Quilters' Circle - 10th September, 2012

A very small gathering of quilters today; just two of us were able to attend.

Marie did some more hand-quilting on her green thousand-pyramid quilt. Here it is spread out to check on progress:

Since our last meeting Marie has also made a set of quilt-as-you-go blocks. She made them a bit differently to the QAYG blocks we made for bushfire and flood victims early last year.

Instead of using strips for the whole block, Marie made half of each block from strips, but the other half is either plain or simply pieced, then free-motion quilted. It looks great, and is a really nice variation with an opportunity for some free-motion practice.

Vireya made some blue diamond shapes today:

She also brought along this book:

It is the catalogue of a recent exhibition in the USA, curated by Jenny Bowker. Jenny brought an exhibition of the Cairo tentmakers' work to Melbourne in 2007, which was fantastic. Since then she has organised shows in various other countries, but this may be the first time a catalogue has been published. The work is stunning, as you can see from this sample page:

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 24th September.

Quilters' Circle - 27th August, 2012

It was the fourth Monday in August, so the quilters got together again.

Glennys started by doing something not at all quilty:

Tacking a zip into this cute corduroy pinafore. Looks like you will have to tilt your head to the side to see it the right way up. Sorry about that!

Marie has been to a free-motion quilting workshop, and brought along her sample piece. For the workshop she had to baste together a square metre of fabric, batting and backing, which was used for practicing various designs. Here's some of her swirly designs:

There's lots of space left for "warm-up" quilting and trying out other designs. It's an idea that could be worth copying. A square metre is a decent size for playing with, and provides lots of space for testing different patterns.

After getting that zip in place, Glennys worked on the binding of the quilt she was pin-basting last time:

She hasn't completed the quilting yet, but binding is an ideal activity to take to meetings.

Here's proof: Marie was stitching down binding, too:

This is the binding on a placemat. Here's the front view:

As usual, because the camera doesn't love purple the way some of us do, these colours are not accurate. In real life it looks even better than it does here. And Marie's quilted leaf shapes look great, too. The placemat is part of a gift for a member of another quilting group Marie attends. Each quilter was given the central purple piece and the binding, and then had to complete the placemat using fabrics from their own stash. It would be fun to see them all together.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 10th September. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 13th August, 2012

Happy August! If you are reading this, Joy, we hope you are feeling better soon. We miss you!

Since our last meeting Lyn has quilted and bound her 9-patch quilt:

Her next project will be a wholecloth quilt. Lyn has plans to make quilts for each of her grandchildren by the end of the year, but has decided that piecing isn't her thing.

Glennys brought along this lovely quilt top that we have seen before, and the backing and batting. We all helped with pinning the central section of it together:

Glennys started this quilt at a workshop with Teresa Horsburgh, and it is based on Teresa's design Floral Garden. However, Glennys's fabric choices resulted in a quilt which is quite different from the published pattern. Now that the central section is pinned to stabilise it, Glennys will be able to thread-baste the whole quilt.

Marie has finished her twisted pinwheel hanging, including the binding:

Today she sewed a label to the back, so it is ready to be given to the happy couple.

 Our next meeting is in two weeks, on 27th August. Hope to see you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 30th July, 2012

After our small meeting last week, it was nice to have a few more quilters in attendance today.

We welcomed Lyn, who came along for the first time. She made this quilt top in the Patchwork class at the house last term, and today got it sandwiched and pin-basted with a little help:

We'll look forward to seeing it quilted at future meetings!

It was great to see Marilyn again. It is nice when she can time her trips to Melbourne to coincide with our meetings. Today she worked on this stitched motto, which is one of several which Marilyn will incorporate in a future quilt:

I don't know if this is part of a published pattern. I forgot to ask, so if anyone knows please tell me and I can put the details here.

Another welcome face from the past, the teacher of the class where Lyn made her quilt top, also dropped in for a while. She wasn't quilting though:

She was knitting socks!

Marie has been busy. She has put together this quilt top for a lucky young boy:

The pattern comes from the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott and is called "Sparkling Gemstones". You don't need to use pre-cut strips; you can see here that it works very well as a scrap quilt. Marie has used lots of special fabrics chosen to appeal to the recipient.

As if that wasn't enough, Marie has also been quilting! She has completed free-motion quilting of this gorgeous quilt for the sister of the little boy mentioned above:

The pattern is "Story Time Stars" by Bonnie Hunter. Today Marie was stitching down the binding but here's a close-up of her free-motion hearts:

Doesn't it look great? Vireya thought she better get sewing, as she made a top from this pattern which inspired Marie to make it, but her own hasn't progressed beyond being a top yet.

Vireya made some pentagon shapes today, but didn't get them stitched together:

It is interesting to see how fabrics can take on a different look when they are cut apart and reassembled.

Our next meeting will be on the second Monday in August, the 13th. Hope you can join us then!

Quilters' Circle - 23rd July, 2012

Only two quilters were able to attend today's meeting.

Vireya showed us this star she has made since our last meeting, from this yummy-looking fabric:

Today she made another star from this quieter fabric:

Marie continued hand-quilting her green thousand-pyramids quilt:

Marie also brought along the latest edition of New Zealand Quilter magazine for us to enjoy:

Our next meeting is only a week away, as July has five Mondays this year. We hope a few more members can make it along next Monday. In the meantime we will be attending the Craft & Quilt Fair this weekend, to find goodies and inspiration.

Quilters' Circle - 9th July, 2012

Here it is, the second Monday in July; and here we are, quilting again at Sussex Neighbourhood House.

We missed Joy today. We hope she will be well enough to join us again soon!

Glennys is making appliquéd borders for a quilt featuring rose blossoms. Here's one of the buds:

She spread out the panels to show us how she had marked the position of the trailing stems to appliqué the buds and flowers to. Can you see the marking?

We couldn't, either. Unfortunately the vanishing marker she used has totally vanished before Glennys was ready for it to.

Marie brought along a collection of magazines and catalogues for us to read:

Meanwhile Marie added some hexagons to the edges of the green and red piece she has been working on in our last couple of meetings, to bring it closer to a square shape.

Almost done!

Vireya made another of the star shapes she has been doing lately. No photo, because it looks pretty much the same as the last ones. However, she only has one or two more of them to make, so we might see something different soon.  She did bring this for show-and-tell:

Undo that zip, and it becomes:

A shopping bag! The bag was designed by Nicole Mallalieu, but the pattern hasn't been released just yet. Vireya was one of the test sewers who tried it out before it is published.

That's it for our small group today. Join us again in two weeks, on 23rd July.

Quilters' Circle - 25th June, 2012

Can you believe that June is nearly over already? None of us can! Today was our only June meeting, because of the public holiday two weeks ago.

Mary popped in to return a couple of items and say Hi before she heads off overseas. We all hope she has a lovely trip, and will look forward to her traveller's tales.

Marie has been busy since our last meeting. First she made this small quilt top from the off-cuts of the "double cut" twisted pinwheel quilt she showed us last time:

Then she made this quilt using the same twisted pinwheel technique:

Sky blues and the propeller-like design make it an ideal gift for a couple who fly. 

Today Marie joined a few hexagons together:

Joy showed us the beginnings of her next project:

She is hand-piecing these triangles together into rectangle shapes, but they eventually will become diamonds. It will be interesting to see how they all come together.

Glennys was "volunteered" into replacing some missing beads on small girl's dance costume, so that was her project today:

Good as new!

Vireya made this star to add to the others she has made at recent meetings:

She also showed us her design for how they are going to go together, but no photo was taken of that. She has a few more stars to make before she starts assembling the entire design.

Our next meeting will be on the 9th July.  Happy quilting until we see you then!