Wednesday 29 November 2017

Today was the last morning of meeting at the Northern Beaches Community Hall for this year. Meetings will resume here on Wednesday 7 February 2018.

Next Wednesday is our Breakup Function at the Souths Surburban Bowls Club, Wardrop Street, at 11:30am. If you haven't put your name down and would like to come, Friday is the final date for numbers. Ring Delma or Di to book a seat.

There was not a heap of completed Show and Tell items today but they will be gone as presents before the next Show and Tell session. Doreen won the Badge Draw and took the very last voucher home.

Cathy brought in some delicious (and slightly potent) rum balls for morning tea today. Guess it must be Christmas soon.

 Cathy's daughter Jenny made the black and white blocks for this quilt and Cathy added the red applique flowers. It is a present for Jenny's mother-in-law. Cathy may do some feature quilting around the flowers with embroidery thread depending on how many other jobs she has before Christmas. Di quilted it with a grey/black variegated thread which really shines on that black border.

 Another little snuggle boy quilt to go to the Women's Centre, hand pieced and quilted by Liz. (Don't you just love the cute way Delma hides behind the quilt so she won't get in the photo?)

 Liz has had a busy sewing week with this charity quilt made from fabric pieces a friend had left-over after sewing for small children. Teddies and Paddingtons and frogs and bees. The fabrics are just adorable.

 Joan went to Brisbane and visited a friend and came home with the directions of how to make a 15 minute tablerunner. Although Charmaine says it actually takes 22 minutes if you do it properly. And apparently the one made from a panel took slightly longer again!

 This is Heather's last quilt for the last granddaughter. The girls were all fussy-cut from one piece of fabric. Di has quilted it with hearts.

 And the background of Heather's quilt uses up all her 'girly' fabrics. Isn't it just fun?

The November BomB (Block Of the Month Bonanza) is always a Christmas pattern. We don't know why because no one in Mackay ever uses a quilt at Christmas time. These Christmas Tree Slash-It blocks are pretty cute though. They are going to the next Saturday Sewing where there will be some brainstorming about what to do with them. Possibly Christmas Table runners?

We never did mention the results of the 2017 Coastal Threads Art Prize that Di entered this year. This is Di's entry called Hidden Treasures.

You can find all entries and the winners here
 http://www.textileartworkshopsonline.com/coastal-threads-art-prize-quilts/
(Please contact me if you work out the judging criteria!)
The 2018 entry form for the topic "Coastal Fringe" is below this year's entries.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

A few showers today to make it awesome sewing weather. Elaine was selling items for an old friend clearing her sewing room and there were some happy shoppers with everything from fabric to wood burners to gollywog patterns. Di has been left with the Badge Draw organisation with Helen off to Asia and couldn't find the winning ticket owner today. Turned out it was Di herself.

Only one more week at the hall for Show and Tell so everyone had better get those last stitches in their projects or they won't be seen until 2018! Just where has this year gone?

 Di asked a little girl what her favourite colour was. She will love this quilt - as long as she knows her colours and pink really is her favourite! Flo has used this pattern before and it certainly makes a very effective I-Spy quilt.

 Delma found this pattern in a magazine last week and thought that the embroidery would make a cute little Christmas hanging. And here it is finished and bound this week. Well done Delma.

 Delma made this quilt for Rachel who has been particularly kind to her son during his recent illness.  Delma didn't need a pattern but worked it out from a picture in a magazine. Each flower is made by sewing tiny snowballs onto four squares.

 And Delma is very proud to have completely quilted a whole quilt with her Westalee rulers. (The photographer apologises for not taking a close-up picture.)

 Di has quilted this enormous quilt for her friend Pamela who has an extremely large antique bed. Pamela is mad about dragonflies and Di painted the centre panel to match a picture Pamela has. Pamela made the quilt to fit the bed, but Di did some rearranging of the blocks and borders before she was happy enough to quilt it - with dragonflies, of course.

Barbro has finally got to make up a pattern of Jan's that she had admired. The background and the backing fabrics are new, but the little maze shapes are all from scraps in Barbro's colourful stash.

 Two of our BomB quilts made from Japanese fabrics from Heather's stash. Named Simply Delighful and Japanese Crosses,  they are all quilted, labelled and bound now. We are so pleased with how these turned out, we are considering using them as raffle quilts next year.

 Back of Simply Delighful showing label and Di's Clamshell quilting which really matches the Japanese theme.

Back of Japanese Crosses with a large cross for the backing from the fabric remnants.

Vera's wrist pincushion. Designed and made herself to not only be useful but to also show that it is always time to sew!

The last BomB (Block Of the Month Bonanza) for the year. Called Christmas Tree Slash-It, two squares are stacked and slashed twice and the centre triangles exchanged. Wonder how many cute little naive trees we will have to make our last charity quilt from Heather's fabrics.
(Yes, the BomB Lady has resigned, going on indefinite leave travelling next year. BomB Lady position vacant. See Delma if interested.)

Wednesday 15 November 2017

What lovely happy chatter and laughter emanated from the hall today with a much larger crowd of ladies than has been usual of late. And there were at least 4 ladies stitching down bindings so some people are getting projects finished! And there were also things to be learned today with Di demonstrating how to blanket stitch upside down for smooth corners and no raw edges. Don't worry if you missed it, she has promised to demonstrate again.

Elaine declared she never wins the Badge Draw and so her number was pulled out today. (Although Diana says that every week and it hasn't worked for her yet!)

Despite checking the camera battery last week and seeing it still more than 1/4 full, the camera declared it was exhausted today (Aren't we all?) and refused to work. So dodgy iPhone photographs yet again.

 Kaye has finished quilting her Friendship Braid that she pieced before her last holiday. Such a happy scrappy quilt. She had lots of scraps over, but with no quilter offering to tackle a similar quilt, she gave the rest of the scraps away.

 Another finished quilt for Kaye. The I-Spy fabrics just stand out so well with their weaving black borders. These two quilts will go to the Women's Shelter.

 Our other Kay started this baby quilt with multicoloured ducks not knowing the sex of the baby it was being made for. Baby came before the quilt was finished and it is a girl. But the mother is sure to appreciate this darling quilt even if it's not pink. 

The instructions for this quilt came in metric and not being used to quilting in metric, Elaine just went ahead and cut all the fabric out. There were blocks all over the floor. Turns out if converted correctly, the squares should be 4 inches. So now she has two quilts exactly like this one. Elaine machine embroidered the Japanese motifs and quilted the quilt herself.

 This is called Diamond Dot Painting and is what kept Elaine amused nights in the caravan for 6 weeks. It looks very effective.

 Anne asked the grandaughter what she would like for her birthday and just a few days before her day she decided she wanted a unicorn! And of course, it was so cute, someone else ordered one too.

 Anne has finished her Sampler quilt. She got a bit carried away with all the blocks as she wanted a quilt to fit the big bed in the spare room. That room will always be colourful and happy now. Anne made the blocks last year at the club under the instruction of Joan and Joan machine quilted it for her.

Joan made this little transportation quilt with vehicles she drew up from pictures on the internet. All vehicles are blanket stitched appliqued and have glittery white windows.

After 3 weeks, the October Bomb blocks are in - well - nearly all blocks. We think this Ups and Downs pattern is going to make a striking quilt.

Some ladies went to lunch after patchwork today and the conversation turned to training puppies and husbands, (as it does). So because they never read this blog, (the puppies or the husbands), we thought we should share this truth.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Another meeting day. And committee have organised things right into next year. Wow. Where did this year go? Only 3 more weeks until the Breakup and then no more meeting at the hall until the first week in February 2018.

For those who would like a continuation of sewing over the Christmas break, we will be joining the Craft Group that meets at the Womens Centre on Wednesday mornings in the airconditioning.

There were only three charity quilts for Show and Tell this morning. One BomB quilt just back from the quilters and one about to go. Thanks Di for your ongoing commitment to quilt these charity quilts for us.

Diana was sure she was winning the Badge Draw today as her ticket number was her age. But unfortunately for her, Sharyn's ticket was pulled out. So Diana was allowed to draw the Monthly Raffle voucher so could draw her own ticket, but she drew out Maz's. Sharyn and Maz were happy though.

 Liz has completed another hand pieced and hand quilted quilt for the Women's Centre. (A nice breeze through the hall today didn't do anything for photographing quilts.) This one is quilted with sweet roses in pink thread and is just gorgeous.

 Tulips. A spring quilt made from the August BomB blocks. Lesley made a miscalculation in working out the border and only just managed to have enough of the green for a border with many straight seams. That is the last of Heather's green glitter fabric.

The Disappearing Sashed 9-Patch from the June BomB. Pieced by Marlena and quilted by Di with clamshells that go so well with the Japanese fabrics of Heather. Delma is taking it home to stitch down the binding. This one really has been a club effort.

Wednesday 1 November 2017

We only put out 5 tables in a U-shape today so it was a very cosy group of 20 or so who had a very enjoyable morning and a lovely morning tea but only a small Show and Tell. 

Lesley won the Badge Draw again which really should not be allowed as she hasn't spent her last voucher yet.

Some ladies are going out to lunch at the Mt P Tavern for Melbourne Cup. Ring Helen promptly if you would like to join them.

 Disappearing Pinwheel. The finished quilt from the April BomB blocks. Many thanks to Helen who did a lot more than just sew the blocks together and add a border. But she is happy now (despite the photo!) that the points (well, most of them) are pointy. Di quilted it for us. Thanks so much to both ladies. There is no particular place for this quilt to go yet. Any ideas welcome.

Di is making more shopping bags. These use some salt dyed fabrics, some old fabric painting samples and some upcycled jeans (even a pair of Wayne's he didn't wear much!) The one on the left has some free machine quilting patterns as Di can't help herself putting some quilting on almost everything. But maybe Del is holding the bag the wrong way round as the stitched flowers are impossible to see in this photo.