The Blessington Quilt Challenge winners were announced on the 17th February at the BQC Dinner as part of the Academy Down Under.
We congratulate everyone who entered the 2019 theme “Togetherness”.
FIRST PLACE
Julie Lorimer
“Duke”
Julie Lorimer - Duke
In December 2002 I received a phone call from my mum that I did not want to receive, my brother had been involved in a motorbike accident and he was somewhere in the Brindabella mountains and no one new if he was OK. John had been hit by a 4×4 while riding his motorbike home. 24hrs from when the helicopter took off with my brother on board, we found out he’d broken his back in 5 places and was lucky to be alive. It was one of the hardest days of my life, seeing him lying there and not being able to help.
After months of hospital, rehab and having to learn to walk again, John was allowed to come home.
This is when my TOGETHERNESS story began; Duke was a fat little black blob of a Labrador which mum had purchased over the phone. Mum walked into john’s room and sat this very cute, big eyed black puppy on john’s chest. This was the moment the two bonded and became best friends. With in a matter of days Mum had to rush of to hospital with my Dad, this was when Duke gave john a purpose and a reason to live.
Therapy in the form of a black Labrador. And yes it worked. My brother had to get up and look after this adorable new family member. John and Duke became inseparable, camping, fishing, hunting and just about anything, these too were together.
Duke was the therapy dog money just could not buy, It helped john through post traumatic stress, depression and he just knew when john needed a mate. Oh and the slobber, those special kisses only a dog can give you.
Photos capture moments in time, this was the special bond my brother had with Duke, we were fishing up at Blowering dam and I just happened to turn around and saw what true friendship looks like, quickly grabbing my camera & taking this photo, which clearly show the connection they had together.
Duke was not just my brother’s best friend but he gave him life and to me that is the meaning of togetherness.
I wanted to capture the moment as a thought in time, a picture says a thousand words, and it’s a picture inside a picture surrounded by this special story.
Method, photo printed on fabric, applique hand cut and all quilted on my AMARA. Free-motion quilted and designed.
Daneen Horsfall - Twin Summers
2018 was the year that I decided to challenge myself. Early in the year I purchased myself a “real” camera ( DSLR). After being a bit baffled by the technology, especially the software, I enrolled in a year-long online Photography course with Ricky Timms from the Quilt Show, my goal for this course was not only to learn how to use my camera and to take better photos but to learn how to use Photoshop so that I could turn my photos into quilts. I had always been in awe of photorealistic quilts and knew that one day I wanted to try it for myself. I really needed to push myself to try something different, to get right out of my comfort zone, try a technique that took me away from my traditional type of quilting and everything I had done before, I decided the best way to do this was to enter a quilt competition.
I heard about the Blessington Quilt Challenge from the Australian HandiQuilter Facebook page and the absolute minute I saw the prize I knew that this was the perfect competition for me to enter, my baby sister who has lived in Texas since 2010 is turning 50 in 2019 and I have been dreaming about going to visit her so we could be together to celebrate such an important milestone in her life! For me a long trip to Houston but for her it could be a short 3 hour drive from her home in Austin Texas and we would be spending 4 amazing days together to see wonderful quilts and to celebrate her 50th birthday….all I had to do was design an amazing quilt and win!
So how does Togetherness relate to my quilt ( and my sister! )
About 2 years ago while my sister was on holidays with her family in Connecticut, she sent me a quick snapshot of her twin daughters. This photo brought back childhood memories of the many summer days my sister and I spent on Mollymook beach just round the corner from our childhood home, come summer we were always off to the beach early morning to return late in the afternoon, our long summer days were always together with our childhood friends. This simple snapshot of my twin nieces, together on the beach at their annual summer vacation was like a time capsule photo that could have been taken almost 40 years ago of us, her daughters do the same thing as we did, making the short walk from their summer home to spend their summers carefree at the local beach, I knew 2 years ago when she sent the photo that it would make a great quilt, I was sure once I saw the theme of the 2019 Blessingtons competition that now was the time to turn that photo into a quilt. Little did I know that I had been preparing myself for this competition all year with my photography course.
My beautiful nieces Ellie and Leah were born just a few moments apart and have never left one another’s sides, they shared cribs, bedrooms, school classes, sports teams, their first car, they do everything together. They are the most caring and delightful girls. Plus, have the incredible bond of being twins. They are the ultimate example of “Togetherness”
As you can see from the quilt they just love spending time together, and the beach, just like for their mother and me, is a big part of their summer. There is no doubting the connection that twins have and it will keep them together for life even when the miles may keep their physical bodies apart. I saw the quote that I have used on the internet “In this life we will never truly be apart, for we grew to the same beat of our mother’s heart” By Daphne Fandrich, I even tracked her down on Facebook and asked for permission to use the quote on my quilt, she gladly said yes and wished me the best for the competition.
So if you add up the beautiful photo of my nieces, learning how to use Photoshop, having a desire to go the the USA for my sisters 50th, and the match of the perfect photo with the theme of Togetherness I just had to make this quilt for this competition. And the quilt will be the perfect gift for my sister’s special birthday. The ultimate for me would be to have the opportunity to have a photo of my sister and myself together in front my “togetherness” quilt, as we never got a picture us together on the beach during our childhood.
Technique and Credits:
Title: Twin Summers – two summers – two sisters – two generations
Photograph by Jacqualyn Claman ( My sister )
Raw edge applique – I chose this technique because sometimes as in any relationship you have to stand back to see the real beauty
Quote by: Daphne Fandrich
Photoshop Skills thanks to Ricky Timms
Machine freehand quilted on Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen
Lettering Hand Digitized ( by myself ) and stitched on Janome 500e
Fabric and batting 100% cotton
Shirley Sparks - Coming Together
It was two minutes after midnight on the 14th November 2016 when disaster hit with a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, centred 60 kilometres south-west of Kaikoura, a tourist town situated on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Described as the “most complex earthquake ever studied” it left a trail of destruction, leaving people scared, stranded and in disbelief that their lives had been turned upside down in less than two minutes. Tsunami warnings sounded at beach side settlements along the east coast of New Zealand. As people scrambled out of bed to head for high land they learnt of the earthquake, but it was not until daylight that the true impact was revealed to New Zealand. Death, destroyed homes, power cuts, limited communication, damaged water and sewage lines, huge land- slides and isolation. Major slips cut off all land routes into Kaikoura which meant, no tourists arriving to generate income. The locals feared for their lively hoods as businesses were forced to close their doors.
The repair started, restoring essential services, evaluating the safety of buildings, removing debris from shops and homes. The local’s pulled together to house and feed the stranded tourist until they were transported out by air and naval ship. They were also supporting each other as they struggled to cope with the enormity of what had happen to them. Some families had moved to Kaikoura to start a new life after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and were now reliving the aftermath of a major earthquake for a second time.
State highway one, the main road the runs the length of the country was buckled, broken and buried with large sections sliding into the sea. The people of New Zealand waited nervously while the Government had the damage assessed and made the decision on repair or create alternative routes. The decision was repair and a workforce was put together to form teams working 12 hour shifts working day and night. Workers from all over the country left their families to work on freeing Kaikoura from isolation. Teams of workers, with specialized skills, came together to work side by side. Some abseiling the cliff faces to secure special nets to stop falling rocks, others rescuing young seals from the path of the large machinery. Thousands of tons of fallen rocks and rubble needed moving to rebuild the road and rail.
Some workers struggled with the isolation of being away from families for long lengths of time and working out in the bitter cold winter weather. The local’s pulled together to support and help them through the tough times with home cooked meals and long chats over a beer. Close comradery developed between workers and locals as they supported each other.
There were cheers and excitement as locals and workers gathered together to watch the first freight train rolling into town ten months after the quake, but true celebration finally came several months later as hundreds of vehicles lined up for the opening of the highway. People poured into Kaikoura to join the celebration and show their support. Kaikoura was now on the road to recovery and the thousands of workers who toiled night and day for almost two years could head home to their families. This event was devastating, but it also forged unexpected friendships between Worker’s and Locals who came together with the goal to repair Kaikoura. The Worker’s left town with a touch of sadness, but with a sense of pride in a job well done! Congratulations to all those who came together in the face of this disaster.
Shirley Sparks - Coming Together
30 years ago this October just past we made a commitment, signed a piece of paper and had a celebration. A commitment that was just another layer to a friendship begun so many years earlier …
High school sweethearts? Yes.
Is it always sweet? Of course not.
Would I trade the past 30 years for any other journey? Never.
Together we have raised a family and lived as family – watching over our two girls as well as watching out for others enfolded within our lives. We have shared the industry needed to sustain family, to nurture friends and care for community. We have smoothed out creases where possible and pieced broken dreams when needed. We have had moments of unambiguous joy and times of unspeakable sadness. Our journey together is probably no different from many others …
Though, together we have created something unique from the inevitable routine fabric of existence. A joint and binding wonder for form and function – for tone and texture – for line and limitless invention. Listening to me muse over an inspiration or the seed of an idea you have often drawn out the contours and seams of my imagination. These inscriptions journey from page and pen to additive traces in thread and textile.
Recently, I recalled – partially and foggily – walking through the meandering alleyways of Eastern Europe as an adolescent. I wandered through their cities as a visitor, brought along for the experience as my parents worked, and quickly the streets and places became oddly familiar. Some favourited, others forgotten. These environments were each unique but I remember specifically the passageways of concrete and brick. An array of greys stitched together in no particular pattern or plan. Walls awash in monotone but so far from monotonous. Each was ingrained with the stories it had witnessed. Etched subtly into the surfaces, both complex and ambiguous, but only perceptible if you looked a little closer.
Every so often these seemingly vast expanses of anonymity were interrupted. Marked by simple, hurried lines of usually black spray paint or permanent marker. Scrawled quickly most likely in limited light to avoid the chances of being caught, moments of colour were brief but arresting. Sometimes these interruptions were words, maybe names, but often the characters were alien and illegible. Not because these were foreign languages, but because they were so abstracted they had become only shapes even pictograms. They communicated with someone but to others it became a matter of interpretation. I loved the idea that simplicity could mask, even generate complexity. Unknowingly, this was not just an element of art practice that appealed to me but also a personality trait. A trait which in only a few years I would find to define my best friend.
Graffiti was illegal then and in its rawest form of true individual, unsanctioned expression it remains largely so today. That was one of many experiences of chronoclasm – an unsettled feeling due to the sense of time travel – which overcame me on our trip through Europe last year; coincidentally aligning with our 30 years on. As we walked alongside each other, down side streets and back-passages the type and volume of imagery had proliferated. However, it was the simple, unassuming markings that drew us both in. We would discuss their innumerable meanings and exponential origins; rarely agreeing but always fascinated by the other’s readings. Our discussions would never cease there, they would diverge into dialogues already begun or those yet to be uncovered.
We look into the world differently; you bring a calm unaffectedness and I bold pragmatism. But, when we close our eyes and imagine a future, we see with one heart. We share a passion for layered details. Together we unfold hope, designs and plans for another 30 years on…