The 10-inch-squared design was dedicated to her late father Jack Clark (1910-1986) who fought in Papua New Guinea during World War II. She named the piece A Soldier, A Good Man, My Dad. It will be part of a 100 piece exhibition to remember 100 years since Gallipoli.

“The challenge was to make a piece that reflected your feelings and thoughts. I guess I did it to honour my father in a way,” she said.

“It’s a photograph of him as a young man in his uniform. He was in the artillery and it’s overlaid with a photograph he had of him kicking around with one of his artillery guns. I put that over the top as well as one of his service medals. 

“It’s a lovely exhibition, I’ve seen it at the Sydney Show. It’s amazing to see lots of different perspectives and thoughts expressed and the Canberra Show is a big show.”

Ms Collins said quilting was therapeutic through artistic design but was also a social activity a younger demographic had tapped into thanks to technology.

“Quilting is also really engrossing and engaging. There’s so many ways and different styles of quilting that once you enter the world and you try out these things it’s easy to find something that speaks to you,” she said.

“I think a lot of people think quilting is something you do when you retire but we’re seeing a whole new avenue of modern quilting which is, I think, drawing in the next generation of quilters. They call themselves the modern quilt movement and I guess it is a bit like art.

“They’re taking a fresh approach and creating something that’s minimalist in some ways and vibrant in colour. I think it’s really important for new generations and younger people to get involved and bring new ideas with them.”

Ms Collins has been quilting for 25 years, but she said she started with the traditional, Amish styles until she got the hang of things and branched out to design her own.

“I just love the fabrics and the designs and wanted to have a go,” she said.

“Now I’ve moved on to try and do art quilts, which are original designs and tend to be things you hang on the wall. I’ve got a quilt on every bed and everybody I know has been given one over the years. I do quite a lot with Red Berry Quilters as well and make charity or raffle quilts.”

Ms Collins’ favourite was a traditionally designed quilt she called Cascades. “It’s a series of what they call tumbling blocks and there is a design on each face of the block, pieced by hand and machine quilted, sitting on a black background. The design on each face is the same, just different colours to make the blocks tumble and look three-dimensional with light, medium and dark colours,” she said.

“There’s so much enjoyment out of making the quilts, but there’s also a social side to it and a charitable side to it. It’s so nice just being a part of something.

“People sometimes think once you’ve made a quilt for everybody what else are you going to do? But there’s so much more to it than that.”

The Canberra Quilt and Craft Show begins on Thursday, August 6 to 9 at Exhibition Park.