Country Fabrics and Quilters and the Patchwork and Quilting Academy
Patchwork is basically, bits of fabric pieced together. A quilt consists of three layers – the quilt top, batting or wadding and the backing. Then there is the quilting, the stitching that joins the three layers. Country Fabrics and Quilters is a lot like the patchwork and quilting that it endeavours to promote. There are many pieces that form the larger creation, and a few different layers, not all obvious.
One of the brighter bits that make up the fabric of Country Fabrics and Quilters is Pauline Rogers. Like most proprietors of Patchwork and Quilting shops Pauline is an avid quilter.
Her life would have woven a much different pattern if she hadn’t accompanied some girlfriends to a quilting class years ago. Back than she didn’t really have time for hobbies and had never picked up a needle and thread. When she did find some free time she borrowed a friends sewing machine, purchased some fabrics and began dabbling in quilt making. She quite enjoyed this pastime she had happened upon and was pleasantly surprised when she was asked to tutor some local quilting classes.
When the Queensland Arts Council commissioned her as a teacher of quilting, patchwork and quilting went from hobby to career. Pauline spent a few years traveling around Queensland teaching on behalf of the Arts Council.
As she loved teaching workshops and didn’t want to stop, her husband Rob decided to join her on the road. Quilters know that a quilt top, no matter how beautiful, is better with the addition of backing fabric. Rob became the backing fabric – providing Pauline with the support she needed while they spent 12 years crisscrossing the country, funded by a mobile “quilt shop” run from their caravan.
In 1996, they chose to settle down in Toowoomba, and there they established Country Fabrics and Quilters Store. From that time ten years ago, the shop has grown, much like a quilt that begins with the intention of being for a cot and ends up on a queen size bed.
Nowadays, Country Fabrics and Quilters is an award winning Patchwork and Quilting shop located in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia – but it is much more than just a store. Pauline wanted more than a shop that sold fabrics and quilting supplies; she wanted to create a community for quilters.
Pauline had begun this “patchwork project” as a tutor. It is the sharing and promoting of the art of patchwork and quilting that she loves. Country Fabrics and Quilters became a hub for a community of creativity. Along with patchwork and quilting classes and the shop, there were many events held to help promote the craft. The Quilter’s Outback Tour takes quilters from around the world to meet quilter’s throughout the outback, Quiltfest, sees a gathering of patchwork and quilting enthusiasts annually in Toowoomba to learn, create and inspire, the Quilter’s Trail which promotes co-operation amongst quilt shops, and Quilter’s Getaways and Gatherings featuring guest tutors and lecturers. With all this activity, Pauline still makes occasional trips to country Queensland to hold workshops and she has been an integral part in the creation of numerous community quilts.
Pauline also developed a national quilting challenge, “Margie’s Quilts of Hope” in 2004, to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Quilters around Australia were encouraged to make a block or mini quilt, which was than donated to MQH. The quilts raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, through raffles and auctions. So far, MQH has risen over $45,000 to assist in ensuring the future health and well being of women. In November 2005, Pauline accepted, on “behalf of all quilters who have participated in the challenge”, the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s “Pink Ribbon Award for Community Involvement”.
Now sewing a large size quilt is an undertaking that is always easier when other quilters lend a helping hand. Along the way, there have been many, but one in particular became an integral part – Bev McClune. Bev had made her first quilt top in a class under the tutelage of Pauline. It was also Pauline, who showed Bev some basic machine quilting. Mastering this skill she than began quilting other people’s quilts.
Like Pauline, Bev began teaching to help others learn the craft she loved. To share her knowledge, Bev became a tutor with the Patchwork and Quilting Academy. The academy is the educational section of Country Fabrics and Quilters, and provides a full educational program, teaching all levels of patchwork and quilting. Wanting to bring their love of patchwork and quilting to as many folks as possible, Pauline and Bev, along with tutors Kay Meale and Ruth Bloomfield, produced a series of patchwork and quilting tutorials on DVD’s.
Bev is much like the beautiful quilting stitches that she adds to quilts – there are quilts without it but it really can turn a quilt into something extra special. Bev joined Country Fabric and Quilters as partner in early 2006, sewing up the design that is CFAQ.
Not everyone realises what quilters know – that in between the backing and the quilt top is another layer – the batting. Country Fabrics and Quilters do have their batting – he isn’t always seen but does plump up the whole project. That would be Ritchie Hale the fourth partner, who isn’t a quilter but a business consultant.
So Country Fabrics and Quilters has the multifaceted Pauline Rogers on top, Robert who’s not always seen because he’s in back, Ritchie who is essentially the stuff underneath and Bev, who holds things together beautifully. And to top off this elaborate quilt are some embellishments that are more than just decorative, but enhance the whole creation – the staff who bring their creativity and skills to CFAQ ensuring you enjoy creating your quilts.