Lyn Ballinger Challenge and Luncheon....

.....to borrow some modern day slang OMG!  and where to start, the wonderful challenges and beautiful work done?, the laden luncheon table?, desserts? (personal fave there) the stories?, the secrets (really?! shoulder pads made that beautiful creation!!!) ...

I will start by showing you our only item of Show and Tell, before it gets totally overwhelmed.  This lovely vest, created by Sue using Japanese fabrics and vertical, close quilting, a little something that Sue will be offering for Sale at the Christmas Fair.....Oh, and a bye the bye......wait until you see what Sue has created for her entry into the Fabric Artists Fair that it being held over the next two weeks.....a pic and more at the end of the post.

I guess the beginning of the day is the best place to start, while we were all arriving there was a lot of behind the scenes work going on, Beryl and Fran, our 'Professional Luncheon Co-Ordinators, appropriately attired in aprons and a tiara (No...Fran didn't share, tut tut )were waving their wands,

giving orders, and making sure everything was just 'so', for our Luncheon, the tables were decorated with lovely created flowers, I reckoned I could gather a huge bunch for a pic at the end of the day............but someone beat me to 'em......

Maree arrived with the most amazing Hibiscus blooms, my goodness OMG! the colours, the blooms, singles, doubles whatever you could imagine, all grown by her and her Darling in their garden...you can see how these amazing blooms won so many awards at the recent Horticultural Show, they soon adorned our serving and buffet tables.  Thank you Guys, we always love to be so spoiled by your donation of wonderful blooms.

The Princess Duo, Fran and Beryl - being the Professional Luncheon Co-Ordinators that they are, had gone to some trouble decorating our Buffet table, with flower garlanded baskets to hold napkins etc, 'crazy' patchwork tablecloths and 10 paper cutout ladies/lasses/gal/girls all holding hands, one for each letter in the word 'friendship'

how could we not be in the mood?

There was also a trio of work on display in the corner, two very nice jackets, one longer, a cream with applique blooms, vines and leaves that Fran did at a workshop at the Cottage some time back, and the lovely blue one that Lorraine I. created.
Now see that draped mannequin between them?  nothing to do with us...uh uh...the fabric artists had a few of these shrouded figures stuffed into corners....very intriguing!
The third item on display was this fabulous item that Beryl came across in an op shop, thankfully she just couldn't leave it behind.  It is stitched onto pieces of fabric, and then stitched into a full length garment, it has a full length zipper down the front and Beryl thinks it is an old dressing gown, I could just see someone donning this to do the house cleaning.  Would love to know it's story.

While we were all out in the Atrium, some working hard, some gossiping, but all having a darn good time, there were 'goings on' out in the Garden Room......yep the Challenge was being judged and Jenny was having a bit of a time of it....so hard to choose, I heard that she wanted to give extra prizes!!! way to go girls.

So, not to keep you in 'suspenders' any longer, here are the Winners of the Lyn Ballinger Challenge for 2010

1st Prize Winner   -   Lorriane H  with her (as she tells it) first and last crazy patchwork creation, but she did go on to say how much she loved all the embroidery stitching and the beading,..........wanna bet she doesn't get bitten by crazy??

2nd Prize Winner  -  Sue's lushly embroidered evening shoulder bag.

3rd Prize Winner  -  Lyn's evening hand bag, beautifully embroidered with silk ribbon roses

Our Luncheon, thanks to the work of many hands was delish, but firstly, drinkies were passed around, wine, champagne, o.j., etc. etc.....you get the piccie....

then time for Luncheon........

 
loads of hot and cold Buffet food

 while we were all kicking back and relaxing, chatting and sharing tales and info of what we had come across this week, talk turned to an amazing story involving one of our Cottage members Pam, now Pam is one of those amazingly talented gals that seems to be able to turn her hand to anything,  a member of many of the Cottage groups she is currently experimenting in felting.
Well I hope I have the story right here.....Pam's daughter unearthed a rather good quality, but holey, jumper that had seen better days for Pam to play with.  Sadly/Gladly when Daughter presented said jumper to Mum...........there was a Grandie in the room......well Grandie fell in love with jumper, "Ohhh Gran, I could wear it with black tights" was the cry! ....You can fill in the blanks here.....nuff said, Gran decided to 'do something' with the jumper to fill those holes, can't have a Grandie waltzing around in a holey jumper!.
With a whole lot of talent, crochet, knitting and design ability, Gran turned an old holey jumper into this work of art!!

Pam used black wool to crochet the cloche hat, to balance with the leggings, found some cute buttons engraved with the letter L, the Grandies Initial, and put it all together.......how amazing is that!  Fran, 'cause she can, very kindly modeled the cloche hat for a piccie

We were then presented with yummy cakes, slices, apple cake with cream and fruit for dessert

Next it was the presentation of the awards as above, and the presentation of a juicily delicious tray of  local fruits as a thank you to Jenny in appreciation of all the time and hard work she has put into our group for this challenge, not only for the judging but also the workshops she presented and the wonderful show and tell of her  own pieces to inspire us.

A wonderful luncheon was had by all, and here for you are some collages of the entries to the Lyn Ballinger Challenge 2010 'Crazy Patchwork'
We all learned a lot, manual skills on handling slippery fabrics and stitching with velvet, learning new embroidery techniques and stitches but mainly appreciation of another facet of quilting.

Oh Dear, what was I thinking, or was I?? thinking that is, the voting for viewers choice has not concluded! no names allowed!, so here are the individual pics of the Challenges with names removed, names will be reinserted when judging is finalised.

and now, that promise of what Sue has been up to in the Fabric Artists Group, she let me take a little sneaky pic of this beauty, her entrant in the 'Vision 4' Wearable Art Exhibition'......Stunning! and the Grandies agree........oh, and that's also the reason why the post is late....sorry, Grandies visit, everything goes on hold......you should see the house!........well maybe not.

 Vision IV, the wearable Art Exhibition from the Sunshine Coast Textile artists from the Buderim Craft Cottage's Fabric Art and Surface Design Group, currently running in the Atrium Gallery of the Cottage,
5 Main Street Buderim until the 25th July, 9a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Entry by Gold coin, lots of lovely items for sale and we do have credit card facilities.......and if you pop along, you can see all the beautiful Challenge items and vote for your 'viewers choice'.