Fair Excitement and a new Star

Yep, it was all fun and laughter at the Cottage as everyone was either putting in the finishing stitches on goodies for the Easter Fair or starting on new projects - some for the family - some for our Quilt Show.

Lyn is starting on her version of the 'Mayflowers' quilt by Joanne Ridley from her book 'Jelly Roll Inspirations'.   Many of our group have made their version of this captivating quilt, a number of which were on display at our 2013 Quilt Show.

The original pattern has the flowers cut from pieced yardage, that is 2.5" strips stitched into a wider strip, then using the flower template to cut a shape.  It's such a versatile pattern that flowers cut from yardage is just as pretty.  Lyn has chosen to use blanket stitch to applique the vliesofixed  flowers to her background, thoughts are perhaps a button center?

Pat is busily cutting Drunkards Path pieces from solid yardage in assorted colours, the background is a lovely soft grey, not lilac as is showing in the pic, in fact all the colours are a whole lot nicer than in the pic...it's a lighting thing..?  Pat explained the 'quilt to be' layout, can't wait to see more as it progresses.

Courtney, with tutoring from Mary, is piecing 2" scrappy squares to create one of those lovely Scottie dog toys.

Sandy is onto another block from her 'Sweet Daisy Dreams', a Robert Kaufman pattern.

Julie bought along her Hardanger piece, she has been working on it intermittently for a while now, and completion is just about within touching distance.

The pic on the right is manipulated to show you the beautiful stitching, trying to get cream or white to show nicely sometimes just doesn't work all that well...sigh...

Marguerite has almost finished her version of 'Leanne's House' , naming her quilt 'Happy Days' and using vibrant colours for another take on this wonderful pattern.  Marguerite bought her sandwich along to get a little help with the pinning. Now, just gotta quilt and bind it, oh yeah, and label it

Marguerite has chosen to embroider her label onto a piece of the backing fabric which will then disappear into the backing, just leaving the stitching visible, what a great idea!

Marguerite had an amazing Montmellick needlework caddy with her.  Created some time ago.  "wouldn't have the patience nowadays" was the comment.  Well patience or no, it is magnificent.

Marguerite has even embroidered her initals on the inside cover. (Bottom Left)

Now Wendy has been doing the whole 'one armed paper hanger' thing....being as busy as, she purchased this cupboard, padded up a larger piece of timber and created a large ironing surface, she then got her darling to create this gizmo and attach it to the cupboards side...

 ...a hanging rack!!, as you press your strips, you hang them over the rungs and keep everything in order!  and if that's not enough, the rack also folds down out of the way when not in use.

Don't know about you, but I'm voting this the 'bestest Gizmo evah'!!
Guessing there will be a few requests being made to some Darlings over this one.
Wendy has created this adorable wall hanging for the Easter Fair.  Just finishing up the binding.

Darn, another pic for the fuzzy collection.  But you get the picture...pun intended!
The fabrics are very similar to the ones in this quilt, a pic Wendy just happened to have on her new ipad.

Saving the best for last.

Sheila presented Wendy with one of our coveted 'Stars' for assembling our wonderful second prize raffle quilt "Cream Fantasy'

 

Beautiful, yes? and no, there is no difference in the creams, again, it's a lighting thing...or a camera thing, but never the photographer...

In an attempt to show off the fab candlewicking here it is in a Black and White shot

Its not just all about quilting...

...sometimes, its all about the goodies that go with quilting, like this pile of scrumptious goodies Wendy found over at Paula Storm Designs.
Debate raged, show the labels or not, guess who won?!
The labels tell the story - just what is hidden in these vibrantly painted little bottles? Needles, allsorts of needles.

Wendy made the most of the postage by grabbing a few extras, like this rather innovative gadget.  It is a refillable starch brush, if you are one of those who press under your applique seam allowance, this is for you.  The brush end is soft and pliable, there is a reservoir for your home made starch, the recipe for which is inside the tin's lid.  Small pic on left shows the filling syringe - yep - comes in the tin with the rest of the goodies.  B.T.W. the recipe calls for a small amount of vodka, this is to add to the starch so it doesn't go off, not like some bright spark suggested, to give you the intestinal fortitude to do the applique in the first place.

Then of course another pic of the needle bottles and some really cute pre-wound bobbins in beautiful vibrant colours - all very inspiring really.

Debby and Courtney had some exciting Show and Tell to share with us, they had just done a paint transfer class with Lois at the needlework meeting, 

Courtney showed her two pieces, but I missed Debby, she was off having arvo tea.

Last week Gwen showed a blackwork pattern she was planning on starting, here's the update.

Gwen was looking particularly glam, she was off to dinner to celebrate her birthday.  Hope it was a great celebration Gwen.

Lorraine has gone modern with this runner, the pattern is from a quilt magazine she subscribes to (but which one?) .

This beauty will be for sale at the Easter Fair.

Mary was concentrating like crazy, yep, more of the Hardanger - or as Marcia called it 'Hard-anger'...

her darling dubbed it that after watching Marcia at work a few times...

mind you, Mary was inclined to agree, the metallic thread that looks so stunning in the star was shredding and splitting and just generally not playing well at all.

Another baby quilt from Lorraine, a clever little design all in pinks with more of those alphabet squares that have come in so handy with all the baby quilts Lainey has been called on to make recently for all those littlies joining her extended family.

Lainey did mention that the quilt was label-less, boy did we give her stick- an unfinished quilt??

But no, the label is on the quilt, it's just blank - there is a bit of a name mix up that will shortly be sorted.

Stella was ever so pleased to bring her version of 'Leanne's House' to share with us.  

There is some beautifully embroidered patches for you to drool over at the Quilt Show in July,

 Butterflies, Bees, Hearts and ever so much more, and of course, a really cute Label.

Janice has finished this lovely wall hanging, a house warming gift for friends, who have seen the finished wall hanging and love it.

Janice put a rod pocket top and bottom of the wall hanging so the fish can swim in either direction.

Fae, recently upgraded her sewing machine - well she had to - wore the last one to a nub.  Fae had had a little trouble with the new one, doing more reverse stitching than stitching - she bought in her current W.I.P to show us - the smile says it all - machine conquered.

Judy working away on her clamshell quilt.

Another great 'take along' project.

Najidah has confirmed that they do have an agreement with Goodlife Community Church in Buderim for Mums and their kiddies to receive needed clothing and household goods.

It is also possible to donate goods directly to the  Goodlife Community Church by dropping them off at 100 Buderim Pines Drive, Buderim.

Easter Fair Preparations and Colour Curiosities

Pretty huh?, but just how many colours do you see? 20 or less, you have something in common with dogs, up to 39, well it's the bees for you.

 Following the controversy surrounding 'that' dress, there have been various interesting ideas and explanations thrown up on the net, including this rather interesting article on Linkedin by Diana Derval.
Want to know more, pop over here and read all about why we see colours differently.

Someone who has no trouble with colours at all is Marie, she shared this terrific alphabet quilt with us.  Marie created 26 lovely alphabet blocks using machine embroidered motifs and appliqued letters.

To get the setting right, Marie needed two extra blocks, enter the Mouse and the Kangaroo.

Sashed and bound with a gay (that is the happy and bright gay - ta, I do know that shows my age) multi-coloured fabric to finish off an Easter Fair offering.

Which block is your fave? Marie is for the sea urchin, me, I'm for the mouse.

Karen is learning a new skill, yep, with Mary tutoring, Karen has joined the ranks of the Hardanger enthusiast. Look closely, you will see that she has completed her first half inch, so we are truly in on the ground floor of this new enterprise.

Wendy, with the aid of her new toy, a wonderful and wondrous ipad (aren't they all) googled Hardanger,

we were curious to see where it had sprung from, seems it had its beginnings in Persia but between 1650-1850 it flourished in Norway, called Hardangersom it was used for national costumes and even household linens - bet they only used them on special occasions!

Co-incidentally, at the other end of the room Gwen was up to her elbows in a beautiful piece of hardanger, a table throw, started some time ago by another and given to Gwen to finish, she is reveling in the piece, Gwen loves Hardanger work.

Another gal wielding a needle was Susie,

She took pity on some poor 'needle challenged' soul last week and volunteered to stitch these corner bookmarks together.  Susie has taken them from 'yawn' bookmarks to these,

bookmarks with personality! - They are for the Novelties table at the Easter Fair - Thank You Susie.

Courtney is taking a break from her 'horses' piece and has started a floral long-stitch piece that will eventually become a lovely cushion.

Diane and Sandy were both hard at work, Diane is learning to hand quilt, tutored by Gwen she is making great inroads.
Sandy is working on this beautiful pattern, 'Sweet Daisy Dreams' by Robert Kaufman, embroidered blocks interspersed with pieced and a stunning scalloped border.

Karen has finished her version of 'Leanne's House' B.O.M. by Leanne Beasley.  Several members have made this quilt and all the different versions will be part of our upcoming Quilt Show in July.

Karen has even put a label on her quilt......and it is reported others have not.....hmmm....does that mean they aren't finished yet?  Wendy??

It is one heck of a cute label-yes?

Lots of laughter and shenanigans going on with this two, and lots more of those little fabric parcels...

Gwen had two stunners for Show and Tell, the hexagon quilt originally started  by our sadly missed Janet not long before her passing.  Gwen has finished this lovely hand pieced hexagon quilt with a difference, hand quilting daisies in each hexie center.  Janet had a million - well lots, of little pieces already cut for a pieced border but after a lot of thought Gwen went with a black and white pin striped fabric for the border, mitering the corners, it sets off the quilt beautifully.  You will just have to take my word for the pinstripes, unfortunately the fabric photographed as a light grey.

The second quilt was created from Gwen's left over check fabrics using a pattern from one of our library books.

The black and white check on the border was also from another project, Gwen's 'Venitian Floor' quilt, inspired by photos she took of the floor of St.Marks Basilicia in Venice and the winner of the 2013 Quilt Show Viewers Choice award. The check fabric was very difficult to work with but Gwen had quite the meterage left over, all pre-fused with vliesofix and no way was she going to waste it, hard to work with or not.  Happily it fitted around the scrappy quilt perfectly.

 The book is Scrap-basket surprises by Kim Brackett, a book of jelly roll friendly patterns.  Gwen mentioned that the pattern construction is deceptively easy, after the first block she busily stitched away only to later realise that she had created extra work for herself.  Her advice, read the
instructions!

Thursday night gals have been busy, busy, lots of chickens, hens and easter egg collection bags made for the Novelties stall at the Easter Fair.

And lastly Sheila bought along her thread catcher, we will be having a workshop on this in the near future.

Great Hints and a little silliness

Two posts in one this week, firstly we had the free motion quilting class presented by Pat, lots of tips, a great info sheet with some online sites to check up on including Lori at 'The Inbox Jaunt, who coincidentally has this great post on stippling- well worth the read. 
Pat had us starting out with a few curves and points and then moving onto more adventurous designs finally finishing up with writing our own names.  A great class, thanks Pat.
Lyn and Christine had a great time, Lyn was one of the first to stitch her name.

 

Jackie was really into the curves, doing a great job on her name.

Wendy and Marcia really nailed the F.M.Qing, Wendy then decided to give free motion circles around applique a go.

Diane with some help from Fae worked on names and hearts.

Denise concentrated on F.M.Qing around the icons on this lovely quilt to be.

Queen of the Gizmo's for the day was Marie, she bought along these pads for us to all try, they are called Grip and Stitch quilting disks from Clever Craft Tools, an online search will bring up sites that you can buy them from.  Lots of muttering on the day about 'gotta get me some of these', they make quilting close to the edge of your quilt a lot easier and are so restful on your hands if you have a problem with arthritis.

 

Marie also had '50 Styles of F.M.Quilting' by Helen Godden a nifty little book that pair's with your smart phone or tablet to bring a video of Helen and a 'live' presentation of some of the designs, or as Helen describes it 

"My first Free-Motion Machine Quilting book, 70 pages with 50 advanced quilting styles plus bonus 20 embedded demonstration videos using the free Aurasma app for tablets and smart phones giving you your first taste of Augmented Reality!

Yep, hover your tablet or phone over the sketch (L) in Helen's Book and up pops Helen on a video (TR)- I know, blew us all away!!  If you haven't seen Helen's work before, pop over here but make sure you have a drink, a snack and lotsa time. Amazing just doesn't cover it.

One of our group, who I have to get permission from, created this lovely 'I Spy' crazy log quilt for the Uniting Church Fair.

They have their fair the week before our Easter Fair and our very own Ailsa is one of the stall co-ordinator.

Found another little pile of these, pretty aren't they........

 Hmm, wonder what they are for??

Val has been busy again....still, with these quilts for Laurel House.

Just right for a little boy off the land.

A cheerful flower applique 

The third quilt is a lovely soft girly quilt.  The white blocks were orphan blocks given to Val, she cheered them up with a little floral embroidery and off set them with one patches of a pink floral given to her by Beryl.  

Val uses her machine embroidery or fancy stitches for a lot of the quilting on her charity quilts, for this lovely she has teamed some free motion daisies and swirls on the border and for the quilting in the large pink blocks Val sketched a daisy onto tissue and stitched the design out following the sketch lines, she then just tore away the tissue to reveal a great quilted block.

There is a nephew somewhere who has just got the bestest birthday pressie, this fab bag with a bottle of scotch. 

Marcia is pleased to be giving and I bet her nephew is pleased to be receiving.

Using the large 'Drunkards Path Templates' from our Library, Sue created this great quilt, not only does the path meander around the quilt, a bit of a more modern take on the design 

but Sue has also used quilt as you go techniques with a little simple echoing in the center of the blocks.  

That bit of silliness spoken of earlier?

how 'bout this.....

next thing you know some bright spark will work out how to put lipstick on 'em.