Glue...meh, but with an unexpected bonus

Been sucked into joining Wendy and Di, two ladies who do beautiful work, in the Homespun B.O.M., 'Foxley Village', Wendy has opted for machine blanket stitch, and Di is giving needleturn a run, while moi has decided to give fusible with a turned edge a bit of a go, this entails glue.  Watched a youtube vid. that suggested Elmers School Glue, yep got some of that! so off I went and being the dainty little fairy that I am, managed to get glue everywhere, including the dog (but that's another story for another day)
Phoned the ever helpful Kim from Kimz Sewing and Patchwork who suggested glue sticks.
and
talk about lucky day, Kim is having.....

a 30% off SALE...........

REALLY!!!!
30% off!
got the glue stick, got the refills, got a new ruler.....oh happy days!
The sale is on until Saturday 28th, so if you need something or even just want a little treatie, pop on down, Kimz is on Main Drive, Warana

Lots of fabric and some finished pieces from last weeks dyeing workshop.
Sheila, who had been to a party luncheon, wearing her silk hand dyed outfit, had lots to share with us. 

such as this lovely supper cloth she had created from her hand painted piece of damask.

 Sheila also shared her other finished pieces, some were scrunched into jars and some had interesting effects created by stitching and removing the stitches as well as using clips to resist the dye.                                   

On the Show and Tell table we were treated to...
 a super block created from several fabric layers,

beautiful brights, 

 Assorted other fabric pieces, each a one only piece.

A Q.A.Y.G. string quilt, wouldn't one of these look stunning in dyed brights?

now...glue...gotta go conquer (or be conquered!)

Almost more excitement than a Bunyip can bear!

The Dyeing workshop was so much fun,
There were detailed instructions with a demo...

Lots of pondering for the newbies,

while the more experienced, like Sheila, knew all the tricks and ploughed straight in.

Courtney was curious, so Lainey 'outfitted her in dye protection', (draped her in a towel) and set her up to watch Sheila.

Courtney got the Dyeing bug and had a go for herself, creating a really pretty piece, Lainey hung it on the official Cottage Dyeing Drying Line, a spare tree in the carpark, so it was all set to go home with Courtney.  What will she create from it? Lainey is plumbing for a cute little pinnie, could be!

Some gals painted or scrunched in a tray, some even added a layer of salt

While others went for the plastic bag and jar immersion technique.

Can't wait for next week to see the finished pieces.  Thanks Sue for a great time and informative lesson.

Elsewhere in the Cottage the rest of the gals were carrying on as usual, some were just carrying on, it was great to see Cheryl back with us and Louise also popped in to say Hi.  Great to catch up with this lovely lady whom we all miss.

Julie was working on some buttonhole applique blocks in a beautiful soft femine palette, this will be another Charity quilt, for Project Linus.

Bit of a confession surfaced, Julie loves doing the Linus quilts because....she doesn't do the quilting!!
Yeah, really, doesn't like the quilting journey! the lady who runs the local Linus group has a longarm and is only too happy to do the quilting! Win, Win.

Sue W had one more secret squirrel handed in up until one of those rareties, a Hubby in the Cottage, arrived with another secret parcel.  Not too many days left now ladies!

 Remember this piece Karen was working on?

Finished! So so pretty, adorable really!

All scrappies from the stash, except the zipper, and yes, it too is pink!
But how about the zipper puller?, a little flower embroidered on either side, two halves joined with an embroidered Palestrina stitch and a plaited floss zipper pull.

Karen found the dome button at Lynette Anderson's Little Quilt Store in Marcoola.  Karren did tell me what she used but I forgot, a simple enquiry to the store got me heaps of info. from the lovely Summer.  The dome buttons not only come in assorted sizes, but you can also use just one half to stitch to a project, or team it with a strap parts pack to use as a zipper pull as Karen has done. 

Karen is still working on her Shashiko piece, looking forward to seeing the finished item.

Some exciting news, Sheila won a bronze medal in her Swim Meet last week, and she has promised to bring her medals along to share with us. 'Maybe I might one day' can be a promise, right? right!!

And lastly, a 'heads up' for Wendy and a bit of excitement in my sewing room.
It's arrived.

from the ever so helpful Deanne of Fabric Pixie my fabrics for Homespun magazine's Foxley Village B.O.M. have arrived.  Deanne cuts the fabrics to a supplied layout so you get just what you need for this great project, the fabrics even come with the corresponding letter labels as per the magazine.
Deanne also mentioned that her store is planning on continuing to cut the kit packs or even part packs for as long as gals want to order them, so if you are having problems sourcing the Tilda Fabrics for Foxley Village, pop over to see Deanne.

In the News...

...well, sorta.
At the last meeting of the B.W.M.C.A. our Cottage rep Sheila was quite tickled to see a reference, with pic, in the report from our local M.P. Steve Dickson to our recent charity quilt push for the drought affected farming families of western Queensland.

We manage to get 16 lovely quilts assembled at short notice to go with the collected toiletries on the next Burrumbuttock Hay Run.
Wendy did a terrific job of machine embroidering the labels as well as stitching them onto a few  of the last minute quilts she was delivering to organiser Pat Morris.

All ready to be packed up and delivered.

Jackie was spotted on L.Q.S.  Kimz facebook last week,making a tuffet.  Yeah, a tuffet, (boy that took me back a few years- you know, little Miss Muffet, sat on... etc) moving on, back to Kimz, Tuffet, etc.
Pics from Kimz facebook, fabric selections, Jackie slaving over a hot machine and getting some help from Terri with the finishing touches.

Kim presents an amazing range of tutors and classes in her store, including 'Tuffet making with Terri'  and I did notice in answer to a readers question that Terri will be doing another class, however, scrolling down Kimz facebook page to re-find the info just got me distracted, so much going on, so many goodies, so many laughs, even some eye opening info, like those little drop down cavities on the front of your machine, not as some thought for storing dust and gizmo's, no, not at all...

Obvious really when you think about it.  Thanks for the 'heads up' Kim.

Jackie shared a pic of her finished Tuffet, legs and all.  Really cute! who wouldn't just love one of these in your sewing corner!

The gals up on the 'quiet and Crazy' table, are all busy as beavers, Michelle is stitching a crazy elephant, he will be framed and hung,

Stella was being facetious about the enormous amount of work done so far on her 'amazingly huge' embroidery piece, there are more stitcheries, and lots of hexies are making an appearance.

 Karen J had a finished quilt to share,

made reversable with the clever use of a crazy patchwork printed backing.

Karen D. was putting the binding on a U.F.O.  - a 35 year old U.F.O!  It's also her very first quilt, a sampler, (aren't most samplers our first?).  

After the birth of her first child, Karen's Sis came to visit, and bought along her current quilting project, Karen was fascinated.  On returning home, Sis, shopped for fabric, patterns, all the needed equipment and parcelled it all off to Karen who hasn't stopped quilting since.  Mind you, it was a bit of a challenge in the early days, Karen was at that time living outback, not too many stores around, certainly no fabric stores within cooee. 

Marlene is also working on a U.F.O. one of the terrific Millamac Australiana patterns, these patterns are getting hard to find, there is a lovely blog post by boot camp quilter, showing some of the patterns, with a link to Quiltessentials in Eatons Hill.

Marlene's version is using raw edge applique with a finishing paint outlining the applique.  'Rudolph' the red nosed kangaroo looks very smart with his gold and glitter outline.

Denise was choosing a binding for this Charity quilt, created with triangles found in the donated boxes of fabric from Derricks darling.  First time stitchine triangles, a challenge conquered.

Talking of challenges, Sue W had a few more secret squirrel entries to our Lyn Ballinger challenge handed in last week.
Nah.  No need to panic, we have heaps of time to the cut off date! just about 2 weeks still to go...GULP!!

 

 If you are one of those folks who don't operate best under pressure, feel free, PANIC!

Perhaps one could make use of Sue's dyeing workshop, paint up a carnival storm.  B.T.W. we will be gathering at 11.30 for a 12.00 start for this workshop.

 Which one? Both!!

News from Pat, enjoying her holiday immensly, going from quilting shop to quilting shop, unable (unwilling?) to choose, can't wait too see what Pat comes home with!

 

Charity Quilts push and Hi-Jinks

The push to get a load of charity quilts ready for the Burrumbuttock Hay Run saw another pile of quilts getting their labels attached and ready to be delivered by Wendy to their pick up point.

Sheila and Lorraine, busily stitching, Sheila has donated her quilt made in the recent Jan Phillips workshop 'Freedom', Sheila fessed up "When I was making the quilt I rather went off it, but now it's done I just love it!"  how often does that happen, too close to appreciate until the finished lovely emerges.  Sheila is still happy to donate her quilt to the Hay Run, knowing someone else will love it also.

We had torrential rains over the past weekend, but did that put Jackie off washing fabric, no way.  She had a plan for her donation and nothin' was getting in the way! -although Jackie was amused by the look of total disbelief on her neighbours face, watching Jackie hang little lengths of fabric on the line in between rain storms-
A brilliant design to quickly create a lovely quilt.  Jackie, with the help of Marlene was sharing her freshly labeled sweetie...

...until Miss Michief, who shall remain nameless, zoomed past and gave it a little yank, down it tumbled!!

But not to the floor, too quick to let that happen.

Wednesdays pile, with more promised.

Each donated quilt will have a special label attached, words suggested by Karen W and machine embroidered by Wendy.
There has been a few enquiries, from folk not from our neck of the woods, about what the Hay Run is about, so here are a couple of news items to put you in the picture, so to speak.  A great pic of just how big this thing is is in the April 7th Weekly Times article
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/agribusiness/cropping/11th-burrumbuttock-hay-runners--convoy-arrives-in-ilfracombe/news-story/ac79bea7af6471e7638b5159b73593fd
and this link to the National Transport Free Newspaper has loads of stories
http://www.bigrigs.com.au/topic/burrumbuttock-hay-runners/
An addendum
An e-mail hit the desk last night from Connecting Threads, offering free shipping to Aust on orders over $75. The offer is only for a limited time, and also only for online orders.
Immediately thought of all you gals stitchin' your little hearts out on Charity Quilts, this is possibly a way of making quilts in a pattern you have been thinking about for awhile in a way that will not be cost prohibitive as a give away quilt.
If you are interested visit Connecting Threads here.
Some of their fabric is very reasonably priced, U.S.$ 3.50 to 4.60
and no, I don't get a kickback or anything, I'm just a name on a mailing list. 

Chris has been missing in action for awhile, pleased to see her joining the ranks - but...wait...knitting? really?, Chris always has a bring along project.  Turns out her little Grandie (obviously a gunna be quilter) has been visiting, the sewing room is a wreck and the key to the sewing cabinet is...well...not where it should be, hence the knitting.

Heather is not slacking, not at all, has just finished another one of her lovely blocks and is taking a 'thinking about it break'
Honest!

Wendy was in the Machine room, busily machine appliquing block 3 of her 'Foxley Village' quilt while chatting to Marie, Wendy was not happy with her fox and wanted to remove him, and call the quilt ' Cat Village', however, an e-mail last night tells that with Marie's idea of the judicious application of a little water colour pencil, Foxley is now safe from extinction.

3 delicious blocks, wish my fabric would hurry up.

So...whats the goss Gals...

no, not just gossiping at all, Pat was showing a pic of a quilt that had inspired her for the one under the needle, but of course, as it so often happens, just not quite enough of one fabric caused a bit of a design tweek.

Janice, Beryl, Karen D, and Chris all agree, yep exactly different!!

Our Fabric dyeing workshop is coming up fast, just 2 weeks away, so a bit of a list of what we will all need.
Sue is supplying all the dyes so just the fabric and tools are needed.



Date 18 May
Washed white cotton fabric, - although there was some chat today about bringing an item of clothing you would like to re-vamp, but be aware, the thread used in construction may not be cotton and therefor will not dye
Zip lock bags or plastic containers large enough to suit the fabric pieces you will dye
Large plastic box that will hold the filled zip lock bags to take your fabric home
Lots of small jars or bottles to mix dyes in, and maybe take some dye home
Large plastic tray
Rubber Gloves
Old clothes (& shoes)
Old towels for mopping up the inevitable spills

May is Machine Embroidery display month for the glass cabinet in the entry, couldn't resist some pics of the beautiful work these clever girls do.

Finishes, lots of 'em

The gals have been busy busy over the past weeks,
First finish spotted, well, almost finished was Courtney putting the last stitches into the binding on her table runner.

Next finish spotted was Marcia, no not the quilt finished, the sandwiching finished, another 'I Spy' for another Great Grandie, with more really cute backing, snaffled at a recent sale--- gotta love a good sale!

Julie also had some finishes to share, these two amazing pieces of Reticello, the Italian version of Hardanger, same methods but with different stitchery patterns.
There are some great tutorials/demonstrations on Youtube, but mainly in Italian, so bonus, you get to learn a new hobby and brush up on your Italian!...or maybe just buy the book

Gwen bought her book of Il Reticello along some months back, Julie was captivated and created these two pieces.

A stack of finished charity quilts.

All ready to have their labels attached.  These are to join the masses of toiletries donated by local residents to join the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners for drought affected families in Western Queensland.  The initive was organised by local resident Pat Morris in conjunction with local M.P. Steve Dickson who's office is being used as a collection point.  Toiletries can still be dropped off up to Tuesday 10th May.  Wendy has machine embroidered the quilt labels and latecomer quilts can have labels attached next Wednesday 4th.

Last stitches done!

Courtney finished the binding, table runner all ready to go!

Julie is working on a 'charity quilt to be' for her other quilt group which was also lucky enough to be the recpients of a no longer needed stash, this piece is designed to be embroidered and Julie is enjoying the journey, a great bring along project.  She also had the cutest wooden box for transporting all the necessities and niceties, like the tinsy little change purse and cute little tin of mints both gifted by friends.

Jackie is beavering along on her Jack's Chain inspired pattern. Love this fussy cut hexie.

and now, time for a little in house bragging.
Remember a couple of years ago when the needlework group held their exhibition and yarn bombed everything in sight?
One of the many things that leader Pam bombed (apart from the family SUV) was a table converted from a chair, when Pam and her Darling were downsizing, the table was given to her grandaughter, who almost managed to keep it!
Mum, an optometrist, opened her new office in Maleny, and positioned the bombed table in a corner to create a kiddies reading area, it was spotted by a teacher from the Maleny Community Kindergarden who promptly commissioned Pam for another.
Sharing the finished commission with fellow yarn and fiber artists, said table was spotted by Cottage President Jan, who promptly took a pic for Graham to use in our newsletter, just had to share it with others who would appreciate the wonder of this piece. Thanks Jan and Graham.

If you want to see it in the flesh, you know where to find it, at Judi's optometrist in Bunya Street, just opposite the Maleney School, mind you, it might cost you a new pair of glasses, close examination of tiny stitches may be mistaken for bad eyesight and away you go...new glasses!