Quilters' Circle - 28th July, 2014

Spring was in the air today, as four quilters gathered at the Sussex Neighbourhood House.

Debbie brought along a feast of show and tell for us today. First is a bag for holding take-along projects:

It is lined with 1930s fabrics, has pockets inside, and a drawstring closure. I'm afraid I didn't ask who designed it, though! The panels are stitched together with blanket stitch. One side is embellished with hexagons:

And another with a vase of yo-yo flowers:

Next there are a couple of projects from the book A Gardener's Journal, by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched. This is the Gardening Friends Wall Hanging:

And the Sunglasses Case:

Next is the Tea for Three table runner (designed by Sue Daley):

It features embroidered octagons surrounded by English paper piecing. Here's a close-up of one panel, so that you can see Debbie's lovely embroidery:

Gorgeous!

Debbie's final show and tell project is a set of small quilts, which can be strung together as bunting for Christmas decorations. There are two different sets of designs mixed together in these photos, both from Patchworks Unlimited. One is their Mini Nativity (set of 7), and the other is Christmas Symbols (8 in the set).

The nativity scene block has a personal touch added by Debbie's daughter (who was about 5 at the time). She felt that the people should have faces, so drew them in herself:

When it happened Debbie was less than impressed, but now the smiling faces have become charming remembrances of that little girl who is no longer little. And it made us all smile, too!

Glennys has started work on the very last block of her My Blue Heaven quilt (designed by Therese Hylton):

This little bird needs a few additions before he is complete, but he is looking very sweet so far. He is only one small piece of the final block, but the end is in sight.

Marie worked on these cute little hexagons:

Notice the very appropriate sewing-related fabrics. Marie will be making a sewing bag from them.

Vireya assembled another section of her Flower Ball quilt (designed by Geta Grama), and laid out the completed parts for a progress shot:

It has grown a bit since the last time we saw it. It will be too big to fit on a table soon!

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 11th August. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 14th July, 2014

Happy Bastille Day, and what I think we can officially call the middle of winter!

Everyone worked on EPP (English paper piecing) projects today.

Glennys covered some more shapes, then showed us the bits she has made so far:

She also showed us some ideas she has for extending this project beyond the small one she was originally planning. Proof that EPP can be addictive!

Marie brought along this piece to show us. It is going to be a bag for carrying quilts around, and is assembled using crazy-patch style blocks she made some time ago:

Marie also showed us this šúpolienka, or corn-husk doll, brought back from Slovakia for her:

Isn't she lovely! She is doing some traditional Slovakian embroidery.

Today Marie prepared more hexagons for her EPP project:

Notice how all the fabrics feature sewing themes. What will they become? We will have to wait and see.

Vireya stitched together another flower for her version of Geta Grama's Flower Ball design:

Then she laid out all the pieces she has assembled so far:

It is starting to develop the ball shape.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 28th July. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 30th June, 2014

It's the fifth Monday of the month, the last day of the financial year, and definitely winter!

This artwork left in the room by another group looks very quilt-like:

Debbie stitched another of the sayings for her Truly Aussie quilt (designed by Helen Stubbings), and showed us a panel of six she has done since we last saw her:

Closer view of one:

This lead to a small discussion of how many sandwiches are usually said to be short. There are variants with a few, a couple, one, a half, and probably others. This picnic seems very lacking, if seven sandwiches have gone missing.

Marie has assembled another single-bed sized quilt top for her group's community quilt drive:

Fortunately someone else is going to quilt these bed-sized ones, but Marie quilted the smaller ones herself. Today she was stitching down the binding on a baby-sized one:

Cute elephants!

Vireya played with some fabric selections for another flower in her hexagon garden quilt:

Last week she was cutting out a t-shirt pattern, and today she wore a t-shirt she made this week:

Although she didn't use last week's pattern to make this, she did use some techniques that she learnt in the Craftsy class.

Next weekend (4th - 6th) is the Essendon Quilters' Show, which we are all probably going to attend. It is at a new venue this year, the Sports and Performance Centre at Moonee Ponds Primary School.

Our next session will be on 14th July. Please pop in again then and see what we've been up to.

Quilters' Circle - 23rd June, 2014

It has been four weeks since our last meeting, which was quite a gap, but fortunately we will have a bonus "5th Monday" meeting next week.

Mary from the knitters group showed us this lovely blanket she crocheted, which she's finished just in time for today's winter weather:

It is a beautiful blend of 13 different coloured 8-ply yarns. It is quite large - there are two people hiding behind it holding it up.

Since our last meeting Glennys has returned from her travels to Dubai, Italy and Turkey, and today she entertained us with travellers tales. She is also trying out some English paper piecing:

The pattern she is using is "Rose Garden" by Yvonne Skodt.

Today she picked up a few suggestions for making covering the paper pieces easier, and by the end of the session had a few more pieces ready.

Marie has been working on community quilts using Eleanor Burns' "Fabric Frenzy" block. She showed us this single-bed top ready for quilting, which includes a few blocks Vireya made as well:

The greens, blues and purples create a restful colour scheme, and the scrappy fabrics hide the block design.
Today Marie finished stitching the binding on a cot-sized quilt in the same design:

Check out the cute manatees on the back:

When she packed everything up at the end of our session, we realised the bag Marie was using was in the same colour scheme as her quilts:

Vireya spent time today making alterations to a pattern for a t-shirt making class she is doing on Craftsy:

Maybe she will have a t-shirt to show us at the next meeting.

That next meeting will be next Monday, 30th June. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 26th May, 2014

Today's meeting was a little special because tomorrow is Vireya's birthday.

The old advertisements printed on this fabric gift entertained us:

We enjoyed some yummy chocolate biscuits:

Happy birthday Vireya!

After the gifts and afternoon tea, Vireya worked on her Flower Ball quilt (designed by Geta Grama). Here's her latest flower:

And here it is next to the flowers she has already made:

Debbie stitched another saying for her Truly Aussie quilt (designed by Helen Stubbings):

Marie showed us two cot-sized quilt tops:

These are made from Eleanor Burns' Fabric Frenzy block, and will be donated to a women's refuge. Marie has made enough blocks for another single-bed size quilt as well.

Today Marie stitched down the binding on another community quilt she has made:

I thought we already had seen the front of this quilt, so didn't photograph it. Sorry, that was a mistake.

There's another public holiday on our next scheduled meeting day, so we won't be back until 23rd June. See you again then!

Quilters' Circle - 12th May, 2014

It's hard to believe that May is here already! Outside it was warm and sunny, so even the weather didn't want to believe that winter will soon be here.

Debbie had lots of show and tell for us today. First up is this beautiful "Road to Saint Louis" quilt, which is completely hand pieced and hand quilted:

Next up is an Aussie version of Noah's Ark:

We don't know who designed this pattern, but if you do, please let us know so that this post can be updated with the correct details. Thanks to a helpful member of Southern Cross Quilters, who identified this pattern as "Noah Down Under", published in 1995 by The Cotton Patch, then in Belconnen, ACT.

Debbie's next quilt is "Leanne's House" block of the month designed by Leanne Beasley:

The contrast on that photo has been increased a little so that some of the details can be seen more clearly. In real life the colours are a bit softer, as in the detail shot below:

Look at all the beautiful embroidery Debbie has done! She finished this one in 2005.

Here's another Leanne Beasley design Debbie has made, "Journey of a Quilter":

And a close-up of one small piece, again featuring lovely embroidery:

Marilyn was in Melbourne so was able to join us today. She worked on stitching this cute owl:

Glennys worked on the binding of the elephant quilt we last saw as a top in March:

Here's the cute fabric on the back:

Marie was also stitching down binding today:

Here's the quilt with the binding attached, before Marie started stitching it to the back:

Lots of cute and colourful animals!

Marie also showed us these blocks:

There are 16 blocks in the photo; each block comprises four large squares and nine small ones. Construction is a bit tricky because there is a partial seam involved. Marie's quilting class are all making these blocks (which are Eleanor Burns' pattern Fabric Frenzy) to be assembled for quilts to be donated to a women's refuge.

Marie kindly brought along some pink fabrics for Vireya's flower quilt:

Today Vireya selected and prepared fabrics for the next flower:

Our next meeting will be in two weeks, on 26th May. See you then!