Continuous lines – June 2016

umping June the deadlines are getting close!!!!!!

How are your quilts going?
Have you started, I have but they are not ready yet.

Did you know you can enter your quilt and send us the pictures later, as long as we get them before the show. This is what I’ll be doing as I have not got them actually finished but I’m planning to enter them.

Dates are all listed in a box next in this email. Please get your entries in, we have so much talent to show off in Australia. Let’s see your quilts everyone.

Lets talk Showbiz!

AMQA SHOW 2016

Show Things you need to know.– AMQA Show dates 25-28th August inclusive. Any quilt entered need to be available for the entire show.
– Entries are to be in by July 15th 2016.
– Quilts are to be received by or postmarked 8th August 2016.
– After the show quilts can be collected from the desk from 5pm onward with your paperwork.
– Judging Day is Wednesday 24th August 2016.
– Set Up and Hanging Day is Thursday 25th 2016.
– Show opens evening Thursday 25th 2016.

More info as it becomes available. See other articles in the newsletter as well.

Are you a Novice Quilter?Novice Award – This is an additional award given to a quilter who has begun quilting since October 2014, either on a Domestic Sewing Machine, Short or Long arm and have NOT entered any other AMQA Inc exhibition. This award is applicable to a quilt entered into any of the above categories. Please indicate on entry form if you wish to be considered for this award.

We need your help!

How can you help? our show doesn’t happen without you.
– Sponsorship is in the process of being sought and we appreciate any ideas and suggestions for businesses or companies who you think might sponsor our show.
– If you can help with the show organisation and running please let us know, we’d love to hear from you.
– We need members to be involved in the show coordination, every little bit helps. Please contact the committee with your ability for tasks to make the show fantastic.
– Volunteers are needed for various duties before, during, and after the show. Judging day, set up and hanging, white gloves, information stand, take down and hand over of quilts.
– Volunteers registration form can be found here
– many hands make light work!
Let’s make 2016 a terrific show.
Contact Raylee on 0416 462 615 to be involved.

Quilt Show Categories1. INNOVATIVE CUSTOM Large: Minimum of 240”, maximum of 480” perimeter. Heirloom/Show quilts have been specifically designed as quilt show entries and/or not intended to be used as functional bed quilts. Fibers, fringe, crystals and embellishments of any other kind are permitted.

2. INNOVATIVE CUSTOM Small: Minimum 60”, maximum 240” perimeter. Heirloom/Show quilts have been specifically designed as quilt show entries and/or not intended to be used as functional quilts. Fibers, fringe, crystals and embellishments of any other kind are permitted.

3. WHOLECLOTH: Minimum of 100” perimeter, maximum of 480” perimeter. The entry must be a single piece of fabric or minimally pieced from the same fabric to increase size only. The Wholecloth piece should be designed to highlight the many quilting techniques of today’s machine quilters, including, meandering or background quilting, straight lines, feathers, continuous line and non-continuous line designs. The quilting must be the dominant feature of the Wholecloth and the quilting should encompass the entire quilt. Painting or other embellishments are not permitted in this category.

4. TRADITIONAL CUSTOM LARGE: Minimum of 240” perimeter, maximum of 480” perimeter. This category is for those functional bed quilts that we do for ourselves or for our customers that are meant for daily use but have been machine quilted with high quality custom quilting techniques. No embellishments, metallic threads or thread painting of any kind are permitted in this category.

5. TRADITIONAL CUSTOM SMALL: Minimum 60”, maximum 240” perimeter. This category is for those functional quilts that we do for ourselves or for our customers that are meant for daily use but have been machine quilted with high quality custom quilting techniques. No embellishments, metallic threads or thread painting of any kind are permitted in this category.

6. THREAD ART /PICTORIAL: Minimum of 100” perimeter, maximum of 280” perimeter. Involving thread play and/or a mixture of mediums and embellishments. All embellishments must be firmly attached and quilt must be able to be hung conventionally and with minimal care required. All quilts entered in this category must be the original design of the quilt maker and not made under the direction of another person in a workshop/course situation.

7. MACHINE EMBROIDERY: Minimum of 240” perimeter and maximum of 480” perimeter. The quilt must incorporate machine executed embroidered blocks or machine embroidered appliqués or motifs as a significant design element. Hand embroidery is not allowed in this category. Specialty threads and embellishments are allowed. The quilt will be judged equally on the quilting and machine embroidery.

8. EDGE-TO-EDGE: Minimum of 240” perimeter, maximum of 480” perimeter. An all-over-the-quilt pattern which is continuous-line derived from a pantograph or freehand quilting. The quilting design must cover the quilt completely from one edge to the other. Painting on fabric is permitted in this category.

9. MODERN: Maximum of 480” perimeter.This category is for those quilts which encompass the Modern Quilting style. Modern quilts are functional and can display features such as solid &/or bold colours, simplicity, minimalism or improvisational piecing. Features can include asymmetry, the use of reinterpreted traditional blocks, the use of modern prints and negative spaces. No embellishments permitted.

Volunteering at 2016 AMQA Quilt ShowMost of you will be aware that we are holding our AMQA Quilt Show at the end of August this year, in conjunction with AMQ Festival in Adelaide. Will you be coming along to attend some classes? Do you think you will enter a Quilt or two? If the answer to the above is “Yes, I am coming”, then I ask that you please consider the following….

As members of AMQA, when making your travel & accommodation arrangements, the Committee would like to extend to you an invitation to join us on Judging Day. Not everyone has this opportunity (that’s a bonus of being a member), so we wanted to give you the earliest opportunity to become involved with this. Judging Day will be held on Wednesday 24th August at a venue not too far from the city, location TBA in the next week or so. It’s also a great opportunity to meet other quilter’s & see just what goes on behind the scenes. Just think of all that eye candy, checking out all those quilts up close & personal!! We will need around 20 people for this to run smoothly, so your participation will be vitally important to the Association.

We will be looking for many Volunteers not just for this day but over the whole event. There will be a Volunteer Form available on the AMQA website soon with various time slots where you can tick the boxes when you are available. This can be submitted in different ways, details are at the bottom of the form. If you are entering a quilt or two & attending the Quilt Show & Festival, it would be expected for you to make some time available for volunteering, just like most of the state guilds do with their major shows. As the class timetable will soon become available, we ask that you consider some time to volunteer when selecting your classes. If you are able to help out at the quilt show, if you’re a few minutes late or need to leave a little earlier then that’s okay, anytime spent helping out is most appreciated.

There are many areas in which you can help other than Judging Day of course…we will be setting up the quilt frames & hanging the quilts on Thursday 25th, so many hands will make light work. Is your husband or partner coming with you? We can always use some ‘man’ power to set up those quilt frames…it’s a big job with some kneeling & use of step ladders being involved. I am in process of trying to find extra people to help with this, so if you know of anyone involved with community groups, sporting clubs, etc in or near the Adelaide city area who would be available, please get in touch with me. White Glove duty is quite simple, just watching out for anyone so they don’t touch the quilts & answer questions as needed. We would also like someone to ‘greet’ everyone as they come into the Show area, a new position this year if we have enough volunteers… Then there is taking down the quilts & frames at the end of the show, packing them back into their bags & helping to get them out to the front doors for everyone to collect & take home with them. More details on this will be made available as the Show draws nearer.

Updates with any necessary information will be posted to our Member’s Facebook page as the event draws near. Once the Volunteer forms start to come in I will allocate people to their positions & advise by email during July & early August. I hope to see many of our members stand up for Volunteering, to those of you who have helped us in the past, this has been most appreciated. There is often a great feeling of self satisfaction when volunteering, making the time most worthwhile. See you in Adelaide in August!!

Val Towill
2016 Quilt Show Volunteer Coordinator (retiring asap)

Quilt Show Volunteer Coordinator – Urgently NeededOur association has been blessed by many years of commitment from Val Towill of Bluegum Quilting Services.
Val now needs to hand over her show tasks. The committee can use all the help you can offer.
Can you plan the volunteer component of the show, can you communicate the roles to the volunteers, can you plan the schedule for the volunteers? Do you and a friend want to take this on together? Talk to the committee or call Raylee on 0416 462 615.

This is a vital role and without volunteers the show does not happen.

Member’s Challenge 2015
No not a misprint! If you entered the member’s challenge last year we would love to include your quilt/s in the display of the challenge that we usually have at our show.If your quilt is available we would love to include in the display later this year.Your quilt does not need to be at the show early, if you are attending please bring it with you, or you can send it to the Quilt Show coordinator as per the address on the entry form.

To send us your entry from with pictures, please read through in case you need to resize your pictures. If they are too large they will not upload via the online entry form.

To resize a picture using Paint

1. Open Paint by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, and then clicking Paint.

2. Click the Paint button , click Open, click the picture you want to resize, and then click Open.

3. On the Home tab, in the Image group, click Resize.

4. In the Resize and Skew dialog box, select the Maintain aspect ratio check box so that the resized picture will have the same aspect ratio as the original picture.

If the Maintain aspect ratio check box is selected, you only need to enter the horizontal value (width) or vertical value (height). The other box in the Resize area is updated automatically.

5. Do one of the following in the Resize area, and then click OK:

o To resize your picture by a certain percentage, click Percentage, and then enter a percentage to reduce the width by in the Horizontal box or a percentage to reduce the height by in the Vertical box.

o To resize the picture so it’s a specific size, click Pixels, and then enter a new width in the Horizontal box or new height in the Vertical box.

6. Click the Paint button , point to Save as, and then click the picture file type for the resized image.

7. Type a new file name in the File name box, and then click Save.

Do you have some quilty win’s to share? Let us all celebrate with you, send me a picture and some details to include in forthcoming newsletters.
Let’s support each other and share the joy.

Next Committee meeting happens on the 5th July. 7.30pm via conference call. Please contact Raylee for the phone number to attend. All members are able to attend a meeting.

Committee Notice – After the show is completed we will be heading into our AGM. The association always runs better when there is a full committee. What have you got to offer and help us take the association to the next level?

May your thread be strong and your quilts well made.
Happy Quilting,

Copyright © 2016 AMQA, All rights reserved.
AMQA Member

Our mailing address is:

AMQA

59 Ashkanasy Cres

Evatt, ACT2617

Australia

Continuous Lines Newsletter Sept 2015

Did that grab your attention? it’s a cool bra though hey!

Hi Quilters. I have a whole stack of info for you in this newsletter. I’ve tried to keep the segments short and sweet and with links for you to follow up on your own. Enjoy!
You might need a cuppa though…

The Member’s Challenge deadline is fast approaching, our entries need to be sent to Jenny Robertson by the 11th September which is a Friday. Less than 2 weeks everyone.
Please send your completed entries to
Jenny Robertson
19 Wakefield Crescent
MIRAMAR WA 6330

Challenger’s are you ready?

AGM 2015 – The date for the AGM will be decided at the next committee meeting which is being held next Monday 7th September at 7pm AEST. Committee meetings are held via Skype so you can attend in your pyjamas if you like, no one will ever know!
Please consider joining the committee, even in a small way. This is your association and we have committee members who need to take a break. If you have been thinking you’d like to take a more active part in the running of the association, now is your time to shine.

AMQA Show 2016 – yes we are thinking of it already as we need to get the paperwork ready and start the applications for sponsorship. If you can help with the show organisation and running next year please let us know, we’d love to hear from you. We will be asking for specific help in the coming months and it won’t happen easily without your help. Let’s make 2016 a terrific show.

Moving with the times – AMQA Inc. has now moved to cloud storage of files using Dropbox. Dropbox is a free cloud storage solution that supports the sharing of information. You may like to check out Dropbox for your personal or business use as well.
The committee has decided to discontinue the use of Yahoo groups for file storage and newsletter distribution.
The newsletter will now be distributed by Mailchimp and as such should your email address change please let us know so we can update your membership and the Mailchimp database.

Do you have some quilty win’s to share? Let us all celebrate with you, send me a picture and some details to include in forthcoming newsletters.

Machine Embroidery – are you a machine embroiderer? Have you made a quilt using your machine embroidery? We have a category in our show that is specifically for you. For this category to be retained after the next AMQA Show we would like to see it well supported.
You may be aware that gaining sponsorship for a show and all the categories is no small feat, we need to be wise with the sponsorship dollars provided to us.
If you or someone you know do machine embroidery then please consider entering your quilts into the show in 2016.
If you know of any businesses who might like to sponsor this category do pass this information onto the committee.

Do you live in South Australia? – We are asking for a few more South Australian members to be able to help with show matters in the coming 12months.
Are we being unfair to the other states? Not intentionally. AMQA holds it’s show in conjunction with AMQ Festival in much the same way as our state guilds hold their shows in conjunction with Expertise Events’ Craft Fairs. These are a win win situation and those who attend Festival are the ones who will be interested to see our quilts. We also love to see the general public come in and admire our quilts.

However we need some more help on the ground in Adelaide in the lead up to the show. Much of the prep can be done anywhere but there are somethings that need to be completed in Adelaide or nearby. Please make contact with the committee if you can help in any way. our Facebook page is the quickest way to make contact.

Some links to follow;
Whirls N’ Swirls Quilting has been posting some great quilting videos.
Sew Kind Of Wonderful has a tut on storage of quilts, a good way to fold them.
Professional Quilting Service teamed up with Badass Quilting society to supply Australians with a more cost effective way to join in The Game of Quilts challenge
Gammill users might be interested in this video.

If you find something we should all know about then please share via the facebook page and I can share the link in the next newsletter. This is a great way to share knowledge and skills.

Hints and Tips;
a handy tool to have in your quilting kit is a crochet hook!! What! are you mad I hear you say, no a really small crochet hook is the perfect thing to get those pesky threads that we might miss until after quilting. This is a 0.6mm crochet hook, and it’s only a few dollars to buy.

OK, I am about done, wishing you happy quilting and enjoyment in the process. Until next time

Raylee (Editor)

Continuous Lines Newsletter – June 2015

Continuous Lines

Newsletter for AMQA Inc. June 2015

It’s been a while…

Well it has been a very long time since a newsletter has been out but we hope to have this issue sorted out. Our apologies to our members for the lack of contact over the past months.

Newsletter Contributions.

To keep our newsletter fresh and up to date and as interesting as it can be please send any articles or information you would like shared with our members to the following email for the present time please,raylee@sunflowerquilting.com.au .

We would like to hear about local shows, great products, helpful books, quilting tips, interesting stories, business ideas, the list is long and broad of topic. Share your knowledge with us all.

AMQA Members Challenge

It’s on and entries close the 30^th June. Have you entered? You can choose to make a wholecloth quilt or a pieced design or both, one entry per category. We do separate the hand guided and computer guided quilts for the member’s challenge. Go on, give it a go. It’s a great way to stretch your skills on a small quilt rather than a larger item.

Here’s the link for all the information: https://amqa.com.au/ then login and go to the members section to download the pattern and entry forms.

Below are some pictures of the 2013 Member’s Challenge, a feast for the eyes.

Members Challenge 2013

Facebook and Social Media

We have a new Facebook page set up a little differently to the initial page. This allows us another avenue to share information with you. The file for the Member’s Challenge can be found on the new FB page. The new page is a closed group and is for financial members of AMQA Inc. Search for AMQA Members group and then go to the files section once you have joined the group.

Do you have a social media account? Would you like to share your contacts with us? As a member we would encourage you to share the link to your FB page on the AMQA Members Group page so we can find each other. You could also share other social media accounts there if you wish. Personally I have a few which include Instagram, Flikr, Tumbler, Twitter and Google+. Let’s not even mention Pinterest shall we!

Do you have a question about social media? Ask on the members group page and we will do our best to help.

New President

At a meeting held on 5^th May 2015 Jenny Robertson was elected President until the next AGM, Jenny is from WA and has been a long arm machine quilter for 4 ½ years, and a quilt maker for many years prior. We would like to thank Val Slater for accepting the role previously.

Introducing Jenny Robertson…

Hello, I’m Jenny Robertson a self confessed quiltaholic from lovely Albany, situated on the southern coast of Western Australia.

My mother, aunts and both grandmothers were all very handy with needle and thread, making clothing, soft furnishings, upholstery and soft toys, you name it one of them knew how to make it. So it was a given that I would get hooked with the sewing bug.

I was the first of the family to make a patchwork quilt and that was out of necessity for my youngest sons first big boy bed. It was made from left overs from all my sewing projects. That was 37 years ago, not many garments have been styled since then, but gosh there has been a lot of quilts.

Only one of the many quilts was hand quilted, all the rest were quilted on my small domestic machine, until 4 1/2 years ago when I purchased my long quilting system.

I purchased it so I could produce quilts to donate to charity. Once I had mastered my long arm machine, I realized that was making more quilts than I could afford to make.

Jenny Robertson Quilting was created to finance my charity quilts and my obsession for making scrap quilts.

I offer hand guided custom quilting, freehand edge to edge and pantographs designed by Loren quilting, together with renovation and repairs to old and vintage quilts.

My biggest wish is that every person who has old UFO in the cupboard will get to that wonderful feeling of achievement when they pull it out and complete their quilt.=

Information relating to the AGM will be coming out in future newsletters. Please keep in mind the Association does not run itself. Your input and a bit of time are also needed.

Asking Questions??

Did you know you can use the FB page to ask questions? Amongst our members are quilters who have been quilting for many years and have a wealth of knowledge. If you’d like to know more about something tap into that vault of knowledge and post your question on the FB page. You never know, someone else might have wanted to know the same thing.

Product Review

This has been waiting for a bit to be shared with you so the product has been on the market for a little while now. Please follow the link to see more for this product

“Great New Product”

Westalee Designs one of the Sponsors for AMQA Festival 2014 has launched a new product. For all our members that have an interest in domestic machine quilting have you caught up yet with the news that Westalee Designs have developed a hopping foot referred to as a Ruler Foot so domestic machine quilters can use rulers or templates just like long arm quilters do. The new foot which is due to arrive in Australia early February 2015 comes either as a low shank or high shank foot and is a great tool for advancing your quilting from the domestic machine. There is a great deal of information about this new Ruler Foot on the Westalee Designs website.

Westalee are also very proactive in developing and promoting rulers for long arm quilters and are very supportive of the association particularly in regard to the Festival.

All relevant information can be found at http://westalee.com.au/

Sponsors for the 2014 AMQA Show Please show your support where possible. Without our sponsors the show would not be possible.

Sponsors AMQF AQA BBT Blueberries Bluegum Busy Needles CCMQG Constantine quilts Dayview Handi Quilter Hollyburton M&S Mallee CQ Mt Vincent Quilts Nu Wool Patchwork on Parade QGSA Red Shed Studio Mio T & T Tontine VQ Inc

Quilting tips

Posture: Are you standing correctly, taking a break if doing concentrated work, adjusting the table height for different tasks? Our health is important; we can quilt if we are making ourselves sore and overtired. Use the features of your machine to reduce the strain on your body. When did you last check you posture whilst quilting? I caught myself the other day not standing well. Made me think about this a bit more.

If you have a quilting tip you think others should know of, please email it to me using the email raylee@sunflowerquilting.com.au for the time being.