Quilters' Circle - 13th October, 2014

Happy October, everyone!

Seeing this patchwork dog in a Spotlight catalogue at our last meeting:

prompted a couple of us to bring along our own patchwork animals today:

We've met Mr. Lion before, when we met at Marie's home once when the neighbourhood house was closed.  He was made for Marie by a friend in 1966, and is all hand-sewn. He has a very cute embroidered face, although his button eyes have gone missing some time in the last 48 years!

Vireya made the two dogs in the early 1970s. She didn't have a pattern, but made them based on a picture she saw in a book. She used the English paper piecing method, as that was the only patchwork method she had heard of at the time. Nowadays it would be much faster to rotary-cut the squares, and sew them together by machine!

If one of these dogs looks brighter than the other, it is because the truth is that only one of them was finished in the 1970s. It is on the left in the top photo, and on the right in the lower one. The brighter dog was put away not-quite-finished, and stayed in the dark for 30-odd years. But Vireya sewed the last few seams and stuffed him a few years ago. They have both come to our group before, but it must have been before we started blogging in 2009.

If you would like to make your own patchwork critter, there is a pattern you can download here, or instructions here, but it isn't hard to improvise your own pattern and make a dog (or other animal) any size you like.

Glennys brought along the finished English paper piecing block she has been sewing at our last couple of meetings:

It was great to see it all together, and Glennys enjoyed the process so much she has started another block, using the same fabrics but a different design:

She's been bitten by the EPP bug!

Marie has made lots of parts of blocks for the pattern she showed us last time, Fabric Fusion from Modern Quilt Studio, and she spread them out so we could get an idea of what the finished quilt will look like:

Looking good so far!

Today Marie continued to apply her pieced hexagons to her background fabric:

Vireya has stitched together (but not pressed yet) four complete Wild & Goosey blocks (a Bonnie Hunter design):

Today she removed paper from a few more components she has made. She is also planning to participate in Bonnie's mystery again this year, which starts at the end of November. Bonnie announced her colours this week, and Vireya showed us some paint chips in Bonnie's colours:

Details of the mystery can be found here:
Grand Illusion Mystery.

Mary from the knitting group showed us these lovely poppies she made for the 5000 Poppies project, which you can read about here: 5000 Poppies

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 27th October. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 29th September, 2014

Today was our bonus "fifth Monday of the month" meeting.

Marie brought along this lovely children's book which we all enjoyed reading:

Marie showed us the background fabric her hexagons will be appliquéd to:

Today she stitch together a few more hexagon flowers. She also showed us a new project she has begun - one block of the pattern Fabric Fusion from Modern Quilt Studio:

She is planning to make 30 of these blocks. It should be fun choosing fabrics for this colourful quilt.

Debbie showed us this lovely garden journal which is another pattern by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched:

However, Debbie will be using the journal to record her craft projects, rather than garden projects.

Today Debbie worked on the last panel of sayings for her Truly Aussie quilt:

We may be seeing this quilt coming together soon!

In between her adventures packing up and moving home, Vireya has made a few parts of Wild and Goosey blocks (designed by Bonnie Hunter). They are made using the paper foundation piecing method. The pattern was published by Quiltmaker magazine, and the template can be downloaded from their site. Today she trimmed the sections she has done so far:

Here's the pile of trimmings after the last one was done:

Now the paper needs to come off the back of each one, so that they can be assembled into blocks. The sections will be put together with sashing to complete the blocks as per this mock-up:

Vireya is trying to make the whole quilt without cutting any fabric from her stash - just using scrap pieces left over from other projects. As she was packing up her sewing room she found a few such pieces she had forgotten about. For example, the sashing fabric in the above photo is actually the assembly instructions printed on a toy panel Vireya made up years ago.

We had some fun playing with different ways the blocks could be arranged.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 13th October. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 22nd September, 2014

Today Debbie showed us that she sometimes does hexagons too:

Here are a few sitting on a magazine ad for a quilt kit. But did Debbie buy the kit, or is it just her inspiration? Someone should have taken notes. Either way, they are cute hexagons! The website mentioned in the ad seems to be defunct, though, so it seems the kit isn't available any more.
Today Debbie was stitching another humorous saying for her Truly Aussie quilt (designed by Helen Stubbings):

Glennys has been assembling her My Blue Heaven quilt (designed by Therese Hylton):

There is another section still to be to be joined to the bottom of this one. We've seen lots of these blocks being stitched in our meetings, so it's lovely to see them all together!

Marilyn joined us and brought along this intriguing "folding cube" which her sister made:

As you open it up different fabrics are displayed,

and different configurations:

There are cubes of foam inside. We don't know if Marilyn's sister used a pattern, but there are instructions for making a wooden version covered with photos on this site:
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/05/08/magic-folding-wooden-photo-cubes/
You could probably adapt the photo instructions if you wanted to make a fabric version. It is meant to be a baby toy, but it is quite fun for adults as well.

Marie has two sets of hexagons joined for the sides of the bag she is working on:

There are a few more hexagons to add, then these pieces will be appliquéd to the body of the bag.

Sorry for the very brief report, but I only popped in to take the photos and couldn't stay to participate. I hope the rest of the attendees had a lovely afternoon together!

Our next meeting will be next week, on 29th September, as there are five Mondays this month.  See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 8th September, 2014

Happy Spring, everyone!

Today we all made progress on projects we've been working on for a while.

There are a few EPP (English Paper Piecing) projects on the go. Marie is joining hexagon flowers to each other:

Vireya is joining sections of her hexagon project:

Glennys is making some square shapes to complete the design for her project:

But we aren't all doing EPP. Debbie is embroidering:

Mary joined us and knitted - but no photo was taken of the knitting, unfortunately.

At our last meeting, Marie asked if anyone had a pattern for a zipped purse, as her purse was falling apart. Some of us forgot all about her request, but Debbie not only remembered, she made Marie a beautiful purse!

It is completely hand-stitched, in Marie's favourite colour, purple. Unfortunately the camera doesn't show the colours accurately - the purples are warmer than they appear here.

Here's the other side of the purse:

Debbie finished the purse by adding a friendly butterfly zipper-pull:

She even put a coin inside, because traditionally gifts of purses should include a coin so that they will never be empty. What a lovely and thoughtful gift, which you can be sure is greatly appreciated!

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 22nd September. Here are a couple of quilty events on before then if you are looking for somewhere to go:
13th September: Beaconsfield Quilt Show at Beaconsfield Neighbourhood Centre

19th to 21st September: Craft Fair at Cunningham Pier, Geelong. Details here:
http://www.2014craftfair.com.au/

See you in a couple of weeks!

Quilters' Circle - 25th August, 2014

Welcome to our last winter meeting for this year.

Debbie worked on another of the sayings for her Truly Aussie quilt (designed by Helen Stubbings):

For show-and-tell Debbie brought this sweet little pouch which is completely hand-stitched:

And that includes inserting the zip!

Debbie did use a pattern for this pouch, but it was a while ago so she doesn't remember the details. But if you recognise the design, please leave us a comment.

Marie showed us this card she made for her mother, featuring a collage of a poem her mother enjoys:

Can you guess the poem? Full words here in case you have forgotten them.

Marie has joined together some of her hexagon flowers since our last meeting, and today was adding green ones around the edges:

She also showed us this quilted case she made to hold her mobile phone and protect it from other items in her pocket:

Cute and practical!

Vireya has made all the flowers for her Flower Ball quilt, but still has a few short seams between hexagons that haven't been stitched. Today she worked on closing up some of those:

Once these little seams are all done, Vireya's next step will be to stitch together the flowers and create the ball shape.

Our next meeting is in two weeks, on the 8th September. See you in spring!

Quilters' Circle - 11th August, 2014

We were greeted today by bits of someone's stash which had been donated to the house:

Fabric, bias binding, zips, etc. Some of these goodies were labelled in pre-metric measurements (meaning before the early 1970s), and some even had pre-decimal price tags (before 1966)! So we all spent a some time hunting for items we would find useful.

Marie advised us of the upcoming August Made in Thornbury community market:

Note the quilt exhibition - Marie's quilting class will be displaying their work as an added attraction.

Today Marie stitched together some more of her cute little hexagons. She is building up quite a stack:

Spread them out to get a better look:

And a close-up of just one:

Very sweet!

Debbie embroidered another saying on her Truly Aussie quilt (designed by Helen Stubbings). Hands up everyone whose mother told them she would have their guts for garters?

According to World Wide Words, this originated in Britain in the 1700s, so only the "mate" at the end makes it particularly "Aussie".

Glennys made some progress on her EPP (English paper-piecing) project, assembling some "V" shapes:

Adding a large triangle:

And at least one small triangle:

So her first motif is almost complete.

Vireya prepared pieces for the last flowers in her Flower Ball quilt (designed by Geta Grama):

The colours are not accurate, as they are more purple and less blue in real life. This is flower number 20 of 22, so very soon she will be stitching all the pieces together.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 25th August. See you then!