Wonderful Memory/Art Quilt and Workshop shenannigans

Janet took a mystery workshop today, everyone was so busy trying to guess what the article was, hints and guesses being thrown around the room and not too much listening being done, Janet found lots of calming jelly beans were needed, well that's what she told us......
Christine thought she had made a right muck up, but no, she hadn't been listening, Sue went crook at her..

...as you can see, she was dreadfully upset........not....

Sorry about the awful piccie, the photographer arrived late and was trying to catch up......oh those suffolk puffs!
And what was the Mystery I hear you ask, these lovely little rolls were, perfectly designed to hold a reel of thread, your thimble and plenty of space for different sized needles.

We all managed to finish our holders in time for Show and Tell.  Cool, a new and pretty 'essential' started and finished in the one afternoon......and you can have your Suffolk Puff facing in or out, Sue put a little star in the center of her Puff, some beads would be nice...no? and wouldn't it be cool to make a matching block roll from Linda's tutorial?  oooh I can see a project in the making here!  We will be putting up a tutorial for this thread roll in the near future.........will let you know when it happens.

 Betty has been playing with the Disappearing 9 Patch again this week, using 3 different 'feature' fabrics she has created yet again a different layout design.  Betty is going to turn this one into a tablecloth for her patio. 

Was heading for the arvo tea table when Barbara mentioned that she had finished her quilt, now she has been a bit shy about sharing, so I grabbed it while she wasn't looking, and with a bit of help from a friend, whisked it out the back to hang it. ......WOW!!!, I was blown away, I am so in awe of anyone who can create such a free flowing memory quilt........

There is a wealth of stories in this quilt, fabric from family members dresses, a blouse, a fave pair of slacks...Then there are the two blocks created from Lyn Ballinger past challenges, 'Pop Art' and 'Be In It'.  

I love the way the mauve frill emphasises the face but then becomes a 'bonnet' by the simple application of appliqued leaves and a little flip downwards.

The hands were an addition from one of the little folk in Barbara's family, I have to confess, was a bit  lot bad with this quilt, was so engrossed some of the story detail just didn't stick, would it have been a Grandie?, Grandaughter even?
The Cymbal player is to celebrate.......'Hooray, Strike up the Band, finally finished!' and Barbara has also included her 'Star of the Month' button that she earned for all the hard work she did, sorting and pricing the Goods for Sale in our recent Cottage Garage Sale.

The two bottom blocks (above) are blocks from a Diane Johnson workshop that we did sometime back, oh all right then, way way back!
And that's why arvo tea was half gone by the time it was snapped.............ah well......sorry 'bout that.

Gwen was then spied showing a group of nibbling ladies a couple of flimseys,

these lovely softly coloured stitcheries just cried out for fabrics from the same pallet,

Gwen had had a little scratch around in her stash and out fell a bag containing these scraps! Perfect!, Gwen was sure she couldn't have got a better match if she had gone shopping! however there was one tinsy little problem, not enough fabric to complete the borders!.....rats with a capital!, Gwen solved the problem by taking a row of pieced squares from the top and one side and Viola!, plenty of fabric.........well, enough anyway.
And what else did Gwen have to show?...........this beauty..........

Now Gwen has a new addition to her family, a brand new Great Grandson..........(saw the piccies and he is just the cutest!)...........sorry, off track there....... well, a friend was stitching this quilt top and Gwen just fell in love with it, perfect for the new Great Grandie, a deal was struck and Gwen will be finishing this off for her little cutie.
And so back to the arvo tea table, those little savouries were yummo, then stretched the allowance and had a square of caramel slice........not too shabby folks!

Linda's Perfectly Portable Project Roll- Up ...........

.........a tutorial from Linda of Flourishing Palms.   
Not only is Linda one of our 'Followers', often commenting on the lovely work done by our Members, but she is a very prolific and talented blogger, her blog Flourishing Palms is always interestingly written with a nice balance of her quilting and family life.
Linda recently visited Sydney and while here toddled off to a Sydney 'Scquilters' meeting, where she spied Loz with a great Project Roll Up. 
Linda took pics and notes and created her own roll up and a step-by-step tutorial posted on her 'Stitchin Mission blog for all to follow.  It's a great tutorial, easy to follow with clear directions and piccies.  Click on this link to go to the tutorial, you can download a four page full colour PDF or save the file to your computer.
Then pop over to Flourishing Palms to leave Linda a 'Tar very much'

Quilts for STEMM's Mums

Our newsletter mentioned that the Thursday night group are having a bit of a push to make lots of Baby quilts for the new Mums at STEMM, and we've been asked to dig around the stash and unearth the odd piece of fabric or wadding to donate to help out, well Penny, owner of Patchwork Angel, and a Thursday night member, donated some lovely vibrant fabric and wadding that Janet has turned into these 3 Baby Quilts.

Janet used the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern, (gosh that pattern is proving to be a boon to the quick and easy quilt pallet!)  to create these 3 and she will be delivering them on her next STEMM volunteering day. 

The innovative and wonderful STEMM (Supporting Teenagers with Education Mothering and Mentoring) program is set at Burnside High School in Nambour, here on the Sunshine Coast, with the aim of helping teenage Mums to finish their high school education while acquiring skills essential to bringing up their child.  Several young ladies have not only finished their High School education but have gone on to further their education at the USC. 
The program is a partnership between Education Queensland, TAFE and the University of the Sunshine Coast.  For more info go to the STEMM site here and the USC news and events page here.
Of course none of this program would be possible if it wasn't for the support and work freely given by a wide range of selfless volunteers - (o)  (o)  (o) Big Claps and Thank You's  to all.

A late start to the day and a very late post

There wasn't much activity when our group gathering started on Wednesday, in fact there weren't  very many bodies to be seen..........where were they all??....... well they were at the Kawana Quilters annual Morning Tea and Show and Tell and boy oh boy, wasn't everyone on a high when they finally arrived back in Buderim, a great time had been had by one and all and of course there had been prizes to be won, Beryl being a lucky prizewinners with this bundle of goodies, including 2meters of fabric, an embroidered hand towel and a scented candle.

Everyone who attended was given a little embroidered or beaded envelope pin to keep their raffle tickets in.......cute huh? Beryl chose a red one to suit her blouse.

When the chit chat finally subsided Sheila and Sue gave a tutorial on Fibonaci, and using the Fibonaci Tables in quilting, particularly in borders to get the balance right, as well as using Sudoku in patchwork.

Sue created this simple but very effective quilt using both the Sudoku principal for the blocks and the  Fibonaci tables to get a good balance between block sizing and borders.

 Sue used QAUG construction with the sashing being part of the design on the quilt front.

The block quilting is an echo of the oblong piecing in the blocks, simple, easy and very effective.


Sheila decided on a set of place mats - they will be a gift to one of her lucky family members - using the Sudoku numbering principals

Using 9 squares of 9 different fabrics, and grabing  a Suduko answer from the paper to follow, Sheila will have 9 placemats all the same but every one will be different. Ha! does that make sense?, look at the Suduko answer and it will.

This is the layout of the second of Sheila's placemats, see the subtle difference? Math in quilting at work! clever girl to put sudoku to work.

Beryl had this wonderful vibrant quilt to share with us, started in another class and recently finished, perfect for a wall hanging in a tropical home.

Lorraine I. bought this honey coloured beauty along,  it will soon have perle cotton 'flight trails' stitched into it for a finishing touch and then it will be donated to be raffled.........yep it is to be raffled, and for a very good cause.......

 

 Lorraine is an Apiarist and belongs to the local Sunshine Coast bee keepers association.  To raise funds the apiarists group will be raffling Loraine's donated quilt for only $2.00 a ticket at the Nambour show - June 18th to 20th.  If you would like a chance to win this beauty, pop along to the show to meet Lorraine and grab a ticket.  

Of course if you can't be at the show, Lorraine will be selling tickets at the Cottage, or you could e-mail her via our group's e-mail,  fatquarternews(at)yahoo(dot)com and I'm sure she would love to sell you a ticket.

Sometime ago - before becoming an Apiarist, Lorraine spotted the fun bee fabric and snaffled herself a swag of it, which just goes to prove the old quilting lore..........if you see it and you like it..........grab it!

All those Suffolk Puff flowers in the borders were made using the different sized Clover Suffolk Puff tools,... you know, those ones we have in the Library!......

Arvo tea had some of the yummiest sangers, someone who had managed to miss the Kawana Quilters Do had also managed to miss breakfast and lunch, boy were the worms biting, those sangers were the answer,  egg and lettuce and asparagus with cheddar.

The mini cupcakes recipe with the Hazelnut Chocolate frosting is from The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook.......would take a pic for you but my copy is getting a tad ratty, will put the coffee syrup cupcake recipe up in recipes......later........perhaps tomorow?

Judie Bellingham on Bellaonline

Judie Bellingham left us a comment, did you see it?........if you missed it, she has posted photos on the Worlds's Biggest Hexagon Quilt, shown at the Queensland Quilters Picnic last Tuesday.
For a peek at Judy's pics and to read all about the quilt pop over here

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8971.asp

A Plethora of quilts......

....and something very precious.

"Wow!! What a plethora of quilts!" was the comment from one happy member on arrival yesterday, and she was right, lots of lovely Show and Tell including something precious, ....a loving gift from a Grandie to a Grandma
Marguerite was the lucky Gran, her Grandaughter having crafted this innovative and vibrant scarf, carefully tied at intervals. Isn't Mothers Day the best invention ever..........

Marguerite proudly wearing her scarf, it even has a loop one end to thread the tail through. Perfect!
Val has started her 'Under the Sea' stitcheries, a free BOM from the lovely Cheryl Goss of Willowberry Designs. How about those lips on Frances the Fish!
Lyn started her 'Shattered Stained Glass' in a Diane Johnson class a while back, Lyn started with a black background and appliqued the pieces onto the background, not unlike a mosaic, for a stunning result.
We have had some sneak peaks of Betty's stack and slash QAG over the past few weeks, Lovely to see this stunner completed. Betty defined each fabric by using black bias on the seams and black binding between each block. Betty is putting this one up for sale at the Christmas Fair. Bet it goes out the door quick smart!

Lorraine H has created a lovely quilt for a family member - (nephew? if I can remember correctly). Lots of movement in the 9 patches surrounding the feature fabric panel, this quilt could be a wall hanging or a bed quilt.

The finished disappearing 9-Patch that Lorraine H started in our recent workshop. Lorraine made 9 blocks, your can see most of a spare to the left, to lengthen the square, Lorraine has added a triple sash each end and bordered the whole with one of the fabrics used in the patches.

The day of the disappearing 9 patch workshop, Betty was inundated with photocopying, so wasn't able to take part in the class, luckily the photocopier is in the same room, Betty kept an eye on the proceedings and decided to give the design a go, bringing her version in to show us today.

Val has a friend who simply cannot even sew a button on, no chance of a quilt for a Grandie there! A deal was struck and Val created this ever so cute little quilt and used the leftover fabric to create a floor mat to match......yep, another disappearing 9 patch.
It was then time for our monthly meeting, we often have a 'Star of the Month' given out to someone who has gone the extra mile for members and the group.
This month Fran was the recipent. Now I'd like to say that Fran was a quiet achiever, but there is very little about Fran that is quiet, except the work she does for us. She is always upbeat, and cheery, helps everyone and keeps us amply supplied with shortbread bikkies to die for......there is always a jar of homemade biscuits in the cupboard.
Getting congrats. from Patricia, and telling me about the young 'P' plater who tooted his horn at she and Marguerite on their lunch walk today, it's all about the 'new blonde' they tell me........
I reckon the slit up the side of the skirt had a bit to do with it. Gotta love the 'P' Plater, he made a few peoples day.

I'm a great one for internet ordering, and I've got it pretty well down pat......well, now it is....in the early days the odd blunder or two was made, like ordering a box of Charlotts Web, fusible thread, more thread that one person could use in a lifetime, so when Marie showed interest in the way I was using it I was more than happy to give her a reel, your know, ease the guilt out the door a little.
Today Marie gave me this, isn't it gorgeous?, I love the crocheted frill at each end, it is so pretty and feminine.
Marie was adding the finishing touches when a visitor decided that the scarf was just too cool and ordered 5 in 'Footy Colours' for her football group. Here's Marie, busily knitting up a footy storm.....ugh, that is a really bad pun...sorry.....not even Storm colours.... isn't red and black St. Kilda???
Thank you so so much Marie, I love my beautiful scarf.
Lorraine H does wonderful quilting, particularly on her borders, she agreed to show us just how easy it is to achieve lovely quilted borders.
See that roll in Lorraine's hand?, it's amazing stuff, just look at how intent, Sheila, Ailsa and Betty are!..there is a printed design on the sticky backed paper, just tear off the length, lay it on your border and using your walking foot, sew along the lines.
See the lovely uniform lines on the bottom of Lorraine's quilt? certainly beats trying to draw a design by hand.
Lorraine then showed us her collection of stencils and her quilters ponce, filled with chalk powder you just wipe it over the stencil to leave an easily followed stitching line. The chalk just dusts away.
Lorraine used her stencils and chalk to create this effective border design, marking up one side at a time and then stitching the design before going on to the next border.
And then it was time for arvo tea, the white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes were popular, and the mini bacon and egg pies were just about a no show, someone who had to drive down to Caboolture and back missed lunch, thanks to a truck accident on the Highway, she tucked into the pies before they hit the table. Naughty girl!!

Patsy Thompson and 'The Quilt Show'

Sue sent me a heads up to watch a video on 'The Quilt Show' presented by Patsy Thompson on spray basting a quilt on a wall !!?! And it's Brilliant!
Although we have a great set up at the Cottage sometimes you just need to sandwich a quilt at home, and sometimes that is easier said than done, what with tables not co-operating or the sewing table/sandwiching table being under a pile of WIP/UFO's etc etc.....you know what I'm saying here....
Anyway, I noticed a little icon flash up on the video, 'Embed' it said, well I didn't have to get a second invitation........so I did!

The video is part of a Free Motion Quilting set of lessons that are being made available on 'The Quilt Show' with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/newsletters.php/newsletters_id/1369
pop over to their site on the link above for a great offer, just $20 for 6 months of episodes and these great free motion video lessons.
O.K. now I'm off, to spend my 20 bucks............hope you all enjoy the video.

Quilt Aid 2010

It's almost time for Quilt Aid 2010, a wonderfully innovative way for quilters to enjoy what they love doing and at the same time to raise funds for the Addis Adaba Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.

Helen (who has been heavily involved in the setting up of this charity) of 'hugs 'n kisses' patterns and Hugs from Helen blog is running a QuiltAid 2010 guess the blocks competition, offering a complete set of block patterns and one finishing kit pattern. (No fabrics, patterns only)
Visit Helen to be part of the competition, after all you've gotta be in it to win it!
Just to scroll through her post and look at all the quilt blocks is eye candy in itself!
(Betcha block 6 is from our LPS, Patchwork Angel........)

For those who missed out on Quilt Aid 2009, a little info......
12 Designers team up with 12 stores to design a themed quilt block, using a pre-chosen fabric pallet.
Each of the stores then designs a finishing kit, each kit giving a vastly different look to the finished quilt.
To have a look at last years Quilt Aid http://www.quiltaid.com.au/ click on the link to explore a lovely informative site with pics of each block as well as the 12 finishing kits.
All the information is there regarding the rules and how to order and pay.

More on the Disappearing 9 patches

Just because she can, Sheila decided to investigate the Disappearing 9 patch variations, making these 3 blocks to show different layouts creating completely different blocks and quilt effects.


Wendy finished her disappearing 9 patch, started at last weeks workshop. She backed it with a rather nice plaid, you can just see it peeking out from the fold. Wendy thought perhaps this quilt could live its life as a picnic quilt..........don't you just love picnics on a quilt!
Sue is busily 'Flirting with Flowers', the 'Free for a Month' BOM from Vicki of 'Tozz's Corner'.
Oh. and Sue did ask me to mention........the pimple on the Daisy leaf, not a pimple at all, its gonna be a Lady Bug!..

"Don't forget to tell everyone about my seams" is the instruction from Ja`. She has been working on her version of the Disappearing 9 patch with some guidance and help from Lorraine I.
Lorraine shared a really cool way to make sure (and I do mean sure) that your seams intersect perfectly everytime. It involves using 3 pins at each point..... Check 'em out, all of them perfect!
Oh and talking of handy hints, Lorraine H. gave us a beauty about easily getting your floss through even the smallest needle eye.
Courtesy of tutor Jenny, Lorraine astounded us with this revelation, don't thread your needle...........Needle Your Thread!......sounds bizzare?, but it works beautifully, catch your floss between finger and thumb, leave just a little protruding, short is best here, and bring the needle eye to the thread, it slips over easily, everytime.

I was so busy perfecting threading, I forgot to get a pic of Lorraine's flimsey, such a pretty little scrap quilt, containing quite a few pieces left over from her Granddaughters previous quilts. As soon as her Granddaughter clapped eyes on it she decided it was just what she needed for a summer quilt!, no batting please, top and backing only.......what a brilliant idea! Hopefully Lorraine will bring the finished quilt in next week.......Please Lorraine?!

Arvo Tea was delish, wonderful Apple Cake with fresh whipped cream and those shortbreads, Heaven on a stick..........Yummo.