The Value of Feedback

Yesterday some people who saw my quilt in progress thought my kangaroo from the 18th May was the Qantas logo. That wasn't at all the effect I was after, and although the intended recipient of the quilt would have known what it really was, I didn't want people thinking of Qantas when they saw it.

Today I made a change to the block, and now I hope it is more obvious what it really is. I don't have a picture of what it looked like before I changed it, but what do you think of when you see this?




I'm much happier with it now. I'm thankful to those who didn't recognise it, because they spurred me on to make it better. Of course, they still may not recognise it. Here's a trivia question for you; What colour is the Qantas kangaroo?


Here's a clue. It is not red.



Compare and contrast:
Qantas
RAAF Roundel

Quilters' Circle - 29th June, 2009

Five Mondays in June this year, so we had a bonus meeting of the Quilters' Circle. When we arrived we found a lunch finishing in the room. Here's the left-overs, which we helped to eat:




Marie worked on a project she is doing for a quilting class she attends, and brought along her first quilt for us to admire:



The pattern for this quilt was from a magazine. Before making the quilt, Marie had made cushion covers with her patchwork, and this was a much bigger project; there are two people hiding behind it in that photo. The quilt lives on the couch in her living room. When Marie mentioned that now she wouldn't make some of the colour choices she did for this quilt, she sparked off a conversation on how quilts become a history of the maker's changing tastes and skill levels. That adds another layer of meaning to the quilt.

Joy brought along some books for us to enjoy. A particular favourite was a book of Japanese patchwork blocks. She spent our time together working on the binding of this table-runner. It is a gift for someone so I better not say too much.


Joy also showed us these Japanese cranes she is appliquéing:


Those beaks look like a non-appliquér's worst nightmare! But they sparked off a conversation about words and their meanings, and the relationship between various Indo-European languages. How did we get to that? I guess you had to be there.


Vireya brought along most of the top of a quilt she is working on. You may recognise it from previous posts. It is for a gift, so only a little corner can be posted so far:


The 9-patch cornerstone and the left-hand sashing section have been sewn together, but have not yet been attached to the block. That's why the blocks in the 9-patch seem to be different sizes. Once the piecing is complete, all those squares will be the same size as the red one and the upper blue one. A picture of the full quilt will be posted here once it is finished and in the hands of the recipient.

Here's what Vireya worked on. It is that appliqué flower from nearly 2 months ago. But some progress has been made:



We won't mention the fact that she is 5 months behind with that block-of-the-month project!

All-in-all we had a lovely afternoon. And there is only 1 week until our next meeting, on the first Monday in July.

Apology

Sorry to anyone who has been trying to leave comments on this blog. There appear to be some issues, and I'm working on trying to fix them!

Stand by for updates...

Quilters' Circle - 15th June, 2009

Today is the 3rd Monday of June, so once again the Quilters' Circle met at Sussex Neighbourhood House.


Dianne brought along the quilt she made in the "Patchwork by Machine" class at Sussex last term. She is up to binding the quilt, so the rest of us gave advice on various methods for attaching the binding.


The course is running again from the 7th October, and if you would like to do a more advanced course, there is a new one called "Working with Triangles" starting on the 19th August. For more information see the Sussex website.

Dianne also basted this cute quilt she is making for her grand-daughter:



Marie worked on quilting her 30s hexagons quilt. Here she is in action:



Marilyn has finished the short sashes on her quilt-as-you-go quilt. She laid it out with her cornerstones fabric to get the over-all picture, to help with making the final decision. Dark green, or something else? And yes, this photo is out of focus, which I didn't realise at the time. Sorry, Marilyn!


Marilyn also brought her first ever quilt to show us, complete with dolly demonstrator. The dolly looked very snug, but she didn't seem to want to go to sleep. Perhaps there was just too much excitement around her.



Valda popped in to show us this patchwork coat-hanger she was given some years ago. It is constructed of three rows of hexagons, all pieced from the same fabric, but with lighter ones along the top. We all marvelled that anyone would have the patience to make something like this which will spend its life covered with a garment and hidden in a wardrobe.



Vireya finished appliquing the snooker balls she was making last time.



In between all that, Leigh dropped in to discuss the border of a crazy quilt she is working on. I hope she brings it in to show us some time (hint, hint). We had a tea break and enjoyed chocolate biscuits provided by Marilyn, and lots of friendly conversation.


Our next meeting will be the 29th June; come along if you can.

Bye bye until then!

Quilters' Circle - 1st June, 2009

Happy June, everyone! Here's what the Quilters' Circle did for our first June meeting.


Marie brought along these fantastic circles for us to admire. The circles are pieced on a light-weight vilene foundation, and a wide border will be added later. The background colours follow a colour-wheel pattern.


I don't think the camera is doing the colours justice there, but here's a detail view to enjoy:




Marie and Marilyn each worked on the hand-sewing part of their quilt-as-you-go quilts. Below is a picture of Marilyn's blocks. The sashing is machined on the front, but the blocks have to be joined by hand at the back. It seems to take a while, but the beauty of it is, once the blocks are joined the quilt is ready to be bound, and then it is done.




Joy worked on this applique flower cart. You can see from the pattern that there are lots of tricky bits to this piece. Lots of irregular shapes amongst the flowers, not to mention those long, skinny, pointy leaves!


Joy also brought along her first-ever quilt. It is a sample quilt of 24 different blocks that she made in 1990-91, and it is entirely pieced and quilted by hand. The wadding is quite a thick one, which gives the quilt a really soft, cushiony look. It normally lives on Joy's daughter's bed, but we were so cold in the room when we first arrived today, that we all wanted to snuggle under the quilt.


Lastly, Vireya worked on making circular shapes to represent snooker balls. Did you know that there are 15 red balls in snooker? To make the ball shapes, she did a running stitch around each circle, and then pulled up the stitching to gather the fabric, forming a circle over a plastic template based on an old 1-cent piece. Later they will be appliqued to a green background. Here they are in progress, sitting on a diagram downloaded from the internet, which gave her the bad news that she would need 5 more red balls than she had been planning.


Of course we also enjoyed looking at magazines and books, having a tea break, and lots of conversation. Marilyn also brought along some succulents from her garden to share. Don't forget, you are welcome to come and join us on any 1st, 3rd, or 5th Monday.