Quilters' Circle - 26th September, 2011

Here it is, the 4th Monday in September already.

We heard the news that Joy has been in hospital since our last meeting, and is still unwell. Joy, we all hope you are feeling better soon!

Julie bought along some hand-quilting to do:

It's a project she has been working on for a while. Each block (and there are 49 of them) takes about 90 minutes to quilt, which means in just a few months of Quilters' Circle meetings, the whole thing will be finished!

Marie showed us these miniature blocks she has made since last time:

She is planning to make them into a bag when she has enough. Today she made this tiny hexagon flower for the next block:

Since our last meeting, Vireya has made and attached the final borders on her quilt of somewhat larger hexagons:

Thanks to the two people holding it up for the photo! (Can you guess who they are?) Today Vireya cut the batting and backing for the quilt, but it needs a good press before it can be basted.

Glennys worked on the appliqué for her "My Blue Heaven" quilt, but had to leave early to go and look after her granddaughter, so we didn't get a photograph of it.

Carol cut some more squares of the quilt she is making for her grandmother, then showed us these bibs she is making:

She is embellishing them with appliqué and decorative machine stitches, then they will be finished with bias binding and velcro fasteners. Very cute!

Carol also showed us the progress she has made with her prairie points on the baby quilt:

They are all attached, and now Carol is up to the binding. Unfortunately none of us have done this sort of finish before, so we couldn't offer any advice about how the corners should be handled. Might have to do a little googling for that one! Meanwhile Isabella kept us entertained by smiling at us. The good news is that she is starting to occasionally sleep almost through the night, much to the relief of her parents!

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on the 10th October.  See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 12th September, 2011

It's the second Monday of September, so that means it is Quilters' Circle day.

Today we were happy to have Joy back with us, still not feeling 100%, but much better than she has been.  We hope she is even better next time. We also had a lovely surprise when Marilyn arrived! We haven't seen her for quite a while, so it was great to catch up. We missed Julie, who has an assignment due later this week, so is very busy working out how to do footnotes and the like, and Wendy sent her apologies and hopes she can make it next time.

Glennys worked on the binding of this baby quilt she has made for a new arrival in her extended family, and got two sides stitched down.

Joy worked on this hanging which none of us have ever seen before. It's inspired by William Morris's designs:

Lovely!

Carol has started a quilt in autumn tones for her grandmother. Today she managed to cut and arrange some squares one-handed, while holding baby Isabella in her other arm.

That's multi-tasking!

Marilyn showed us this bag her sister made for her a while back. It has lots of room inside, and pockets and zips, and is very handy:

Marilyn's new home is at the frustrating stage when it seems nearly finished, but there are still lots of little jobs; floor coverings to be laid, heaters and kitchen appliances to be installed, and the like. She is really looking forward to moving in and unpacking all her belongings (including her quilting things). Today she worked on this cute little long-stitch teddy bear:

Marie worked on her hand-quilting, and brought along some interesting old quilting magazines that I forgot to photograph. We all enjoyed looking though them.

Vireya spread out her hexagon quilt and showed us how the border might look.

The general consensus is that there needs to be some triangles of the dark-greys and blacks included in the border. But because she is waiting for the optometrist to put new lenses in her glasses, marking dots on the back of the triangles for when she sews them together was about all Vireya could see to do today:

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 26th September. Hope we will see you then!