A Quilter's Hive Tutors win prestigious awards
at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair

On June 22–26 this year an extravaganza of handicrafts, including the Quilter’s Guild of NSW’s annual quilt show was held in the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

Two tutors in our store won major awards this year; Pam Furniss and Sue Cody.

Sue Cody won 2nd prize in the Applique and Hand Quilting Section.

Pam Furniss, who was featured in a Collectors Edition of Australian Homespun (see article below) won 4th place in the Professional Traditional Predominantly Appliqué Section. See her quilt opposite.

Congratulations Pam Furniss

Pam Furniss, one of our very popular tutors was featured in Australian Homespun's Great Australian Quilts Collectors Edition with her quilt "Harmony".

Memories of Rita
Story from Australian Homespun

When my husband and I decided to tour around Australia in 2001, I , of course needed to take some quilting with me. I had a rather grand medallion in mind so I hastily finished the center square then organized lots of leaves and flowers to take with me for the appliqué.

Not long into their trip, Pam Furness of Corlette, NWQ, heard that her favourite aunt, Rita, was terminally ill so they headed for Melbourne o spend time with her. Over the next six weeks, Pam took her pieces to the hospital and reminisced about all the good and bad times she had shared with Rita while her aunt tried to understand what exactly Pam was doing cutting up good fabric then spending hours cutting out freezer paper templates in preparation for the appliqué on her quilt. During his time, Pam became closer to her aunt than ever before, so it was with a sad heart that she had to return to Melbourne for Rita’s funeral two days after they were back on the road.

On her return home, the quilt was a constant reminder of Rita for Pam. Good memories were stitched into that quilt.
“I always tend to make quilts with high contrast,” Pam explains, “and I particularly liked working with burgundy, green and cream, which create wonderfully rich quilts, I think. This quilt seems particularly dark and that was because of my mixed emotions when I was making it.” The quilt is machine pieced, hand appliquéd using freeze paper and machine quilted, all preferred methods for Pam. Harmony will eventually belong to Caron, Pam’s daughter to whom Rita was like a grandmother.
No content with her obvious expertise in quiltmaking, Pam is constantly looking for new ideas and regularly takes classes with other high profile quiltmakers such as Jenny Bowker and Gloria Loughman. She is popular teacher at A Quilter’s Hive in Georgetown near Newcastle, NSW, with Harmony being her favourite class. Her workmanship and excellent teaching have attracted interest further afield and she is increasingly being called on to teach at quilting weekends and conferences.

If you would like to benefit from Pam's experience in one of her classes please contact A Quilter’s Hive via email or phone us on 2 49 68 0864.

Go to Pam's Block of the Month

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