Saturday 11 November 2017

A Quiet Start! 9/11/17

Yes, the day started with many empty seats for some reason, but as the day wore on people rolled in as usual.
Perhaps girls have started to get some Christmas shopping in before the rush. It’s hard to believe that we are into November already. Only five more Thursday meetings before we finish the year on December 14th. This of course will be our Christmas Party day, and a reminder to bring along a plate of party food to share, plus a glass for beverages. We are also suggesting anyone who has extra ‘bits and pieces’ for the sensory mat challenge, please bring them to the party to swap and share.
Colleen will be running her traditional shop at the Christmas Party for a change. The perfect time to get a few last-minute gifts for friends and family.

We had another table of Cheryl fabric to browse through, and many girls found gems they can use. This should be the last of it though, at least until next year I think.

I visited the Art Exhibition at the Gladesville Shopping Centre on the weekend, and once again the ladies from the Hunters Hill and Ryde Community Services were gushing with thanks for the donated quilt. In addition, many passers-by were showing interest and buying raffle tickets, so it looks as though it will be a huge fundraising success.

Grace, along with Gil and Doreen, have been invited to do a showcase for the Guild Quilt Study Group next May. The topic will be the history and making of Waggas , so these three girls will be a mine of information to share. Congrats to you all.

Six beautiful Community Quilts were chosen and prepared for donation to the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter. You can see the ones chosen below.

Cocktail Strings by Jenny


Hexi Garden by the Green Group ( Ellen. Lin and company)


Stained Glass by Narelle and Iris


Windows by Ros and Narelle



Paris in the Pink by Kerry and Helena 


Orange Crunch by Narelle and Ros and the Orange Group




Delighted to see a very lovely post on on our face book page from the Hornsby Shelter,  thanking our generosity.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy this perfect weather. See below some other items of Show and Tell.

Cheers till next Thursday, Elva.

Show and Tell:

We saw Grace's winning quilt 'in the flesh'  - even better than the pictures - and heard the story of the inspiration behind the design.



Susie showed the progress of her current project - great colours and fabrics


See you next week ...  Iris on pictures 





Saturday 4 November 2017

November Community Day 2/11/17

Spectacular Workshop Effort!
We were visited again today by the Days For Girls group, who ran a workshop with us to help manufacture their products.
The response from our membership was outstanding! Almost every member who attended today participated in the work with energy and enthusiasm. Workshop leader Janelle was overwhelmed by the amount of work produced, and the compassion our girls expressed for the cause.
Tired as we all were by the finish and pack-up, it felt wonderful to have been able to contribute in such a practical and substantial way.
Thank you to all the girls who participated. It knocked the visitors out to see such a response, and showed clearly what the ethos of this group is all about. (See shots below)

The sewing table  ...


The template and cutting table ...


The wonderful 'teachers'  from Days for Girls ....


Sewers and Trimmers  ....



Congratulations to Grace who has been out there winning awards for her quilts again! This time it was at the Modern Quilt Exhibition at Petersham Town Hall. A first place for a spectacular hexi quilt which obviously impressed the judges. Well done Grace.

Grace's Winning Quilt - picture 'stolen' from Facebook



Enjoy the wet weather and watch gardens come to life over the weekend. See you all next week.
Cheers, Elva

Show and Tell and more Community Work ..

To further support the Days For Girls group, we presented them with a community quilt to raffle. This quilt was worked on by many members, and features hand-appliqué done by many girls during the last show.

'Stitching Lounge Vases' 


Baby Cot Quilts  ...   three from Carolyn, using her distinctive fabrics and colours


and a more great colours from Beryl B


as well as the community work for Days for Girls, another community quilt in progress by the Blue Team  ....


Pictures by Iris  ...  happy sewing.   Cheers



Sunday 29 October 2017

Another Busy Day 26/10/17

Yes, there was the usual active hall full of happy quilters this week.
 More fabric spread on the table from Cheryl’s stash, which seems endless! I’m sure ladies will put it to good use, both in community and other quilt projects. Watch this space....!
Sue D handed out the new rosters for next year! Very efficient Sue. Staying well ahead of the game.
Fill in your preferred dates as soon as you can so that we know each week is taken care of.
We had a lovely message from Laurel, who plans to see us at the Christmas Party (14th Dec) if not before.
Remember that next week is our community day workshop for Days For Girls. Bring your small machine if you can, and we can get stuck in to some serious stitching for this worthy cause. Thank you for your participation everyone.
We had three visitors who came to receive our donation of this year’s quilt for the Lord Mayor’s Picnic. They were overwhelmed by this year’s effort, and no wonder. It was an unusual and outstanding one. Can’t be shown yet, but eventually we will be able to display it on the blog once the Picnic is over. It must be kept secret till then!

In the meantime Iris will put up some shots taken from this week’s busy day. Thanks Iris, and have a lovely weekend everyone.
Cheers, Elva

 Moina's 'Mrs McGregor's Flower Garden ...


and the detail  ...



Sheila's 'Happiness is ..'   for her daughter


... with the detail on the back



Robyn S has finished this quilt - made mostly from fabrics she won at a retreat 


the applique detail ..



A top the I put together using spare blocks and left over scraps from Hayley and coordinating fabrics from my stash:  confirms we have similar preferences.  A little bit more applique to be added to the corners.   This will be a community quilt.


and two cute cot quilts:  pastels from a friend of Robyn S and bright circles from Judy G.


A final word from me, the Community Page on the website has been updated.    Check it out.

Happy sewing ...   Iris

Monday 23 October 2017

Action aplenty in the hall! 19/10/17

Yes, there were workmen in the kitchen repairing the oven, tables erected for basting and the drafting table erected for cutting. There are times when everyone is so busy there’s little extra room to move!

But all this leads to the production of amazing work, and plenty of happy quilters doing what they love to do.

Thanks to the Hunters Hill Council, our hall is kept in good working order most of the time. We are so lucky to be able to store all our equipment there to reduce the carrying of things back and forth.

There was more fabric laid out on a table for anyone to share. Cheryl’s stash seems to be endless! She would be delighted that so much of it will end up in community quilts or in projects for her friends families.

The Show committee will be meeting again at the end of November to continue planning for August next year. The excitement grows!

A reminder also that the week after next (2nd November) will be Community  Day, and the Days For Girls group will be coming to lead a workshop. Thank you to all the girls who have volunteered to participate in this session. It will such a help for this charity. If you have a small portable machine, bring it along, plus some extra extension chords. If not, just a good pair of fabric scissors (marked with your name) so you can help with the cutting.


Show And Tell: 

'Paris in Pink' by Kerry and her 'Orange' team - to be given to one of the Women's Refuges that we support.



Also by Kerri:  Japanese Kimonos, made for her son and his wife for Christmas 



Magic colours  in this quilt at the quilting stage by Beryl R. -  Beryl did also mention that she had had enough of  the hexagon borders.  The quilt was started at a Chris Jurd workshop at Quiltsmith




Work on the design wall:    Doreen, Val and Gil are progressing with their elephants  ..


Ideas in progress with June and the Blue Team 



Elva on text and Iris on pictures  ...     happy stitching.


Monday 16 October 2017

A Packed Hall Again! 12/10/17

Yes indeed, now that school holidays have finished, the tables were once again bursting and buzzing with action at the Fareland Hall.
We welcomed two new members into the bargain. Nice to have you on board Debbie and Keryn!
Jess sent a hello via Grace. She is no doubt up to her ears with kids, work and quilting design! Go Jess!
Meg gave us feedback from the first major Show Meeting held last week. Good progress being made, even this far out. Thanks Meg.
Helena announced a workshop day run by Susie on the December Community Thursday. It will be on ‘Denim Waggas’ for those interested in participating.
The November Community Thursday workshop will be devoted to work for the ‘Days For Girls’ group, who will show us what to do to help make their products. Please bring along your machine that day. The more participants the better. There are two machines at the hall as well. They have asked me to let  them know how many people will be doing the workshop so they know how much to bring. Let me know in the following two weeks at the hall.

Just three exhibits at Show and Tell this week.

The first was a baby quilt by Jenny -  bright and blue, picture next week,

The second, 'Shelf Life'  also made by Jenny from a design by Megan Mainwarring.


The third was a community quilt made by Robyn S and the Blue Team:



Looking forward to seeing everyone again next Thursday.
Cheers, Elva






Sunday 8 October 2017

Community Day, 5/10/2017

A great day at HHQ.

The Show Committee started the day at an early morning meeting discussing possible judges and charity recipients for our show in August next year. Very early I know, but it needs plenty of lead-up planning and work to bring everything together. The show co-ordinator Meg lead the meeting and will give us feedback next week.

The room was busy working away on plenty of community projects. The pictures below show some of the completed work and some not finished yet.

First up, two gorgeous quilts which will be donated to the community collection.

The one below was put together and quilted by Grace from left-over furnishing fabric donated by Meg!  It’s produced a lovely result that drew many oooooohs and aaaaarhs from the group!



Also from Grace and the Orange Team .... 


Some baby quilts from June and Carolyn ...


And some other interesting community work throughout the hall  ....

Doreen, Gil and Val working on elephants:  more to come on that ...


A binding almost completed by Robyn S and her team  ...


And work from Susie in preparation for the 2018 Quilt Show ....


A very productive day,  have a happy sewing week.      Joint effort from  Elva and Iris









Friday 29 September 2017

School Holidays

First week of school holidays usually means more grandma duties and Elva was no exception,  so Judy was on news duty and Iris on blog. 

Just a couple of 'event' reminders:
  • Show Committee meeting next Thursday at 9.30 am.   The agenda has already been sent out by Kerrie
  • The Barn Quilters are having their quilt show on the weekend of 14th and 15th October at the Mosman Art Gallery, 1 Art Gallery Way, Mosman.
And some 'event' news from Quilts NSW:
  • Grace is the featured quilter at their next Friday Show case on October 6th.  To see Grace's quilting journey, go along to the Quilts NSW office at Level 5, 276 Pitt St, 9.30 for 10am. 
  • As part of Open Sydney,  the guild office will be open on Wednesday 11th October, 5 - 8pm
  • November Show case on 3rd, will feature a Members Show and Tell.
Show and Tell:  Finished tops from Lin and Gil

Lin used the fractured nine-patch for this top:



A collaborative work from Elva, Heather and Gil:   
Elva provided the jelly roll, Heather made the blocks and Gil put it all together





Enjoy the long weekend and take time for some stitching  ...    Iris