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!

Friday 29 May 2015

Winter's on its way! 28/5/15

Quite a few of us are looking forward to the trip to Kiama on the weekend to see the Quilt Show. It should be a great day!
This was our last week of May, and next week we devote to community quilt projects. Some of these undertakings are on-going, as for example the baby quilts for the Grace Centre at Westmead Hospital. 
Below you will see two which were on display this week to add to the collection. The first is by Val and features cute animal fabrics front and back:

                                



                                 
The next one is by Grace, and was made as part of the 'Jess Challenge'. Grace only had the yellow and black fabric from her lucky dip parcel. All other fabrics were added to make this cute quilt. The back is also interesting.

                                  


                                   


Our Traditional Raffle Quilt was finally ready for the design wall this week. Meticulous work on placement of all the squares has payed off, with a stunning display showing the circles and stars coming through. Congratulations to the team lead by Robyn, and well done to everyone who contributed squares to the project. It's going to look fabulous for the show!

                                     




In an unending effort to reduce the number of scraps in the big box from the cupboard, a galant group of ladies keep trying each week to use more and more in various projects. They are amazed that like the magic pudding, the pile just keeps growing and growing!

                                     


Although she promised faithfully not to have anything for show and tell this week, our resident over-achiever Jenny has DONE IT AGAIN! She tells us that she was sick this week, and therefore had plenty of time to quilt while grounded. Any excuse I say! Here is her offering - an old quilt top she didn't really like all that much, but it's looking pretty good now!

                                   

Below you can see Robyn J's quilt for the new baby of a friend. This is a pattern she has made many times for babies she says, and I can see why it's a favourite. Very cute with its Velcro bits to play with.

                                    


                                     

Susan SJ says her daughter requested the colours of this following quilt. It is a king size, and with beautiful quilting done by Susan. She explained the process of getting the quilting patterns from the computer, downloading and so on. Some of us had eyes glazing over at the technical talk. Quite amazing what can be done these days! The final product is stunning. Well done Susan!

                                      


                                       




And finally we come to a lovely scrappy quilt which Helen has made for a very ill friend. A lovely thought and a delightful quilt Helen.

                                 


Another productive week at Hunters Hill, and lots of fun and companionship into the bargain.
See you next time.

Saturday 23 May 2015

21st May - nearly the end of Autumn!

Yes the year is rocketing by.
But at HH Quilters it's a fantastic group effort as usual. You only need to look at how quickly support groups gather round any activity that's going. Everyone's always ready to help, either with advice or physical effort. Just look:

SANDWICHING A COMMUNITY QUILT.

This quilt resulted from last Christmas's challenge. It's going to be a beauty, and see how help arrives to support the work.

First with four.......

                                


Then six.......

                                  

And finally ten!

                                   

JOB UNDER CONTROL!

And then there's our Raffle Quilts to be put together. Decisions, decisions! No problem......

First the Contemporary Quilt is up on the wall with four deliborators three standing and one seated......

                                 

Then eight.......

                                

And finally ten, plus many seated around the room out of shot! No shortage of advice and suggestions.

       

While quietly at the machine the Traditional Quilt is slowly coming together. Many changes and manipulating positions, but it is emerging like a beautiful butterfly.

                                    

                                     

                                      

What a team! Is it any wonder this is such a productive group, and so supportive of each other's projects. It's the fundamental element of our group.

Thanks to all those who contributed to the Guild's collection of red and white squares for the kids day at the coming show. Much appreciated.

SHOW AND TELL

Laurel has produced these two lovely baby quilts for the Grace Centre collection. Thanks so much Laurel. They want them to keep coming. Backs and fronts are shown because the backs are so cute too!

                              


                              


                               

                                

Jenny was being chided for not showing anything last week, so to make amends, she's has two beauties on display. The first is a gorgeous colour wash from a Gloria Loughman pattern.

                                

Wow! And the second is a Sue Daley block of the month, which Jenny says she didn't really like, so it's been 'resting'. She's now much happier with it. So she should be......


                                  

Your reputation as an over-achiever is in tact Jenny, even though you vow there will be nothing next week. We'll see........

Finally a lovely and well-loved Wagga belonging to Gil. She told us that it was made for her by Doreen and Diana Drake some years ago, and keeps her warm in cold winters. Perfect!

                                  
 And so we come to the end of another fun and productive week at HHQ.
See you soon again all!