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.