Quilters' Circle - 28th May, 2012

Lots of variety to show you from the meeting this afternoon!

Glennys is making this quilt for another new arrival in her family. She started with a block found in a quilting calendar and made four blocks using a "quilt-as-you-go" technique.

Today she stitched down the back of the sashing strips by hand. Here's the back of the quilt:

It features some very cute fabrics, so the quilt can be used either side up.

Joy brought along all the finished panels of her long-term appliqué project, and spread them out for us to see:

Added later: The name of this pattern is "Eye Candy", and it was designed by Judy Garden, and published in 1999.

It is very hard to photograph the whole thing, as because the panels aren't joined, they can't be held up, but because they are so large, photographing them involves standing on a chair and lifting the camera over your head. This was the best of a bunch of attempts to include every panel. In real life, they look wonderful! There are two more narrow panels to be made, then borders (also appliquéd) to add. So it should keep Joy busy for a while yet.

You may remember that last time Marie showed us the first step of a mystery quilt she is making in another group. She's done two more steps since then, so before we see what she brought along today, here is a progress shot taken a week ago of the second step:

This is what Marie had suspected she would be doing to her squares. But the surprise came with the third step, which had her cutting her work apart again then re-making it a second time:

Here's a closer view of just one block, so you can see how the whirly-gigs have turned into flower shapes with the second re-assembly:

Intriguing and amazing!

Carol is still unpicking prairie points on a couple of sides of her baby quilt, but here's a shot of one of the sides where they have been removed then re-attached correctly:

It really is a lovely quilt. The colours are warmer than they look here.

Vireya decided how to assemble the diamonds she was making at our last meeting, and today she stitched together this star shape, in between having to go and talk to other people. 

She was also celebrating a very recent birthday, so there were some presents and a cake which weren't photographed because of the interruptions. Thank you to Marie for bringing the cake!

Our next meeting won't be for four weeks, because of the Queen's Birthday public holiday in June. So we will see you again on Monday, 25th June.

Quilters' Circle - 14th May, 2012

It's the second Monday of May, so here's what the quilters have been up to.

Another quilt group that Marie belongs to are starting a mystery project, and she brought along the first step to show us:

Marie thinks she knows where this is going, so it will be interesting to see if her suspicions are correct.

Today Marie was hand-quilting her green pyramids quilt, "Into the Forest".

We haven't seen this one for a while, but the cool weather has brought it out again. I think the last time we saw it was the first time we met baby Isabella.

Isabella came along today as well, and once she woke up she smiled a lot to show us her new teeth. Carol recently attended a retreat with Essendon Quilters, where someone showed her how to attach prairie points to the edge of her quilt. You may remember that last time Carol brought this quilt along, she was stuck at the corners.

It turns out that she had attached the points to the wrong side of the quilt, so now Carol is gradually unpicking them to move them to where they should be. And wishing she hadn't sewed them on very, very securely!


Mary showed us these lovely doilies she crocheted. The pattern came from a doily her grandmother made. Mary analysed the pattern, then made several herself using a fine cotton.

Today Mary worked on covering her hexagon templates. She tried using these clips to hold her fabric in place, but they are a bit strong and are not easy to remove.

So Mary is going to look for some that are a bit gentler, like the clips Vireya uses.

Vireya also did some English paper piecing today, making some diamonds, and then playing with possible arrangements:

So that's what we did. Of course we had lots to talk about, and hot drinks to enjoy while it rained outside. We'll be back again in two weeks, on 28th May.  See you then!

For Sue

A couple of weeks ago we had a working bee at the house to assemble this quilt top:

We couldn't mention it until now, as it is a gift for the retiring manager of the house, Sue Harris. Her official farewell was yesterday afternoon, so now we can reveal the quilt.

Sue's 21 years of tireless service have touched a lot of people, and some of them contributed blocks for this quilt. Blocks include personal messages, fabrics with special meanings, and Neighbourhood House logos used during Sue's time as manager. I wasn't able to be at the farewell, but I'm told a few tears were shed during the proceedings.

At some point the top will be retrieved and turned into a quilted wall-hanging. But in the meantime, thank you Sue for being manager for the House's first 21 years, and we wish you a very happy retirement.