Wednesday 30 September 2015

We had reasonable numbers for the school holidays today, great to see some visitors and old members touching base.  Badge draw was one by our southern member Liz, fitting recipient as she contributes massively to our Blankets of Love.

Fay has made this Frog Wall Hanging and called it 'Ribbit'

Di H. used up scraps - A Disappearing Sashed Nine Patch.  Very pretty

Di H used more material on her pot holders

Beth has made this pretty purple square quilt, pattern is called 'Barn Dance'

Beth also has made this quilt for a 10year old Navel Cadet

A real challenge for Heather, she made this stunning Frog Quilt from Minke fabric.
It is Minke front and back and Di quilted it.  Called 'Minke Frog'

Good

Wednesday 23 September 2015

A very small group today - school holidays seem to call on lots of the members, but we still had some lovely Show and Tell

Fay has made this very pretty quilt. It is 'Marmalade', a Sue Daly Kit
Tonnie Brooks ( Malanda Quilting) did an excellent job of the quilting

Anne D. one of our newest members made this 'Diamonds are Forever'

Brenda made this at the retreat, left over strips of blue she didn't want to put in the last quilt.

Anne F and Robyn M have completed their Christmas wallhangings 

Wednesday 16th September 2015

What a glorious day today. No hint of summer yet, just clear blue skies and sunny warmth. Although if we don't get some rain soon we shall all be complaining of it being too dry if we aren't already.

There was quite a large Show and Tell today as the Retreat ladies showed some of their workmanship. And here we were thinking it was all fun and games and food. (Although there appeared to be plenty of that too!) Well done ladies and hoping to see still more finished articles in the next few weeks.

(Small disclaimer: Camera must have been playing up today. Apologies for some blurry photos. The fact that the usual photographer got a phone call and had to hand the camera to someone else has not helped either! Maybe if you squint the photos will look clearer.)

A few of the compulsory workshop projects. A little pot mat, each with a little quote about food and dieting - why it should be avoided mostly. Robyn had to be different and sew her back on the diagonal. All mats have binding neatly stitched as Marlena was relegated to hand sewing only because of her recuperating shoulder and managed to complete everyone's hand sewing for the entire weekend. What a friend!

Marilyn C finished this Disappearing 9-patch quilt top. She says it is in the Carmen Miranda style. It's not really that bright, Marilyn.

Robyn worked entirely on small projects and the new caravan already has matching placemats and back cushions. (It was a quilt project from retreats past that was never going to morph into a large quilt.) Great recycling Robyn.

Elizabeth made a little advent calendar and a library bag.

And this lovely little piece to match the red, black and white quilt she made for number 2 son.

Elizabeth had some pieces left over from the Cobblestone workshop last year when she decided  to forgo the large quilt and just made a simpler smaller one and get the jolly thing finished. The left over pieces look lovely in this small quilt.

Phillipa went to retreat armed with a number of machine embroidered doggy pictures to make into placemats for dog-loving relatives. There were 14 altogether we think. So many we actually blurred the photos and only have this one to show!

A sweet little cot panel made for Phillipa's friend.

And a delicate little pink heart quilt top that would be a lovely gift if only Phillipa had a granddaughter to give it to.

And this one was started by Phillipa at last year's retreat and finished this year. It was a kit bought from the Red Bus when it passed through.

Brenda thinks this one will be called Winter Sunset. It was a jelly roll that had far too many blues and greens in it and she replaced them with pinks. A very clever modern pattern.

Helen pieced this scrappy Christmas quilt and just has some applique to do in the borders. It was one of those projects that was supposed to be quick and random but had much input from other retreaters to arrive at that carefully placed random look.

Joan completed the green bag, and matching table runner and placemats. The placemats are made with an insert that is double sided fusible and makes them quite rigid. 

Joan and Charmaine do a project together every year, sharing fabrics and testing new patterns. The elephant is attached to the background with raw edge machine applique. There is a little background quilting to keep the layers together in lines and circles with various "found in the retreat sewing room"objects used as templates for the circles.

And after the elephant was  pulled over the frame, this very colourful fabric was glued to the back to keep the geckos and spiders from building homes there.

And in Non-Retreat Show and Tell....

Di is using her subscription to the National Quilters Circle well. (There are free emails on offer at the moment and a special $9 subscription to access the design pages.) Di decided to whip up a couple of free machine samples to have a go at the "Ripped Borders".  Some great techniques for art quilts and looks like such fun ripping and twisting and couching.

Del was given some dinosaur material for dinosaur-mad grandson. What do you make for a 3 year old that already has a quilt? A little place mat for him  to spill spaghetti on.

Badge Draw today was won by Beth.

Wednesday 9 September 2015

Committee Meeting Day today and President Marilyn runs a quick meeting, being all done and dusted in 35 minutes. Well done! Not a huge crowd of ladies today as quite a few members were preparing for the Annual Retreat. Those retreaters at patchwork today were overheard discussing possible food options. Maybe sewing isn't the highlight of Retreat afterall? Have fun ladies. Looking forward to seeing lots of finished UFOs next week as well as some new projects started no doubt.

Kaye's Maze Quilt. Version 3. This is positively the last one of these Kaye is making. (Although we are pretty sure she still has a whole pile of scraps left over.)

Jan and Lesley sew a new project every week. (Well, the intentions are always there!) These loyalty card wallets  though, were a quick sew and do have a simple patchworked exterior. Lesley put her clip on the wrong side and so opened it in front of everybody upside down and all the cards fell out. So not really serviceable, but they look pretty cute though.

Visitor Marian won the $25 voucher raffle prize today. 

And the badge draw was won by a lucky Anne R.

Wednesday 2 September 2015

Spring has arrived with some suddenly warmer sunny weather and a rush of new members to patchwork. The whirring of machines at one end of the hall made us look very industrious indeed.

The Bomb this month resulted in two blocks being made, a Twin Star with the units that had the blue triangle on the left, and a Double Pinwheel with the units that had the blue triangle on the right. Template-free, simple stitching and perfect points. What more could you ask for in a quick pattern? No wonder we had such a good return of finished blocks.

Twin Star blocks drawn by Michelle aka Jan

Double Pinwheel blocks drawn by Marlena.

There was quite a long Show and Tell today. Always great to see people lined up ready to show their finished masterpieces.

Elizabeth has appliqued these cute critters with a tiny raw edge  zigzag stitch. Joan machine quilted it for her. It was made for the next door neighbour's granddaughter. Isn't that hedgehog adorable?

Beth has been making more little baby quilts from panels. They are quick to make and so bright as well as being able to be thrown into the washing machine and used well. 

Another simple and gorgeous baby quilt. Beth made this one for Aurora - obviously.

Marilyn's tuffet. Marilyn booked into a workshop at the new Mackay Sewing Centre and was the only participant. Just look what individualised tutoring can produce! It looks great Marilyn. Although husband apparently insists it needs another leg for more stability.

Robyn Mc has made this quilt for a friend's grandson. You have to love 'I Spy' quilts with all their fun fabrics. This one looks a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.

This is going to be the raffle quilt at the Carlyle Gardens Spring Fair. Kay has coordinated the making of it with the ladies at their craft group.  Many ladies worked on the centre flower pentagons with either applique or embroidery or both. Floral fabrics were gathered and Kay and another sewer cut them into strips and sewed the crazy patch. It is certainly a beautiful garden quilt for spring.

Brenda has completed another cushion in blackwork

Some closer detail of Brenda's perfectly accurate stitching

Del was surprised to receive an extra bundle of squares when she opened her order from Iddybiddy Cottage so she incorporated them, along with some squares from her stash, into one  of the soft minkee backed crocheted together quilts. (We must make up a name for these!) This is the finished pattern, but Del will probably add some fancy crochet around the border just because she can.

Elaine bought the Moroccan looking panel from the Red Bus at the Sarina Quilt Show and has designed her own quilt around it. The photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful warm and glowing colours in this quilt. Now Elaine just has to find a home for it.

You may not have seen these quilts at the meeting, but just to prove that Barbro has been busy quilting.

The Good in Life. A quilt featuring shoes, bags, hat and chocolate. Barbro hand appliqued the blocks and used both hand and machine quilting to finish. 

The Gingham Girls. This quilt was a BOM that has been a long lasting job out of the cupboard. There is embroidery and applique in the blocks and Barbro machine pieced them and, of course, hand quilted it.

The badge draw today was won by Lesley who now has a lovely piece of white on white fabric and some very pretty dyed cotton embroidery thread called 'forgetmenot'. Just the thing for hand stitching in a caravan!