We have just heard from Carol, who gave us the fantastic news that her daughter Isabella arrived on 21st July!
Congratulations to the new parents, and we are looking forward to meeting the new arrival!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Quilters' Circle - 25th July, 2011
It's the 4th Monday of July, which means the Quilters' Circle met again. We missed a few people. Carol, we especially hope all is well with you!
Richard and Ching Ching didn't forget the date this time. They both brought along their latest projects, and took the chance to spread out and fuse some larger sections. Richard machined some pieces into place on his latest project. The stitching will be covered later with thin bias strips, to give a stained-glass effect.
His machine is so quiet that his slow-and-steady free-motion work was a soothing background noise.
Ching Ching cut out some intricate pieces for her latest project:
Then she contemplated using this lovely batik from Malaysia, which she has had for a while but hasn't wanted to cut in to:
Will she cut it up? Will she put it away again? We'll have to wait and see...
Marie finished hand-quilting her autumn leaves piece, then started pulling out all the basting threads:
And here's how it looked when they were all gone:
Hooray! Now for the binding...
We had a bit of a discussion about thimbles at one stage, so here are some heirlooms and some newer thimbles owned and/or used by some of us:
Joy worked on this lovely appliqué panel:
We welcomed Julie, who came along for the first time. But what was she doing?
Sshh! Don't tell the knitters!
Marie found this wonderful book at the Darebin library. It was the companion volume to a special exhibition of quilts at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year.
The book is full of information and superb pictures. A quick flick through didn't do it justice.
Next weekend is the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair, so a few of us will be going along to be inspired and look for supplies. But the next time we will be back at the Neighbourhood House will be the 8th August. Happy sewing until then!
Richard and Ching Ching didn't forget the date this time. They both brought along their latest projects, and took the chance to spread out and fuse some larger sections. Richard machined some pieces into place on his latest project. The stitching will be covered later with thin bias strips, to give a stained-glass effect.
Ching Ching cut out some intricate pieces for her latest project:
Marie finished hand-quilting her autumn leaves piece, then started pulling out all the basting threads:
We had a bit of a discussion about thimbles at one stage, so here are some heirlooms and some newer thimbles owned and/or used by some of us:
Joy worked on this lovely appliqué panel:
We welcomed Julie, who came along for the first time. But what was she doing?
Marie found this wonderful book at the Darebin library. It was the companion volume to a special exhibition of quilts at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year.
Next weekend is the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair, so a few of us will be going along to be inspired and look for supplies. But the next time we will be back at the Neighbourhood House will be the 8th August. Happy sewing until then!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Quilters' Circle - 11th July, 2011
It was cold outside, and only a small number of quilters braved the conditions to meet today. Inside, the air near the ceiling was hot but lower down it was a little cool. We discovered that the ceiling fans have a switch to change direction based on the season. Once we set this one to "winter" we had warm air circulating around the room:
In fact it got so warm that people started complaining.
Joy and Glennys worked on their appliqué projects, and Marie quilted, and in between we looked through these books and brochures:
Joy showed us this shopping bag her family bought for her in Thailand because they thought it looked like patchwork fabric:
Here's how it looks unzipped:
Very handy!
Glennys showed us this top she has pieced from the cute train fabrics she showed us back in May:
Joy's son saw a picture of a quilt in one of her magazines, then went home a drew up templates for her to make the design. Joy used his templates, and her hand-dyed fabrics, to make this top which looks just like the picture in the magazine:
Ching Ching popped in to say hello. She and Richard were at the house for something else, because they had forgotten that today was quilting day. So a little reminder for everyone, the meetings are on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Monday of each month. That means that our next meeting is on 25th July, at 1:00pm. See you then!
Joy and Glennys worked on their appliqué projects, and Marie quilted, and in between we looked through these books and brochures:
Joy showed us this shopping bag her family bought for her in Thailand because they thought it looked like patchwork fabric:
Glennys showed us this top she has pieced from the cute train fabrics she showed us back in May:
Joy's son saw a picture of a quilt in one of her magazines, then went home a drew up templates for her to make the design. Joy used his templates, and her hand-dyed fabrics, to make this top which looks just like the picture in the magazine:
Ching Ching popped in to say hello. She and Richard were at the house for something else, because they had forgotten that today was quilting day. So a little reminder for everyone, the meetings are on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Monday of each month. That means that our next meeting is on 25th July, at 1:00pm. See you then!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Quilters' Circle - 27th June, 2011
After what felt like a long break, the Quilters' Circle met today for our first and last June meeting.
For some of us, the break had been longer than others. Ching Ching and Richard have been in Malaysia for a few months. While they were away, Richard completed the quilt we saw the design for in July, and the beginnings of in August last year.
What a fantastic first quilt! And today Richard worked on the design for his next one.
Ching Ching ironed some fabrics, and shared these yummy sweets with us:
They are made with sweet potato and other yummy ingredients, and packaged beautifully. Very nice! Thank you, Ching Ching.
Glennys blanket-stitched some appliqué in the latest block of her quilt designed by Therese Hylton (My Blue Heaven). She had most of this bit done by the end of our meeting.
Wendy was also appliquéing, working on a block of Esther Aliu's latest free mystery BOM, Hearts Desire. (Shouldn't there be an apostrophe in that somewhere?)
Marie has finished the wall-hanging she has been working on at our last couple of meetings, and took it down from her wall to bring it along and show us:
The hanging is based on a design by Rosemary Penfold, "Quilt for a Hot Night". The little picture doesn't do it justice - please click on it to see a larger view.
Marie's next project is already well under way. In fact the top is finished already:
It's a lovely baby quilt in white and 1930s fabrics.
Since or last meeting Vireya made a quilted hot-water bottle cover for a challenge. It had to be submitted for an exhibition last week, so she couldn't bring it along. Here are the photos, anyway.
If you would like to see many hot-water bottle covers, made in many different textile techniques, the exhibition at the OpenDrawer Gallery opens on Friday this week and runs until 24th July. You can click on this picture to get all the details
We missed Joy, Jenny, and Carol today. Hope you are all well and will be back with us soon!
Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 11th July. See you again then!
For some of us, the break had been longer than others. Ching Ching and Richard have been in Malaysia for a few months. While they were away, Richard completed the quilt we saw the design for in July, and the beginnings of in August last year.
Ching Ching ironed some fabrics, and shared these yummy sweets with us:
Glennys blanket-stitched some appliqué in the latest block of her quilt designed by Therese Hylton (My Blue Heaven). She had most of this bit done by the end of our meeting.
Wendy was also appliquéing, working on a block of Esther Aliu's latest free mystery BOM, Hearts Desire. (Shouldn't there be an apostrophe in that somewhere?)
Marie has finished the wall-hanging she has been working on at our last couple of meetings, and took it down from her wall to bring it along and show us:
Marie's next project is already well under way. In fact the top is finished already:
Since or last meeting Vireya made a quilted hot-water bottle cover for a challenge. It had to be submitted for an exhibition last week, so she couldn't bring it along. Here are the photos, anyway.
Front view:
Back view:
If you would like to see many hot-water bottle covers, made in many different textile techniques, the exhibition at the OpenDrawer Gallery opens on Friday this week and runs until 24th July. You can click on this picture to get all the details
We missed Joy, Jenny, and Carol today. Hope you are all well and will be back with us soon!
Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 11th July. See you again then!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
It's a Finish
E finished her 9-patch quilt in last week's "Let's Patchwork" class. It's taken a while for the borders to go on, but now it's done. Yay!
The next step is to baste up the quilt with its layers of backing and wadding. Maybe that will happen tonight. Meanwhile all the other students are eagerly stitching away at their various projects. Note to self: we're going to need an extra couple of tables tonight to cope with the basting as well as the usual cutting and stitching.
The next step is to baste up the quilt with its layers of backing and wadding. Maybe that will happen tonight. Meanwhile all the other students are eagerly stitching away at their various projects. Note to self: we're going to need an extra couple of tables tonight to cope with the basting as well as the usual cutting and stitching.Monday, May 30, 2011
Quilters' Circle, 30th May, 2011
Today is the fifth Monday in May, so we had a bonus meeting, which is good because in June we will lose one meeting due to the Queen's Birthday holiday.
We missed a couple of people who didn't make it along today - we hope you are well! It was great to have Joy back with us, and to welcome Wendy who bravely came along despite her son's warning about meeting people on the internet.
A couple of people organised a surprise afternoon tea because Friday was Vireya's birthday:
Yum! I'm sorry that the slice Joy made is out of focus, but it tasted great, anyway! And of course, you can't have a birthday without presents, so here are the fabrics Vireya went home with that she didn't have when she arrived:
Yummy fabrics, yummy cakes, thanks everyone!
Vireya showed us some of her other gifts, including this pack of Japanese fabrics:
Since last week Carol has added this very cute cow to her baby quilt:
So now she is up to the border.
Joy appliquéd leaves today:
Marie and Wendy both worked on binding. Marie's wall-hanging involves a lot of binding. Here's a progress shot which is meant to show how the strippy columns will be connected by a ladder of black loops:
Although these particular columns won't be joined like this, as they will be on the opposite side of each other.
All too soon, time was up, and we had to head out into the cold again. But we all took home some cake leftovers!
Our next meeting will not be until the 27th June. Hope to see you again then!
We missed a couple of people who didn't make it along today - we hope you are well! It was great to have Joy back with us, and to welcome Wendy who bravely came along despite her son's warning about meeting people on the internet.
A couple of people organised a surprise afternoon tea because Friday was Vireya's birthday:
Vireya showed us some of her other gifts, including this pack of Japanese fabrics:
Since last week Carol has added this very cute cow to her baby quilt:
Joy appliquéd leaves today:
Marie and Wendy both worked on binding. Marie's wall-hanging involves a lot of binding. Here's a progress shot which is meant to show how the strippy columns will be connected by a ladder of black loops:
All too soon, time was up, and we had to head out into the cold again. But we all took home some cake leftovers!
Our next meeting will not be until the 27th June. Hope to see you again then!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Let's Patchwork, Up and Running
The sewing machines and cutting mats were out in force last night for the second in this term's Let's Patchwork class. The evening started with a spot of show and tell and then it was full swing ahead.
We have a couple of beginners making their first 9-patch quilts.
Then there are several students finishing off projects or starting new ones. 
There's just one more spot available in the class this term and another set of classes planned for next term. Please contact the Neighbourhood House office on 9354 2210 if you'd like to join us.
We have a couple of beginners making their first 9-patch quilts.
Then there are several students finishing off projects or starting new ones. There's just one more spot available in the class this term and another set of classes planned for next term. Please contact the Neighbourhood House office on 9354 2210 if you'd like to join us.
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