More Puppets

 Hi Everyone,

We had a group of 25 this week. It seemed quieter than normal but lots happening nevertheless.

It is good to see both Jonquil and Robyn returning regularly. It is Doreen's birthday at the end of the month. I have a card for her. Those present this week wrote in it. I will bring it again next week for those who were not rostered on. Gill said Doreen loves reading the messages and remembering everyone.

Sandy has found an unfinished quilt from Val in the cupboard. Val had sewn oodles of stretched hexagons together. Alison and Sandy have halved the very long rows. For next community day we will ask for volunteers to sew a row or two together. It will be a very pretty quilt when finished.

I was very taken with a Wendy Williams piece that Elva was working on this week. It was originally started by one of the elderly residents at the Montefiore residence. Elva is finishing it for her. I forgot to take a photo but will do so next week if Elva has it with her. 

AGM 18th February. We cannot accommodate everyone to attend but if you would like to watch on Zoom let me know and Helena will set it up.

Show and Tell:

Sheila made three baby quilts last week using leftover blocks and fabric for a bigger quilt. Many remarked on her machine quilting. It is very effective.

Alison's puppet friend Bruce bought a 3D printer, used Alison's old Apple Mac and 3D printed the bag, hat and staff for Don Quixote. There seems no end to his talent. Amazing!

Doreen's doily in full view as well.

Until next week .....

Another Happy Gathering

 Hi Everyone,

Thanks to Deb for standing in for me last week. My husband  and I had a 3 day break on the South Coast. Very pleasant and relaxing. 

Despite the rain, we had 28 members come this week. There is always so much to talk about.  We are very lucky to have such a group.  A chance to leave the world's troubles behind and simply enjoy each others' company.

AGM: 

Kerry has emailed the agenda for our AGM to be held on 18 February.

If you are not rostered on that day, Helena will organise a zoom meeting for those who would like to watch from home.

Special congratulations to June and her husband who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on 27 January. 

Marie G had a clean out this week and came across photos from a fire that burnt the interior of the Hunters Hill Town Hall in 1978. The council relocated to Fairland Hall for their meetings and business until the hall was gutted and renovated.

Robyn reminded us that Mothers Day was coming in May. She would like to take many baby quilts to Westmead before the date. The quilts are popular as gifts on the day for the new mothers.

Show and Tell:

Carolyn brought in 10 more baby quilts. All lovely fabrics.

Iris has finished this one. All hand quilted.

A quilt from Grace. Grace quilted it with vertical lines which gave it a nice soft feel.

Jenny has finished her Bonnie Hunter design quilt for a family member. It is a very large quilt. A major effort Jenny.

Sheila made a Feathered Star block a while ago. She then decided to finish the quilt using shot cottons and a pretty turquoise colour. A lovely quilt.

Until next week ........

Beautiful Baby Quilts.

 We had 25 keen quilters attending this Thursday. It was great to welcome back Christie, Robyn J. and Jonquil, who we had not seen for awhile..

Gill gladdened us with the good news that Doreen is travelling along well and is looking forward to leaving care to return home.

Our AGM is coming up on February 18th and we will try to run a concurrent Zoom session for those not ‘rostered on’ that day.

We had a lovely thank you note from a grateful grandmother whose grandson received one of our quilts via Robyn’s granddaughter, Ash..

Heather’s grandson arrived happy and healthy, and will enjoy his Christmas stocking next year.

Sandy was able to add two more Community quilts to our donation pile. One, a pretty pastel HST quilt, was made by Ros’s cousin, who wished it to go to a women’s refuge.Beryl donated a wonderfully colourful quilt.

Grace had made 3 lovely baby quilts for The Grace Centre. Look at those beautiful, stitched bees and butterflies!

Alison returned to quilting after her brief,but successful, foray into puppet costumery and showed us two beautiful baby quilts-one for her friend’s granddaughter, using Brigitte Giblin’s snowflake design papers, and one for another friend’s baby granddaughter. She also had made a gorgeous outfit for her granddaughter from a Kaffe Fassett fabric featuring pomegranates. A sundress and bloomers...fabulous.

Looking forward to seeing more of our wonderful needlework next week.

Deb x

We are back

 Hi Everyone,

15 of us returned to quilting this week. Good to see Akiko back, safe and well from her trip. Lots of news to catch up with everyone. It was a good day.

Deb has been in touch with Jacky who hasn't come to meetings for a long time. She is suffering badly from arthritis and is unsure if she can return. Deb suggested that she call in just to say Hi whenever she feels like it. 

Sandy sorted all the quilts in the cupboards and made sure she had catalogued all of them. We have quite a few ready to give away. Iris mentioned that she has noticed an increase in the number of  'likes' we have had on Facebook which is good to hear.

We have three Life Members this year. Both Gill and Alison were there this week to receive their new badges. Alison and Gill joined on the same day. Robyn Jms is also a Life Member. I will save her badge until she comes.

Alison had a special surprise for us this week. She has a friend who is a Marionette Puppeteer and Painter. A Marionette Puppet is controlled from above using wires and strings. We all remember the Punch and Judy shows from our childhood. 

Alison brought in the Duke of Mantua puppet her friend Bruce has made. She then proceeded to show two puppets that she had dressed. One is Geppetto from Pinocchio and the other the Don Quixote.

Alison bought fabric and fake leather from Spotlight. Don Quixote had a doily that Doreeen had given her a while ago around his neck. Gill took a photo to show Doreen.

We were totally enthralled with such a special treat and filled with wonder at Alison's expertise.

In all the excitement I totally forgot to photograph the 10 Baby Quilts from Carolyn. We have now received 60 from her, all made during lockdown. Thank you Carolyn.

Show and Tell:

Geppetto

Don Quixote

Duke of Mantua

Until next week ....

Happy Holidays

 Hi Everyone,

We finished our quilting year on a high note with our Christmas party. It was a little different this year and some members think that we should use the same configuration next year.  Ros and Narelle's table had the best decoration and food. I fear they have set a precedent so I expect a lot of competition next year!

It was wonderful to have 32 attend. Marie K brought Moina along and it was so good to see her. Also Karen joined us which was a nice surprise as she has not come to any meetings since the lockdown.

A great big thank you to Narelle for organising and serving the drinks. Ros helped her too. Narelle handled it with aplomb and made sure no one went without some form of liquid in front of them. Narelle made a delicious fruit punch as well this year which was very popular.

I read out messages from Suzie L, Lindy and Laurel - all wishing us a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Felicity contacted Judy S. to say that she was thinking of us. She was worried about coming as she has been in and out of hospital so often this year.

Gill organised a card to be signed by us all for Doreen.

Robyn S took 103 quilts to Westmead. This brings the total number given to them this year to 150. There are 33 more ready for next year.

Marie G made 40 little fabric Christmas trees for everyone. These were handed out with the Lucky Door prize tickets. I called her yesterday to say there were 8 left over and did she want them. She said no keep them so I have given 3 to my grandchildren for their trees and the remaining 5, I will distribute to friends.

Sandy handed out more of the Christmas Challenge kits. Many had been finished and returned to her already.

Of course the highlight of the day was June's game. June had many more tricky questions again this year. It was great fun as usual. Nobody was wearing pink undies! June announced that this is definitely her last year! She has two deputies in mind who will take it over from next year. I think though it will always be known as "June's Game".

Thank you June for doing it every year for so long. It is always the highlight of our Christmas Party.

Show and Tell:

June's quilting friend Bronwyn has given us 5 beautiful quilts to be sold at our show. Meg has kindly offered to take them to Suzie L for safe keeping.

Only parts of the quilts are shown:

I wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and I look forward to a brand new year in 2021 that will hopefully be more normal.

Keep well and take care.

We start again on January 14, 2021. I will send out an email to everyone before then, re numbers who can attend etc. depending of course on the status of the virus.

 Until next time.........

Penultimate Blog for 2020

 Hi Everyone,

We are almost at the end of our very strange year. Thankfully we have been very lucky overall but it has been a very mixed year.

We had a group of 24 this week. Joy arrived with 4 huge bags full of quilts and bits and pieces from Norma McMorran who died recently. A lot of the quilts are finished and ready for Community. A number of the other quilting items were sorted through and taken by those who could use them. Narelle kindly took the crocheted wool rug to wash and give to a charity.

Bev met a lady at Kathy's shop who asked if we had any quilts to donate. Bev gave the details to Sandy who has contacted her. She works at a Palliative Care facility in Greenwich and will be very happy to receive quilts for the patients. Sandy will follow up early next year.

The Christmas Challenge:

We have started to hand out the Christmas challenge with more to come next week for those who have not received one.

There is an error with the instructions. Just sew a coloured rectangle to each of the grey ones as the photo below shows. Do not try to sew them into a block as they won't fit.

Christmas Party next week. 

Some of the groups who sit together each week want to keep the two table arrangement and share their food. Every group will have a table to access. It is fun to mix around though and get to know others in the group who you don't normally speak to. There will also be a looser arrangement with some of the tables and chairs to allow more freedom. I am still not keen on sharing food eg dips etc. so be sensible. I will bring my own lunch and something else as well. 

Still observe the correct distance between people. Narelle will serve the drinks to those sitting.

Don't forget to bring a glass!

Also Iris is going to hang the Show Raffle Quilts so she can take a publicity photo of us all in front of them.

Show and Tell:

I finished one of Rhonda Taylor's quilt tops with backing, wadding and binding. It looks very Christmasy. This is for Community.

Heather made this wonderful Christmas stocking for a new little baby on its way. It is very detailed and a good size ready for all the goodies.

Christmas Challenge: Only join each grey piece to a coloured piece and leave them like that. They will be sorted and arranged into blocks later.

Until next week with my Christmas greetings .........

A Little Late

 Hi Everyone,

My apologies for the late blog this week. We have had our 2 young grandchildren stay over for the last 4 nights. I had forgotten how full on young people are!

I hope you all managed to cope with the heatwave conditions over the weekend.  The relief yesterday was a pleasant change.

Sandy handed out the Christmas Challenge on Thursday for those who were at the meeting. She will bring more this coming week and also to the Christmas Party on December 10.

Robyn Jnst told me that we have achieved our quota of quilts both for Sylvanvale and for the Womens' Refuge. Robyn had also received a very nice letter of thanks for the trauma bears and rabbits that she and Ros have made. Iris has filed the letter in our 'brag' book.

Ros had word from Akiko. She has finished her quarantine in Japan and is with her Mother. I guess it is getting pretty cold there too. 

Christmas Party:

With the easing of restrictions, I am confident that it is safe to hold our Christmas Party while still observing a 2 square metre distance rather then the 4 square metres that has been in place.

The chairs will be set up in semi circles with easy access to a table for your lunch. It will be best if you are sitting when Narelle offers you a drink. Feel free to move around so you get to speak to others who you normally don't sit with, remembering always to stand or sit a little apart. No crowding allowed!

I will send an email out about the party so we manage to reach everyone.

Show and Tell:

Ros has handstitched a beautiful star quilt. She started it 13 years ago! The backing, quilting and binding are yet to be done. 

Carolyn brought in another 10 baby quilts. She made 50 during our lockdown in March. Overall she has made 300 . Carolyn insists that her stash has not reduced!

Ann has finished a quilt top from Val Duncan. A very pretty 'sample' quilt.

Marie K. bought these fabrics many years ago in Houston. Another lovely quilt from Marie who always hand sews her blocks.

Until next week ....