Quilters' Circle - 29th July, 2013

Be prepared, we have lots of photos today!

First, here's a quilt Glennys is making for one of her grandsons:

The parts which look dark grey in the photo are actually black, as the quilt is in Essendon football club colours. Today Glennys worked some embroidery on this block:

Marie has been very busy making quilts for a children's charity. She had six completed today:

What an amazing collection!

We had a lovely surprise today when Marilyn joined us. She was in Melbourne and suddenly realised that it was the fifth Monday and we would be meeting, so she popped in to visit us. She brought this sample block to show us, which may get turned into a placemat:

We all admired the block. I think a few people want to try making one. Marilyn also showed us these very cute owls she is embroidering:

They will be combined with novelty-print squares to make a sweet baby quilt.

Vireya had lots of show-and-tell from the workshop with Jenny Bowker she did at Quilt @ The Winter School earlier this month. This marigold garland is a sample of painted fabric with raw-edge appliqué embellished with free-motion embroidery:

The interlocking plus-signs in this sample were constructed from pieced strips:

And this is a half-constructed block which will be square when it is complete:

It is constructed by chain-piecing in such a way that the whole piece is held together in a web by the chains of thread. Leigh had asked us some time ago about this technique, so Vireya brought this along to show her how it works. You can find good instructions on how to do this at Flourishing Palms here.

These three mini-quilts were sold as charity fund-raisers at the Winter School:

The top piece was made by Helen Godden who was a tutor at the school. The middle one is by textile artist Maria Cook, and the bottom one by a fellow student, Jeann Clark.

Between looking at all these goodies, we discussed the Vic Quilters Showcase which some of us attended over the weekend, as well as various TV shows, and life in general.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 12th August. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 22nd July, 2013

You may have noticed that one meeting has gone by without a blog post. That's because the picture-taking, blog-writing person was away on the 7th July. Today she was back, and everyone else was away. That wasn't co-ordinated very well!

Vireya had lots of room to spread out. Unfortunately she had not brought the right glasses, so she couldn't sew anyway. She was about to pack up early and go home, when Leigh brought in this box of goodies which has been donated to the house:

It took quite a bit of time to go through all these bits and pieces. There are purse frames, all sorts of handbag catches, O-rings and D-rings, and hundreds of buckles, eyelets and grommets. Vireya took home a few things which she can use in bag and purse making, but the vast majority of stuff is still there. Tonight the sewing group will have their turn to find amazing treasures.

Our next meeting is only a week away, as there are five Mondays this month. See you on the 29th July.