2024 CHRIS GILLESPIE

Quilter and Teacher

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Chris was educated at Newcastle Girls' High School and then went to Newcastle Teachers' College and trained to be a teacher in General Primary. She taught at Blacktown West Primary School and Greenwich Infants School. Chris then went into business with her husband Allan for twenty years and had two children, Kirsten and Peter.Chris began quilting in 1987 and became an active member of Canberra Quilters. She is the current Treasurer of Queanbeyan Quilters and Vice President of Bungendore Quilters.​​​​​​​

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2023 JILL GRANT

Quilter and owner of KimoYES in Philip, Canberra

 

Jill and her husband John have travelled to Japan extensively and source vintage fabrics in both cotton and silk. They also have some beautiful, eclectic items for sale in their shop.

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2022 BRONWYN HILL

Quilter, teacher and owner of The Braidwood Quilt Store

 

The Braidwood Quilt Store sells a huge range of fabrics, notions and quilting supplies.​​​​​​​​​​

2019 BRONWYN HILL

Quilter, teacher and owner of The Braidwood Quilt Store

 

The Braidwood Quilt Store sells a huge range of fabrics, notions and quilting supplies.​​​​​​​

2018 WONDERFUL WOMEN OF WAMBOIN

 

All women are welcome at this active and friendly social group to share stories, news and skills. Many in the group are talented sewers, knitters, beaders and quilters who bring their current project along to work on while socialising.​In addition to supporting local and international charities,

 

WWOW also make items to support local services eg. over 500 teddy bears for the Queanbeyan Ambulance Service plus hundreds of drainage bags for women who have had breast cancer surgery.​​​​​​​

2017 di summerhayes

Provencal Chic

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2016 james baban

Healer, Counsellor, Aboriginal Artist and Musician

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Healing for health and wellbeing, spiritual cleansing and balancing, removal of spirit/negativity from premises, commission paintings - corporate or private, workshops for Spiritual development.

2015 MICHELLE LAW

Canberra Modern Quilting Group

 

Michelle Law is a co-convenor of the Modern Quilting Group – a large, special interest group formed under the auspices of Canberra Quilters Inc. Together with Jan Kates and founder Jenny Bowker, she assists with the running of the group, which first met in May 2012, and has grown to include around thirty quilters attending each month.Michelle has been quilting for more than fifteen years, and has evolved in her personal style from traditional quilting in country colours, to shabby chic, to brights. She somehow fell into what people now refer to “modern quilting” about five years ago, although she is probably the last person to recognise herself as a modern quilter. Favourite techniques are needle turn applique and English paper piecing. Michelle is a former president of Canberra Quilters and an award winning quilter.

2014 JENNIE CURTIS

Felt Artist

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Award-winning landscape architect Jennie Curtis began making felt in 2009 after shearing her new alpacas and wondering what to do with their fleece. Based in Bungendore by day and Bywong at night, her felt works are often inspired by the colours, textures and forms of the local landscapes and a sense of fun. As a closet rebel, Jennie delights in guerilla felt and has installed her sculptural felt pieces outdoors at the Gibraltar Street roundabout (2013), in street trees in Bungendore and Canberra (2014) and in Garema Place, Canberra CBD, as part of Design Canberra 2014. Jennie is actively involved with the Canberra Region Feltmakers. She has exhibited her felt work in the Rapt in Felt exhibitions in Canberra and Queanbeyan since 2010, was Grand Champion of the felt section at the 2013 Royal Canberra Show and is editor of the Australian Felt magazine.

2013 bungendore cwa

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​​The CWA is the largest lobby group of women in NSW, and possibly Australia, but they also enjoy a wide range of crafts. The CWA encourage all the old needlework skills, as well as embracing the newer and more modern arts and crafts. Our display was a compilation of members' crafts showcasing their diversity and skill. The Bungendore branch of the CWA hold monthly Craft and Chat meetings and everyone is welcome to come along and join them, whether to bring your crafts or just to enjoy a cuppa and a chat.

2012 JENNY BOWKER

​Quiltmaker and Textile Artist

 

In 2012 we saw the wonderful quilts of Jenny Bowker who gave an inspirational talk on her work and travels. Jenny writes: "I have been working in Textiles since 1997 - from the time I finished a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Visual) and decided to make just one quilt. I am interested in the way pattern comes into many parts of our lives and often include some geometrical piecing in my work as I think it keeps me technically on my toes and provides a key for traditional quilters to link to my work." Jenny's husband worked as a diplomat for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and she lived a total of fifteen years in Arab and Islamic countries which influenced her subject matter and much of her work reflects her love of the Middle East. Jenny lived in Syria, Western Samoa, Malaysia, Jordan, Jerusalem and Egypt. She is a highly sought-after teacher and loves sharing her knowledge and assistance.

2011 bronwyn and bianca hill

Quilt artists​

 

Each year the Australasian Quilt Convention holds a Challenge and in 2011 theme of the Challenge was Seven Deadly Sins. Mother and daughter team, Bronwyn and Bianca Hill, won the 2011 AQC Challenge with their quilt The 7 Deadly Sins!

 

Bronwyn and Bianca live locally and we were delighted to have them as one of our guest exhibitors for 2011 and exhibit their award winning quilt.

2011 stan d'argeavel

Photographer

 

Stan completed his Masters Degree at the ANU School of Art in 2005 in the Photomedia Workshop having previously graduated from the ANU in 1996 gaining his BA in History Geology and Photomedia. A long-time resident of Bungendore, his photographs and writings were featured in the book Out of the Woodwork: The People and PIace of Bungendore published in 2006. In recent years he has worked with jazz icon and photographer Don Burrows presenting Stop Look and Listen, a night of photography and music throughout the Eastern states. Stan has been invaluable to Bungendore Quilters in assisting us during the early years with professional work in design, layout, printing, collating and advice for our many projects including our annual exhibition, display stands, raffle, promotional signage, etc. We very much appreciate Stan's 'behind the scenes' assistance and thank him sincerely.

2010 JULIE WOODS

Quilter and Teacher

 

Julie has been quilting for over twenty-five years and is a member of the New South Wales Quilters Guild and gained her Teacher’s Accreditation with the Guild. Julie is the only Australian Educator for Superior Threads and Pfaff Ambassador. Julie’s wonderfully stitched quilts have been seen in Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States and her quilts have been awarded prestigious prizes in Australia and the United States at Houston - the world's largest international quilt show. Julie has a real talent for colour, design and quilting and is quite unique in that all her quilts are quilted on her domestic Pfaff machine. Butterflies in Flight was seen on Pfaff stands at quilt shows in 2010. Her talent is not just in what she creates but also in sharing the knowledge and know-how with others. 

2009 beth miller

Textile Artist

 

"My real introduction to patchwork occurred when I attended a beginner class in 1981. Over time, I have tried many techniques but favour the freedom of contemporary piecing and fused appliqué. What started out as a hobby has become a passion and has given me the opportunity to travel and meet many wonderful people from all over the world. At the end of the 1990s I started to make art quilts and print, paint and dye many of the fabrics that I use in my work. My other passion is photography and I use my photographs as a design source.  Sometimes I may only use a single photograph and at other times I may collage several photographs to create the design. Most of my work is based upon the technique of fused appliqué and machine quilting.  In many cases I enhance my work with hand embroidery or hand stitching."

2008 robyn duncan

Embroiderer

 

Robyn Duncan of Canberra has a passion for embroidery and sharing her knowledge with others. Since her retirement from the Australian Public Service she has undertaken a number of courses and workshops in Australia and overseas with world renowned needlewomen. Robyn has specialised in traditional embroidery techniques and crazy patchwork and considers herself a mixed media fibre artist. Robyn's family history ensures she is never far from a needle and thread as the first female member of her family in Australia was apprenticed as a milliner in 1834 and since then every generation has had its fair share of dressmakers, crocheters, embroiderers, milliners and patchworkers.

2007 ROBYNE D'ARGEAVEL

Textile Artist

 

Robyn d'Argeavel is an extremely talented and innovative textile artist, perferring to make her own fabric and then design and make her unique range of clothing and art-to-wear items.Robyne owns and runs Art to Wear on Malbon which is a treasure trove of hand painted porcelain dolls, fairies and teddy bears and childrenswear. Beaded, embroidered and hand dyed silk garments and reconstructed fashion designs made by Robyne and her daughter Renee are a feature of this ecletic shop.