Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair 2015 – My Faves
Oh man! What a great time I had last weekend at the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair! I saw familiar faces, met beautiful new ones, took lots of #selfiewithsparkle, purchased way too much but not enough, and shared the gospel of Juki to the masses. The five days were full to the brim, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thank you so much to Sewing Machine Warehouse for the great company and letting me show my quilts in their booth. They’re the official NSW distributor for Juki, so if you haven’t got yours yet, you’re totally missing the party.
The actual quilt show this year was phenomenal. There were many styles represented, with half of the show dedicated to a special red and white quilt challenge. Below are just some of the amazing quilts I had the opportunity to witness. These would all be on “My Faves” list! As I took my last photo, and was walking out of the quilt show area, I saw a sign that read something like, “Photos are for personal use only. Do not post online without the permission of the artist.” Oh.
Are you kidding me? You have to know I’m all about artists getting due credit for their work (obvs), but we live in the land of social media. GET. ON. BOARD. What then frustrated me even more by this request, was that there was no contact information on the artist’s cards. So this week I contacted about a dozen quilters by tracking them down on Facebook, Instagram, and Google to ask permission. The ones that returned my call, “Hi, it’s Molli…” all gave a resounding “YES!” However, most I couldn’t find, didn’t respond, or I got exhausted and didn’t ask. So I’m bracing for the quilt gods to strike me down, but I’m posting the photos anyway–Photoshopped together with their artist card. I hope this shows I have done due diligence to give credit where credit is due. (I could have made a quilt in the time it took me to Photoshop all those images!) If any artist sees this and would like me to remove their quilt image, I am more than happy to oblige. For those that couldn’t make it to Sydney this year, I hope this allows you to enjoy the show!
(Bob James is a male quilter extraordinaire!)
(did not have an artist card)
(Terry Minchinton is another male quilter!)
Besides all the quilts, it was such a highlight to see so many friends show up! This crew really made the day shine, and I wish I got to spend more time with them on a regular basis. They definitely deserve a space on “My Faves” list as well!
Hi Molli
I may have missed your call (?) but I am very happy to be included in your review of the Sydney Quilt Show 2015 with your flattering photo of my quilt Dreamlines #7 and full attribution. Thank you for taking the time to compile your photos in this way. Unfortunately, many in our community post eye candy photos without any attribution whatsoever giving their readers no way to find out more about the featured work. The backstory to my piece can be found at The Process of Creating Dreaming in Colour.
PS: the Guild's photography policy is consistent with the Australian Copyright Act that provides that the copyright holder has the exclusive right to post images of their artwork online. Read more in my blog post Quilt Show Photography & OnlineSharing Guidelines.
Brenda – You're a no-reply blogger so I couldn't email you back directly, but I wanted to write this here too, so I hope you see it! First of all, thank you for all of this educated information. You probably didn't miss my call, I think I was just about to call and then got distracted by something shiny. 😉 Anyway, you are absolutely correct regarding copyright, and how often work can be seen without correct attribution. This definitely makes me crazy for others, and when it happens to me. I also understand then why the Guild has adopted a similar stance as the Australian Copyright Act. I just wish that the Guild would help facilitate the connection … even if it was just a link to said quilter's website / IG, etc. I should fill out a feedback form. 😉 Regardless, great quilt, great work, and great info!
Josh, thanks for sharing my quilt on your blog. You have permission to share images of my work far and wide. I am such an exhibitionist! I would like to add to your ideas on sharing pics which usually end up shared on social media. In this day and age it seems the majority are pleased to have their work shared (and properly credited) so maybe we include a graphic indicating no photography for those who would prefer to opt out… Jess
Ps- I am @birdie_beetle on Instagram and Pinterest!
PPS: your readers might also enjoy the gallery of 100 or so prize winning quilts from the Sydney Quilt Show on the Guild website at http://quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshow/index.html .
Thanks for the early morning eye candy. There are some really stunning quilts here, and it leaves me excited to get back to sewing!!! 🙂
I know these are just the highlights but wow, do I love quilt shows. Thanks for sharing!
thanks for sharing (with or without permission ;-)) it's a much easier way to look at quilts than to travel all the way to Australia from the UK! Feeling even more excited about Festival of Quilts in August.
And there's your brothers quilt! It looks superb, have I missed the big reveal post?
Thank you for sharing. There are some awesome quilts in this post…..kudos to all the quilting creators!
what a fabulous selection of eye candy – so many different styles. Having just started La Passacaglia and being in the middle of Bordered Diamonds it was like seeing old friends. I hope the quilt gods definitely don't strike you down because without all this inspiration the quilt world wouldn't be what it is today.
Jessica Wheelahan's quilt "Llareggub, a town Under Milk Wood" really is a thing of beauty. I would want a print for my wall. Seriously. Found her on Instagram, Facebook, and Pintrest, but since I'm only on the latter, I'm just following her board for now. Thanks for connecting your readers to these great artists. Yes, the photos are available at the Guild website, but you are one of the best known ambassadors for quilting in Australia, so the world is going to know about it because you took the time and had the patience to introduce us. Thanks so much!
Beautiful, amazing quilts! Thanks for sharing with those of us who weren't lucky enough to be there in person! If you are going to talk to the guild about their policies, please talk to them about having the entrants who blog put their blog information on the information sheets as well. I love that one had that information on the picture you posted – I went there and now she has a new follower!!! Since Brenda put her info in her answer to you, I'll go check her out as well!!
Thank you for your wonderful photos of these awe-inspiring works of art. Being in the U.S., there's no way I could get to see them in person, so I am truly grateful for these great pictures of stunning quilts. I appreciate being able to read the artists' statements, too. Such beauty and talent! Thank you, also, to the quilters who gave their permission to post the pictures of their work.
It's always interesting to see different photos from an exhibition. I thought I'd seen a lot of the quilts from this show on IG, but you've photographed many that I hadn't seen before – thank you. There are 2 featured above that I've already made, and 1 other that I'm working on. It's great to see other people's interpretations of the same patterns. Thank you.
Wow. BIG wow. Thank you for featuring these stunning quilts — and for taking the time to add the artists' cards alongside. The only thing better than seeing an inspiring quilt is then being able to look up its maker and see what else they've done! (Well, there are a few things better, but you know what I mean.)
Wow – there are some amazing quilters out there. thanks for sharing those with us. Are you going to be coming to the NZ fair in September?
Thanks for sharing the all the beautiful quilts! And for all your hours spend doing it "the right way"!
Love the Quilts Molli. Amazing…
Waiting for an international giveaway 🙂
It was lovely to meet you finally Molly!
It sounds like you had a lovely time. I so want a Juki, I continue to look for one that I could buy (and thus have serviced) locally without success. The American shows just have the quilter give permission for their quilts to be photographed and the photos used. As you know, there is also copyright in your photo as its own piece of art. And I totally agree with you about adding internet and email contact info with the quilts, if only we ran the shows. Thank you for sharing the quilts.
Wow. Looks like a brilliant time! Thanks for all those gorgeous pics and the extra effort to include the names of the amazing quilter's along with their gorgeous quilts. There certainly is a lot of talent to celebrate and admire. Glad you had such fun, Molli and thanks for sharing the adventure.
Thanks heaps for including my quilt in your list of faves, and to be first up! I consider that a huge compliment (I'm preferring to think you intended to do it that way). Even if you were unable to catch up with exhitiors prior to the post, it's a great idea that you also photographed the labels to place beside them. I know the issue of copyright is a passion for many of us, even the fledgling designers like myself. Wish I could have spent a lot more time at the show. I was so in awe of the display.
It was a great show & I've vowed to enter something in next year. Lovely as always to catchup with you to! The photos thing is tricky, we had the same issue with MQSA last year, despite signs about personal use or getting permission everything gets shared in social media, a lot of the time without any credit. This year we asked the entrants how they could be found online and asked visitor to credit photos & use our show hashtag to at least give some context to the photos & gives everyone involve a way to find out more info if they're like to.
I don't know what happened… I thought I'd left a comment on this post when you first published it. Maybe I just dreamed it… which is unsettling on a number of levels. THANK YOU SO MUCH for your time at the show! It was so great to finally catch up with you and have a laugh and learn more about your process and the things that you're doing. I adore the T Shirt quilt and I'm really glad to hear that you're going to be teaching it. You are so much more then this quilt, and you'll never be "that t shirt quilt guy" so it's great to see you're going to get out there and teach it. I know you'll be teaching more then just this quilt over what I'm sure will be a very long career. Thank you again for making us feel so welcomed and for sharing the laughs. 🙂 <3