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.