Category: News

Canberra Modern Quilt Guild display 2025

Craft Alive 2025 Recap

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Canberra Modern Quilt Guild held our annual quilt show at Craft Alive Canberra 2025. With more than 20 quilts on show, challenge quilts and raffle. Thank you to our volunteers, and everyone who stopped by to visit us.

Show Tour

Raffle winners

Congratulations to the raffle winners!

  • Linda C – First prize – Aurora Australis quilt + gift basket
  • Debra – Second prize – Japanese inspired coverlet + gift basket
  • Jayden C – Third prize – gift basket + Bunnings gift card

The Canberra Modern Quilt Guild’s 2025 raffle quilt was inspired by the extraordinary auroras that have happened over the last 12 months. In particular, our own Aurora Australis inspired the colour palette for the blocks in the quilt.

The block design was based on the charming ‘wonky star’, a popular improvisational design for modern quilts that mimics the look of a traditional star block, with variable star ‘arm’ sizes. 

Guild members could create their own variation of a 12” finished block with as many stars as they desired. There was an unofficial challenge for creating the smallest star. See if you can spot it. 

The quilting completed by @MakeItQuilted uses the ‘modern wave’ design vertically to mimic the effect of the sparking curtain pattern often seen in strong auroras. The black thread, binding and backing fabric, invokes the negative space of the night sky behind the aurora.

Improv Triangles Challenge

The Canberra Modern Quilt Guild’s 2025 challenge theme for members is ‘Improv Triangles’. The theme was inspired by Nicholas Ball’s (@QuiltsFromTheAttic) design in his 2019 book Inspiring Improv: Explore Creative Piecing with Curves, Strips, Slabs and More.
In 2020, Nicholas hosted the popular #ImprovTriangleSewalong on Instagram. 

Canberra Modern Quilt Guild members were challenged to use this technique, or any other improvisational triangle technique, to create their challenge piece.

This year, for the first time, members’ challenge pieces could be a quilt or any quilted object fitting within 24 inches square. This was to encourage members to think ‘outside the box’ and create what inspired them.

With thanks and appreciation to Nicholas Ball for permission to use Improv Triangles for this year’s challenge theme.

Please buy, or check out from your local library, Nicholas’ book INSPIRING IMPROV from Lucky Spool Media.

We’re moving to Weston Creek

Published on by Canberra Modern Quilt Guild

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our guild, we have decided to change our meeting location. June 2024 will be our last meeting at Downer. We have already cleaned out our items and are prepared to move to Weston Creek Community Centre, Parkinson St, Weston ACT 2611.

This new location offers better facilities and a more convenient setting for our activities. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility in this change. 

Our room expenses are increasing.  We felt this was an acceptable as the venue premises are better equipped and updated and have dedicated staff (Monday to Friday). The other changes to be aware of:

  • Sewing Days are changing to the second Saturday of the month from 10am to 2pm. We cut the hours back, as we were paying for 10am to 4pm and not always using the time.  
  • Thursday meetings are still on the fourth Thursday from 7:30 to 9:30pm.
  • We are not locked into a contract, so we can reassess the venue at any time.
  • The bathrooms are inside and recently renovated.
  • Storage is a bit smaller, so some items will be kept by a committee member:
    • Exhibition box
    • Go Cutter – Can be brought to sewing days, as required.

Parking should be far more accessible! There is parking just outside, and some street parking. Note the entrance is behind the building.

As a result of the move and the increased room costs, we are increasing our dues by $5 a year. This will give us approximately $210 extra per year and will take effect in July 2024. Sewing days will remain the same – $10 for members and guests – for the time being. 

If you have any questions or concerns about the move to Weston Creek, please contact us.

Tara Faughnan String Star Workshop

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Guild members and non-guild members can join us for an exclusive virtual Australian workshop with Tara Faughnan. The workshop will be held over two consecutive Saturdays.

When: Saturday 4 & 11 November 2023, 08:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Zoom Invites will be emailed closer to the event
Cost: $115 members, $135 non-members

Sign up now

Learn how to create your own version of a String Star quilt. In this class we will cover how to use freezer paper as a foundation, y-seams, and how to nest angled seems to create precise points. We will talk about how to scale the design, and go over different types of layouts. Students will start on a mini quilt and learn the basics of construction that can be applied to any size quilt.


Level: Intermediate to advanced

CMQG Charity Quilt Off to QuiltCon 2018

Published on by Canberra Modern Quilt Guild2 Comments

After one of the Canberra Modern Quilt Guild’s members had seen so many great charity quilts at the previous years’ QuiltCon, she inspired the Guild to create our own version for 2018.

With the theme of “modern traditionalism”, we wanted to use a base block that we hadn’t often seen used in modern quilts. We also wanted a block that everyone in our guild could help with, whatever their experience level in modern quilting.
Guild member Carolyn Goonrey came up with a few designs using the rail fence block. This was refined to the final design, which used space and colour to explore what a fence and boundary means.

This theme and block resonated strongly with our Guild, as planning regulations in Canberra don’t allow front fences. Instead, people find other ways, such as fences made of shrubs, to put in barriers around their houses.

When talking about the theme of fences, we also reflected on the many conversations taking place in Australia around refugees, and the hardline stand that the Australian Government takes.

We called this quilt “Don’t Fence Me Out” to reflect how we want to be more open and inviting to our neighbours and refugees.

Once the design was finalised, Carolyn set up foundation paper piece patterns. This ensured that regardless of different skills, machines or seam allowances, the final blocks would all be consistent.

The first group of blocks were made at our annual Canberra Modern Quilt Guild show to demonstrate the work the Guild does. Blocks were also given to interested members to put together. Our September 2017 sewing day had Guild members working hard to finish the remaining blocks. After a final sewing bee weekend at a member’s home, the top was finished.

To keep with the theme, we wanted to quilt “welcome” in different languages that reflect the heritage of our members, as well as the Ngunnawal and Ngambi peoples – the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land where the city of Canberra was built.

These words were then quilted across the quilt, along with straight lines to reflect the borders and boundaries that are around us all. A floral motif was added to represent the Canberra bluebell, the floral emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.

It was great fun working with the guild to pull this together. After being displayed at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena California, the Guild will use the quilt to support a local charity benefiting refugees.

CQMG member putting blocks together at our annual show.
Members paper piecing at Sewing Day.
All the finished blocks.
putting together the sections.
putting together the sections.
Finished top.
Preparing for basting.
Finished quilt.
Quilting hanging off a very Aussie verandah.

May Meeting and some news!

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Danielle Plus

Another month gone by and it’s meeting time again! First up, the meeting details:

This month we are going to have a BYO project night.

We are expecting to have a large show and tell as there will quite a few quilts that were exhibited in Berry to get through (those who exhibited, please do bring your quilt along).

Also, we have received the Michael Miller Challenge fabrics to distribute so we’ll have those to cut and hand out.

With all that will be happening, we thought it would be good timing for a BYO sewing night – bring your own hand work project to work on. Anything you can work on by hand, for example some binding or hand piecing, quilting, or perhaps it could be a good opportunity to get those labels on your quilts!

Now, onto the exciting part, our news!!!

Addicted to Fabric in Phillip have very kindly offered to host our Guild for sewing days every two months on a Sunday beginning on June 8th EDIT: DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE FIRST SEWING DAY WILL BE JUNE 22 FROM 9AM TO 4PM. We will then be there the second Sunday of August, October and December. We’re very grateful to A2F for allowing us to use their facilities and also really excited to be having regular sewing days. There will be more information at the meeting, looking forward to seeing you all there!