast.

Rumour has it some retreaters might have stopped off en route at the very well stocked West Gosford Spotlight, and to see the lovely folk at the Sewing Basket in Kincumber (it’s part of the Achieve network of charity shops, and is located just 1 handy km from our retreat location – and near the really good coffee shop. I think they did very well with both donations & purchases that weekend!)

Some of us are pretty familiar with the facilities up at St Joseph’s in Kincumber, and it was great to be back there for a couple of full days dedicated to all things sewing & quilting, a lot of chatting, a modicum of wine slurping, and lots of scones. (And one of the best collections of Lucky Door prizes we’ve ever had.) For those members who struggle to get much dedicated quilt-making time in day-to-day life it is a real treat!

It was also lovely to catch up with some members who don’t often get to travel to Ashfield for Sunday Sewing, but managed to make it for the weekend. We had a handful of retreat newbies too, and it was great to see their delight at the facilities. That big hall where we sew works so well for a group our size – plenty of room to spread out and get creative! (Also, Sister Ellen has high hopes for her new chef, and she got the thumbs up from us too!)

The retreaters had an opportunity to get involved in the laying out of the QuiltNSW 2024 Raffle Quilt; and there was plenty of discussion and tweaking. Then the Dream Assembly Team of Helen Hill and Catherine Butterworth helped Kate Shea (this year’s group project coordinator), and they cracked on with pulling the top together – so by the end of the weekend we had a Colourful Cascade* pulled together from all the gorgeous improv cross-cut blocks (made by so many our generous members earlier this year) all ready for basting. And another multi-coloured block to go home with Anita Brown who volunteered to piece the backing. Hooray!

It was a glorious autumn weekend. Bright sunshine, with a crisp bite in the air – perfect for mooching around the beautiful riverside grounds for those of us who need an intermittent leg stretch and break away from the machines, irons and design boards.

But gossiping (sorry: information sharing), walking, shopping and eating aside; it was a very productive weekend for so many. Just have a look at the photos to see what was achieved.

Roll on August 2024. We’re booked in again for the first weekend. Can’t wait.
(We’ll probably be very glad of those electric blankets then!)

Cheers Kate Shea


* Thank you Helen Tait for the excellent name suggestion.

So who is Kathleen Riggins Modern Quilter?

During September this year the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild had the pleasure of hosting  two quilting workshops by Kathleen Riggins.

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, Modern Quilt Guild, MQG, Australia, Kathleen Riggins, Workshop, Modern Quilting
SMQG Kathleen Riggins Workshop

Kathleen comes to us directly from a teaching gig at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival held in September 2018 in Adelaide. It is not her first visit here as she and her husband have holidayed here before and both enjoy Australia. They live in Camrose,  a relatively small city in central Alberta, Canada, amid some of the richest farmland in the prairies.

She grew up amongst some talented quiltmakers including Mom, Dad and Grandma. “My first quilt was a Kindygarden quilt with plus signs” Kathleen says. “I made it on my own after watching Alex Anderson’s TV show, Simply Quilts at the age of 8. It had some strawberry, blue and peach fabric and I wanted more blue, but Mom wouldn’t let me. I still resent it!”  She finally finished the quilt  after almost 14 yrs, as part of a Guild Challenge .

At Twenty-nine now she started free motion quilting when only 14 and long arming quilting at 24. “I was sponsored by APQS Canada & Sparrow Studioz in 2014 and was given APQS Lucey to use in my living room! We sell Pfaff Creative Performance and a Janome 1600P in our store so I have these two machines as well.”

Kathleen does all her quilting hand guided. She loves pretty much anything to do with a sewing machine. Free motion quilting is by far her favorite technique. She will do almost anything to avoid hand sewing and prefers to do her quilt binding by machine.

“I choose machine quilting as a career as my parents have a quilt store “Quilting From The Heart” and they wanted to expand. They asked if I would join the Company and I said okay. My husband joined too. He is our machine technician. He really likes machine embroidery and does it for fun even entering competitions!” Kathleen smiles.

Kathleen replied,  “I love bright cheerful fabric ranges. Australian born Jan Mullens  is my favourite fabric designer.  Rachel Dorr  is my favorite quilter, I love the way she combines geometric quilting with feathers for magic!”

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, Modern Quilt Guild, MQG, Australia, Kathleen Riggins, Workshop, Modern Quilting
SMQG Kathleen Riggins Workshop

While Kathleen’s work is incredibly inspiring, she tells us she is inspired by the free motion quilting of Angela Walters and Margaret Solomon Gunn and the design work of Judy Niemeyer, Jaybird and Elizabeth Hartmann. “I love so many modern quilts I simply can’t pick just one. My favourite work so far is was ‘Ice Bubbles’ a collaboration quilt completed by Kat Jones, Rachel Frost and myself. It has just won viewers choice in Adelaide. I would love to win ‘Best Longarm Machine Quilting’ at Quiltcon, but it won’t happen, because they like straight lines and I do better than that!”

Those that attended Kathleen’s workshops were extremely happy with what they learned and their individual results. Kathleen’s website is full of inspiration, online learning and her wonderful books.

 

Sydney MQG members raffle quilt at Modern Quilt Show Australia

charityquiltcon

A quilt made by members of the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild will be raffled during the Modern Quilt Show Australia 2016, at Glebe Town Hall on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November. Proceeds from the raffle will go to a Sydney charity, which supports migrants newly arrived in Australia: Promoting Healthy Outcomes for Refugees