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The West Australian Quilters' Association
History of WAQA
In June 1976, the York Society ran a residential workshop at Faversham House in York on patchwork. The theme for that year's main exhibition at the York Fair was inspired by the American Bicentennial, which saw the rekindling of interest in patchwork quilts.
During that workshop, at which the late Penny Whitchurch tutored, a hexagon quilt was started, amongst others. It was hoped to get it to the stage of putting in a frame for demonstrating quilting at the exhibition - this necessitated a further sewing day in late July or early August.
This day was destined to lead to the formation of the Association. Again, some ladies met in York, this time in a dilapidated store front on Avon Terrace. They all enjoyed the day so much they decided to meet again and form a sewing group.
They met in the home of Maryllis Green-Armitage (who became the first President) on 23 August 1976. Eleven people attended: there were two apologies.
They decided to call themselves the West Australian Quilters' Association and meet once a month. Their aim was to advance the craft of patchworking and quilting in WA and other states, to provide information, knowledge and shared experience of the craft and to arrange exhibitions. Annual subscription: $7.50 and, as far as it is known, it was the first such organization in Australia.
Meetings continued to be held firstly in the CWA Craft room in West Perth. The membership doubled to 30 and a Constitution was drawn up and finalized by October 1981 - the Association became Incorporated and a logo was adopted as the result of a competition."
(Extract taken from "Our First Ten Years", written by Maryllis Green-Armytage. Written in 1986 & revised in 2001). Full article available for reading in the Association Library.
As of the end of 2002/03 financial year the Association had a membership of 708, of which 149 were country members, 14 group members, five life members. We hold three meetings each month - a Sewing Day, a Sewing Night and a Business Night (for details see Calendar). The QuiltWest Exhibition is held yearly and there are specialty groups such as the Hexagon, Crazy Patchwork, Contemporary and Quilt Study Groups. Retreats are held twice yearly.
Past Presidents
|
Commenced 1979 |
- Oct 1979 |
Marylliss Green-Armytage |
|
Oct 1997 |
- Early 1980 |
Marilyn Beckman |
|
Early 1980 |
- Oct 1981 |
Mavis Fryer |
|
Oct 1981 |
- Oct 1983 |
Alison Tunney |
|
Oct 1983 |
- Oct 1985 |
Flo Binns |
|
Oct 1985 |
- Oct 1987 |
Fay Cunningham |
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Oct 1987 |
- Oct 1988 |
Dianne Mansfield |
|
Oct 1988 |
- Oct 1990 |
Judy Campbell |
|
Oct 1990 |
- Oct 1991 |
Melodie Slatter |
|
Oct 1991 |
- Oct 1993 |
Suzanne Bailey |
|
Oct 1993 |
- Oct 1995 |
Barbara Morkel |
|
Oct 1995 |
- Oct 1997 |
Cathie Gamble |
|
Oct 1997 |
- Oct 1999 |
Susan Creer |
|
Oct 1999 |
- Oct 2001 |
Bev McGrath |
|
Oct 2001 |
- Oct 2003 |
Kerry Wettenhall |
|
Oct 2003 |
- Oct 2004 |
Kris Skeffington |
| Oct 2004 | - Oct 2007 | Jocelyne Leath |
| Oct 2007 | Present | Jan Style |
The above information has been provided by Jan Smith, the Association Historian in 2004. If you have any particular questions or areas of interest, please email WAQA and we will endeavour to find the information.