Wednesday 27 April 2016

Just when everyone thought it was time to work on their own projects, it was BomB (Block of the month Bonanza) day again today. Someone's husband suggested this was the best block ever done, but then he is not full of expertise in the quilting area so can we trust him? Margaret has actually chosen this pattern for her next quilt. Lesley and Margaret must frequent the same internet sites. But Margaret's will be in brown and orange so will be quite different to this scrappy one.

Lesley demonstrating how to pin and piece the block. Apparently a happy job.

The Interwoven Scraps blocks have to be rotated to get the interwoven look.

Beth brought this quilt in today from the stack of projects she is churning out. It is for a nephew who is obviously a Star Wars fan. It is made from four disappearing 9-patch blocks and the rest of the leftover fabric just randomly sewn together. A great looking modern quilt with a theme!

The 2016 Australiana Charity Quilt is complete. Thank you to all those who have helped by constructing blocks, dyeing material for sashing, cutting sashing and borders, piecing the top, machine quilting and making and sewing the binding. Just a label now and it is ready for Greenmount where it will be displayed to the public for the first time and tickets will be offered for sale. I think we did a good job!

This is the very first quilt that Vera has ever made. It was begun under Joan's tutelage at the old Janome shop and Joan machine quilted it for her. It will be called "something" Japanese. Well done Vera, it is a lovely quilt. May it be the first of many. Welcome to quilting.

Di has only been back in Mackay a short while but has already completed these bath mats from op shop towels. The old towels are cut in strips, folded and plaited and then machine zigzagged together. There must have been a lot of fluff and towelling threads in the sewing room!

A close up of Di's soft bath mat.

Di had booked into a Caroline Sharkey workshop in March over 12 months ago. But less than a week before it was scheduled, her husband finally got the call for his kidney transplant. But the op was a success so Di left him in the hospital's capable hands and went to play with fabric for a few days. These are two of the three pieces she worked on.

This one shows a few different methods of making your own fabric. Because they are already so heavily stitched, Di is going to frame these instead of quilting them.

A photograph was the starting point here. The branch hanging down was first stitched on solvy and washing it left these lovely lacy leaves. The highlights on the tree on the left were obtained by using a grey bobbin with the black thread and adjusting the tension so the bobbin thread popped to the top. Some great techniques in this one.

This quilt is the result of some leftover blocks from an earlier quilt Julie made. It is called Spinning Stars. A friend of Julie loves these colours so she is getting this for her 60th birthday. It's very hard to beat the dramatic red, black and white colour scheme.

Vera won the badge draw today. It was another voucher this week, so it was quite a productive morning for Vera.

See everyone next Wednesday with all the BomB blocks.

Wednesday 20 April 2016

There didn't look to be a whole lot of ladies when you first entered the hall today. But then there was a large table full of students learning new tricks and techniques under Joan's expert guidance. How good to see so many ladies wanting to brush up on a new or better way to do things. There were also some delicious savoury muffins at morning tea which were also a result of Joan's expertise. She made them because a recipe had been requested for the newsletter. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room left in the newsletter to print the recipe, so everyone will have to wait another month if they want to try baking them themselves.

Sharon was the lucky winner of the badge draw - again. And she picked out a voucher from the goody bag which will see her having a good excuse to visit Needleworx.

This is Henry's big boy quilt which we neglected to get a photo of on 24 Feb. Thanks for bringing it in Karen. It was a delight to see those bright colours again. Something new we learnt this time was that the red fabric behind the elephant was actually dyed by Henry's dad when he was at school. What a lovely addition! Beth's matching quilt was posted on 3 Feb.

The colourful pieced backing of Henry's quilt.

Marilyn has taken some time to finish this Reece Scannell panel called Seed Pods with all the detailed  free motion quilting. The top and bottom borders have been layered with raw edge applique. Don't the colours compliment the panel beautifully?

Helen worked on this quilt at retreat and just had the applique left to add. Di quilted it for her and it was finished for Christmas but it had never made it to show and tell. Is the applique leaves or Christmas lights? "What do you want it to be?" says Helen.

And another little Christmas offering. Cathy wanted to practice her machine quilting on this panel and practice she did. The thin lettering is quilted on both sides! Cathy was a bit upset that the cotton wadding she used did nothing to show off all that quilting. The holly leaves are 3-dimensional and attached with buttons for berries.

Cathy and her neighbour made this quilt from a pattern to raise money for motor neurone disease. As the husband of the neighbour's best friend has been diagnosed with the disease, they thought it would be a most appropriate gift for him. There is a fat rabbit on the label as Wayne has written a book for his grandchildren about the fat rabbit that he drew on his wardrobe door as a child. You can find Wayne's gorgeous book,  which raises money for MND research, at www.carrottopisland.com.au 

Helen has made this quilt from a stash of traditional male sarongs she purchased in Bali. Trying to get the colour to stop running before she pieced the top was a trial involving every method of fixing dye known to quilters. The eventual solution was in using a small but expensive bottle of synthrapol.       

An interesting construction of left over strips for the backing.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Committee Meeting Day today and we were quite exhausted after an hour of discussing the various activities  for the club. Craft Fair, Saturday Sew-in, Queensland Quilters membership, Biggest Morning Tea, workshops, Mackay Show, Greenmount, raffle quilt - we have lots on the horizon! Let's hope we get lots of volunteers so the jobs are all spread around evenly. Poor Brenda was in such a rush to get to the meeting that she left both her BomB blocks and the badge draw things at home. But we had the monthly raffle today and Margaret was lucky enough to win a voucher from Mackay Sewing Centre.

The cool colour chevron blocks for the March BomB (Block Of the Month Bonanza) looked very good - (even upside down!) Anne and Lesley had some fun crawling over the floor to test various arrangements. (We really do need an upright design wall!) They liked the last offset one the best. But, of course, how it is put together will depend on how Robyn Mc, the winner of the draw, decides she likes it best.

And here is Brenda's fancy zipper bag that she spent a few weeks trying to work out how to put together. We all loved the bag, the concept of it being a little rug and a bag at the same time, and the additional coordinating clip pockets. Not sure anyone is keen to have a go at it after Brenda's stories. Although now she has worked out how to do it, she should be right to give a little workshop on it!

Helen has used some of the more 'panel looking' pieces from the donated fabric to make a top for Breastscreen. The backing is pretty fancy too, using a large pink batik piece brought back from overseas by a friend. Great work Helen. Unfortunately, she still has fabric pieces left over and Iris found some more fabric at her place, and so it looks like Helen will be busy with charity quilts for a little while longer!

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Just six tables of sewers today, but some good sewing and chatting time all the same. The photo shows Vice-president Lynn with Brenda organising the badge draw which was won by Barbro and some of the ladies that were busy with Joan up the back learning some basic patchwork techniques. We also had a BomB (Block of the month Bonanza) demonstration today for a simple chevron block, suggested by our dear Jan, which should make a delightful quilt. Can't wait to see what blocks come in next week.

You know Shaun the Sheep? Well Marlena made this delightful animal and then added his girlfriend Lola. Then Uncle Shamus and Aunty Sheila arrived. There is still another to join the flock if a suitable "Sh" name can be thought of. They all have little removable zippered minkee jumpsuits and are just adorable! (Apologies if I got the names wrong Elizabeth. I probably wasn't listening well enough.) 

Robyn has just about finished this long term  hand stitching project of  Mother Earth's Alphabet blocks with hand appliquéd letters and some exquisite embroidery. Green hand quilted leaves are making a trail in the border. Robyn doesn't know where this little quilt will be going, but possibly many hands will go up for it.

Michelle made this Hugs and Kisses quilt from blocks won in the July 2014 BomB draw and Joan has just quilted it for her. (It's not two years yet, Michelle, you still have a few months to get the binding on!)

Wednesday 30 March 2016

We have no photos of projects today, but our lively group was very busy with on going work which we will see posted one day.

A good group of people today considering it was school holidays and as it cools down we should have many more join us.