Quilters' Circle - 30th April, 2012

Here we are again for the fifth Monday of April.

Glennys brought along her machine, and whipped up a couple of baby quilts. Well, quilt tops, anyway. Baby quilt number one:

And baby quilt number two (progress shot):

Later the first one was slightly re-constructed to change the orientation of one square. The quilts will have borders added later, but it was a very productive afternoon. Glennys needs to sew fast because of the imminent arrival of four babies in her circle of family and friends.

Meanwhile the rest of us worked on slower projects. It was almost a step-by-step lesson in English paper-piecing. Vireya cut out some (not hexagonal) templates she had printed:

Mary covered her hexagonal templates with fabric:

And Marie sewed her hexagons together and then removed some of the paper templates:

While we worked there was lots to talk about, tea to drink, and magazines to be inspired by. Before we knew it, it was time to go home.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 14th May. See you then!

Quilters' Circle - 23rd April, 2012

We had a few surprises at the house today.

Marilyn was our first surprise. She was in Melbourne for the weekend, and stayed here long enough to spend the afternoon with us. It was great to see her again. She showed us these items her sister made for her (possibly as a birthday gift? I forgot to ask).
A bag

and a tuffet!

The tuffet is for using on your lap when doing needlework, as it provides a better height working surface than a table.

Our second surprise was Joy! It is a while since she has been able to join us at the house, so we were all very happy to see her. Today she worked on a long-term appliqué project that we have seen parts of before:

Unfortunately some of the smaller pieces have fallen off and been lost before Joy has had the chance to stitch them into place. However she still has the fabrics, so she will be able to cut some replacement pieces.

Marie showed us this tissue holder she has made for a friend who loves cooking:

Ideal fabric! It was a lucky find at a recent 40%-off sale. Today Marie sewed together some tiny hexagons:

Glennys blanket-stitched the hem of a blanket for a baby who is due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile outside the weather surprised us all with a sudden thunderstorm:

Fortunately that was over by the time we were ready to leave.

Our next meeting is only a week away, as this month has five Mondays. See you on the 30th April.

Quilters' Circle - 26th March, 2012

This is the 100th post on our blog. Hooray! Thanks to everyone who reads the blog. Please feel free to leave a comment. I know from the stats that 47 different people have visited in the last week, even though it is nearly a month since our last new post.

Autumn is definitely in the air now, and today Carol showed us her progress on the autumn quilt for her grandmother:

It looks great!

Today Carol re-arranged some parts of this quilt she started in 1995:

Since starting it she has changed her mind about the layout, so now she is doing a little negative sewing (unpicking) in a few places to suit her new layout.

Marie has finished all the sashing and the borders of this quilt since our last meeting:

The pattern is "Story-Time Stars" by Bonnie Hunter available for download here. Marie's is for a lucky little girl.

Mary came to visit us, and enjoyed looking through some of the house's collection of patchwork magazines to find projects suitable for a new quilter. Vireya came straight from work after being called in unexpectedly this morning, so she enjoyed the magazines as well.

We all made note of the quilt shows coming up that we would like to attend:

Essendon Quilters this coming weekend, and the AQC in two weeks.

Our next meeting at the house is a month away, because of the Easter break. We will be back again at the house on the fourth Monday in April, the 23rd. See you all then for our 101th post!

Quilters' Circle - 27th February, 2012

It may have been a sticky summer day outside, but inside was a bit more conducive to activities like quilting.

Since our last meeting where she arranged her blocks, Marie has assembled them all, and joined them into strips with a chequerboard sashing between the blocks:

Today she was slicing up strips to make more of the chequerboards for the horizontal sashing.

Glennys is working on a secret project for a friend's special birthday. It is a "shabby-chic" style quilt, and here's a little part of the appliqué design on a border:

We look forward to seeing the whole project the next time we see Glennys.

Carol has recently been put in touch with some distant relatives in the UK. They sent these lovely hand-knitted bonnets for the newest member of the family:

We weren't mean enough to make Isabella model them for us on this sticky afternoon, so the chair had to do that job. Aren't they cute? The bobbles are actually part of the yarn, rather than knitted bobbles.

Carol also brought along a treat for all of us - some yummy chocolates:

While Isabella had a nap, Carol managed to get some leaves appliquéd on the border of the quilt she is making for her 98-year-old grandmother:

There's still a few leaves to go, but it is looking great.

Vireya covered templates for her paper-piecing project:

It might be while before we see what these turn into.

It will also be a while until we are back at the house. The next normal meeting day is Labour Day, so the house will be closed. We'll be back in four weeks, on 26th March. See you again then.

Quilters' Circle - 13th February, 2012

It's the second Monday in February, which means it's time for the quilters to get together again.

Last year Glennys brought along some mystery squares she had found. Today she had the finished product to show us:

Now it is a lap quilt finished just in time for her mother's birthday.

Glennys is making progress on her My Blue Heaven (quilt designed by Therese Hylton). Today she spread out her completed blocks to show us:

That's the original in the foreground for reference. More than half of Glennys's blocks are finished now, and it is looking good.

Marie brought along this block keeper which she made a few years ago:

 

Aren't those colours lovely? The "square in a square" blocks are made from hand-dyed fabrics, and match the colours in the main print really well. The purple cord keeps it securely closed for transport. It is like a small quilt wrapped around a cardboard tube. When you unroll it the inside is lined with a flannel fabric which holds everything in place, so you can use the block keeper for storing or transporting works in progress:

Today Marie had lots of use for it, as she spread out all the pieces for her latest project and played with arrangements of fabrics within the blocks:

Once she was happy with the arrangements, all the blocks were put into her block keeper, layered between pieces of calico, so that Marie could piece them together at home.

Vireya brought along a pot-holder she recently made using this same saw-tooth star block:

She is testing this one, before making some more. She used Vilene Thermolam for the batting. It is lovely and flexible, but perhaps a little thin. Vireya is planning to add another layer of something else (perhaps cotton batting) to the next one she makes.

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

Quilters' Circle - 30th January, 2012

It was a hot and sticky day. Not unexpected weather for this time of year, we suppose! A small group of quilters attended the Quilters' Circle fifth Monday meeting.

Marie brought along a Down Under Quilts magazine fresh from the letterbox. March looks like a big month for quilt shows in Victoria:

There are a few there we might make it to. In the meantime Marie is still appliquéing circles; quilter's circles.

Vireya spread out the sunflower blocks she has made so far. Will they be a wall hanging? What will go between them? How many more will she make?

Maybe not a lot more, given that today she was playing with ideas for another project using these shapes:

Later on, Richard joined us. He had purchased some fusible bias tape to outline the design elements of his quilt:

The package says, "It will eliminate time consumption in making and pinning it in place." I guess they are right, because it goes on pretty quickly! Richard will stitch it down later. The black lines really add impact to the design:

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 13th February. We hope you can join us!

Quilters' Circle - 23rd January, 2012

Welcome back for 2012, and happy birthday to Glennys! We all had cake to celebrate, and enjoyed catching up with what everyone did over the break.

Glennys is trying not to go slowly blind working on this cross-stitch sampler for her youngest grand-daughter:

That's actually four different pale pinks, and keeping track of them is not easy. It is painstaking work, but it will be lovely when it is finished!

Since our last meeting, Carol has finished putting together the quilt she is making for her grandmother, and is now adding a border:

Here's a close view of one of the embroidered blocks:

Very pretty! And baby Isabella approves, too. She wanted to get her hands on the quilt to see if tastes as good as it looks.

Marie made this lovely cushion for a friend:

It is the first time she has made the "snail trail" quilt block, and she enjoyed putting it together, so it might not be her last.

Today Marie was appliquéing circles for her on-going project. Here's her stock of circles:

She had fun going through her fabric supplies choosing which ones to cut out, but it will take a lot of stitching to use up all that she has cut so far.

Vireya brought along this quilt she finished during our break.

She made it using the "stack-n-whack" kaleidoscope technique devised by Bethany Reynolds. Vireya last brought this quilt along when it was in pieces about six years ago, although she actually made the blocks about five years before that. She is very happy to have finally finished it!

She also made this top since our last meeting:

This is Bonnie Hunter's design, "Story-Time Stars", which was only published on 10th January this year. Will Vireya get it quilted as quickly as she assembled it?

Leigh has been bitten by the hexagon bug, so came along to show us her progress and ask us about various methods of doing English paper-piecing. Everyone has a different preferred method, of course!

For now Leigh is just making these shapes, but she's considering unconventional layouts when it comes to assembling them into a quilt. It will be interesting to watch her progress and see what she decides.

January has five Mondays this year, so we will all be back again next week. See you then!