27 November 2019

31 ladies braved the warmer weather to meet with their crafty friends this morning.  A reminder that we will be meeting in the air-conditioned comfort of the Women's Centre on Thursday the 12th and 19th of December and then back to Wednesday from January 8.  We are back in the Northern Beaches Community hall - with no air-conditioning - after school ressumes.

Show and Tell items for today are:

Elizabeth was asked by her daughter-in-law to make bags for grandsons to carry their Jiu Jitsu clothing to their sessions.  Initials were placed on the back so that the mother puts the right stuff into the right bag!

Diana made this blanket for her Niece's family's pet bulldog, Archie.  It was made using three pairs of her husband's unwanted denim shorts.  Just wanting to see whether Archie has a chew on it. 

Gerri made the above bags to give away as Christmas gifts.  They were made in a 3 day sewing get together. 

Diane made the above clutch bags using three 10 inch squares.  They are for whoever shows a need or desire for them. 

Anne made the table runner and placement for her 93 year old Mother-in-law for Christmas. 

Del made the above queen size quilt based on the French braid pattern "Shadows in the City".  She made this on the recent Eungella retreat and was quilted by Di Hope.  Del is keeping this for herself. 

Joan made the above quilt during this year's Eungella retreat using an Owl panel purchased from Howard Drapery.  She also purchased 3 co-ordinating fabrics that belonged to the same range.  This quilt is waiting for someone who wants it.  Joan designed the quilt.
 

This King size quilt was made using Tilda Bird Pond range purchased from Bayside Stitch Craft.  Joan was inspired by a quilt she saw on Pinterest and then had to make the pattern for herself.  This quilt has been sold to some-one who loved the "old style" fabrics.

Marlena made the above quilt titled "54 - 40 or Fight" She was ready to fight after she realised that she had made a mistake and had to redo 120 triangles.  This was started in the Eungella retreat - which begs the question - what was happening up there that lead to the mistake??  The quilt is now living in a cupboard waiting for a King size bed.

20 November 2019

25 ladies enjoyed their fellow crafters friendship this morning.  Our Christmas break-up is quickly approaching.  Next week is our last gathering in the Northern Beaches Community hall until February next year.  Those of us who cannot bear to be so long without gathering together, never fear, we will be meeting in the Women's Centre, Shakespeare Street on a Thursday in December and then on a Wednesday through January.

Anne won the badge draw this morning.

Show and Tell for the week:

Barbara designed and made this quilt as a Christmas gift for her daughter.  Her daughter feels the cold so she wanted a warm soft quilt so Barbara met the brief my using minky as the backing.

Ann has produced another bag for her purple loving granddaughter.  She thought the first one that Ann had made her was too boring!

Marion used her embroidery machine to make this crazy patchwork quilt.  She used a Dawn Johnson pattern.

Even though Anne is pictured, it is actually Marion who has machine embroidered these Christmas tree decorations which hold a photo of her great grandchildren

As you can see Marion has been giving her embroidery machine a good work-out!  She has also produced these two little coin purses.

Liz has made the above table runners for the Christmas Hampers to be given out by the Women's Centre.  Members from our group have made about 20 of these all up.

Liz has also made another blanket for Premmies born at the Mackay Base Hospital.  These are used after the babies have come out of the humidicrib so parents have something "cuddly" to hold baby in.

13 November 2019

31 ladies gathered with their handiwork this morning.  A big welcome back to Leslie and Sue who have been travelling and therefore away for sometime. 

Ladies were reminded that Dignity Bags are due next week.  A number of our members are making these bags to be given to the Women's Centre.

Also a reminder to those attending our Christmas lunch that we will once again be having a fat quarter swap.

Cheryl was the lucky winner of our monthly raffle and Yoke won the weekly badge draw.

Only 3 show and tell items this morning.

Cheryl won these Monkey Wrench blocks in one of our Block of the Month draws.  She has put them together and finished the quilt and it is ready for some-one who needs it.

Sue has recently returned from 5 months in Africa and showed the fabric that she purchased while there.  Now Sue has to choose a project that will show these off to their best advantage.  We look forward to seeing the finished project!

Robyn has made another bag using denim jeans.  This bag is larger than her first one as her daughter requested a larger version.  Once again Robyn has embellished the bag with applique, sequins and beads.  They are even more beautiful in "real life".

23 October 2019

26 ladies were present this morning.  We are already planning our break-up Christmas Lunch - where has the year gone???  Carol was the lucky winner of the Badge Draw.

Following are photos of our "Show & Tell" items for today.

Step 1:  Twisted fabric twine

Step 2:  A large ball of twisted twine. This is fabric from 3 dresses that were no longer needed.

The fabric twine is then zigzagged together to make the bag above.

Diane has also used nylon lining fabric to make bags to carry her fruit and veges from the supermarket - no plastic bags needed here!

Brenda has used yarn left over from a previous project to crochet the above rug. She got the idea from Pinterest.

Anne has made the bags above for her granddaughters. The purple one is for a 13 year old and the 7 year old loves pink,  purple and unicorns.  The granddaughters decided that they would like a bag after seeing the one that Anne had made for herself.

 

Liz has made this humidicrib cover for the Base Hospital.

The above crib quilt will be passed on to the Women's Centre.

 

Liz has made the above 2 tablerunners for the Christmas baskets to be given to the Women's Centre

11 September 2019

23 ladies were present this morning. We must be busy doing other things in our lives as our Show and
Tell session was very short.

You may remember that Jean has made the above table runner "Magic Mountain" featuring red fabric for her sister.  This one is for herself.  The gold fabric was purchased by Jean to make a new outfit for a clown that her daughter had from childhood.  Unfortunately her daughter didn't like the fabric, so Jean bought co-ordinating fabrics and went ahead and made the above item.  It looks beautiful.

Marilyn won the badge draw this morning and Marion was the lucky winner of the monthly raffle.

4 September 2019

31 ladies enjoyed our morning of handiwork and "catching up".  It was great to see our numbers creeping up.

Carol was the lucky winner of our Badge Draw this morning.

The following items were presented in our Show and Tell session.

Anne's Granddaughter requested a puppy for her 10th birthday so Anne was thrilled when she saw a picture of a pieced "shaggy" dog in a magazine and got to work drafting the pattern and made the above out of flannelette. She is hoping that her granddaughter will be happy with her dog!

The Attic Windows quilt using Australian fabric in the background is going to California to Anne's  daughter-in-law's mother who loves everything with an Australiana theme.  She will love this.

Marion has made a Bali bag and had many strips left over.  She has used "some" of these to make the pouch above and the "sew-all, carry-all" below.  She is now looking for other projects to use up the remaining strips.

 

The above quilt has been made for the Women's Centre by a group of Liz's friends from the caravan park. I am sure that this will be the first of a number projects that Liz has in store for the ladies and what a wonderful way to get together.

Robyn has made the above bag which is cut from a pair of jeans.  It is fully lined and also has a number of pockets inside. It is embellished with sequins and embroidery applique.  Robyn is keeping this one for herself.

Diana has made the above mat after starting it in an in-house workshop. It is made using a batik jelly roll and wadding.  This mat has been claimed by her cousin.

31 July 2019

26 ladies were present this morning and once again the weather was ideal for crafting, chatting and enjoying morning tea.

Below are photographs showing what some of our industrious ladies have been up to.

Deane made this quilt which is a Sue Daley design titled "Faith, Hope and Love".  It incorporates English Paper Piecing and Applique with hand and machine quilting.  Deane used fabric from her stash for this quilt. 

Diane has made the above quilt for a horse loving client. The blocks are Attic Windows and the background fabric features horses.  It is quilted with a lasso design to keep with the horsey theme.   

 

Joan purchased material from the "Garden Delight" range in Bunbury for the above quilt. She saw a picture of the quilt on Pinterest and then had to work out for herself how to make it. An easy task for Joan.

Marion completed the Diamond Dot Embroidery featuring two peacocks to compliment the large peacock done previously.  Once again hundreds of beads involved but thankfully no sewing involved.

Marion is also responsible for the hand embroidered and machine pieced Chatelaine above.  It contains a fan needle case,thimble holder, pin cushion, scissors case and a glasses case.  They are hanging from a beaded hat.

Marion has also completed her beaded purse. We all thought the Marion had "lost it" when she turned up with the kit for this purse.  As you can see, the project involved stitching hundreds of tiny beads to the fabric before machining - and inserting a zipper - to complete the purse.  We all love it now and wish that we were brave enough to tackle it!

24 July 2019

The weather here at the moment is wonderful - no excuse for not getting stuck into our sewing and crafting.

We had a good turn out this morning but I was so engrossed with my handwork that I forget to get the actual count.  I also forgot to take down the name of the badge draw winner - I definitely know that it wasn't me!!!

Photos below show what some of our ladies have been working on.

Del, Vera and Kay have worked on the above quilt which was started by an 83 year old quilter.  A border is to be added and the finished quilt will be given to the Women's Centre.  Del is adamant that she will never work on another hexagon!!

Diana has made the above quilt for her friend's caravan.  The fact that it features 10" squares was enough to convince her that this was the quilt to go with.

Elaine has made the above shaggy quilt for the Women's Centre.

Liz's quilt is all hand made and features animals.  It will be given to the Women's Centre.

17 July 2019

From the photos above you can see that we had a wonderful turnout for our Friendship Morning -

81 in total.

Our members provided a wonderful morning tea which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Our Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser for Cancer was incorporated.  Funds raised will go to Breastscreen Mackay.

Cathy and Liz were busy on the door handing out lucky door tickets as well as selling tickets in our raffle quilt hanging behind them.  Tickets were also on sale at the Mackay Show and members sold tickets to their family and friends.  The raffle was drawn at our Friendship Morning and the lucky winner was one of our own - Lynn.

Over 40 items featured in our Show and Tell and the photos below show some of these.

A wonderful morning and I'm sure that everyone present will be looking forward to next year's event.