A trip to the Hutt Valley last week to get the caravan fridge repaired meant that I could also visit the last days of the Pinestream Quilters Exhibition in Upper Hutt. This was my previous quilt club when we lived in Upper Hutt before moving to Levin, so I recognised many of the exhibitor’s names. The theme for the exhibition was “Warmth”, and I noticed that many of the quilts were in orange tones, relating to warm flickering fires at home, perhaps?
On entering the exhibition this beauty caught my eye. “Baltimore of Abbey” was stitched by Jeannette Orr for one of her adult daughters to “wrap herself in the warmth of a mother’s love when she is far from home”. Hand appliquéd, embellished with beads, and commercially machine quilted, this is indeed a stunning quilt.
Baltimore of Abbey, by Jeannette Orr
Heather Harding excels in all kinds of P&Q and I loved “The Warmth of Wool” quilt she made from recycled clothing and blankets, which all came with New Zealand Woolmark labels. This cosy quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted.
The Warmth of Wool, by Heather Harding
“Love Letters” by Fay Breslin is a pretty quilt made in 1930s reproduction fabrics in postage stamp blocks. Machine pieced and commercially quilted, and I love those soft colours.
Love Letters by Fay Breslin
Allison Pullar stitched “A Roman Summer” while living in a small inner city apartment in Rome during hot summer days when the temperature reached 40C. Thank goodness the flat had an air conditioner.
A Roman Summer, by Allison Pullar
Yes, there really are emus in Upper Hutt – we have seen them on a Blueberry Farm in the Akatarawa Valley! Pam Ritchie’s version of an “Akatarawa Emu” was pieced by both hand and machine, and machine quilted on a domestic machine.
Akatarawa Emu by Pam Ritchie
Best in Show went to Dianna Carroll for her stunning quilt, “Here comes the Sun”. She also picked up awards for “Best quilting on a domestic sewing machine”, and “Best machine appliqué”. You can’t get much better than that, can you?
Best in Show – Here Comes the Sun, by Dianna Carroll
The theme for the quilt challenge was to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of WW1 and the involvement of women both home and overseas. There were many wonderful challenge quilts on display, and here are my favourites.
“Thank You, those Maidens and Wives”, by Shirley Mooney.
“Too Far Away”, by Karen Johnston
PInestream Quilters has recently celebrated it’s 25th Birthday, and is still going strong. I was a member of this club for quite some years, and I have many happy memories of meetings, classes and the monthly “Stitching Mondays” which I never missed. I was so keen to attend I always requested a day’s Leave without Pay from work each month!
1 comment:
Jenny, when they say domestic machine, I assume that means not a long arm quilter? Aren't these quilts beautiful. Such variety and all gorgeous in their own way. I really like the one made from recycled material;that would have been what my grandmothers did.
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