Oz Comfort Quilts Working Bee

On Tuesday night a few people gathered to get stuck into making some blocks using all the strips, backings and waddings which were prepared at the previous working bee.

A couple of wonderful women who had many years of experience with industrial sewing machines, gave their domestic machines quite a work-out. They set a cracking pace the rest of us couldn't keep up with!

The iron was kept busy:

The rotary cutter was flying:

The pile of offcuts grew and grew:

The larger pieces went back onto the pile to be sewn into other blocks.

Meanwhile more sets of backings, waddings and strips were prepared for people who couldn't attend the working bee to make up at home. And if you want more fabric, just let us know - there's a basket of strips you can use in the office at the house, and more can be added if it starts to run low!

And here are the results on the night!

Actually that's not all of them, but you can see that it was a fantastic result.

When we add in all the blocks people are making at home, it will be quite a pile to send to Jan Mac.  A couple of people have asked about the deadline for the blocks.  We will send whatever is ready off later this month - but that doesn't mean that work has to stop.  We can send more later - Jan will be busy sewing them together for quite a while 

Basting Bee

A bunch of enthusiastic folk assembled at the neighbourhood house this morning to get the raffle quilt ready for quilting. Here were the tasks ahead of us:


Adding the borders involved a bit of measuring,

a bit of stitching,

and some pressing.

The back was steamed

then stretched and taped to the table.

Next the wadding was laid down and smoothed out (note: action shot):



Then the top was put into position (see goodies in the background, which were consumed throughout the morning):

and smoothed by many hands.

The first pin was ceremoniously inserted:


And a short while later there were pins everywhere!


Then came a big decision: which fabric to use for the binding?

Binding No. 1?

Binding No. 2?

Or Binding No. 3?

Which would you have chosen? Stay tuned to see if we agreed.

The label was prepared

while the binding was cut, stitched and pressed.

Yes, we chose fabric number one.

It's time to check our progress:

Looks like we got everything done. Hooray!

Thanks to everyone who could participate today. Your input was invaluable. If anyone would like to be involved in doing the actual quilting, please let us know.

And of course, you can always contribute by buying raffle tickets. When the tickets are available, we'll post the details here for you.

Piecing Bee

As mentioned here, this afternoon a few people got together to piece the friendship star blocks together for the raffle quilt while enjoying cherry cake, chocolate biscuits, and lots of conversation.

First we laid out all the blocks, and worked out what extra bits were needed.


Then there was a bit of cutting and trimming, followed by some stitching and some more trimming.




Then all the pieces were spread out so we could check the layout, and move around blocks and bits to ensure a nice spread of the different intensities and shades of colour.


After a bit of swapping around, rows were sewn together, then joined to each other.


As each seam was completed, it was pressed into shape.


And finally, the quilt top was all together in one big piece!

Well done everyone who was able to be there today.

The borders will be added before the basting bee, which will be on 18th July. You are welcome to come and be part of the fun!

Thank You! and Invitation

It's been so exciting to see the Friendship Star blocks for the Sussex Raffle quilt come in. Each one is different and lovingly made. I now have box full, and it's time to go on to the next stage. You're invited to an impromptu quilting bee at Sussex Neighbourhood House next Wednesday afternoon. The North Studio will be available from 3.30pm. The task is to make the joining strips which will convert this set of blue Friendship Stars into a set of blue and yellow interlocking stars. It's all very casual, so please come any time after 3.30pm, bring a snack or some dinner to heat up in the microwave--oh, and your sewing machine and some appropriate threads. I will have rotary cutters, rulers and mats available.

We've set aside Sunday 18 July to do the basting, so that's the next date for your diary.