2012 Lyn Ballinger Challenge...

...and Luncheon of course.  Always a fun day where the gals all gather for a lovely lunch with lots of goodies, all organised by our wonderful Caterers Extraordinaire, Beryl and Fran

of course these ladies always dress for the occasion, with  astoundingly beautiful head wear and aprons designed to get everyone into the festive mood.

To start the day off, Judy bought along some Show and Tell that she has created for her daughter who loves to travel.  It's a needle case, yep a tinsy little case (or as Queenslanders call it - 'a Port'), luggage labels and all.

 Judge Roz had quite the challenge choosing a winner, checking that all entries would fit into a 6" cube.

Of course everyone has to wait til after Lunch to view all the entries and find out who the winners are, so we shall do the same.

No, don't even try to match the party girls with the finished challenges, its all a secret until after the Judging.

Oh, and somewhere in amongst all that giggling, chatting, and eating, Julie decided to heck with the pretty and dashed home to get something a little warmer to wear..

And now you have seen all the entries, well almost all. 

 Drum roll please!!

And the Winners of the Lyn Ballinger Challenge for 2012 are...

Marie, with 2nd Prize for her Mermaid and Fishes on the bottom of the Sea.

Heather with 1st Prize for her Clown Fish and Coral Reef

and Lorraine with 3rd Prize for her Jellyfish, and yes! it does fit!

Lorraine folded her Jelly Fish down into a 6" box for Judge Roz, as Lorraine said, 'There's a lot of air in a Jelly Fish'.

Congratulations to the Winners, and Big Thank You's to everyone who made the day such a success, all those who accepted the challenge, Fran and Beryl for organising the food and kitchen, Roz, our Cottage Treasurer for so very kindly being our Judge, Sue and Sheila for all the work and  organisation involved in mounting a Challenge and a very special Thank You to Marie for taking the pics, making it possible for you all to view the wonderful entries and share in the fun of the day.

May Show and Tell

We had two special Birthdays this month, an 80th. and a 21st!
Obviously the 21st Birthday was our youngest member and beginner quilter Courtney.
Courtney came all set for fun and a party! wearing a birthday tiara that caused a bit of envy I can tell you. 

Sheila had spotted a piece of fabric that she thought was right up Courtney's alley, a lovely mauve with white daisies, (did I mention that Courtney loves all things purple?), well Lorraine used it to make Courtney a Birthday Cushion, trimming the back with 4 lovely shimmery buttons and ric-rac.
Then of course we had to have cake!! - Courtney got to keep the giant Birthday Cookie all to herself!,
it reads 'Happy 21st Birthday Courtney' - and those beautiful roses in back? from Marie, they had the most glorious fragrance.  Real Roses!

The other birthday was for Fae, now I can remember the fuss we made when Fae turned 70, her Daughter  made her a Birthday Memory quilt, a very special quilt, each block told a story, the one's that bought a tear to the eye were the stories of special moments, the 'do you remember when' moments  between Fae and her daughter, a very special relationship as Fae is a chosen Mum (some people call 'em step-mums- I like chosen)
Sheila had asked Fae to bring her quilt along to share with us again, and to also read the booklet.....whew, the booklet!, its the quilt story, and what each block signifies and the story behind it.  It's a book to blubber over - yeah - we did.  What a beautiful story of love and respect.

Then we really needed cake! and a cuppa!
The little red disc Fae is holding in the first pic?, that is a knitted mat that her Daughter made when she was a little girl, Fae still uses it to this day, every morning under her teapot! makes for easy turning of the pot to brew the bestest cuppa.  - and yes, we had Roses from Marie, you can just see them at the side of the pic. Thanks Marie and her Darling.

Sue has been busy as you can see, both quilts have a little history behind them.
The first quilt uses a flower pattern that Sue came across in another quilting group she belong to, the original quilt used 9 patch blocks to off set the flower applique blocks, but that didn't appeal to Sue so she used the double hearts instead.  The beautiful striped pink fabric used in the border has been residing in Sue's stash for ahwile ( 'bout 15 years she thinks)  It is a lovely Laura Ashley fabric and makes the perfect background and border.  Sue had the quilt professionally machine quilted.

The wall hanging Sue is showing us was a bed quilt pattern, given to the group sometime back.  Well Sue decided to shrink it down somewhat, and re-sized and re-drafted all the blocks, only to find that the maths was a little wrong!! oops.  Sue fixed it pronto by adding a few blocks of her own!

Wendy has created this wonderful quilt for her Grandaughter, they went shopping and chose the pattern and the fabric, lots of kiddie chatter about this wonderful quilt she was getting, such wonder and delight!.  The next morning, little miss fronts up for breakfast with the question 'Is my quilt finished Gran?'

Dunno why it wasn't!  Here are a few closer views of some of the applique motifs.

Another wonderful Birthday gift arrived for Courtney, a wonderful skinny quilt, and she bought it in to share with us.  Made for her bed by her Aunty, very elegant and oh so feminine, there is even a diamante 'C' for Courtney but that didn't show up too well in the pic.  Just beautiful.

Lorraine got a positive/negative Freebie pattern online that rather intrigued her, so she decided to give it a whirl,  2 blocks turned into place mats was just the path to take with this great pattern.

Over the past few months, Lorraine has shown us many ways to use up our stash or scraps, well Sue took the challenge and added a twist.  No straight pieces or squares.
She came up with this delight, no straight pieces and quilt as you go!  A stunningly vibrant winner!

Fae has also been continuing along the scrappy path, she had another 2 quilts to show us today, one is already lined up as a gift for a friend, the other, with the pink sashing she was busily stitching down the binding.

And talking of binding, Dorothy had something to show us, Pegs with a rubber grip!  Dorothy picked them up at the local Pharmacy for a ridiculously small amount and wondered if they would be any good for holding down quilt bindings?  She has already used them for various little jobs with her crochet and knitting projects.  Well, Leanne had a mini dolls quilt all ready to bind, with the binding held down by quilters clips, so, popped one off and replaced it with the peg.  Looks pretty good! don'tcha just love finding another use for a product?  Cute pegs too, bet your knickers wouldn't fly off the line with those little suckers hanging on tight.

Sue's Trunk Show - Part 2

Some of Sue's WIP's,
Dresden Plate there will be 9 blocks, another cute teapot cross stitch in the making,
Hexagon quilt, hand pieced. Sue's 1st attempt at paper piecing and finally a block of the month 'Lovebird Lane'.

 Gorgeous baby quilt with rocking horse & teddy

Two framed cross stitches, beautiful!

 A weekend bag with matching carry bag.

Sue's good friends son, William died when he was 5 -  Sue has also had cancer and appreciates the comfort of a quilt when you are feeling low. These 2 Stack and Slash quilts Sue made for William & older brother Josh. 

This is a quilt that Sue & her friends made for Williams mum " A circle of Friendship".
I think we all shed a tear. What a beautiful thing to do. 
Each friend made a hand & block & have their names on the back of the quilt. 

 Sue made this quilt for her friends daughter a few years later.

Those teddies are sooooo  cute.

We enjoyed looking at many coloured photos Sue had of more creations she has made over the years that she has given away. 
Thank you Sue for sharing your wonderful works & special stories with us.

Sue's Trunk Show

Sue considers herself as a novice quilter but we all know that's not true. She is very clever & makes a lot of her own patterns as well. 
Sue has given away most of her quilts. The quilts she showed at her Trunk Show were actually borrowed back from family & friends so she could show us some of her creations.  

This is the first quilt Sue made when she came to Australia to live from New Zealand. It's a cute Red & Green Bear quilt.

 Sue loves to do Cross stitch and bought some lovely framed stitcheries to show us,  hangings she calls 'her girls'.  Beautiful work Sue.

Sue made this doll some years ago her name is "POUTY" she definitely is pouting!! but very cute.  Two more dolls, both cute angels.

Sue showed us the fabric & pattern for this lovely wall hanging for her sewing room & the next week she had completely finished it, with all the cute little bags on it to put all her bits & bobs in. Very nice love the fabrics.

Sue has made a few stack & slash quilts, this blue, red & black is her sons and the pink and green S & S with lace is for one of her daughters.

This turquoise and red Irish Chain featuring stitcheries is a lap quilt for their lounge.

A pretty cot size quilt and a happy 'ELMO' quilt.

A fabulous African quilt Sue made for her girlfriends 50th birthday.

Sue has made 2 of these 'quilt as you go' quilts. Gorgeous fabrics - nice cross hatching quilting Sue.

 Sue is always making & designing bags, bags & more bags.
This is a cute button bag full of buttons, other bags including a sewing bag with pockets.

A cute baby change mat which folds out from an envelope with a handy carry handle.
Sue is such a very clever & neat sewer.

 Nappy bag to put powder, creams etc. into.

Red toiletry bag - grown from the 'box bag' with lots of other matching bags, tissue bag, lipstick holders. You name it Sue has it.

Sue designed this make-up bag which  opens right out with lots of little water proof compartments inside. Very handy seeing every thing inside.

Gorgeous baby hexagon purse bag, a Bridget Giblin pattern.

Sue is now addicted to Crazy Patchwork, she is a student of Jenny and a very prolific producer of Crazy Patchwork mainly cute boxes and, you guessed it!, more bags.  All different colours and all as gorgeous as the next. You're amazing Sue!