JULY COMMUNITY DAY - 6/7/17

A full and busy hall today, with many people working on lovely quilts for our community collection.
The display wall was being used during the entire session, with a variety of lovely projects on display.

We are starting to discuss ideas for our next Quilt Show on 2018. If you have any thoughts about what our special challenge display might be, let us know. There are a few good suggestions floating around already. The excitement starts!

Don't forget to ring Redleaf and book your rooms for the retreat in September. Time runneth out!

SHOW AND TELL

We saw another lovely batch of baby quilts for The Grace Centre this week. The first was by Jacky.....

Next came a lovely one by Jenny......

And finally a whole bunch from Maree G! Wow Maree, you really did some work this week!

A very striking quilt for the community collection was shown. It was done by Ros and Narelle. Stunning!

The final show and tell item was a quilt put together by Mercedes Forbes. The blocks were made by our dear departed friend Cheryl, and Mercedes offered to put them together using the plan that Cheryl had left. A lovely job, and Cheryl's family will be over the moon. Thanks Mercedes!

I hope you are all enjoying this fabulous 'winter' weather! Nevertheless, we do need some rain.
Enjoy and see you all next Thursday.
Cheers, Elva

END OF JUNE - ALREADY! 29/6/17

Yes, next week we willl be into July already, and it will be Community Day again. Bring along any community projects you're working on, start a new one or ask Iris if there's any on-going work you can help out with.
We had a very large group this week, certainly compared to the previous Thursday by all accounts. Thanks to Judy G and Iris for filling in for me while I went to the Guild Show. I plan to go on the Sunday next year, as people reported it was much less crowded. I have also heard that it will go back to five days again next year, so the Wednesday will be an option as well. Also the Guild is planning to overcome this year's problems with lighting etc, so we can live in hope that won't be an issue in 2018.
Congratulations again to all our members who won prizes and commendations. Well done!

We need everyone who hasn't yet done a kitchen duty to put their names down on the roster please! Quite a few gaps, particularly in October and November. See Susan Dodd for this.

Our Birthday Party for this year will be held on Thursday, 21st September. It will be our 35th birthday!
The plan is to have a swap day, with people bringing along any UFO's they'd like to swap or good quilting fabric from fat quarter size and up. Should be fun.

Helena is planning a few workshops before the end of this year. Details of what and on what dates will follow.

Members are urged to start thinking about a charity and a judge for our next year's show. No harm in getting organised early. If you have genuine suggestions, please see Meg or someone on the executive committee with names, contact details and a little reseach around your suggestion. Cheers.

SHOW AND TELL

I can see there was quite a healthy show and tell last week in spite of the smaller number of members present. As a result this week is a bit thin, but here goes.

Grace showed us her quilts from the Guild Show. This one uses some amazing fabric fussy cut very creatively by Grace. Its a small but spectacular quilt. Beautiful!

Next Grace showed her prize winner called Noughts and Crosses. It uses a felting technique which is extremely effective. Congratulations Grace.

And a couple of shots of two busy quilters doing some spectacular work. There's always plenty of this happening around the room at HHQ!
The first shot shows our Contemporary Show Quilt having some hand-quilting done......

and the second shows one of our prolific and very experienced quilters producing yet another masterpiece! Good on you Robyn!

And there we have it for another week.
Enjoy this fabulous weather, and try to get out in the sun!
Cheers everyone!
Elva

Thursday 22nd June

First day of the QuiltNSW Show at their new location in Darling Harbour,  so the number of quilters in Fairland Hall was greatly reduced.    Elva was visiting the show,  so Judy headed up 'News time' and Iris on Blog.

First, congratulations to Grace - 2nd prize in the Modern Quilt Section of the QuiltNSW show,  and also to all our other entrants - Helena, Kathy D, Karen M, Carolyn and Jessica.

Judy had a few housekeeping updates:

• If you are going to the Retreat in September,  remember to call Blackheath and book your room
• Still need quilting volunteers for the traditional raffle quilt
• Don't forget to ensure that your name is on the Morning Tea List -  twice a year each.
• Committee meeting next Thursday morning at 9.30am

Then,  lots for 'Show and tell'

Robyn S and I have finally finished the blocks in Adrienne's William Morris quilt.  I was just the 'cutter-outer',  but Robyn did all the stitching.   Robyn and Adrienne both have enviable skills with machine applique - bring your magnifying glasses.      It looked fabulous on the design wall.

Robyn Jo was just finishing the binding on this quilt:  mostly if not all Japanese fabrics, with lots of clever hand quilting.  Quote, 'Just something to do in the caravan ... '

Gill was pinning this fun children's quilt ...

the camel is fun ....

and I spotted this work by Judy G.     Judy is working on a Megan Manwaring quilt at Material Obsession and this is just one very small part of a quilt-full of clever fussy cutting and applique.

Another good day ...    have a fun sewing week,    Cheers Iris

Thursday, June 15th

Iris on blog as Elva battles the dreaded winter head cold.

The May issue of the Template was shared and read in detail as we recognized that so many of our members were highlighted.

• The 2017 QuiltNSW Raffle quilt was designed and made by the team from Material Obsession: congratulations to our members, Kathy, Carolyn, Helena and Grace who all participated.   It is a stunning quilt with lots of string piecing and Kaffe Fasset shot cottons.  Grace did all the hand quilting. 

• Jessica was one of the key speakers at the QuiltNSW country meeting to Tamworth, so she was also featured in the magazine with one of her quilts: 

It was agreed that this issue of the Template was an excellent read.  And of course, don't forget the 'back to Darling Harbour'  QuiltNSW Show next weekend.

August 2018 may seem a long time away,  but Meg is ramping up the preparation for our show.   Chat with Meg about your involvement.   Check out Susie's latest hand crafted item, a cute door stop, for the Stage Shop: she would love some cute buttons.

Community:  Although we don't know how much our quilt contributed,  we have been told that the Giant Steps fund raising ball raised a record $500,000.    They were extremely delighted with the result and sent a thank you to all their supporters.

Show and Tell  ...

A bright fun cot quilt from Grace:  hand quilted of course !

For everyone who is going to the show next Thursday,  I hope you have an inspirational and fun day.   I expect to bump into many of you when I get there on Friday.    Enjoy your week,  Iris

8/6/17 LIGHTS OUT!

We found ourselves in darkness in the kitchen and bathrooms this week. A quick call to HH Council resulted in the problem being fixed forthwith (in your dreams!). Nevertheless we soldiered on.
We really are lucky to have the space we do in spite of the few glitches we experience.

A good roll-up of members working on an amazing variety of quilting projects.
The gentleman who comissioned that gorgeous grey Wagga we showed last week, turned up to collect it. It resulted in the first $ we have been able to bank for next years show! Already! It was much more than anticipated also, so well done ladies. He obviously loved it and rewarded you generously.

Both the Traditional and the Contemporary Show Quilts are still looking for hand-quilting volunteers to complete them. Put your name down on the list, or simply mention your readiness to Grace or Robyn J.

It's now time for all of us who are planning to go to this year's retreat in September to ring the Redleaf Resort and book your rooms. The dates are Friday 15, Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 of September.


SHOW AND TELL

Only two items this week. This first one is a long unfinished quilt which Lindy has been making for her mum. Sounds like it's been 'resting' for some time! I think mum is going to be delighted !

And this little gem is by Susan H. It's the beginnings of one of her many spectacular bags. The ubiquitous hexagons strike again! And looking just delightful Susan. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Well, we are all looking forward to the Guild Show in a couple of weeks. Always some surprises and new things to enjoy.
See you next Thursday as always.
Cheers, Elva

COMMUNITY DAY 1/6/17

We had a great roll up today, with most members working hard at various community projects.
We were visited by members of two of our recipient groups, and there were plenty of lovely quilts piled up to donate.

These two delighted and very grateful recipients left with 11 quilts all up!
A very worthy cause with lots of information and questions from the group.
Well done to all the girls who have worked so tirelessly making this amazing collection!

We would also like to extend our thanks to Iris who has overseen the community program for quite a while now. You have done an outstanding job on this Iris, and I know the groups who receive the quilts appreciate them and value them tremendously. Keep driving us on.......It's a great use of our skills.

SHOW AND TELL

The baby quilts I forgot to photograph last week are below. Thanks and congrats to Beryl R and Susan H for these chalmers.

Three extra baby quilts this week were done by Carolyn D. Lovely fabrics as always. Thanks Carolyn

Just another shot of a couple of waggas from the community collection. So many to choose from, but plenty of needy groups waiting for them. Keep up the great work girls. The community really appreciate our efforts.

So another fabulous day. We'll do it all again on the first Thursday of July.
See you all next Thursday working on your own projects again.
Cheers and keep warm! Perfect quilting weather now!
Elva.

LAST MAY MEETING! 25/5/17

Well, we will soon be into June, and everybody is looking forward to the NSW Guild Show. This will be back at Darling Harbour this year, just 4 days from 22nd till 25th June. There is a sheet at the hall outlining all the methods of getting there. This includes public transport as well as available parking.

Next Thursday for us at HHQ it will be Community Day, and we will be having a couple of visitors joining us. Looking forward to that. Plenty of community work to pick up and go with if you dont have a community project already on the go. Just see Iris and she'll point you in the right direction.

Our Contemporary and Traditional Show Quilts are still doing the rounds, so put your name down for a turn at quilting either of these. Still plenty of work to be done on them.

We are still chasing lost keys, which we assume have been inadvertently left in someone's handbag or sewing basket after their turn at kitchen duty. If everyone would please have a little search in these places just to check. They must be somewhere!

SHOW AND TELL

Not a lot to show this week, mainly because I forgot to take shots of the baby quilts. My apologies to Beryl and Susan. I'll chase those up for next week's blog!

Iris showed this lovely quilt which she has made for her eldest grandson as a wedding gift! Lucky bride and groom indeed. It's absolutely gorgeous Iris!

Gil showed us the completed wagga which was shown here last week being pinned and quilted on the tables. Turns out it is a commission from a gentleman who previously bought a wagga at one of our shows. He was obviously impressed with this quilt form and asked for a 'large' one to be made for him.
And here it is! Looking fabulous Doreen and Gil!

And so we leave you for another week. See you Thursday.
cheers, Elva