Towards Summer's End

Another busy day at HHQ. All seemed to be running smoothly this week in terms of doors, locks etc! What a relief.

A larger group this week, but I suspect there are still people away on various holidays or family commitments. 

Quite a bit of discussion was had regarding filling the position of 'Show Convenor' for the 2016 Show.

Opening this up to this chat has had a good result, and as I suspected, people have started to come forward volunteering themselves for all the show committee responsibilities. My guess is that a leader will emerge before we know it! Special thanks to Susan H, Suzie L, Penny, Hayley and Lindy for stepping up. Much appreciated by the group.

In the meantime these committee members can begin the work that needs to be started. The main ones are getting the raffle quilts underway. Both Judy and Robyn J have already done lots of planning and are ready to go! So a general committee meeting will be held next week to sign the plans off. After that you can expect to be presented fairly soon with the designs so we can all begin the task. Very exciting! I'll send out an email today to committee members concerned. 

A reminder was given on Thursday about membership fees. These are due by 31st March, and are $85 for the year. Please pass this on to Grace ( our new treasurer) as soon as you can. Thanks.

SHOW & TELL

 More quilts to be seen this week! 

Penny has constructed this fabulous quilt from Kathy's 'Wandering Mind' fabric range. She has made it for herself (good on you Penny!) and it has turned out beautifully I think you'll agree! Having purchased a pack of this fabric myself at the last show, I might get some ideas from yours Penny! It's lovely!

Susan H made this lovely table cover quilt from a Quiltmania pattern. The fabric range is Moda from Quiltsmith. A very striking design. Well done.

Jenny S (with the assistance of Maree and June) has designed and constructed this top from some of the 2" strips cut from donated fabric. Plenty more in the cupboard I believe, and Jenny suggests you can use jelly roll ideas and designs with the strips. It's a very nice quilt top and will be finished off for the community collection. Well done girls!

Jess's latest is being prepared for the Guild Show later this year. It is a classic Jess! Out there, innovative, quizical and beautiful -all at once! Well done Jess. Your work is a refreshing delight!

It is inspired by the book "Under Milkwood"

A wonderful display of the amazing work this group produces each and every week! No wonder there are so many beautiful quilts on beds, tables and everywhere else around Australia. People would be surprised how far our quilts travel! It's such a privilege to be a part of this traditional art form.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. See you Thursday.

Cheers, Elva

AGM meeting day

Hi there all.

Elva here, back from holidays.

We had a smallish group at the hall this week. I hope it wasn't the fact that it was the AGM!

We now have a new committee, all the names of which have been emailed to members.

Thanks so much those who have put their hands up to fill positions. The group can't thrive the way it has without all these people taking on responsibilities. It's very much appreciated.

We still have one very vital position to fill, so we plan to do some work on that over the next few weeks.

We farewelled Audrey as treasurer and indeed as a member. Unfortunately she had left the hall before we could properly thank her. Audrey has done an amazing job, and we all wish to acknowledge her efforts and those of her husband in assisting the group. Many thanks!

Hoping for a bigger turn up next Thursday so that we can really start moving into the planning the year ahead. 

Below are the few 'Show and Tell' shots we were able to scrabble together on Thursday.

Robyn J made this gorgeous quilt for community, on a musical theme. She made it after clearing out her stash. The backing fabric is amazing as well. Nicely done Robyn!

Iris made this beauty " just for the fun of making it". It's a very sweet quilt Iris, with some lovely detaild work as well.

With a bit of luck we'll have lots more next week.

See you then.

No news day ...

Elva is still enjoying her holiday returning next week, so Helena was in control and Iris again on the blog,  but I have very little to report.

Visitor: Helena welcomed Gil's friend Libby who was visiting for the day.

General housekeeping:  

• Reminder of the AGM next week at 12noon,  when we show our appreciation for the work of the 2014 committee and welcome the 2015 committee.   A general meeting will be held prior to to the AGM at 11.30am.

• Susan St.J. organized a new roll of wadding - bleached 80-20 and 108 inches wide, with a roll of Polydown to follow in a couple of weeks.,  

Show and Tell:

Beryl R and Margaret have made quilts using the same pattern - but each with their individual colour choice.  Grace quilted both of them, using different designs. It was interesting to see how the end results give two very different quilts.

Margaret's browns

Beryl's brights

 Margaret's 'wham' backing

Susan St.J. also showed us the table runners that she is making for another group and suggested we may like to consider the idea for our next quilt show.   (sorry, no picture)

Keep sewing until next week   ...   Cheers Iris 

February Community Day

The noise of discussion and activity was everywhere on the first community day for the year.    Elva is on holidays so Audrey led the the 12 o'clock news and it is Iris here on the blog.

We welcomed a new member, Jenny B, who shared  her work in progress with us.   Looking forward to seeing the completed quilt - I love the colours.

Henny's husband is battling health issues,  so our thoughts are with Henny and all her family

Birthday girls are Robyn Jo. and Akiko - happy birthday to you both.

The 'thank you' award from the City of Sydney for  the quilt that we made for the Lord Mayor's Picnic,  is now hanging on our 'Award Wall' - which is fast running out of space !

Community Work in Progress - some of the activities of the day:

Doreen and Gil are having fun with hexagons,  2 inch squares and applique

Akiko, Ros, Narelle and Janet spent their day playing with these blocks:  later, after much discussion, approval was given to the addition of  lime green.

In another corner, 2 inch strips were everywhere, Jenny was the 'stripper' (sorry no picture), June the sorter and Marie the sewer. 

Community work - completed

Susan has organised the delivery of this quilt to the CWA for their annul fundraising.  The quilt was made by Helena and her team - even the backing showed off some hexagons

A finished quilt by June, Marie, Robyn S and Iris:  Flower Garden

And another one that wasn't shown,  but has just been completed:  the quilt was made by Narelle and the quilting was completed by Beryl B. and Judy G.   (Add a comment, if I got that wrong, please)

It deserves a proper 'show and tell' next week.

The Christmas Challenge Show and tell   ...

The Christmas Challenge produced lots of excellent contributions to our community activities.  The challenge has three options:  cot quilts, quilt bags and funky flower or star blocks.

First the cot quilts for the Grace Centre - 17 plus quilts were made :  I say 'plus' because I suspect that the counting went a little bit wrong and some quilts were added to the 'existing pile' instead of the 'challenge pile'  - so apologies to the quilters who were not properly applauded for their work,  I know that Marie K was one .

The challenge pile !

and all  'spread out'   ...

Quilt bags - we have five

and the display of flowers and stars blocks  ...  just need a few more, please

An excellent day!      Have a great week,      Cheers Iris

Great to be back!

Hello everyone. Elva here, back on blog duty! Actually it's more a pleasure than a duty, and it certainly was a great pleasure to be back at Quilters yesterday at last.

The hall was buzzing with activity and there were quite a few returned members coming back from travel or other commitments.

As the year settles in, we are heading towards our AGM which will be in three weeks time on the 19th February. Kerry has sent out an email with details with hard copies coming next week for non-email people. Please approach any of the executive over the next few weeks if you have ideas for vacant positions. Don't be hesitant to put your own name forward as a committee member, there are great benefits in being more closely involved in the day to day organisation of the group, not the least of which are getting to know everyone more closely, seeing the internal workings, having greater opportunities for input, and so on. You'd be most welcome.

Next week, Feb 5th is the date set for returning your contributions to the Christmas Challenge. Quite a few are already in, but a full Show & Tell of all bits and pieces will take place next week. I look forward to seeing it all on the next blog, as I'll be away and miss the event. Have fun!

While we're on dates for this year, Deb reminded everyone that the retreat this year will be from 21st to 23rd August at The Redleaf Resort, Blackheath. In the coming weeks Deb will ask for a general indication of numbers, if not final commitment. See her for finer details re prices etc. Looking forward to it. It's always a great weekend away.

A reminder was given yesterday regarding any changes to addresses, phone contacts and emails. These need to be kept up to date as much as we can for ease and effective communications. We are a large group! Just let myself, Kerry or any of the exec know of changes. Thanks.

More fabric will continue to come in from Judith's kind donation over the coming weeks. Please help yourself or put some aside for future community work. Thanks to Jenny, Narelle and Jessica (and any others I'm unaware of) who have been working away cutting up 2 inch strips for use as jelly roll pieces etc. This is a great idea to make effective use of such a stash. Remember also the jelly roll ideas from books in our library for inspiration.

SHOW AND TELL!

Not a lot of show and tell this week, but next week there will be no shortage!

Below you can see the finished quilt Hayley has been working on. We have all watched it emerging, and here it is at last! Beautiful!

Jenny yet again has whipped up this little number in the blink of an eye! She tells us the blues came from Judith's stash donation. She also tells us not to hold our breath for it to be finished into a quilt, as this could be some time away. It's going to be a beauty!

Too shy to show it at the time, I took a shot of Merlyn's lovely quilt, made for a little girl who lost her mum when she was very young. Her big sister has one of Merlyn's as well. A lovely gesture and a beautiful quilt. I'll show both sides. So often the stories behind the quilts are very moving. It's a major part of the art isn't it?

Finally, a shot of a little girl and her cat snuggled into a quilt. It's a quilt I'm sure you'll recognise. The little girl is Neve, who won the quilt in the Lords Mayor's Picnic Raffle, and her cat is "Tiger". We received our certificate of appreciation for our brag wall, and this shot puts the icing on the cake. We can see from the photo who the real owner of the quilt is (if we were in any doubt at all)! 

Quilts truely are magic carpets are they not?

On that note, I'll sign off for the next couple of weeks. The blog will be done by others, so keep tuning in!

Just a last thought on quilt stories and magic carpets. Over the holidays. Marie K leant me a wonderful book which I would highly recommend - especially to quilters. It's "The Invetion Of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd, same author who wrote "The Secret Life Of Bees". This one has a quilt theme running through it which is very moving and wonderful. I'm sure it's in libraries by now. Enjoy!

Cheers till I see you again. Elva

A quiet Thursday

Iris here again.  This week we had a very quiet day at Fairland Hall, with many people away,  obviously taking advantage of the final week of school holidays.    Elva is still not 100% but intends to be back with us next week regardless - good fighting spirit.

We had a bit of  'fabric-feast' with genuine batiks from Heather and another box of supplies from Judith:  lots were filed for community activities, but still lots for sharing.    Thank you to them both.

Another reminder of the AGM on Thursday 19/2, with a general meeting to take place just before.  Details and agenda for these will be issued next week.   

We received a  letter and certificate of appreciation from the City of Sydney for our 2014 NYE quilt.  It will be framed and added to our 'recognition' wall.

Show and Tell ..   Christmas Challenge

The supply of cot quilts is growing thanks to the Christmas Challenge:   from Marie K (yes, another one !)

Four from Lindy - these were just added to the pile and not shown,  but I found them  !  The cutest fabric is used in all four quilts but in different ways.

and two from Judy G - also just added to the pile and not shown !

On February 5th,  when all the Christmas Challenge contributions are in,  we will have a Show and Tell of all the cot quilts, bags and blocks.  

and more Show and Tell ....

From Janet, a requested purple quilt for her 8 year old great granddaughter

From Marie K,  a baby quilt for a friend ... the quilting is beautiful

From Jessica - Jessica's contribution to the Modern Quilt Exhibition - I loved the green fabric 'knotted' edging:

and finally  .. this quilt top from Beryl  R. which I spied early in the day   ...

We also had a sneak preview of a new quilt from Kathy D - an MO special to be shown at a later date.  As always, Kathy pushes us traditionalists to new horizons with her original ideas.

That's all   ... have a good week  ...   Iris

Happy New Year for 2015

Iris in the 'blog' chair this week, wishing everyone a happy, healthy and an inspirational sewing year ahead.

First of all, best wishes for a speedy recovery to Elva who is feeling the pain and discomfort of shingles .   Elva,  our thoughts are with you - get well before your holidays.

Cheryl has also been 'in the wars' again,  after another trip to the hospital over the holiday is now back home.   Cheryl, our thoughts are with you as well  - take it slowly this time.

Generous donation:  In preparation for Judith and Marsh's move,  Judith has given all her fabrics and sewing tools and books to us.  These have been picked up and over the next Thursdays Grace and Jessica will be bringing them for community work and sharing. 

Success story:  The current issue of Quilt Mania reports on the Sydney Quilt Show:  Jessica and Helena's quilts are featured - well done to both of you.   (If anyone has a copy of the magazine,  can you bring it in to share, please ?)

AGM:  The AGM is coming up on  Thursday 19th February:  there are positions available and everyone is encouraged to consider their involvement.    Positions available include,  Community Coordinator, 2106 Raffle Quilt coordinators and Show Coordinator.  Information about each of these are in a folder in the cupboard,  but the best thing is to have a chat to Elva, Grace, Jenny or me about any of these jobs.        I can, personally say that being involved in the running of our group is extremely rewarding.   Give it serious thought.

Show and Tell:    Already contributions towards the Christmas Challenge are coming in and they look good.     Seven cot quilts for the Grace Centre  were completed and shown-off at show and tell.
Janet, Jenny and Val each made one quilt and Grace and Marie K. both competed two each.

Jenny showed us what she was playing with over the holidays ..  a mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter (I think I've got that right)  - I think that Deb L. will also have her version of the same quilt for show in the future weeks.   Despite this small picture the quilt is huge !

Jenny told us she is also working on reducing her stash of UFOs - this was a 'completed' job:

Karen M shared two quilts that she made during her time in Chicargo - they are stunning!   Is this a possible workshop for 2015 ???

and this is what Karen is working on now  ...

     Have a good sewing week and see you next week  ...  get well, Elva, we miss you.   Cheers Iris