Joyful Patterns from Joy

The wonderfully talented and vivacious Joy visited with us at our Christmas Fair and promised to send some of her patterns for our Group's Library, Thank you so much Joy for being so generous and supportive of our Group.

Well they arrived.........5 of them..........can you imagine! ohh so yummy patterns all of them

A pattern for a Binder Carry-All, this little beauty fits an A4 ring binder, there are pockets galore, to carry your stitchery or blocks, scissors, needles, threads and even a place for your pattern.

Plenty of scope to use those little scraps that you cannot bear to throw away, there is even pattern sheets..........yes sheets, in country and script to embroider roses and your name on the spine.

I can see a whole series of these for each embroidery and patchwork project........should I colour code them do you think?
or go for the eclectic look?












 

Then there is this fabulous Box Bag,  it has 3 inner pockets, one with a closing flap and 2 smaller open pockets for your phone and ipod, a large front pocket and best of all it folds flat, so a super second bag to take along when shopping.

Isn't this the best? beautiful grub roses in sprays on the corners and yes, there is a pattern for the embroidery and great directions on the assembly and placement of the grub roses................o.k., yeah, I did peek, but only because I had to take the patterns out of their envelopes for photography purposes...........really!, honest! I will be waiting until they are checked into the Library before I start stitchin' until I bust.
This large sewing tote open up flat, lots of pockets so that everything is at your fingertips.  Nice long handles to go over the shoulder - great pattern.

Well, didn't Grandie number 2 think he would like one of these quilties, Ohh, sweetie, stand in line, what a wonderful fresh and innovative pattern, straight cut blocks on the front and angled cut blocks for the back, quilt as you go for a fun reversible quilt with 2 very different looks.

And the last pattern I will show you is this wonderful beauty, a recent pattern of Joys......'Under Lock and Key' is a large tote, just perfect for taking your patchwork blocks along to class or group meetings, it has the cutest ruffle front and back.                          The front has a sweet little embroidered heart featuring an applique lock centered in a patchwork block. The tote unfolds to lay flat - just perfect to keep your blocks clean and wrinkle free.

How lucky are we, to receive all these fab patterns from Joy.!!

Anyone not able to wait until end of January for a pattern,.............lets meet for coffee and a little bribery.

Thank you so much Joy, these patterns will be much loved and used by the Group.

What is it they say  in the newspaper world?.......'Hold the Presses',
I really feel like yelping out those words or something similar..........just popped over to see what Joy has been up to and after reading her post on her wonderful family, down at the bottom, in Red No Less, is the most amazing news, Joy is putting a daily special in her sidebar for Christmas, one of her PDF patterns for only $5.00   That is less than half price  

The first pattern being offered is "Dragonflight", a beautiful quilt of 5 sashed rows with a dragonfly appliqued in flight formation to each row.

Go on Girls, pop over and have a drool, and if you don't have pay-pal or find it difficult to order,  give me a tingle on the phone, I will organise it for you and you can pay me when Patchwork starts back, this offer is too good to miss and it would be lovely to support such a prolific and wonderful Aussie designer.  Go knock yourselves out.

Andrea

O.K. really gotta go now, have some shopping to do...........yay, dontch just love the internet?!!     

Fran's Christmas Lunch

Fran missed the Patchwork Christmas Lunch again this year, one of the drawbacks to being such a busy and popular Lady, so she gathered up a group of us and off we trotted to the Buderim Tavern for a lovely lunch.

Wendy spent some time creating - well, untangling the loop- on this delightful bauble to replace one of Fran's earrings that had dropped off between home and the Tavern - she had a cute little christmas tree on the other side.

Unfortunately (or for the views, fortunately) we were seated by the windows, with the sunshine and light streaming in, it was delightful for the luncheon but a disaster for the piccies..........however, a couple are retreivable, luckily this one of Heather showing us all the wonderful prizes that she received when "Blue and Gold Baltimore Beauty" won at the Queensland Quilt Show (just scroll down to section 7 if you need a reminder of how beautiful that quilt is)

Heather got some beautiful fabric from Dayview Textiles and of course there was a lot of chatter and thought on just what pattern could be used for this wonderful range of colours.

Marcia rather coyly mentioned that she has discovered a new and interesting quilt block, she then offered to teach it to anyone interested at the Cottage next year............gosh that sounds so far away, but its just a couple of weeks actually.  (eeekkk, another year bites the dust).

Problem is, Heather will not be with us for the first half of next year, nope, off again, this time to Perth for 6 months.  She and the Darling will be living the life of Riley in a 10th floor apartment overlooking the Swan River, beautiful, beautiful views across the wide expanse of green to the river.  The sad part of all this for Heather (sad for us is no Heather for 6 months.......sigh & sob) but for Heather, there is a decision to be made, take her machine or buy a new one over there?! Yeah, real sad decision that!

Heather also won a quilting voucher from Tricia Simpson of 'Cut From The Same Cloth' in Mango Hill.  Tricia can be contacted on 07 3886 4993 or email her  triciags2000 (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au.
Tricia has also offered a discount to you if you mention the connection, how very kind and giving of her.

So eventually, after lots of chatter and giggles, the girls went off to order, leaving the hubbies behind to chat about travel and motor mechanics..........well that's what I overheard when returning to the table

And this is a glimpse of what was ordered..........Yum, missed the Wagayu Burger, they were enormous, and delicious.........he he he.

Then more chatter and merriement

and so off home, clutching goodies of beautiful machine embroidered pin cushions, ta Wendy, and a barrel of Fran's beautiful biccies,...........which the Grandies discoverd in no time flat the next day and tucked in with a will.

An update on Totally Patchwork in Palmwoods,  not there anymore..........nope packed up and moved to Gympie............

STOLEN QUILT!

Can you imagine how you would feel if some unpleasant person did this to you?

Ann Ferguson from Quiltopia Design had her quilt stolen from outside the doorway to her shop in Maleny last Sunday.

Ann's delightful little shop is at the end of a short arcade at 39 Maple Street, and well worth a visit, with lovely ranges of fabrics, Moda fabric packs and threads with beautiful quilts throughout the store.

Pop over to Ann's blog to read her story, and if you see this quilt or know of its whereabouts, please, encourage the return of the quilt to Ann, after all what enjoyment could you possibly get from looking at or patting a quilt that can only say one thing to you, I am stolen!

Workshop with Jenny

Lorraine sent me an update on the Thursday Night girls workshop of 3rd December.

"Thursday night at the evening Patchwork meeting, we had a workshop where we all made a gorgeous bag.  Jenny was our tutor,  and as you can see from the little photo from my phone - there were lots of beautiful patterns produced.  Some of the Wednesday afternoon ladies joined us, and we were all so happy to be taking home a finished article after a 2 hour class!"

Lorraine also sent a pic of all the girls who took part in the Row x Row, taken at the end of the Beach Party evening seated in the Atrium surrounded by the lovely quilts and flimseys.

Standing at back we have Jane, Maureen, Lorraine, Jenny, Jane, Debbie and Di and seated is Marleen, Letitia, and June.  Marleen was the groups stand in, completing many of the rows when some of the other girls were away.

70's Beach Party..........

.......was the theme for the Thursday Night Groups Christmas Party, with the girls and their guests really getting into the 70's swing of things, gosh who can remember what they were wearing back in the 70's? these gals did

Debbie wore the cutest fringed hostess slacks, complemented with a pink lei (of course)

wonderfully vibrant colours were worn and also decorated the table tops, just look at these bright, fluro champagne goblets, and there was even a little pink bubbly to go in them with the obligatory drink umbrellas to really get you in the mood.

How about the beach belle in the kitchen, she wasn't there for long, chucked that tea towel and outside to be a party girl with the surfie dudes..........yep there were even Surf Lifesavers cooking up a storm on their barbie.  Ross and John were pressed into Duty by their wives, Debbie and Letitia, doesn't look like they mind one bit now does it? Great job done Guys, Thanks from all the party girls.

 It was Johns birthday and of course no one can pass up the opportunity to have a little sing song now can they?, John said if he had know he was going to be sung to he would have bought along his Ukele............

The Charity, strike that, the Charities that the girls choose to support with the proceeds of their party was the STEMM (Supporting Teenagers with Education, Mothering and Mentoring) organisation of Burnside High School in Nambour, a wonderful program that has unwed young Mums continue their education with a safe haven for them to leave their Bubs.

instead of exchanging gifts each partygoer bought along a practical item that the new Mum's would need for their Bubs, these were all piled, well artfully displayed, in the center of the Atrium surrounded by the row x row quilts, some of which were even finished!! more on that later. 
Thursday night leader, Lorraine presented the goodies to Kristen an behalf of STEMM.

Patchwork group leader, Sheila announced that in line with the Wednesday girls Christmas Party subsidy, the group was also subsidising the Thursday night party to a tune of $100.00.
Lorraine immediately added the $100 to the other monies raised through raffles on the night and donated, not only to STEMM, but also the very deserving Surf Life Savers Group

 

 The guys said 'Ta lots',or words like that,  and continued to enjoy their cake, It's not an easy thing to distract a guy from cake you know.

It was then time to start drawing the raffle prizes, with Letetia being the organiser, but those pesky tickets kept leaping from the box and blowing around the ground

But with some help from the more athletic and some nifty snaffling by Gwen, the winners were drawn.  First prize was Janet, who thought she had won a Surfie Dude, declined both but was happy to take one home..............had to settle for a huge basket of goodies instead.

The finished row x row quilts were just stunning with the partially assembled flimseys showing a lot of promise

Hopefully they can all be photographed when they are finished next year and posted.

This is Lorraines quilt, she quilted it herself, on her domestic machine, oh easy she said, its just straight lines....

oh yes, and some not very straight lines at all............beautifull quilting.

 

It was a wonderful night, beautifully organised with lots of delicious food and masses of eye candy..........no sillies, not the Surfie Dudes, the quilts in the Atrium.

Christmas Party 2009..........

...........Wow, what a lunch Sheila and her trusty band of helpers arranged for the rest of the group today, there was a beautiful spread of cold meats and salads, followed by ...............yep you guessed it GAMES!.......ha! you thought it was Chrissy pudd, didn'tcha?

Of course the games were quilting based and the disagreements were many................Sue was telling Betty to do the Maths twice, Betty called on Heather to use her phone calculator and it was a good thing too.........

'Cause Sue won, just how many pieces are there in a Jacobs Ladder block?

Bettys antlers had a little sticker at the front 'try me' it said.............well you can imagine the comments and suggestions, so Table Hostess Janice pressed the button, and lo and behold, lights! and singing too!, everyone wanted some of those antlers.

After following tradition and telling us a 'Blonde Joke' which I shall try and remember and pop it at the bottom of the post Sheila then called on each table to choose someone to be a tree, we then all had to decorate our 'tree'.

Talk about innovation, lateral thinking and competitive spirit, we got to see it all, everyone got stuck in and worked in teams.

While others were busy, captured Julie in her Christmas Hat and pinnie,  what a beauty, yeah and the hat's pretty cool too.

Now what on earth are Marcia and Wendy up to? hacking into the tissue paper with scissors......

Why this of course, can't have a christmas tree, without.......well a christmas tree...

those naughty girls in the background were making smart comments about Wendy and the pinning of the top of the tree...........really, your mind wouldn't wander down that track now would it?

Marlene told me not to take this pic, she was up the back doing secret things to the foil baking dish.

So wandered off and snapped some of the merriment and mayhem.................

and the process that resulted in some pretty flash 'trees' oh yeah, forgot to mention, the theme was Angels........

And this is what Marlene was working on up the back, a Star, yes it is........squint........see, its a star!

There was a bit of bother getting it afixed to Winifreds Head, but the clever girls got it there in the end with the help of a little curlsheen.

Time for Sheila to make a Judging, note the green curlsheen that solved Winifred's star problem

First we had the rotating, musical singing tree, imaginary winder in the back was cranked up nicely by Marcia

With Musical Tree, finally coming face to face with one of her makers.

And the Winner is.................

Winifred and her Christmas Star.

A great time was had decorating our individual trees, and a terrific appetite was worked up for......yep, at last, the Chrissy Pudd and Custard, great sloshes of custard, the only way to eat your Chrissy Pudding. Yum, although naughty Sue, who was helping dish up dessert, found to her delight that some of the Pud stuck to the bottom of the tin, so quick as a flash she scooped up and into the gob, but not quick enough, she got caught!

Nobody seemed to miss that tiny little bit (Sue's words) enourmous gobfull, (someone else's words).

The delicious Pudd was followed by plates of grapes, and of course tea and coffee.........................
A Wonderful Christmas Party. 

Off they Go............

..........pressies all ready to pop into the post, of the 10 winners we were advised of 7 addresses and of course Wendy who will get her pressie at the Christmas Party next week.  2 winners have not advised their addresses, if nothing is heard from them by next Monday there will be a re-draw at the Christmas Party.


Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and especially those lovely ladies who have decided to follow our blog.  We now have 20 followers, thank you and welcome.  It is a treat to visit you on your blogs, and I for one am enjoying 'getting to know you'.

Christmas Fair 2009......

was a huge success, all the groups raised lots of lovely money to spend on 'tools of the trade', tutors and books for their respective libraries, but oh heck, busy just doesn't cover it, work, work, work, but at the same time, fun all round, chatting to other group members that you may not have seen since Easter Fair, greeting long term return shoppers, meeting new community members and even the odd person being inspired to join our Cottage..........odd as in number......not odd..........lovely people all, really.

Had just finished my little stint being 'dish pig'  gawd I hate that term, I think dish picker upper and table wiper is better, longer, but better...........sorry I digress, handed my apron and dishcloth over to the next volunteer - Hi Barbara - and was just standing there - having a little nanna nap with my eyes open, as you do, when I focused on a beautiful smiling face before me, it was Joy!, from Joypatch, the 1st prize winner of our Birthday giveaway.

She and her Darling, Darryl had come up from Brisbane to visit our Fair.  It was so lovely to meet them both, and of course we then had to go meet Sheila and the other girls.

 No sooner had Joy and Darryl left than the Grandies arrived.  I've always let them loose at the Fair's saying 'You can have anything you want', feeling quite safe, little boys aren't going to want expensive things now are they?  Well this year there were a couple of narrow escapes, think I will be using different words next Fair day...smile..

Still, we managed to do some serious damage to the plastic, the eldest choose these items to decorate his bedroom for Christmas

and the youngest choose these, he particularly loved the bird on the day but I hear that the mouse, aptly named 'mousie' is now the favourite.

but the Rudolph finger puppets are a must for the car, so if you see a little boy, sitting up in his car seat, with Rudolph on his finger, he is saying Hi and showing you his puppet.

Still waiting on some addresses for the giveaway winners.  Have decided to post those that we do have.
The mailing addresses for the other winners need to be sent to buderim(dot)patchwork at gmail(dot)com

And guess who Fran met? Fran and her novelties table are always stationed under the trees by the pathway , and Carl, our new 'Buderim Police Beat' policeman was doing the rounds and dropped in to say Hi and meet some Buderim faces, well Fran certainly saw that he did, Carl was taken through the Cottage and met everyone there from the Groups.

 Pic taken with my phone, from shade into the sun, sorry not a lot could be done.

The Novelties table is stocked chock-a-block with small items made by the Needlework Group with the younger set in mind, Fran attends that stall all Day Saturday and Sunday - a marathon effort, one of many marathon efforts from a core of hardworking Cottage members.