Wednesday 30 November 2016

It was the last meeting for the year at the hall today. And possibly just as well as it is starting to get quite steamy! Quite a few ladies brought in something Christmassy for morning tea including the obligatory shortbread, cherries and strawberries with chocolate sauce and chocolate fudge. No almond bread this year - we miss you Margaret (but not just for your almond bread) and not a fruit cake in sight. Are we all a bit late getting them made or is fruit cake just not so popular any more?

We had Margie from the Mackay Women's Centre visit today to come and explain about the women's group she runs there on a Wednesday and how they started making knitted and crocheted rugs to give to local families in need. They have also sent a couple of bundles of rugs out to Winton and Barcaldine in winter. She had been expecting us to present her with 2 or 3 quilts when she arrived so was astounded to be shown the 15 little quilts we have collected.

Deane announced the changes in the Show Schedule she has been working on so that our quilting section correlates with Qld Quilters and caters for all types of quilts. The Mackay Show Schedule will be online at the end of January.

And Deane won the Badge Draw today too. (It's nice to get rewarded for putting some time into something, isn't it?) 

Some of the little quilts presented to Margie from the Mackay Women's Centre today. Quite a few of them come from our very prolific Liz. Margie's group have talked about adding a special quilt to some hampers for families in need. These will fit the bill.

Kay has been working on this gorgeous Sunbonnet Sue which is for a grandniece born yesterday. A little more quilting and it will be in the post.

Cathy has made the Half Hexie Christmas Tree table runner for a gift for a neighbour. Always looking for variations, she added a little pot at each end. 

And this table runner with the hand appliqued circles, which took slightly longer to make, is for Cathy's daughter. This curved weaving pattern is a very interesting one. A workshop next year maybe?

 Doreen made this very fancy table runner which is difficult to hold up, with the help of a special wedge ruler and pattern from a friend.  It is very clever. (Needleworx has this pattern in stock if you are interested.)

One of the members of Delma's little craft group at Ball Bay is turing 80, so Delma got all the ladies to make a little colourful block of squares, as demonstrated in the last BomB, and added some hand embroidered patches. There is a little more embroidery to do on the top panel and the bottom panel is for signatures at the birthday party. What a beautiful memory wallhanging this will be. Happy Birthday Mary.

26 blocks came in today for the last BomB (Block Of the Month Bonanza) for the year. It goes to show that the simplest blocks are always the most popular. They did make up quickly and  these cute presents are going to make a bright Christmas quilt for the winner, Lynn. We all added extra strips of the present and ribbon fabric so there can be a coordinating scrap border.