FULL HALL FOR LAST JULY GROUP! 27/7/17

A great turn out of quilters today, and just as well because we had a visitor coming to pick up some quilts from our community collection. Everyone in the group participates either individually or more often in a group to produce beautiful bed quilts to be stored until recipients are found. Next week will be the first Thursday of the month, and those days are devoted to making community quilts.
Below is a shot taken by our visitor showing most of the members who were there. They are holding and showing quilts, some of which were given to our guest for use with her clients. It's very satisfying work, amd the organisations which receive them are eternally grateful.

For our community day next week Helena has offered to present a workshop devoted to applique techniques. It is only one of Helena's amazing set of skills, and we are all excited to become students for the day and learn something new. Many thanks Helena!


The quilt below was done by the Orange group for the community program. Mainly driven by Narelle and Ros, we all worked away at making the whirly gigs. Thanks to Helena for doing the quilting.
It turned out very well indeed!

And here's a peek of an exciting community project, just geting started. Most of the membership will participate in this rather special one. Thankyou Grace for getting us all started. Looks very exciting!

And that's all for this week folks!
Look forward to seeing you all at the applique workshop next Thursday!
cheers, Elva

BUSY, FULL GROUP! 20/7/17

Yes, the hall was packed and cosy this week. Just the right environment for stitching and catching up with friends.
We finally solved the mystery of or faulty entry cards! HOORAY! Turns out the council had cancelled all but one of ours, and we had no knowledge of it! All fixed now, and three of us have entry cards for when they are needed.

Don't forget to register at Redleaf and book your rooms if you're planning to go to the retreat in September ( 15, 16, 17th). The resort is holding another five rooms for our group, but not for much longer I wouldn't think.

Helena outlined her plans for the workshop to be held on 3rd August (Community Day). It will be a session on Helena's approach to applique techniques. She suggests you bring along whatever you like to use for applique, plus any applique task your currently working on if you have one. She will have samples of the materials she likes to use, but a glue stick might be handy, and whatever thread you like to use.
We're all looking forward to it.

SHOW AND TELL TIME

First up, Joy showed us a stunning new quilt she has made for her 13 year old grandson. Apparently he is 'over' his previous train themed quilt! Cant imaging why......! He chose the colours for this one himself, and I for one approve absolutely! Well done grandma!

Next came a collection of potential wagga pieces, kindly donated by the NSW Quilters Guild. Very generous, and our wagga ladies were hugely impressed!

Robyn J showed this 'not-quite' completed Japanese themed quilt, which she described as a portable project for travelling etc. Needless to say it has been worked on over a fair amount of time. Some lovely work in the centre there Robyn. It will make a stunning finished product.

Robyn's next gem was this "Sensory Mat" with the gorgeous fluffy puss for stroking! It may be one to keep in mind as a model for our special show challege? Lovely Robyn.

And so our Thursday came to an end with much productive work achieved.

Enjoy the sun and see you all again next Thursday.
Cheers, Elva

13/7/17

Good to see so many happy quilters again today.
We are still chasing a couple of the white cards for hall entry, so make sure you check all baskets, bags and wherever else you might have stashed it. They are very easy to miss, being plain white with very little written on them. Do your best!

There were plenty of girls still working away on the community quilts they started last week. Great to see.

SHOW AND TELL

These four gorgeous baby quilts for the Grace Centre were made by Narelle. A fantastic effort for a very worthy cause. Many thanks Narelle.

Another generous collection below from Carolyn, again for the Grace Centre. Thanks you so much Carolyn, and to all the girls who continue to support this program.

The quilt below was done by Maree K. It's a wedding quilt and was quilted by Susan S J.
Very nice job. What a fabulous gift for the happy couple.

The quilt below was done by Susie bit by bit over ten years. I know the feeling......
Susie says she was delaying it because she never really liked the colours, but it makes a very nice quilt nevertheless, I'm sure you'll agree!

Susie showed another small quilt which she has been doing. Not sure of its details, but worth a look.

The knitted teddies below were done by Iris and Robyn J. They are destined for the Trauma Teddies program run by the Police Department for traumatised children. Another wonderful program to support! Thanks girls for your contributions. They are so cute and irresistable!

Best wishes for a lovely week.
See you all next Thursday.

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