Quilters' Circle - 26th July, 2010

Look how busy we all were this afternoon:


Lots of appliqué was happening. Joy worked on her blue Baltimore Album, but brought along this tiny (about 10cm across) mariner's compass to show us:

This is for a miniature quilt which will feature four of these compasses, surrounded by a saw-tooth border. All done by hand, of course!

Glennys did some stitching on a "work in progress" which she has restarted.


As you can see, this block is part of a quilt designed by Therese Hylton called My Blue Heaven. The basket and flowers are fused to the background, and today Glennys began blanket-stitching around them.

Carol was also appliquéing, working on a design by Robyn Falloon. Marie was appliquéing birds. Vireya worked on her pentagon-flower appliqués, and today she brought along all her completed blocks and laid them out for us to see:

She has done about a third of what she needs for the complete wall-hanging.

Ching Ching showed us her first quilt, which tells the story of how she and her husband Richard met:


This large quilt (it's about 2 metres tall) tells the story of a fateful journey on the No 86 tram 7 years ago. Ching Ching used many types of fabrics, and various embellishment techniques — including felting, appliqué, and dye-discharge — in this very personal work of art.

Now Richard, who is a painter, is inspired to make quilts, too. He showed us the design for his first quilt:


Wow! Today he was preparing some of those shapes. He and Ching Ching brought along their own irons and were ironing-on vliesofix to the shapes. Isn't this the cutest iron ever?


As well as all that sewing, we looked through lots of books and magazines, and looked at the progress on the the raffle quilt. It was passed on to the next person who will do some more of the quilting on it. What a busy afternoon!

Our next meeting will be 9th August. Hope to see you then!

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.

Quilters' Circle - 12th July, 2010

It's the second Monday in July, so the Quilters' Circle met at the neighbourhood house. We were lucky because today is Joanne's birthday. Leigh had baked her a cake, and they kindly delayed eating it until the quilters and knitters were there to help.

Joanne received some lovely gifts, including this scarf (sorry the photo is out of focus) made of many tiny yo-yos stitched together. Guess how many? Joy counted, and there are 500.

Happy birthday, Joanne! Thanks for sharing your cake with us.


Everyone's been very busy since our last meeting. Here's what they've been doing.

Vireya has finished the top of her Red Delicious quilt:


Joy has been adding lots of 3-dimensional elements to her blue Baltimore Album quilt:


Marie has made lots of squares in 1930s fabrics:


Marilyn did some shopping while she was travelling:


It was great to catch up with everyone again.

Today Glennys came along for the first time. She sewed down the binding on this quick quilt she has made for her granddaughter. Look at the cute fabrics she has used:

Welcome, Glennys!


Heather came to show us this angel quilt her mother won in a raffle to support Banksia Palliative Care.

We all admired the work that had gone into it.

In between all that we talked, sewed (a little), and browsed some books and magazines. It was a lovely afternoon.

Some of us will be back at Sussex on Sunday 18th July to baste the house raffle quilt seen in our previous post. If you can join us from 10:00am, you would be very welcome!

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!

Quilters' Circle - 28th June, 2010

A few people were away, there were no photos taken, so nothing to blog. Sorry, but we will just have to take more photos at our next meeting, which will be on 12th July.

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.

Quilters' Circle - 14th June, 2010

Because the Neighbourhood House was closed for the Queen's Birthday public holiday, Joy invited us to meet at her home. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea, served on a cloth Joy's grandmother made her for her 21st birthday.

Joy also provided us with a pile of patchwork magazines to look through, so between the magazines and the refreshments, not a lot of sewing was done.

A couple more of us have made our blocks for the raffle quilt.


Marie bought along this tiny cushion to show us. It goes with the doll quilt we saw at her place on ANZAC day.


Marie's new project involves appliquéd birds, leaves and flowers formed of simple shapes. This shot shows how it will go together:

During our time together Marie began to appliqué one of the birds. The design is called Holiday Morning, by Kathy Doughty, from the book Material Obsession, by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.

Marilyn brought along her finished cushion, complete with a very professional-looking zip in the back of the cover.

It looks lovely, and should be greatly appreciated by the person who is about to receive it as a house-warming gift.

Vireya has finished the last block of her Red Delicious quilt.

She is hoping to have the top assembled by our next meeting.

Our next meeting will be at 1:00pm on 28th June, at the Neighbourhood House. See you then!