AQC

Hi Smites!

I held off this weeks StitchyMites until after my visit to the AQC yesterday, so that I could show you some quilts.

For those not in the know, the AQC is the Australasian Quilt Convention, held every year in Melbourne at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building. It’s a beautiful space and it’s always a lovely show to visit because of that!

The show doesn’t have nearly as many quilts as the Sydney Quilt Show, where there are around 400 on display each year – I would think there’s somewhere more in the region of 100-150, and a lot of them are smaller, “challenge” style quilts. This year there were some great special exhibits, including one by QuiltNSW’s own Brenda Gael Smith, the winner of last years Rajah Award. The Rajah is awarded to a quilting teacher, designer, author, historian, guild worker, retailer etc who has made an outstanding contribution to quilting in Australia. The award is named for the historic Rajah quilt, made by convict women en route to Australia in 1841. (More about that in a later Smites!)

Brenda is an art quilter who has been involved with QuiltNSW for decades! I have known her for at least 20 years through the guild and also from when I had Material Obsession. She creates textile paintings and sketches using her own hand dyed fabrics. She exhibits often in art and modern quilt shows, teaches and wins awards, and she also runs QuiltNSW’s annual art quilt exhibition, The New Quilt. (If you’re interested in The New Quilt, the entry details are here! The next exhibition is in 2027).

This year there is also a travelling exhibition from QuiltCon, sent direct from the February 2026 QuiltCon show in Raleigh, NC. Some of my favourites were

Dunkard’s Orange Peel by Emily Kidney

“This quilt is a love letter to my box fan and a visual representation of the invisible sensory experience of air currents circulating. I love the secondary shape patterns this block creates when repeated.”

Frances by Jeanne Eileen Garcia

“Despite my occasional eye rolling as a child at comparisons to my mother – in likeness, tone or attitude – I’ve always valued that connection, like a little echo caried in me. Hand piecing and quilting this portrait created space to consider her influence and how her traits and choices shape my own. The quilt’s front presents her likeness, the back holds notes and reflections from the process. Together, they form both a portrait and a record of thought.”

I have photos of the rest of the show for you next week, but before I go I thought I’d share my quilt. You might remember when I started this, as I’ve shown you some snippets along the way. It also hung at the Australian Modern Quilt show. Although it didn’t win a prize at either show, the quilt wasn’t made for that and I didn’t expect it to win anything. It was made for me, and for Freddy, and not for anything else.

If you don’t remember the quilt, here is the artists statement, and also a full photo of it hanging, which you wont have seen before! The improv lettering is my own technique which I’ve been teaching for 20 years, you can find out more about it in either my Stitch Your Story book or take the on demand improv class at my website. The applique is by hand as usual, of course! The quote to me is perfect, because Freddy was always one to break the rules and have a lot of fun, and the quilt breaks a lot of quilting “rules” too.

I’m actually glad it didn’t win anything at AQC, because the winners go off travelling around Australia and you can’t have them back for 9 months!! And that means that Don’t Miss Out can be hung in the Teachers Pavillion this year at Sisters, which was what I actually made it for in the first place.

So there you go! I hope you all enjoy this very small tour of AQC, a larger one next week. Also I promised I would let you know when the entries for the Sydney Show were open and the news is that they ARE OPEN, so get over there and enter a quilt!! If you think you won’t enter, make sure and have a re-read of my last week’s Smites and then THINK AGAIN ☺ hahahaha and don’t forget we take international entries too. You need to be a QuiltNSW member to enter, but that’s easily done…. And this year we have changed the entry rules so that your quilt doesn’t have to be finished to enter, you just need to know the size it’s going to be. Here’s the link, make sure and tell me if you’ve entered a quilt because I will be VERY proud of you! ☺

Sarah x