Sunday 12 July 2015

BINDING WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY!

Thank you to Helen and Susie for holding a wonderful binding workshop for all comers! Very generous of you, and extremely useful to many who dropped in at various stages. I think everyone who attended learned quite a few new tricks. Here are some shots of the gathering:

        


         

         

                                    

                                     


Congratulations to Joy on her 11th grandchild, and welcome to Olga who came to check out the group this week.

Deb reminded us that it is only six weeks now till our retreat at Blackheath. Places still available, but let Deb know ASAP.

SHOW AND TELL

Kerry showed a very cute quilt just finished for her 4 year old grandson. It will be given to him on the arrival of his new baby, expected very soon. Both quilts have matching star backs! No sibling rivalry there then!

                                  


Margaret D showed a lovely counter-change quilt in gorgeous brown and beige. A timeless design that always comes off so well!

                                  


Beryl B showed this spectacular quilt in black and white, with a hint of brown. Designed she says, by her grandson and his girlfriend! Very nice design indeed! Needless to say the quilt is for them.

                                  

Jess and her daughter Maddie showed a lovely blue toned baby quilt which will be for The Grace Centre. Beautifully done Maddie! It helps to have such a talented mum to give you a hand too!

                                    


And finally Robyn J made this following quilt for the community collection. It was quilted by Helena. Cute use of doggie fabric. Very nice !


                                  

Well done everyone. Another fine collection of work. 
See you all next week.
Keep warm and out of the wind if you can.

Monday 6 July 2015

Machine binding workshop

Hello Everyone, Alison here.
Here are the instructions for Susie's workshop next Thursday.
Machine binding tutorial
Equipment needed

You may be interested in this YouTube video on Symmetry by Marcus du Sautoy
I think that it explains some of the maths behind what we do.
Enjoy..

Sunday 5 July 2015

Community day

Wow! The hall was packed today! Very busy and active.
Fortunately Dave from the council had organised for the heating to be fixed, so we didn't freeze in the cold weather.  Good old Dave. Always there to rescue us!

Next week Suzie and Helen will run a little binding workshop for those interested. You can bring along a quilt ready for binding, or just watch and learn a new technique being demonstrated. Suzie said instructions for what to bring will be coming via email before the day, so watch out for that. 

Narelle and I visited the Figtree Playgroup last Wednesday with a fabric craft activity ready to go. The kids had a ball and made a suitable amount of chaos, noise and mess! Just as kids will do when they're really enjoying themselves! Thanks Narelle for helping out, and thanks to Robyn H for giving me a hand with the tacking stitching on Thursday. I've been stitching away at it whenever I have had time over the last few days, so progress is being made. We hope it will make a cute wall-hanging for their little group. They are already very proud of their efforts, and may start another one on their own next time! Here it is before stitching began (thank heavens for glue sticks!).

        

Iris filled us in on a possible choice for a recipient from our next show in 2016. Sounds very interesting, and thanks Iris for the very worthy suggestion. Show preparation is well under way, but plenty more to do and still a few committee positions to be filled. Thanks to those who have put their hands up. We're nearly there. I'll set a show committee meeting date as soon as I get a few more bits and pieces  organised. Stay tuned.

It's less than 7 weeks till our retreat. We have a good number attending, and it's building to a really fun affair this year. Still not too late to join us if you are suddenly free that weekend (21st-23rd August). The more the merrier!

The War-Time Quilts exhibition has started this weekend at Manly, and will continue till near the end of November. Jess is going to take up an offer by Annette Gero to give us a guided tour, so if this is of interest to you let Jess know so that she can plan dates and numbers. Thanks for your efforts on this Jess.

SHOW AND TELL

The baby quilt of the week was presented by June P. Very sweet it is too, and again gorgeous backing fabric. It's so nice for when these little quilts are turned over for the mums to get another lovely surprise! Thanks June.

                              


   


Grace showed us a community quilt made from a Kathy D design ' Big Fluffy Love' (I hope I got that right Grace). It's delightful.......


                                     


Karen showed an amazing piece of work which is finally finished after an interrupted time when it needed to rest. It was done as part of a Keepsake Quilting Challenge, and the fine work leaves you speechless! Definitely needs to be seen 'in person' and close up. I hope my photography gives some idea of the excellence of the work. Outstanding Karen, as always!

       


           Joy has made yet another fine quilt for her grandchildren, this one for a grandson I believe. What an industrious grandma! They are very lucky children indeed. He will absolutely love this!

                                 

And look at the backing fabric! Cute!

                              


I took a shot of a community quilt Grace and group are working on. It went up on the design wall and looks fantastic! Lots of deliberation, but I think it's going to be a real beauty! 

                                     


                                      


As I said at the start, very busy and industrious. What else would you expect from the girls in this fabulous group? Can't wait till next week and we'll do it all again!

Cheers, keep warm!

Sunday 28 June 2015

Special birthday day

Thursday, 25th June

We celebrated a special occasion, with birthday girl Norma, 90 years young! Thanks to the ladies who organised the cake, and made sure Norma got to group this week so that we could surprise her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORMA from us all.

                                

                                 

Two of us are visiting the local playgroup next Wednesday to help the kids in a fabric craft activity. With a bit of luck we will help to stimulate a new generation of little quilters! Thanks Narelle for helping out.
It could end up being a lot of fun. The playgroup delivered a lovely certificate of appreciation for the quilt we donated, which helped them raise nearly $600 for the playgroup! This is a fantastic sum for a little group that operates on a shoe string! Well done. 


A survey/brainstorm sheet on planning for the next show will be prepared and distributed as soon as I get a moment to do it. Start thinking about any ideas you may have had about previous shows and any changes, improvements or essential favourites that you would love to keep. Stay tuned........


SHOW AND TELL

Jill made this week's baby quilt, and it's a beauty! The backing fabric is gorgeous as well. Thanks Jill.

                                    


                                    


Robyn S showed us a quilt she won in a raffle. Lucky girl!

                                     


She went on to show us a quilt which has 'rested' for quite a while, but has finally been finished. Well worth the effort I'd say! Beautiful design, beautifully done AND all hand quilted by Robyn. Well done. Lucky daughter, who will be the owner of this gem.


                                       


Gil showed us a lovely knitted lap-warmer which she has done from some gorgeous Bendigo wool, given to her by Norma. It will now return to Norma in a snuggly, usable form. Perfect. 

                                         

Below is my little cot quilt done very quickly from a jelly roll that's been in the cupboard for years! The very quick 'tube' piecing technique had the quilt top done in less than 4 hours! Love the speed of it! 

                                       


That's the lot for this week. See you all next Thursday! Cheers.

Sunday 21 June 2015

June 18th 2015

Nice quiet and cosy day at HHQ today. Lots of discussion about the Guild Show which has been on this week and probably accounts for our diminished numbers today!  Congratulations to our members Grace and Karen who were prize winners in the show. Very high quality competition they were up against, so an excellent result. I managed to get hold of a shot of Grace beside her award winning original design " Silky Travels". Karen's quilt was the one we featured two blogs back - the amazing "Firestar", so check back to see it.

        


Well done girls. 

Jess has alerted me to an offer of a workshop by Helen and Susie on a new approach to machine binding. You can bring along a small quilt, maybe a baby one, to try out the method if you wish. At the moment we are looking at Thursday 16th July, but I'll keep you posted if this changes. Thanks Helen and Susie, and we all hope Susie gets well soon.

Don't forget that Susan H has a standing quilting hoop available if anyone is looking for such a thing. Contact Susan if you're interested. 

The quilting on the Traditional raffle quilt is looking great! Plenty to do, so see Robyn if you're keen to take over the task for a while.

Maree K showed this lovely quilt which Robyn J is taking to Alice Springs.

                                 


And the backing fabric is fabulous too!

                                    


Gil showed a very nice little quilt made from a jelly roll given to her. I gather it's an early attempt at using jelly rolls (if not her first) and it's a triumph. A little extra fabric added to the jelly roll, which is entirely normal I gather. Well done Gil.



                                  


Hayley has made this sweet baby quilt for the Grace Centre. Thanks and well done Hayley.

                                   

Kerry showed us an almost finished quilt for her new grand child. Looking good Kerry. Very cute fabric!

                                      


So there we have it. I hope everyone who wanted to was able to make it to the BIG show! It was great this year. The red and white challenge was outstanding in quality and interest I thought, and the 'True Blue' display was outstanding as well. The location seems to get better and better. I think they learn a thing or two each time. They'll have it all perfected just in time to go back to Darling Harbour!
Cheers, and enjoy your week ahead. Better weather on the way!

Sunday 14 June 2015

Welcome back day!

We had quite a few members who returned to us from travels, moving house, illness and work! It was great to see you back Norma, Judith, Cheryl and Hayley. I hope you all enjoyed your day.

The hall was full again with activities both personal and of a community nature. Everyone stays busy, and if there's no quilting to do - there's always other crafts to attend to:
Such as knitting for example!

                                  

These scarves have recipients waiting, so speed is of the essence!

We're all getting excited about the Guild Show coming this week, and many plans were being hatched for transport, car-sharing and meeting places. It should be another great event, as always. Look forward to seeing lots of you there.

The traditional Raffle quilt was being sandwiched and basted last Thursday, with more fine adjustments and discussion. Volunteers have been sought for the hand-quilting yet to come. This will also be of the traditional kind, and at least 15 people have already put up their hands for the task! Many thanks girls. With all that effort, it should be achieved in no time!

                               


                                


                                 


Word has gone out to invite a prospective judge for our 2016 show. As soon as we have a confirmation I'll let you know the result. Time to start some of the planning and preparations, even this far out!

SHOW AND TELL

We had one baby quilt this week to add to the collection. It came from Janet, and the very cute fabric was admired. Thanks Janet.

                                  


Maree G showed a lovely community quilt to add to our stash of them. She declares that it would make a nice 'man's' quilt because of the fabric used, and the colours. Either way it's a striking design. Well done.


                                   

Jenny finally got busy again and showed us a quilt top she's been working on. It will also be for community, and she says the black and whites came from Judith's cupboard. Gorgeous.....

     M.                          

 Interesting border fabric also (sorry about the blurry shot)! 

                                   


Have a lovely time at the show everyone. Don't spend too much money!

Sunday 7 June 2015

Community day - 4th June 2015

Yes, it was full-on work for community quilts this week. As you can see from the shot below, just about every table was hard at work co-operating on a quilt for our collection. Some beautiful work coming through too.



This shot shows continued deliberation on the contemporary raffle quilt for next year's show.

                                 

Quite a few members travelled down to Kiama for The Modern Quilt Exhibition last weekend. It was a cold and gloomy couple of days, so a good opportunity to be inside enjoying quilts' congratulations to Grace for her 3rd place with her wonderful work with some died fabric after a workshop. The end product is outstanding, and obviously the judges agreed.

                                        

Below are the contributions to Show & Tell for this week:

Susan H showed a quilt which will be taken to Giant Steps for the silent auction at their Ball.



Two more quilts were shown going to Inalla. First one put together by Grace, and the second done by Maree K.


                                   



                                    


If I'm not mistaken the next quilt was also done by Maree K, but this one doesn't yet have an owner! Very nicely done!


            


Unfortunately nothing from Jenny this week. She must be slacking off!

Last but by no means least, a quilt which will be entered in the Guild Show (only 10 sleeps to go) by Karen. I'm afraid my photography doesn't do it justice at all. The fine work has to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. Unbelievable! Catch it at the show where you can have a really close look. Good luck with it Karen. It should do very well.

                                  




With that, I'll sign off till next week. Enjoy the long weekend and the gorgeous weather!