Wednesday 15 March 2017

Well today was the hottest day yet at the hall! By 11:30 there were only 9 stalwarts left. Everyone else had departed for airconditioning. How we need a meeting place with more comfortable conditions.

Marlena was congratulated today on her special achievement. She has very cleverly become a grandmother. (Years of patient waiting, but not a lot of effort on her part!)

Elizabeth won the Badge Draw today. Lesley was sure 37 was announced, but number 27 held out!

Cathy's first Bargello to see if it would work. She was very pleased with the easy pattern and way the scrap fabrics from her cupboard turned out. The instructions said to quilt through the diagonals but Cathy wished she had quilted it in smooth lines. Still, it is a colourful little quilt to go to the Women's Centre.

This is the charity quilt made from blocks entered into the modern challenge at our Craft Fair. It will be called Thoroughly Modern. Di spent all day at the Saturday Sew-in sewing the blocks together with  8" lime green  sashing. What a surprise it was to see it today completely resewn with 4" blue sashing! But such a fantastic look. Well done and thank you Di. And the lime green wasn't completely ditched. Can you see the little peeper in the binding? (Elaine suggested the setting pattern. Well found, Elaine!)

Karen is still working on the embroidery in the outer border but this quilt will be going to her son and daughter-in-law in Brisbane before Karen will be back in Mackay again. The centre is a Bronwyn Hayes pattern completed in 2000. It is already quilted but that didn't stop Karen from adding some more embroidered borders and a graphic geometric border from a past BomB pattern. This is the last quilt for her family and now she is off  travelling!

Wednesday 8 March 2017

Yet another too hot and steamy day and a small number of quilters in attendance at the meeting. Was good to see Beth and Vera along for their first time this year. We did have a well attended Committee Meeting so thanks to those ladies for making the effort to rock up at 9am to get the business side of quilting sorted. 

The Quilt Connect Subcommittee have forwarded our entry details and showed 4 of the 5 quilts that will be the BBQ display today. No photos - we don't want to spoil the surprise - but what a lovely group of quilts with varied techniques have been selected. They include needleturn applique, raw edge applique, paper piecing, trapunto and hand quilting. Pretty sure they will stand up very well against all other affiliated groups. Well done!

Cathy won the Badge Draw today and Del was the winner of the Monthly Raffle.

Joke offered this quilt for Quilt Connect but one side turned out to be 3" too long to fit the size requirements. The label, with its own tiny block in miniature, states it was made from 2008-2011 and is completely hand sewn. Joke made 28 blocks and then started to put them together and found out the greens she had used did not like each other! So she unpicked them all and started again with navy. The handquilting was done with No 8 navy perle cotton and really suits the quilt.

Beth has pieced this pretty medallion top. It is the first patchwork she has managed to complete without her quilting friend. So glad you perservered Beth! The next one should be a little easier.

But Beth has been doing other things. Isn't this miniature teardrop caravan just the cutest? It does need a patchwork quilt on the bed though.

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Well now it is March and it is still not any cooler. This blog is quickly becoming a weather status blog instead of a quilting one.

The Daily Mercury photographer, Tony, came today and took some photos of quilts and quilting ladies. (He said his mother was a quilter but he probably still needs a few lessons about quilts.) And he wanted 'people shots' more than 'quilt shots'. We'll see how the article turns out.

There was not a great lot of Show and Tell today. In fact, there was not one finished quilt shown. Just as well Deane and Di had some recent quilts for the photoshoot.

There was a small happy surprise this morning for Delma who was lucky enough to win the Badge Draw.

Anne tries to support the Proston Show (where her daughter lives) by entering something in the handicrafts and quilting section. The theme this year is Sunflowers so this table centre will fit right in. Certainly an appropriate fabric choice for the sunflower centre - it looks like seeds!

Heather inisisted Philippa show off her machine embroideries. They are each going to be framed in black frames and will make a stunning wall feature. Yes, not really patchwork, but we really enjoyed seeing them.

The Flower Box  BomB blocks started coming in today. We think they will make a great quilt. (Providing you like purple and green, of course.)

Wednesday 22 February 2017

 Another smaller group today with the tables lined up directly in front of open doors. Will this summer ever finish? We are beginning to think that it is the heat that is making the smaller numbers and so we are actively looking for more suitable permanent premises. (After 30 years! Wow!) This may mean a change of day for patchwork. No one likes change and a change would not suit every member, but we need to think about and discuss this issue.

It was the first BomB (Block Of the Month Bonzanza) for the year today and we started with a fairly simple pattern, although it did have one partial seam, for our first charity quilt of the year. All BomBs this year will be made with fabric left from Heather's stash and will be donated to charity.

Liz won the Badge Draw today.

And it was the first of the monthly "Stay for Lunch" mornings that Marilyn is organising on the last Wednesday of the month. Not that we are staying for lunch. Today's lunch was at the Northern Beaches Bowls Club which has a lovely Roast of the Day and very pleasant air conditioning. Everyone is welcome.

Here is another quilt from Heather's legacy. A magazine with the pattern marked and most of these fabrics were in a plastic bag. Robyn has added some fabrics and finished this little quilt which Di quilted with traffic signs and vehicles. When Robyn has put the binding on, it will go to the Women's Centre.

Di has quilted this for Robyn's daughter Jolie who made the quilt for her Harry Potter mad daughter who is about to turn 11 and get her letter to go to Hogwarts.
It's a very special work of art.

Cheryl has made this quilt for a friend from some of her Bali fabric stash that it seems will never be used up. It was a quick Quilt As You Go pattern.

The back of Cheryl's quilt. She used some colourful Spotlight fabrics for the backing.

Cathy used some scraps left behind by Faye to make this simple and eyecatching little quilt for the Women's Centre

A small piece of the colourful flower fabric and being told to make a square in a square block and a 9-patch block were the only instructions to make blocks for this charity quilt. Robyn has pieced the blocks together and Di will now quilt it. It is certainly bright!

Anne has made another bag. This one is entirely from scraps a friend gave her. The lining is actually material cut from a shirt sleeve and the pocket is the sleeve cuff. It would have been completely thrifty if Anne didn't have to buy a magnetic closure.

Four of the Flower Box blocks demonstrated today in the BomB.

The BomB Lady doing her thing while BomB participants choose the strips to take home. Because the blocks are only 9"and we'll need about 36 for a good sized quilt, people were asked to complete two blocks if possible - after all, all the strips had been cut out for them!

Wednesday 15 February 2017

There were less than 20 ladies who braved the steamy conditions and the threat of thunderstorms to come out to the hall to the meeting today. It started to rain just prior to 12 o'clock and so a few ladies must have driven home in some heavy rain. Flash flooding began around 1:30 so great timing for patchworkers really! (Some ladies were going in to town for lunch - maybe they are still there!)

Marilyn conducted the announcements and show and tell before morning tea today in an effort to curb the dashing off as soon as show and tell is over. 

Phillipa brought in a lot of books and magazines today to go to a new home. One of the books was a Sarah Fielke book that Robyn is currently using for an applique pattern and she thought her book had accidentally got in the give away pile!

Our Quilts Connect entry needs to be finalised by next week, so if you have a quilt to show, please bring it in.

Julie won Badge Draw today. The current prizes are Mackay Sewing Centre $10 vouchers.

This is a Missouri Star Quilt Company pattern called Floating Hexagons. Di used some fabric she was given for her birthday for the background and borders and the red came from Heather's stash.

Kaye will have the binding on this before she leaves on holidays. There are some colourful scraps in this Braid Quilt. And if anyone would like to do one of their own, Kaye has heaps of scraps left over.

Wednesday 8 February 2017

Another quiet but productive morning as we ignore the steamy heat and get right into a new quilting year. We had a committee meeting this morning despite both the president and vicepresident missing in action. (We volunteered Marilyn for a subcommittee - she'll appreciate that!)

Pumpkin was a feature of morning tea today. Iris has not lost her knack of making pumpkin scones and there was a very delicious pumpkin and feta dip with some equally delicious crackers. We must do further research.

And Robyn is still cleaning out her fabric stash and bringing in any fabric she is never going to use again for other people to take home and add to their fabric stash. Not so much a using up of fabric as a rearrangement of fabric storage!

Someone from the Daily Mercury is coming next week to do a feature on our group. Would be great if there was a big turnout so that we reflect what we really do. NB Daily Mercury man cannot come until 22 February now.

Our first Badge Draw for the year was won by Barbara and Yoke won the voucher from Mackay Sewing Centre in the monthly spot raffle.

There is an apology for the photos again this week. Someone left the camera at home. She was at the meeting before 9am though. (iPhone photos just don't have the same clarity!)

Show and Tell had some varied offerings today but all the projects are wonderful.

Flo used a jelly roll for this quilt. Determined not to have to buy any more fabric, she raided daughters' stashes for the borders. Who would have thought Diana's yellow floral and Linda's red and white houndstooth would suit the quilt so perfectly.

"I'm working on my Babushka quilt", has been Diana's call for some months. It is raw edge appliqued with invisible thread . Yes, every tiny little mouth has been stitched around and the threads tied by hand! This is for Diana's niece and she originally thought she might make one for each of the grand-nieces too but that idea went out the window long before half the dolls were appliqued.

This is Di's foundation-pieced quilt from a Judy Niemeyer pattern which she started in  a workshop at Patchwork Paradise 18 months ago. The kit comes with instructions and all the papers and you just have to spend hours and hours choosing your own fabrics and stitching them. Di quilted this herself. And machine stitched the binding on - apparently this is the new trend.

Joke has finished her first blackwork embroidery.

Wrong time of the year to show this one but Diana has put together her basketweave squares which she started knitting last winter.

Such lucky little grandchildren Anne has. They have new aprons for their cubby that match the cubby curtains. Tiny potholders are also in progress. There will be some pretty gourmet pretend food made in that cubbyhouse!

Di needed a hand project for the car on her trip to Tamworth and back. Yo-yos are the go-go.

And finally, Joan has sent us a picture of the finished quilt from the blocks we all made her when she left the club. It is just her colours and she's made a terrific job of adding a complementary border. May you sleep under it happily for many years Joan.

A New Quilting Year Begins. Wednesday 1 February 2017

I bet you all thought that we would start the New Year with something different. Maybe the blogperson would use a new background, or a new font, or a new camera with better pictures resulting. Sorry folks. Same old, same old.

We made the starting date February 1 to miss the heat of January and give everyone time to settle in to the new year. Unfortunately, it seems the heat of February is much the same as the heat of January. Still, we had a reasonably large and very happy group turn up for the first meeting of the year. While some people are still working on their holiday projects, (and some people, no names mentioned, haven't even started yet), we ended up with a lovely Show and Tell this morning.

There is a demonstration of Westalee Rulers at Mackay Sewing Centre this coming Sunday, 5 Feb. Cost is $10 and you need to ring up to book a place if you wish to attend.

Del has just used a jelly roll to make this quilt which her two grandaughters are currently fighting over. Well, it was actually one and a half  jelly rolls. Anyone know what you can do with half a jelly roll?

Del has completed her Bargello quilt from the Chris Timmins Workshop last year. The fabric requirements were very generous in case mistakes were made. And if you didn't make mistakes, as Del didn't, then you had enough fabric to add another four rows on each side. This quilt fits a king size bed. Di quilted it for Del with shamrocks to match the green, although Del thought one lucky four leaf clover should have been added somewhere.

Now that Liz is a permanent Queenslander, she has brought all her special things up here. This is the very first quilt she ever made - all hand pieced and hand quilted.  Calico was the popular and essential background back then, wasn't it?

Margaret has made this for a lady who spent her entire working life as an employee of Margaret and Trevor. The panel is from Needleworx and is one of the Loralie Design panels. Margaret cut it apart and added different borders to each figure. There are some very cool looking ladies there!

A scrap quilt for a little boy made by Fay and all hand quilted as usual. This one is full of  puppies and farm animals and monkeys, as well as naive houses and Japanese fabrics. I don't know how Fay makes them all go together so well.

Deane has finished her strip 60 degree triangle table centre. Despite worrying predictions, the binding has gone on perfectly with very neat corners. Well done Deane!

Cathy needed to see how the kaleidoscope pattern worked where you line fabric up and cut 6 similar pieces and then sew them together in a hexagon. She has made this quilt bag from her practice blocks and it looks as if the fabric was, in fact, a remnant of poly dress material. Cute retro bag though, Cathy.

Cathy's neighbour's little girl is turning one. So Cathy dug out the only corduroy she could find and made this bunny pajama case. Did you realise that pajama cases were still around?

Anne borrowed a friend's pattern to make this patchwork bag. It needs a toggle for a closure but otherwise is ready to go.