Each year QuiltNSW holds a challenge. The quilts are premiered at the Annual General Meeting and then form part of a travelling suitcase exhibition. Please contact the Challenge Coordinator if you would like to reserve the 2019 challenge From these Curtains or the 2020 challenge Our Environment.

2022 Challenge: Celebrate!

The theme for 2022 Suitcase Challenge is Celebrate! – as announced at the Zoom meeting on 23 October.

2021 Challenge: Ruby

The finished size of each quilt is 40cm x 40cm.  

Congratulations to the prize winners. First prize is a BERNINA sewing machine supported by BERNINA Australia.

• FIRST PRIZE: Star Ruby by Judith Docksey
• SECOND PRIZE: Wishful Thinking by Wendy Nutt
• THIRD PRIZE: About Ruby by Suzanne Aubrun
• VIEWERS CHOICE: Untitled by Grace Widders
• JUDGES’ COMMENDATION: Ruby Resilience by Di Jobbins

STAR RUBY
Judy Docksey

FIRST PRIZE: a BERNINA sewing machine sponsored by BERNINA Australia.

Statement: The ruby is a red stone. a variety of the mineral corundum. The colour of a stone can vary when viewed from different directions. Some rubies display stars caused by fine needle-like inclusions of rutile. This star ruby is based on the Rosser Reeves ruby, which belongs to the Smithsonian Institution in the USA.

WISHFUL THINKING
Wendy Nutt

SECOND PRIZE

Statement: If only this could be tangible. With every traveller having a pair of ruby slippers, just three clicks and they’d be home safe and sound out of COVID mayhem, places of political unrest and natural disasters. In 2022 may we celebrate our 40th anniversary with fewer complications and allow ourselves to take delight in the moment.

ABOUT RUBY
Suzanne Aubrun

THIRD PRIZE

Statement: Patchwork faceted gemstone on a black background (the Ruby). The perimeter of the quilt is decorated with silver lines. Hand embroidered dark grey writing give facts and fancies about rubies. The quilting echoes the shape of the ruby.

RUBY RESILIENCE
Di Jobbins

JUDGE'S COMMENDATION

Statement:The ruby has been called the stone of courage and is said to preserve mental and physical health. An apt gemstone for our times! My quilt, glowing with multi-faceted quarter square triangles in many shades of red, conveys the ruby's powerful message of strength and resilience.

UNTITLED
Grace Widders

VIEWERS' CHOICE

Statement: Congratulations QuiltNSW on 40 years of celebrating quilting. The ruby is a perfect geometric design for creative piecing.

GRANDMA RUBY
Evelyn Gray

Statement: My grandmother would go to the Army disposal store to purchase warm garments for quilts. Grandma was a real gem - her name was Ruby.

RUBY LOGS
Jane Rundle

Statement: Freeform log cabin. Ruby and white fabrics. Reminiscent of a sparkling ruby ring.

I SEE (RUBY) RED
Louise Smith

Statement: The central square is Ruby Red fabric, and is quilted in a gemstone pattern. It is an illusion quilt, drawing your eyes to the Ruby centre.

RUBYL
Jenny Rofe

Statement: Made as a challenge quilt to celebrate Quilt NSW 40th birthday. Ruby crystals are a tubular hexagonal shape prism, pink to blood red in colour. To me, Ruby is a girl's name. Ruby is precious, rich red in colour and many things come to mind when I think of ruby. Some of these things are represented in my project.

STAR RUBY 40
Jennifer Ramsey

Statement: My quilt is machine sewn with machine quilting .I have a ring with a star ruby and so my title. I used 38 ruby geometrical shapes added to the 2 stars to celebrate our 40 years.

TELOPEA
Jennifer Stringer

Statement: Waratah (Telopea Speciosissima) is the state floral emblem of New South Wales. Telopea (from the Greek ‘telepos’) means ‘seen from afar’, and are a brilliant red or ruby colour. Hence, to celebrate QuiltNSW’s ruby anniversary, a waratah is a most suitable flower! .

MAGICAL MOMENTS
Claire Ross

Statement: The center reflects the possible cut shape of ruby & showing possible shades, angles that might appear when turning a ruby. The star material & the batik sparkle represents the wonderment of 40yrs running of QuiltNSW alongside the multi-coloured strips represents the magical moments of sewing thru quilting. Colour and material are my choice.

HEART STRINGS
Carolynne Gordon

Statement: The variation of different shades of ruby reflect the complexities of the heart, the central image which has been created by manipulating leftover thread.

RED ON BLACK
Kim Gray

Statement: Faceted Ruby on black/grey ombre pieced background

THIS IS RUBY
Linda Butcher

Statement: This is Ruby, my neighbours' alpaca. I have the pleasure of caring for her when they are away. She is a beautiful, if aloof creature, who wears a jaunty red ear tag. The background triangles represent the hills where Ruby lives and the Peruvian Andes where her ancestors originated. The pattern is adapted from an internet image (nicepng.com)

RUBY PASSION
Kaye Jamieson

Statement: Ruby is the gem of passion, with the gem representing the flames of passion. With this thought I have representing my passion for quilting with 1,415 ¼ inch hexagons, with the quilting done to represent a faceted jewel.

RUBY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
Marianne Roberts

Statement: The inspiration of the ruby gemstone led me to use part of the Carpenter’s Star design, with parallelogram ‘diamonds’ featured in ruby red fabrics.

CELEBRATORY DANE
Rosina Perrin

Statement: Ruby shoes to dance the night away to celebrate and remember forty fabulous years. The Guild has brought together quilters from far and wide supporting them to build and share their skills based on solid connections and developing friendships and assisting the community through donations. Don your ruby shoes, kick up your heels and celebrate.

PRECIOUS
Rosalind Farrugia

Statement: Rubies are always red, representing happiness, passion, wealth and prosperity and a protection from misfortune and illness, so perhaps a fitting gem for our current times. My quilt is a ruby ring I owned that came down to me from a great uncle. It is very precious to me and represents my place in my precious family.

RUBY CELEBRATIONS
Beryl Colley

Statement: The Ruby coloured street bunting symbolises the celebration of joy, love and passion that stitching and quilting brings when creating my own sparkling jewel. The bunting blows freely like the ideas. I saw the fabric and it shouted celebrate sewing with me, something I still enjoy after 40years. So happy Ruby Celebrations.

FIRE IN ICE
Sheila Beer

Statement: The colour in a faceted ruby are frozen forever.

RUBY RINGS
Stephanie Knudsen

Statement: Pieced red rings on a red and white background

RUBY TUESDAY
Melissa Cooke

Statement: IThe quilt displays music and notes in ruby red coming from an old radio. The background has a fused copy of sheet music for the song Ruby Tuesday. The theme immediately brought to mind this Rolling Stones song. Whilst more than 40 years old, the song is emblematic of the 1960's when handicrafts like quilting flourished.

THE HEART OF THE RUBY
Kate Cosgrove

Statement: Ruby crystals have an octahedral stucture made up of equilateral triangles hence the use of triangles as the basis of the design. Although defined as red, a ruby can exhibit a range of secondary hues from orange to pink. This quilt explores the heart of the ruby structure.

RUBY PRINCESS
Helen Tait

Statement: A simplified interpretation of the faces and colours that make up a square ruby gemstone. The symmetry and the variations of the colour red make for striking design.

RUBY RUBY RUBY RUBY
Catherine Babidge

Statement:"""Due to lack of interest Tomorrow is cancelled Let the clocks be reset.."" from the song by the Kaiser Chiefs 2009 which to me aptly describes the present covid situation. Many red coloured scraps holding on for dear life"

RUBIES FOR RINA
Donna Boland

Statement: "A collection of ruby gemstones in the rough form as they are found in nature. My wish is that this quilt shares with the viewer all the qualities attributed to rubies - happiness, energy, love, passion, success, wisdom, beauty, protection, good luck and fortune. Created for Rina who loved all things that sparkled even when they weren't perfect."

ABSTRACT RUBY SUNSET
Jill Rumble

Statement: Streaks across the sky and patches on the land, these are what make up my version of an abstracted ruby sunset.

QUILTERS R XLENT
Elizabeth Newton

Statement: Rubies occur in a range of colours and these are reflected in the fabrics chosen. Quilters excel in so many ways: artistically and creatively, as well as in their generosity and warmth as people.

RUBY EYE
Denise Badovinatz

Statement: I used the pattern for the God’s Eye medallion from the Make Your Own Medallion by Erin Burke Harris to make my quilt. I felt the simplicity of the pattern showed off the beautiful ruby red shot cottons.

RUBY
Liz Aitken

Statement: I wanted my piece to reflect the creation of the ruby from within the earth. I wanted to show the power of the earth and its movement in creating the ruby as it is thrust to the surface. The colours I have used reflect the ruby and it's many shades and facets. I want the piece to suggest passion, power, beauty and strength.

RUBY CALLISTEMON
Brenda Gael Smith

Statement: In my neighbourhood, the arrival of spring is heralded by a ruby cascade of bottlebrush in full bloom.

RUBY RED ROSE
Catherine Woodward

Statement: "Foundation pieced rose. Mostly cotton Machine pieced and quilted. The theme of Ruby brought memories of a ruby red rose seen in a garden in Perth."

FAMILY JEWEL
Denise Fagan

Statement: The “Asscher”” gem cut reminds me of a pineapple block. When the gem is natural, it has flaws, which makes the cut precious stone look like a funky modern quilt. A tiny ruby is the only precious stone I wear all the time. It has great family and sentimental value for me. So rubies, family and quilting are all connected.

RUBY
Therese Rankmore

Statement: Ruby is the traditional gemstone representing a 40th anniversary. Here it is used to celebrate the gem, 40 years in the making, which is QuiltNSW.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Louise Stuart

Statement: Those Ruby slippers will take you home. ‘ Just close your eyes, tap your heels together 3 times and tell yourself ‘There’s No place like home, there’s no place like home ‘The Wizard of Oz 1939. Home is my special place. But home for many can sadly be non existent, a place of hardship or long confinement in these pandemic times.

MANY WILLING HANDS = 40 YEARS
Carmen Dettino

Statement: 40 years is not achieved by a guild without the efforts of many willing hands. This quilt recognises volunteers past and present, whose selfless work has made this birthday achievable. The layered hands, in shades of ruby, show the continuity of volunteer effort that has kept QuiltNSW viable, productive and inspiring during this time.

RUBY
Jessica Wheelahan

Statement: Celebrating 40 years of our guild my quilt was inspired by a ruby gemstone.

QR: QUILTNSW RUBY 2022
Ruth Buchanan

Statement:The quilt is pieced in the manner of a QR code - currently a ubiquitous part of everyday life. The code (also printed on the quilt) reads: QuiltNSW Ruby 2022. QR codes have a patchwork quality. This code is pieced from a multitude of red fabrics, reflecting the ruby theme, while the background fabric represents patchwork/quilts/the guild.

WHO CAN HANG A NAME ON YOU
Carolynne Gordon

Statement:Abstract imagery created through liberated, intuitive quilt making and open to interpretation. To gaze with an open heart and mind allows the viewer to feel the spirit of the maker in the work. Viewing with empathy allows the work to be appreciated for what it is rather than judged for what it is not.

RUBY STORM
Helen Tait

Statement: The variety of red colors along with a storm of triangles in various shapes and sizes represent the sparkling quality of a ruby gemstone. The quilt is named after a Paralympian currently competing in Tokyo.

MISS 'M' WITH RUBY EARRING
Isabella Klompe

Statement: The base of the quilt was an old silk blouse that had a rip up the sleeve, that left the back and two fronts, I then cut out the motifs of Marilyn's head and raw edge appliqued them on top of each other. I made the earrings and sewed them onto the faces. It felt good to be able to recycle a 20 year old silk shirt. As my mother used to say, waste not want not.

FLOWERS FOR M'LADY
Julie Ann Evans

Statement: Upholstery fabric stencilled background. Appliqued and free motion stitched

Challenge Galleries

Click on the links for quilt galleries of the following challenges:

• 2020 Our Environment
• 2019 From these curtains
• 2018 Running Away with the Amish
• 2017 Remember
• 2016 Repurposed, Recycled, Reloved
• 2015 Colour Collision
• 2014 Mini Modern
• 2013 Hexagon Hype
• 2012 Pearl
• Fertile Imagination
• 2011 Purple & Yellow
• 2010 Spot the Spots
• 2009 What Tickles Your Fancy
• 2008 Coast and Country
• 2007 25th Anniversary Calendar Challenge