Wednesday 25 May 2016

Tropical, tropical, tropical. It was surely a tropical day today. Our Australia's Biggest Morning Tea was a wonderful morning of colour and fun and, of course, good food too, as the quilting ladies always bring out on a special occasion. We didn't have as many participants appear as a special day usually attracts, (maybe it was the threat of being asked to hula?) but we still managed to raise over $300 for the Qld Cancer Council. Well done ladies. And thank you to Anne and Margaret for organising it all. They were there packing up things right at the very end so it was a very big morning for them. But we appreciated it. We all had fun!

The beautiful hibiscus and heliconias on a backdrop of colourful sarong tablecloths.

The east and south wings with three visitors for the morning. Welcome ladies!

The north and west wings.

Too much delicious food - but it's only once a year!
 (Can you see the pineapple made out of Ferrero Rochers? That's
fruit. It has to be healthy!)

      A few of  the more colourfully dressed. And we had a real islander join us too. 
      Welcome Loma. 

As it was our Block of the Month Bonanza morning, Lesley showed us
how to do a quick raw edge reverse applique of a hibiscus.
What else would we sew on our tropical morning? 

The very happy winner of the raffle of a lovely stack of tropical batik fabrics was Cheryl.

And there was only one finished item at Show and Tell today. Everyone was obviously too busy getting their tropical costumes ready this last week.

Del needed to make a hexagon quilt as she had never made one before. 
However, she didn't want to cut all those hexagons out so bought a pack of precuts. 
And she did enjoy sewing  her hexagons together.

Don't forget that this Sunday 29 May is the Greenmount Heritage Fair. Go out for a lovely drive and an interesting fair and support our display. Please contact Brenda if you can help at any time.

Wednesday 18 May 2016

What a great morning this morning. Some ladies home from their travels meant we had a good crowd. Joan even had 8 students for her classes. Not a huge amount of Show and Tell though, but good to see Beth isn't slowing up any! And Carol had a turn at winning the badge draw today.

Next week is our special TROPICAL MORNING TEA to raise money for the Cancer Council Biggest Australian Morning Tea. Remember to come and join the fun. Bring a special plate of morning tea, dress in something tropical and bring whatever you have that looks tropical. The BomB lady even has a tropical block to demonstrate. Can't wait to see the grass skirts swaying to the hula music!

This is the "Name the Puppy" puppy for the Greenmount Fair.
We instantly thought of Bluey, Spot and Patches. Wonder what the children will choose?
Thanks to Beth for donating the stuffed toy and its little bed.

Brenda has finally got her September BomB win finished. First it was trying to source suitable sashing fabric and then her quilter had a little stay in Brisbane. Di has quilted it in a silver and black variegated thread in a daisy pattern. Well worth waiting for Brenda.

Barbara calls this quilt her True Friendship Quilt. She won these fabrics in the Christmas Breakup raffle and spent some time searching for a pattern that would show off the fabrics. She was set to do the top at retreat but hurt her arm so Brenda ended up cutting it out for her. And Marlena pinned it. She was able to guide it through the machine with one arm. Then she chose a rather complicated border and couldn't work out how to have it turn the corner so Margaret worked it out for her. Di helped with the quilting. Barbara could not have finished this quilt without all the help from her friends.

Beth is pointing out the pesky little points that just would not do what they were supposed to on this Double Square Star pattern from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The quilting was done by Marilyn while learning how to use Faye's quilting machine. Beth has not put a label on this one but signed it on the front in machine stitching like a painting. Well, we are quilt artists after all.

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Quilt connoisseurs missed out if they were not at show and tell today as there were three quite spectacular quilts - and all very different. We also had the basic patchwork class in session with a laced star pattern that was not very basic! It was meeting day again with plans well on track for the Quilt Fair on July 1-2. There were visitors and a prospective new member as well. Welcome Delma. Visitor Heather won the monthly raffle and Lynn won the badge draw.

Participants are still smiling despite the difficult pattern today.

Faye has just got her candlewicked quilt back from Malanda Quilting. Unfortunately, candlewicked quilts are the hardest quilts in the world to photograph and the exquisite stitching and quilting is lost at this distance.

A much better indication of the candlewicking. Faye only ever works on the candlewicking on Wednesday mornings and so it has taken her a few years to finish enough blocks for a quilt.

There are 60 hours of heirloom quilting in this quilt.

Linda has just finished this quilt for a niece getting married in October. (She has a lot of things coming up so she had to quilt when she had the time.) A beautiful "something blue" for a wedding.

Margaret has finished this masterpiece, "Joy",  just in time for her daughter's birthday tomorrow. The centre was a pack of Hoffmann fabrics and is paper pieced from a pattern by Jacqueline de Jonge. Margaret has quilted it entirely by hand.

Di used her winning BomB blocks from last week to piece a tablecloth. Her smart thinking meant she didn't have to construct any extra blocks!

Last month's winner drawing out the lucky ticket in this month's spot raffle

And the lucky winner was Heather, friend of  Marlena and Pip. Marlena and Pip have kindly suggested they will take her to Needleworx and help her spend the voucher before she has to return home!

Wednesday 4 May 2016

The Interwoven Scraps BomB blocks returned today with Lesley being told in no uncertain terms that we were not to have one as difficult as this one again. Possibly, the problem could have been that Lesley left out half the steps in the instructions! Fortunately, there was a tutorial on the internet which explained things in the right sequence. But despite all, the blocks look great. 

It was lovely to welcome Dulcie today and to see her special quilts. She came to the right place to find out how to go about finishing up one of her daughter's projects.

And it was also good to see Liz back for the winter - and possibly longer. Needleworx have kindly donated the end of a roll of fabric suitable for making blankets of love. So we had just the right person to pass that on to today.
Only four weeks until Greenmount Heritage Fair so Brenda had her pen and paper ready today to get offers of quilts to display, people to help set up on Saturday afternoon and people to pull the display down on Sunday afternoon. Please contact Brenda if you can assist.
And in Quilt and Craft Fair news, Di has a good number of traders committed to attend and Mackay Sewing Centre has donated a Janome sewing machine as a door prize. Wow! Now we just have to finish those quilts for a great display and make lots of little nic-nacs for the sale table. July 1-2. Don't forget!
Jean was the lucky badge draw winner today. 

April BomB. Di handed in four blocks because it took her that long to work out what she was doing. And, of course, with four entries, there was an elevated chance that she would win the draw. And she did. Now she just needs to make another couple to have enough for a quilt! 

These are Dulcie's quilts that are a legacy from her daughter. Leona made the yellow bargello after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was pleased with the wall hanging. But Dulcie wasn't much interested in a wall hanging and thought it was so big, it wouldn't take much to make it fit the king single beds. So Leona added fabric to fit. Then she had to make the matching green one for the other bed.  There is not a lot of quilting, but Leona had never had a patchwork lesson in her life. What a wonderful job she did and how lovely for Dulcie to have this memento of  her daughter who lost her battle with the disease earlier this year.

Beth has just quilted this panel which she has had sitting in the cupboard for so long she can remember neither where she purchased it nor what she purchased it for.

A bright little quilt and pillow for Beth's little Rugrat grandson.

And at the other end of the hall, it was a lesson on Log Cabin today, including how to correctly use a cutter and ruler. Numbers vary in these classes and people come and go, but something is always learnt. Thanks Joan.

It's challenge time again!

We are having a Block Challenge at this year's Quilt and Craft Fair.
The challenge is to complete a modern quilt block using the 6" square of vibrant fabric below.

The block must be an 8" design (handed in 8 1/2" with seam allowances) and must have some of the supplied material incorporated into it. Use as much or as little as you like.
Your name should be attached to the block and returned to Bucasia Beach Quilters by Wednesday 15 June. All blocks will remain the property of Bucasia Beach Quilters and will be used to construct a charity quilt.
Enjoy the challenge! (Further information and fabric can be obtained from Elaine 0427302419 or Helen 49553006.)