WoodPatch Quilters: Show and Tell 18 September 2024 & Heather Ford visit

Well spring has certainly sprung and it seems many members have also sprung into action with a whole lot of finished projects bought in to show at our September meeting where we celebrated two members very significant birthdays. And we finally got our Secretary back after a break... see what I did there??

Grab a cuppa, there is a lot to read and a fair haul of 50+ photos to look at!

**Big thanks to Annette for writing down who made what, because there were so many I just could not remember. And welcome back lovely!!

We had a very informative visit from Heather Ford, former Quilters Guild (now SA Quilters) President and current Appraisal Panel Convenor.

Heather explained in great detail the many factors that go into appraising quilts.

Following a conference at Quilt Australia in 2017 it was decided to look for uniform processes to value quilts as each state used different processes resulting in wildly different appraisals. From then, following NSW's lead, South Australia developed an excel spreadsheet with a huge amount of set formula for the many aspects that go into the designing, planning, material purchase and construction of quilts, be they traditionally pieced or intricate art quilts with embellishments. Appraisal values are also for replacement value, not market value.

All appraisers are SA Quilters members with varied skills from design, to machine embroidery, hand embroidery, hand quilters, domestic machine quilters, long arm quilters etc. They have all been trained in the criteria for appraising and work in teams of 3, with up to 5 or 6 discussing each appraisal.

Quilt makers who apply for an appraisal are given a form to fill out which asks for many details including time spent, fabric quality, batting type, construction method and much much more. Cost ranges from $20 to $50 depending on the applicants membership status.

Each quilt is appraised taking into account the time spent on design, planning, shopping for fabrics/embellishments, washing, ironing, cutting, piecing, binding, label etc. Each of these tasks is allocated the actual time taken as provided by the quilt maker and given an hourly dollar value from $25 for machine piecing and quilting to $35 for hand piecing and quilting.

All that and then they take into account design and workmanship. Everything from quality of piecing such as corners matching, evenness of stitch length of quilting to bindings being uniformly full of batting... the list is extensive and quality of workmanship can have a big impact on the appraisal.

All appraisal are supplied with a Certificate of Appraisal and feedback if requested.

Heather stated that as a cohort, quilters really need to acknowledge the value of their pieces, given fabric, material and equipment cost and how much time and labour is spent on making a quilt. This is particularly so with intricate pieces. Most of us can put a dollar value on the fabrics and materials we spend on each quilt, but we fail to take into account the time and talent that goes into making our sometimes, quite spectacular art pieces.

Most of us, if asked to make a quilt from scratch and be paid for it, would underquote a selling price quite significantly in relation to the actual hourly costs incurred in making it from design to delivery.

This is very evident when the most simple 20 inch square quilt that took only a few hours to construct using just a fat quarter of fabric can be valued at well over $100 and another 20 inch but more complex can be valued at around $900.

It should really be no surprise then that the most basic of quilts can come in with an appraised value of $1500.

It was a truly eye opening information session from Heather and really does show that we need to take a different view of the value of our work, both in a dollar sense and artistic sense, if we wish to have our time and talent acknowledged by the dollar value we place on quilts we make for sale.

For anyone interested, here is a link to SA Quilters with appraisal information.

https://www.saquilters.org.au/appraisal-panel/

Phew, that was a lot. Now, on to the Show and Tell!!

Margaret Fry's I SPY quilt. Its a very interesting way to display all the pictures and letters by using square in a square. It adds real interest.

The first of many charity quilts shown by a very productive Sue Medlow. Loving that curvy quilting which incorporates hearts.

Clever use of a cricket print and complementary green and gold 9 patches. A cricket fan will just love this gift.

About as easy of a quilt as one would ever make... but it looks so clever with all those bold fabrics. Some people just have the gift of throwing really random fabrics together and turning out something quite amazing.

Another simple pattern but really nice to look at. Very clever use of those brown strips to help build out the borders.

What a bright and fun quilt Sue has here.

... and the back is just as good!

One for the horse lovers.

and of course a clever back just to top it all off.

A bright scrappy. The pattern is one of many Bedford patterns, Two by Two from memory. The basic pattern is basket weave, but by using a 4 patch instead of just one fabric in the framed rectangles, it creates an entirely different look. A really good and easy scrap quilt. Lovely swirly quilting to complement the graphic bold colours and black contrast "frames"

And another beautifully pieced backing which really shows of that quilting.

Tricia's pretty pink and green baby quilt with crochet edges for something completely different.

Note the pretty scalloped outer border in white for a bit of contrast.

Another bright scrappy by Tricia with almost complete binding!

Judy's cute animal panel still as a flimsy. Just looking for some quilting suggestions.

Judy's two by two/basket weave. What an amazing difference in the looks of two quilts made in the same pattern but using such different fabrics

Judy's cute baby quilt

More baby quilts for charity. Di Clarke is also one very industrious quilter! this 5 inch block quilt with 3 inch borders is the pattern requested by the hospital.

Same pattern, so many different looks.

Ming has also been busy making this beautiful bag using japanese fabrics and sashiko stitching highlighting the borders of the cathedral window blocks.

The other side. Just as beautiful.

Ming's long time in the finishing Christmas quilt. Nice mix of pieced and embroidery blocks

Another Christmas themed quilt, this one by Barb.

Barb just loves her 21/2 inch squares! A cheery one for charity. don't those corner stones just tie it all together.

We have had a few "kits" put together based on some of the Bedford patterns (with permission).

The kits include pre cut fabrics and the pattern making it easy for those who struggle with the cutting side of things to get a quilt top put together. This flimsy is ready for quilting.

The same pattern, but different colours in a completed quilt. This one was very cleverly put together by a group of ladies on a Mannum retreat recently. Each lady put together a block and one lady put the blocks together to complete it. Great teamwork ladies! Stunning fabric selection too.... just saying!!!

Ooooh, all those itty bitty squares. Patience of a Saint I say.

And speaking of quilts with lots of pieces, the first of two kaleidoscope quilts shown. This one by Jill. This style of quilt is truly jaw dropping. There's just so much to look at.

Quilting detail. The stars are a very clever nod to the graphic shapes of each block.

Di Clarke again with a very pretty cot quilt.

Di's work again. these blue and calico blocks were donated by someone as half square triangles just a couple of weeks ago. Great use of them.

More 2 1/2 inch squares. They were very popular this month!

Di is very clever at using up all sorts of fabrics into all sorts of designs. This one is proof that a quilt doesn't need to be made up of a gazillion small pieces. A large central block with multiple borders can create a very attractive quilt. Note the detail of the small diagonally cut pieces in the second border. Yep, one very clever quilter/designer that one!

Merlyn's fun Hungry Catepillar. Proof again of a large central block and lots of borders making a great quilt.

The second of our kaleidoscopes. This one by Kerry. It is so interesting to see the original panel before being sliced and diced into the kaleidoscope blocks.

Soooo many fussy cut pieces.

For another change of pace, this stunner is by Dianne Schwartz. The wreath is raw edge applique, and a lot of it.

Quilting detail

That's a lot of edge stitching.

Faith's charity quilt using up lots of scraps. A nice one for a man. Note the quilting pattern. Those big curves are a good foil for the very stripy blocks.

The quilting on the back.

The first look at our raffle quilt which will be drawn at our Exhibition next year. 16 blocks all completed by different members. Beautiful work ladies.

These next few quilts are ones bought in by Heather Ford to give us a visual example of quilts and their appraised value.

This fun bright kids quilt "Planetary Party" was valued at $2700. Yes you read that right. Refer to the notes on Heather's talk above for all the elements that go into appraising.

Details showing the amount of quilting (therefore time) put into this seemingly simple piece.

This simple blue quilt titled "Just can't cut it" (and don't we all get that!!) was valued at $1553.

Long arm quilting detail. (And aren't the fabrics beautiful)

This jelly roll Dresden with all it's many intricate pieces was appraised at $3976. Yep, almost $4000.

That's hard to wrap your head around, but consider the hours that the maker put into this quilt.

Each plate has 81 pieces. 9 blocks equals 729 pieces and that does not include the piano key border. That's a lot of time spent cutting and piecing!!

Heather bought a selection of small quilts that were put together by SA Quilters members to celebrate 40 years of "The Guild". Part of the brief was that they had to account for the time and money they spent on their block.