Quilters' Circle - 29th March, 2010

It was the fifth Monday in March, so the Quilters' Circle met again at Sussex NH.

Joy added some cute three-dimensional flowers to the block she was working on last time:


She also brought along some old patchwork books for us to look at. I should have photographed them. We enjoyed looking at how fashions (and techniques) have changed in the world of quilting since the 1980s.

Marie is making another bag, and brought along these four half-finished blocks for us to see:


The blocks are made of strips of fabrics stitched to a light-weight foundation. The light-green strips aren't attached yet, but you can see the way she is using the colours to create a cheerful rainbow.

And speaking of cheerful rainbows, here is a cushion Marie has just made for a friend:

It is a very huggable cushion and is sure to be loved by its recipient.

Vireya sewed together a few more pentagon flowers. Here's the back of one:

In between our sewing, we chatted with the knitters, enjoyed chocolates Marie had brought along, and helped out Leigh by eating some left-over chocolate cake (with sauce and cream).

Our next meeting will be on 12th April. See you then!

Quilters' Circle - 22nd March, 2010

All the Quilters' Circle regulars met today at the neighbourhood house, for the first time since before Christmas. It was great to see Joy back with us again.

Joy did some stitching on the next part of the centre of her Baltimore Album quilt. We saw the centre block at her home back in January, but now there's an appliquéd bias strip surrounding the whole block, and birds are appearing in the corners:


Marie did some quilting on the four cushion covers she was cutting out pieces for at our last meeting. Since then she has assembled the blocks, joined them together and basted them. Here they are:

Aren't they lovely?

Marilyn brought along this cute apron which her sister is making:


Thanks to the volunteer who braved the pins to model it for us! The apron starts as two fat quarters of fabric squared off (so cut to a 50cm square) which are sewn together. The backing fabric shows where it folds over at the top, and matching fabric is used for the straps and the large triangular pocket at the bottom. It's a quick and cute gift idea.

Joanne came to show us her latest project, a quilt for her spare bed made with a collection of hand-printed Tiwi fabrics.


The black surrounds make the vivid hand-printed fabrics glow. Here's a close-up view of one of those squares:

The next step will be a border pieced from more of those stunning fabrics.

Vireya worked on some more of her Red Delicious appliqué,

almost completing that central toadstool by the end of our time together.

Our next meeting is only one week away on the 29th March, as this month has 5 Mondays. See you then!

Quilters' Circle - 8th March, 2010

It was the Labour Day public holiday in Melbourne, so of course the house was shut. However, Marie came to our rescue, and generously offered her home for our first March meeting.

Marie showed us this bag she has made since our last meeting:




It is for one of her grandsons, and features a great range of prints specially chosen to appeal to him. Notice that skeleton in the top picture? He glows in the dark!

During the meeting, Marie cut out quite a few rectangles for some cushion covers she has planned. Here's an action shot:



Marilyn brought along a lovely cushion cover she is preparing to quilt, made from a pattern she purchased a while ago. She got the batting ready, and we talked about her options for quilting it. Here it is:


Her mother did the central stitchery, then Marilyn pieced the top; the end result will be a nice family co-production.

Textile Tragic has missed our meetings for the last couple of years, but the public holiday freed her for the afternoon. It was great to have her with us again. She sewed down the binding on a cuddly pink quilt.

That's the back you can see in the photo. The front is of various tactile fabrics such as corduroy and flannel. Very snuggly!

Vireya did a little appliqué on her latest Red Delicious block, and took the opportunity to spread out all the completed blocks. It helped to see how much has been achieved, and how relatively little remains to be done. It was also good to see how the blocks are working together.


The upper left one is in progress, and in fact after the meeting the background of it was completed. The block might even be completed by our next meeting. As you can see there's only one more block after that; the central area will eventually contain a big basket of cherries.

We all missed Joy (belated happy birthday for Sunday, Joy!) and hope she can make it to our next meeting, which will be back at the house on 22nd March.