Quilters' Circle - 31st January, 2011

It was our bonus fifth-Monday meeting for January. It was hot outside, but fortunately the cooling inside stopped us from melting.

Welcome to Jenny, who found us through the Sussex course pamphlet which was delivered to her letterbox.

A couple of our regulars couldn't make it this week. Joy, we hope your ankle is feeling better soon, and Marilyn, we hope your house move goes smoothly this week! We also missed Debbie who came along last week. Hope you can make it next time, Debbie!

Marie showed us the QAYG blocks she has made this week for the Oz Comfort Quilts appeal:

 Don't they look great? And she intends making some more between her other projects.

Vireya has also made a few blocks this week:

Today Carol did some appliqué work on this cute butterfly, who is for another charity quilt appeal.

She used "Glue-Baste-It" to attach the pieces before stitching them in place. Some of us hadn't seen this product before so were interested in the tips and advice the experts could offer ("keep it upright" seems to be an important rule).

Jenny also appliquéd. She is working on a Robyn Falloon design, Tea and Scones , which features lots of lovely appliqué on a subtle pieced background.

Beautiful!

Glennys showed us her "mystery quilt". It is not a normal mystery quilt, this one is a mystery because she doesn't have the pattern for it at all. She has lots of squares, in a range of sizes, in a colour pallet that is not really her preference.

So, what to do with them? She had some fun playing with arrangements. Maybe something like this, with the smaller squares surrounding the larger ones?

But what about the middle-sized ones? It will be interesting to see how it all comes together.

Marie today did some hand-sewing so finalise the assembly of a quilt-as-you-go project of a different nature:

She pieced and quilted this colourful quilt in four sections before joining them together. I think it was just about done by the time we finished today. Love all those brights, and the amazing range of "boy" themed prints!

As a special bonus, here's a picture of some beach-themed cushion covers Marie made before Christmas, but which couldn't be shown then because they were gifts:

Unsurprisingly, the recipients loved them!

While we were stitching we had many interesting conversations, and met some visitors from another neighbourhood house who were touring the premises.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 14th February. However, before that, there is a working bee tomorrow, 1st February, from 3:00pm to about 7:00pm, to make some more QAYG blocks for flood victims. If you can come along for any part of that time, you will be very welcome! Please bring some nibbles to share. Lots of backings, wadding and strips have been cut ready to be sewn, so you won't need to bring any. (But if you want to, feel free!) What we will really need is your machine and some neutral-coloured thread. But even if you can't bring a machine, there will be things to do like ironing and trimming blocks, so there will be ways you can contribute. Hope to see you then!

Quilters' Circle - 24th January, 2011

First meeting back at the house, and there was an obstacle or two to get through:

The road was blocked off for work on the water mains, so there was no car-parking close to the house, making it a little difficult for people with sewing machines and fabric to carry.

We welcomed Debbie who came along for the first time, and Diane and Carmen who were here for a working bee - more of that later! Carol was back and glad to be warm after the ice and snow in Europe.

Glennys showed us a lovely gift she received for her birthday:

It's a beautiful Queen Victoria Pincushion made for her by a good friend. The pincushion was designed in 1897, to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is made of 60 diamond shapes, for the 60 years.

We celebrated Glennys's birthday with some chocolate mud cake:

Then it was down to business. Marie stitched some of her hexagons together:

Marilyn stitched down binding, Debbie worked on a stitchery panel for a BOM she is doing, Carol did some appliquéing, and Vireya showed us these QAYG (quilt-as-you-go) blocks she has made:

The blocks were made to be sent to Jan Mac for her Oz Comfort Quilts drive, to be incorporated into quilts for flood victims.

And that brings us to today's working bee.

It had been arranged for people to spend some time today making QAYG blocks for the flood appeal. The work started in the room next door, and continued later after the Quilters and Knitters had finished their regular meetings.  Here's the scene as work got under way:

There were batting and backings to cut,

strips to cut,

and sewing and pressing to be done. Busy busy busy!

Once the blocks were made, they had to be trimmed

to get them all neat and square.

And then we could start laying them out to get a feel for how they will look:

What a great way to use up left-over bits of batting and fabric, while having fun and feeling like you are doing something constructive for the flood victims.

Next Tuesday (1st February) from 3pm the working bee will continue.  Everyone is welcome to come along and join in. If you would like to do some sewing at home, the instructions for the blocks can be found on Jan Mac's blog
QAYG Blocks Jan's Tutorial
or on Kaite's Yarngarden blog:
Kaite's QAYG Tutorial

Happy sewing!  Our regular Quilters' Circle meeting will be next Monday, 31st January.

Quilters' Circle - 6th January, 2011

Happy new year, everybody!

The neighbourhood house is still closed for the summer break, but the quilters didn't want to wait for it to re-open, so we arranged to meet today at Joy's home. Unfortunately a few of us couldn't make it in the end, but a small group of us got together for a lovely afternoon. This beautiful rose was one of several in a vase on Joy's table:

I forgot to ask if they were from her garden.

Joy had left up her Christmas wall-hanging quilts for us to admire:

Both were created from "chance blocks" Joy won at Essendon Quilters' meetings, with some of her own additions.

Joy also treated us to a yummy, international afternoon tea:

Dorothy used to attend the Quilters' Circle meetings, but hasn't been able to make it for the last couple of years. Fortunately she could come today. She was embroidering "Flat Nat", and took her out of the embroidery frame for this photo:

Flat Nat the Travelling Stitcher is designed by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches.

Vireya made some triangles for her paper-piecing project:

Joy was adding binding to her miniature mariners' compass quilt. She also showed us these blocks from the "Dear Jane" quilt which she started a number of years ago, but decided not to continue with:

She has made quite a pile of blocks, I wonder what she will do with them?

Thanks again, Joy, for opening your home to us today! Our next meeting may be 24th January, at the Neighbourhood House. If they're not open by then, we may get together again at someone's house. Come back then and find out!