The Inaugural AMQA Quilt Show

This was a wonderful show with so many inspirational quilts on display. It was held at the Auditorium at Eventide, Brighton, Queensland, near the edge of the water on the north side of Brisbane. A great venue in a convenient and very beautiful location.
The show ran over the weekend of the 26 - 27 September 2009 and was the very first show run by the Australian Machine Quilting Association in Queensland to focus on machine quilting.

It was a shame that Brisbane was hit by dust storms on the days of the show so fewer people that anticipated ventured out to see it, but even so, it was very well received.


I was very fortunate to win prizes in several categories for quilts I had both made and quilted, and for those some of my wonderful customers had made and I had quilted. They very kindly allowed me to show their quilts. I thought you might like to see these prize wining quilts.

Prize winners

In the Art/Pictorial category quilts I both made and quilted won 1st and 3rd prizes! I was over the moon!

Uluru - 1st Prize	Solutions - 3rd Prize

In the Edge to Edge category Earthy Squares won third prize and Hop, Skip and Jump was Highly Commended. Both quilts were made my Kate Elliott (Scarborough, Qld) and quilted by me.

Earthy Squares	Earthy Squares detail	Hop, Skip and Jump

In the Functional Custom category I entered Burning Desire which was Highly Commended. This quilt is owned by Ann McKenzie but was made for her by her daughter Debbie Morton.

Burning Desire	Burning Desire detail

In the Custom-Heirloom/Traditional section I was fortunate enough to win third prize for quilting Lyndell McDonald's quilt ( Kyogle, NSW) Follow the Path and a Highly Commended for Rosa Mangano's quilt (Gordon Park, Qld) Heirloom Lace.

Follow the Path	Follow the Path detail
Heirloom Lace	Heirloom Lace detail

It was really exciting for me to able share these prizes with my customers and present their ribbons to them.


One of my own personal favourite quilts is Oh My Stars! It was too old to be entered here but I thought you might like to see it anyway.

Information about AMQAS 2010 is now available.

Catching up and the AMQA website

Catching up...

Life has been so hectic the last 12 months that I just turned around and a whole 18 months flew by. Well, I'm hoping to be able to be more regular in my postings from now on but I thought first I'd bring you up-to-date on what has happened in the last 18 months, so here goes...

The AMQA website

The committee of the Australian Machine Quilting Association (AMQA) decided in 2009 that the Association needed a new website to be a more effective focal point for all aspects of machine quilting. A place where quilters and their customers and potential customers could go for relevant, up-to-date information.

Setting up this website and briefing the designer were my final tasks as the founding member of AMQA. After four years of putting strong foundations in place I felt satisfied that the association had made good progress so I resigned as President of AMQA to refocus on my own business and my family.

The new website looks fabulous and provides AMQA the means to grow and prosper to the benefit of everyone involved or associated with the machine quilting industry.

As I said in my President’s report (AGM August 2009), “I am proud of what has been achieved and... I resigned from the Presidency earlier this year. In the belief of the AMQA vision, I felt I should step aside and provide the opportunity for the new membership to step-up and broaden the culture of the organisation, give it a new horizon to pursue, whilst carrying forward the strong principles on which AMQA was founded”.

Since then I have been focussing on my own family and business but I continue to watch AMQA grow with great excitement.