AQC 2019

A couple of pictures of the quilt display area at the Australasian Quilt Convention:

Those windows on the left often make viewing the quilts a bit difficult as the sun streams in, blinding the viewer. You need something to shade your eyes. What you can't see in these photos is the absolute crush of eager quilters elsewhere in the building. The vendors area was impassable in places. I spent most of my time looking at the quilts, and running into friends. I did do one circuit of the trading area, but my only purchase was a couple of pairs of snips. (I regularly break them by dropping them on our concrete floor.)

For all the time I spent in the quilt displays, I took very few photos. Here's a handful that I did photograph.

I loved the use of colour in this quilt:

"Blurring the Edges" by Beth and Trevor Reid, won several prizes including Best of Show in Canberra in 2018, so appeared in the "Best of Australia" section of the exhibition.

Another from "Best of Australia":

"The Collective Language of Trees" by Cindy Watkins, winner of Best of Show and a couple of other prizes in Tasmania.
Close-up showing how Cindy created the trees with free-motion stitching over a collage of batik fabrics:

I seem to have been particularly attracted to circles this year:

"When the Sun Goes Down" By Jungeun Tark. This quilt was in the "Korean Style" section of the Exhibition. I always enjoy the displays from other countries that feature in this exhibition.
Close-up of the technique:

A confetti of fabric, held down by tulle then stitched over densely with fancy threads.

Lastly a quilt from the "Magic" challenge:

 "The Wish" by Neroli Henderson. Most of the quilts in the "Magic" challenge left me rather cold, but this one at least had a little magic about it. The top photo is taken with the ambient light. You can see that there are some sparkles here and there (Swarovski crystals), some painted effects, and heavy quilting everywhere. But you have to use a flash to see Neroli's wish:

You might need to click on the photo to enlarge it to read the wish, but it says, "I wish for a world where the darkness brings no evil". The piece is dedicated particularly to 3 women killed in Melbourne in recent years while making their way home at night, "and all the other women who never made it safely home". So it is about a very dark and sad topic.

A friend and I couldn't decide for sure how the glowing writing was done, but later I heard from someone who spoke with Neroli, who confirmed that it is the thread used for the quilting which reflects the camera flash.

Obviously this is only a tiny selection from the whole show. The whole thing is rather overwhelming and I would probably need several days there to take it all in. But it was definitely worth the trip to the city.