FULL TO BURSTING 4/5/17

Well the hall welcomed in May with quite a crowd of quilters! Busy work everywhere, most of it as part of our Community Program.
Lindy brought bounty yet again from her farm, in the form of delicious bananas. We've had them before and the taste is amazing. Thanks Lindy.
Hayley paid us a visit at last and was walmly welcomed by all. Good to see her looking so well and bringing yet another of her fabulous quilts for Show and Tell ( see further down).

I know it's still a long way away, but we are starting to put our minds towards the 2018 HHQ Show! The raffle quilts are well underway, with the Traditional one completed I think! Well done ladies! The Contempoary one is being handed around for hand quilting. Add your name to the list if you want to be able to say "I did some of that!"
We're also starting to look for ideas for the 'Showcase' area. After the cards and the baby quilts, we need to come up with yet another great idea. There are already a few suggestions floating around, so add yours to the list.

Beryl reminded us of impending winter, and the call for old towels for dogs homes. Clear out your linen cupboards and bring them along!

SHOW AND TELL

As always, there were a nice bunch of baby quilts for The Grace Centre. These came from Lindy, Val, Grace (in that order) and one that seemed to have no owner! A mystery. However, all beautiful as usual.
Many thanks ladies.

As I mentioned above, Hayley brought along the finished product started at the last retreat. It looks amazing! Well done Hayley.

The A table worked on this next quilt, and it was quilted by Susan St J. Turned out extremely well and will join our Community pile! Well done ladies.

This next quilt was done by Cheryl, and a couple of us have worked to get it finished for her family. I believe it was one she was working on for the show before last, but sadly never finished it in time. Bit by bit we'll help to finish as many of her quilts as we can, both for the family and for community use. We miss you Cheryl......

Next is my hexi quilt, finally finished! Hand pieced and then machine quilted (which was the agonising part!) but satisfying in the end.

And last of all, a look at the design wall as yet another Community Day quilt emerges. There were plenty around the room coming together. It's always a busy and rewarding day first week of the month. This one's looking very nice.

So another week goes by. Thank you everyone for such warm participation and frienship. What a pleasure this group is!
See you next Thursday.
Elva

LAST QUILTERS FOR APRIL! 27/4/17

Yes, the year keeps speeding past with never enough time to relax and quilt! At least on a Thursday we can drop all other matters for a while and stitch away with friends.

There was a good turn up with school term started again. All the grannies were back!

Thank you to Akiko who will fill in as treasurer while Grace takes a holiday break. See her if you have any HHQ financial matters to take care of. Safe travels Grace.

Thank you also to Kathy D for the donation of a large roll of fusable wadding to the group. It will come in very handy for our community program, and possibly other activities as well.

SHOW AND TELL TIME

Lindy has become known as the Baby Quilt Queen. She is so prolific in her work on this project.
Today she showed us her latest batch of 6 little quilts! See them below......

So many and so delightful as well! Thanks Lindy.

Iris showed three quilts, the first of which was one done by Grace for the community collection.
Lovely contrast of colours!

Second was one done by Iris herself and quilted by Grace. A very stylish looking quilt, and again very nice colour choices.

Last of the three was the completed quilt done by many members of the group in the stitching lounge at our last show. Iris put it all together, and again it was quilted by Grace. It looks stunning.

The final quilt displayed today was by one of our relatively new members, Sandra. It is destined for her daughter- in-law (lucky girl) and is called 'Purple Panic'! It is a huge 3 metres by 3 metres! A tremendous effort Sandra, and beautifully done to boot!

And with that outstanding effort, we say farewelll to April and head on into winter. Excellent weather for.........ah yes, QUILTING, what else?
Cheers everyone!

APRIL SPEEDS BY! 20/4/17

There was an excellent turn up at Quilters today, with several guests as well.
In fact there were 4 generations from Helen K's family represented. This shot shows Susie's daughter and Helen's grand daughter Lily, looking like an expert stitching hexagons together! Also in the shot is Lily's grand mother! How's that!

Not a lot of new news today, so we moved straight on to SHOW AND TELL!

Carolyn D showed us three baby quilts destined for the Grace Centre. She always has such delightful fabrics in her quilts. Thanks Carolyn!

Helena showed us her latest effort in knitting, with these rather fetching fingerless gloves. Getting ready for winter hey Helena?!

And finally Susie showed us a cot quilt she's been working on. An interesting design and soothing fabric choices for a little one. Very cute.

So that was it this week. A very enjoyable session with lots of quilts on the go. Should be more S & T next week i imagine. Enjoy this spectacular weather while it lasts everyone!
Cheers, Elva

13/4/17 A BUSY HALL OF QUILTERS TODAY

Yes, there was quite a good turn up considering it was nearly Easter and School Holidays are on.
Heather told us about her prize at the Easter Show. She got a 2nd prize for her "New York Beauty" quilt which was in our 2016 show. Well done Heather.

We sang Happy Birthday to Moina who turned 90 recently. Because she has a missed a few weeks with us, we didnt have time to organise her a cake. Congratulations Moina and all the best from HHQ!

SHOW AND TELL

Beryl R returned from having her new hip installed, and she has been keeping herself busy making baby quilts for the Grace Centre for newborns. Here are two she has completed, all the same design, but a lovely range of fabrics.

Jenny S made this gorgeous quilt for the community collection.

And Iris made this one headed for the same place....

Finally, Maree K has worked on this UFO started 3years ago, and finished it at last! It will possibly go to a grand daughter.

So that's it for for this week. Have a wonderful Easter break everyone, and see you all next Thursday.
cheers, Elva

April Community Day

Iris on blog this week, as Elva and Alison sort out Elva's technical problems.

Elva paid a very heartfelt tribute to our fun friend, Cheryl.   Cheryl was a HHQ life member  having joined in 1991.  A lovely lady who will be missed.

Grace discussed the quilting of the traditional raffle quilt:  she has a list for quilting volunteers,  so chat to her about which week is a good week for you to work on it.

Robyn and I talked about our visit to the Grace Center last month:  as usual we were given a very warm welcome as we delivered 50 cot quilts and Adrienne's completed quilt which will be raffled at their June Fund Raising Gala Event.    The parents of every baby in their care over Easter will be given an Easter package which will include one of our quilts.

 

Community activity

As this was community day, many different community activities were in progress.  Here's just a couple .....

Work started on a new community hand project from a selection of donated fabrics  ...  

The Orange Team under Narelle's supervision were working with these blocks  ...  experiments with sashing happened after I took the picture.

Show and Tell 

June's baby cot quilt for Grace Center.

Laurel's 'No name yet' quilt,  which she would like to go to the Women's Refuge that we support.  The fabric is Kathy D's design, donated by Audrey and worked on by Laurel ...

Grace showed us a quilt top that she made with a new 'super easy' block - mixing turquoise and orange  - my picture did not do it justice,  so we need to wait until the quilting is finished before we see it on here.     The quilt will also be for a community donation.

This fun 'bobble' quilt was made by Sue for a new baby 'tummy time' ...   Sue is happy to share the pattern.

Enjoy your week and happy stitching ...   Iris

Blogging problems

Hello Everyone,
Google has removed its Blogger app which has made it difficult for us the update our blog so it's Alison here trying a new app.
I took these photos last week during Show and Tell:
Karen's new amazing maze quilt:

Grace has started quilting the modern quilt for the 2018 show:

DRAMA AT FAIRLAND HALL!

23/3/17

Well, a morning phone call from HHCouncil informed us that our beloved hall had been "broken into"!

We had to relocate to the HH Town Hall, and many thanks to the council for accommodating us so comfortably there.

Fortunately none of our belongings were disturbed in any way, and in fact we were allowed to return to our hall by lunchtime.

Before we did though, we presented our dear Val with a huge birthday cake to celebrate her 90th! We couldn't let that pass without recognition. Congratulations and happy days Val. 

                             

                             

As soon as the cake was shared and devoured, we gathered up our stitching and set off to our usual little den. All was in order by then and a quick organisation of tables for those who made it had the girls working away - business as usual! Thank you to everyone for your patience and assistance.

SHOW AND TELL

There were two more baby quilts from Lindy, who never seems to run out of fabric for them.

Definitely a bird theme happening in the last few Lindy. Where do you get such sweet fabric?!

       

Next came 50 baby quilts stacked in piles of 10, which Iris and Robyn will be delivering to The Grace Centre on Monday, together with Adrienne's quilt for their raffle. I'm sure they will be over the moon at these gifts!

Well, let's hope for a calmer and more normal Thursday coming!

We've had plenty of drama this month thank you!

Stay well all.

See you soon again.

Elva

16/3/17 AN ACTIVE GROUP AGAIN!

We were a busy and happy group yet again this week. A few people travelling, but plenty of friends to enjoy the day.

SHOW AND TELL

Plent of lovely work to show on Thursday. This baby quilt was done by none other than Lindy! She really has become the Baby Quilt Queen! She says it's helping to use up lots of her fabric, and is a perfect project for taking to the farm. Whatever the reason, she can certainly keep them coming and they always demonstrate her fabulous use of colour! Below you see the front and back of today's project.

Well done Lindy!

Helena showed us a sample from a Rachael Daisy course she is doing at MO. Many girls were fascinated in the technique and asked if we could do an in-house workshop on it. 

A show of hands revealed that there would be enough interested parties to make it worthwhile asking Rachael if she herself would do it. Helena will follow up on this.

Isn't it gorgeous?!

Ros showed us yet another stunning star design, this time for her sister-in-law. We all well remember the gorgeous one Ros was doing at the last retreat! Outstanding work!

Iris showed us three quilts which have been completed for the community collection. This one below was done by Laurel and is called "Orange Blossom" . Beautiful fabric choices Laurel, making it a gorgeous quilt.

Next was one done by Jenny entitled "No Sydney" because the blocks used on the back include many cities around the world except our own!

Last from the community group is another Jenny one called "Sue's Braid". Some lovely appliqué and very nicely quilted.

And finally Robyn S showed us a quilt she has made for her third great grandson! It is a delightful collection of fabrics including plenty of animals prints to fascinate a little one. Gorgeous Robyn.

So another productive week and plenty of fun and laughs as well.

See you in a week's time.

Cheers, Elva

9/3/17 GREAT TO BE BACK!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back. It was great to see you all and enjoy HHQ once again.

Thanks to Judy and Iris for keeping the formal part of our gatherings going while I was absent. Everything was obviously in good hands.

Iris has also updated the HHQ history folder, which is a job she does amazingly well. Please help yourself to a browse through it some time, whether you're a new member or an old-timer! It's a fabulous source of information. Thanks Iris.

We seem to have completely exhausted the cupboards' store of quilting pins, so from now on people will need to organise to bring their own. Groups can liaise with each other when they're planning to pin a quilt at the hall. If anyone realises that they have a bunch of pins at home which probably should be in the cupboard, feel free to bring them in and add them to the other stores! Cheers.

If any folk are on the current executive or were previously on it, some of you must have one of the 'key' cards that open the front doors. If you have no need to keep it, it might be as well to give it back to me so that I can make sure everyone on the kitchen roster has one for their duty day.

Also, if anyone has a set of kitchen and cupboard keys, could you please hand them in as we seem to be down on those as well. Cheers.

Robyn J is now asking for volunteers for the quilting of the Traditional Raffle Quilt. Please give her your name and she will add it to the list. She tells us it's very 'doable' quilting and she will start it off as a guide.

SHOW AND TELL

Plenty to share this week!

Maree G started us off with this colourful quilt, which she said has a furry backing, and therefore didn't need any batting. 

      

The next is an unfinished work by our new member Christie. It is a Wendy Williams design, and Christie's very fine stitching skills are stunning indeed! You really need to see it close up!

Can't wait to see the finished quilt!

         

Iris showed a quilt she has put together for the community collection. Very nicely done Iris!

         

She even used some exsisting blocks for the back!

         

Iris then showed a scrappy quilt she has finally finished after beginning it in around 2007!

She declared she didn't like it very much, but I must say the rest of us did! She likes the back better because of the satisfying look of the quilting. Yes, it comes out very well indeed.

                            

                          

Grace showed the Contemporary Raffle Quilt so far. There are a few more rows to be added, but it's coming along nicely. No more blocks required, but perhaps Grace will put out a call for a few small circles to use over it here and there. Great work everyone!

                                

And finally Sheila showed us this star quilt which has come up very well. Nice variety of fabrics!

       

So there you have it. March marches on!

See you next Thursday.

Cheers, Elva

Kathy's video on FaceBook

Check out Kathy's video on the FreeSpirit page on FaceBook