Sewing a Story
Megan Manwaring is the current President of the Guild. “Membership grew in the year ending June 2017 by around 10%”, she told me. She believes this growth is due to a number of factors, including on the one hand the proliferation of social media such as Instagram, which provides a visual and immediate communication tool to share their activities, balanced by the value now placed on taking time to make hand-made items, and the sense of community that joining a group of like-minded people offers.
The Guild supports member groups in many ways, such as quilt appraisals, teacher accreditation, an extensive library and workshops. Another is through the annual Suitcase Challenge, where quilters contribute suitcase sized quilts (40 x 60 cm) in line with the current theme. These are premiered at the Annual General Meeting and then form part of a travelling exhibition, which groups can reserve to use in any way they want, such as putting on a local viewing or simply studying the work and learning from it. The 2017 theme was Remember and the 2018 theme is Running Away with the Amish.
QuiltNSW is making a celebration quilt to mark the 100th birthday in 2018 of the Tresillian organisation in NSW. Tresillian’s care and advice has played a very important role in the lives of many young families throughout NSW who need help in settling, feeding and coping with the very new world of parenting. QuiltNSW members are invited to participate in the making of this quilt and all necessary materials and pattern will be provided.
