SUSAN CAMPBELL

Raised in Adelaide, Susan is “middle” child with four siblings. As with most families of that era there was, for purely economic reasons, involvement with sewing crafts. Fortunately she enjoyed that aspect of life and continues to enjoy the various crafts learned as a child. Apart from continuing personal enjoyment of craft, time spent living in Kenya triggered an awareness of the place of craft in other societies. Variety was abundant, as was colour and form which became part of her quest to absorb history and other aspects of older cultures. Various travels to Asia and America have widened her interests.

On her return from Africa, she continued with various crafts, but became more and more focused on quilting and its possibilities. The obsession to do her own thing became too much and she procured the first long arm machine brought into Victoria in 1995. From that time quilting has been her passion and she believes technique improvement has probably been achieved, with more to be tried.

She says she hopes to live long enough to be able to unleash all the ideas in her head. She has passed on her skills to many students by conducting lessons at her studio in Yackandandah and teaching at specific Machine Quilting Symposiums in Australia and New Zealand.

Since 1995 Susan has been fortunate to be able to pursue her passion by working on clients’ quilts and many of those quilts have been featured as prizewinning quilts at major shows in both Melbourne and Sydney. Highlights have been a Runner-up Award for her own design of a Wholecloth quilt at the first Machine Quilters Show in Melbourne and then winning the Long Arm Prize also at Melbourne. In recent years she has teamed with Margaret McDonald where prizes have been awarded at Paducah and Houston.

TINA WHITTAKER

I purchased my first Gammill Classic in 2000, and started “Talk About Quilts” in Kyneton Victoria.

 

I quickly developed a large customer base, and started to discover the challenge and satisfaction of custom quilting.

 

In 2004 I entered my first quilt show (The Victorian Quilt Showcase) at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, and won the inaugural Longarm Quilting Award, and the best Traditional Quilt with “Feathered Star”.

 

I won the Longarm Award again in 2005 with my first wholecloth quilt titled “Slightly Diagonal”.

 

Both quilts were quilted on my unregulated Classic.

I then sold my Gammill Classic, and purchased a Classic Plus – oh the joy of stitch regulation.

I started teaching this year, and spent many days in my studio at home teaching others to be successful longarm quilters too.

I specialised in teaching feather quilting. I found it is so rewarding to unlock a new quilters’ creativity.

I have travelled many times to teach at the New Zealand Quilting Conference in Cambridge.

In 2007 I began travelling to individual quilters homes to teach custom quilting.

I found that it was often easier for a new quilter to learn on their own machine and in their own environment.

 

In 2007 I won the inaugural Master Quilter Award with a silk wholecloth quilt titled “Fanatical Botanical”.

 

I also quilted Best in Show that year. The quilt was heavily appliquéd and is titled “Birds and Roses”.

 

I entered two quilts in the Machine Quilters Expo in USA in 2007 – Fanataical Botanical, and Da Vinci in a Spin. I received 5 teachers award ribbons. It was so rewarding to be recognised by quilters that I have admired for so many years.

 

In 2008 and 2009 I was delighted to be invited to judge the Longarm Quilting Award, and the Master Quilter Award at the Victorian Showcase.

 

My husband and I purchased a business, and moved interstate in 2007. I ceased quilting that year - temporarily.

I am looking forward to rejoining the quilting fraternity again in the near future.