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!

 

Who's Gran has been under the pump?

...the recipient of these two beauties is who.
Remember this lovely from last week? Lyn made it, with its matching cushion cover as a birthday quilt  for her little Grandie in Adelaide Perth, (how wrong can you get it, the're thousands of K's apart and not even in the same State!)...sorry guys.

so this week Lyn bought this quilt along to share.

It is also a birthday quilt, for her Grandson in Perth, the Grandies birthdays are a few months apart but as the family is packing goods and chattels and moving overseas for a bit, the rush was on to get both quilts delivered A.S.A.P.
Lyn was busily stitching down the binding on the matching cushion cover with a bit of a sigh of relief this arvo, just a few more stitches and these two special birthday pressies will be winging their way to their lucky recipients.

 Those two little pieces of fabric resting on the back of the cushion cover?? all that is left of the 'car' fabric! guess who was feeling a trifle smug about that.

While chatting about what a lovely idea it is to make a matching cushion cover, Lyn fessed up that not only do the Grandies get matching cushions for their quilts, they also often get extra cushions, it's just one of the things they love about visiting Gran, taking home another cushion to layer on the bed or to play with, their theory - 'Can't have too many cushions Gran'.

 Sue will be presenting a dyeing class in a couple of weeks time, so of course fabric dyeing is rather on everyone's mind. 
Denise found this fab example of a tie dyed dress 'at the back of the wardrobe' and decided to give it an outing just to take us all down memory lane, to that place where we all had a tie dyed outfit or two, clothed the kids in tie dyed T-shirts or gave tie dyed articles as gifts, every piece was different and all were a work of art & love.
What isn't showing in the pic is the bodice is trimmed with cotton lace and ribbons, very feminine.

Back at the beginning of the Christmas break Sue wanted a project to keep her fingers busy, preferably one she could take along with her on visits and excursions, she also wanted to trim down on her scrap bag stash, all in all, she thought this pattern from an old quilting magazine would be just perfect! and so it has been.

It certainly kept her busy over the break and made a great 'bring along' project for our Wednesday meetings, but reducing the scrap bag, well, Sue says that is a bit of a line ball call, you see she had to buy extra fabric for the sashing, and the border, and the backing, so of course, more leftovers! Darn, aint life difficult? guess she will just have to start another quilt....  ;o

Gotta say, love the 'Q' block, its a quilt of course!

2015 Quilt Show and Sale #2

More lovely quilts for you to enjoy with a few little extras thrown in for fun!

Janice
'Snowball Oddball'

 "Just loved these fabrics when I saw them at various quilt shops over the past years.  I machine pieced them with a traditional snowball pattern with an odd block included.  Professionally quilted by my friend Judy from Furball Farm quilting.

Lorraine L.
'Grandmothers Fan'

"Having collected Pansy Fabric for sometime I decided it was time to use it!
I hand and machine pieced the quilt and it was machine quilted by Carmen Brown."

Wendy
'Sampler Quilt'

"This quilt was done under instruction of one of our master quilters, Gwen.  I learned about designing and drafting blocks, hand piecing and hand quilted.
Thank You Gwen"

Karen
'Hush'

Made for a beautiful little new addition to our family.  Baby quilt and nappy carry bag.

 Deanne
'Old Timer - Rusty Truck'

"I came upon this old truck on a trip to Ravensworth, a mining town west of Townsville.  We had a Ford truck like this on our farm in Tasmania many years ago.  It brought back many happy memories of my young family loading hay on a sunny day.
The rusting truck stood in the dappled shade from a tall tree.  The bright sunlight on top of the cab and the bushland beyond made such a pleasing contrast.  I was so pleased I had my camera.
My background fabric was dyed, (sky and foreground). Then I used an electric tracer to enlarge the image of the grill onto the background fabric, the rest of the truck was drawn on.  I worked from the top down.  The green bushland, then I traced the truck.  As I worked on each piece of the truck it was cut from the tracing paper and the fabric was appliqued by fusing.
I have 'sun dyed' the greens, browns and orange fabric.
Blue net was used for shading.  Fusing was used on all parts of the truck.  The quilting was done on a domestic machine by myself.  The fabrics are all cotton."

Our 2015 Lyn Ballinger Challenge.  'Table Runner, using two hues adjacent on the colour spectrum, no larger than 50 x 25cm'.

Challenge judged winners as well as the winner of 'Viewers Choice'  will be announced at the Lyn Ballinger Luncheon in 3 weeks.  The challenge pieces were used as Lucky Door prizes for our Show visitors and the winners are currently being advised of their wins.

Andrea
'Time Rich - Fabric Free' - a Megan Null inspired crumb quilt via Ami Simms' challenge.

Ami Simms posted a video of the amazing young lady she met in class.
Megan Null saves every tiny scrap from her quilts, piecing them all together into squares, logs or triangles to create 'crumb' quilts.  An almost free quilt!
When our group ran an in-house Jelly Roll Race, just for fun I collected all the little scraps to give Megans's idea a go.
With some scraps of my own this is the result
Machine pieced and quilted by Andrea.

Sandy
'Last Tango in Houston'

"Every day I was at the Houston Quilt Festival I walked past this quilt kit and finally I bought it on the last day.  The colours and pattern were so striking that I just had to have it (along with many others),
The pattern 'Two to Tango' is by Deb Mosa
I machine pieced the quilt and it was machine quilted by Yankee Doodle Quilting".

Susan W
'Kimono Kokeshi'

 "A small wall hanging designed by Sindy Rodenmayer, Texas U.S.A.
The hanging is inspired by traditional Japanese Kokeshi Dolls
Hand appliqued and quilted by me".

2015 Fabric Art and Surface Design Group's Challenge.  'Create an art piece with textiles 150cm x 30cm
Use only 2 complimentary colours'.

It's always a pleasure to have the Fabric Arts girls Challenge feature in our Quilt Show.
Both groups have a yearly challenge but a biennial exhibition and so we each feature the other groups challenge an each exhibition.  Just one of the many benefits of belonging to the Cottage.

Marlene
'My Memories of Kashmir'

"I like Leesa Chandler of Melbourne fabrics and these reminded me of my visit to India in 1986,
The pattern was adapted from a pattern from Patchwork and Quilting January 2009.
I machine pieced the quilt in 2012 then handed it over to Fiona, the Quilting Fairy for machine quilting in 2012

A tower of 3 quilts,
Beryl
'Get Around to it'
Some things take a while to 'get around to it'.  About 18 years this one has waited! A lovely class at Ulladulla N.S.W. with a guest teacher Glenys Mann.
I machine pieced quilted the quilt".

The bottom 2 quilts are by
Val and have been featured on the blog previously.
'Serengeti'
"My very first raw edge applique piece of 67 pieces.  It did however give me the incentive to finish a Lorraine Carther piece which was started many years ago. 
The quilt is a Toni Whitney design.
I machine appliqued and machine quilted the quilt".

Donated from Pat
This quilt is one of Pat's donated fabrics.  The squares were made and numbered in rows ready to put together which I did and then put the borders on.
The qult will be donated to 'Sunny Kids'
The quuilt was machine pieced and machine quilted all by me.

Andrea
'North'

Based on a quilt spotted on Pinterest, unfortunately no links to who created the original.  I altered the design to feature 'Flying Geese' blocks all flying...North".

Marlene
'Pinwheels Spinning Either Way'

"I like the fabrics in the Jelly Rolls but some friends prefer the reverse side! 
The design is a variation of a pattern in an old issue of Patchwork and Quilting.
I machine pieced the quilt and it was machine quilted by Carmen Brown".

Denise
'Dot's Friends'

"I remember a book from my childhood titled 'Dot and the Kangaroo'.  It was very special to me because it had belonged to my mother (no longer with us) and that book would have been first read by my mother 85 years ago.
The panel I chanced upon in Townsville 30 years past.  Now I have 2 little granddaughters to whom many stories can be narrated over the coming years emanating from the quilted panels.
the quilt is machine pieced and hand and machine quilted".

Beryl
'I Was Young Once'

"I love the fabric and used the slash and whack method.
The quilt was machine pieced and quilted by me".


Val
'Blast Off'

Two more of the many vintage machines and sewing boxes/kits that were on display at the Show.

Betty
'Pink for Girls 2'

"This quilt was made for another of my granddaughters.
The quilt was machine pieced and quilted by me".

Wendy
'Wind in the Whiskers'

"This was a block of the month quilt that my husband gave to me as a birthday gift.  (Probably because he likes cats!)
The quilt is a McKenna Ryan design and was machine quilted by me.

Sandy
'Pure Opulence'

"This is my first effort at hand piecing.  I intend to make 12 blocks but decided if I was ever going to finish it five blocks would do!  I only used four fabrics on the quilt top with the border print providing the different designs.
The pattern was designed by Sampler Quilts.
I hand pieced the quilt and it was machine quilted by Liz Traynor".

Baby Quilts, just love 'em...

...but some just go above and beyond.
And this quilt from Marie is one of those.
But before I let you drool all over your computer, you need to know the quilt is gone, yep, off to it's darling little owner, and all we have folks, is pics of pics on an iPad...but...you do have to love technology.

This is one heck of an amazing quilt.  The fabrics have lots of little pics of bugs, beetles, butterflies and other bits of nature.  Talk about taking 'I Spy' to a whole new level.

Marie took pictorial squares and appliqued them around the border, interspersing the little panels with gem cuts - well - they look like little gems of living colour - in between the squares.
The lucky little guy who was given this quilt is only 2 weeks old, he has many many hours of pleasure in front of him with this wonderful quilt. (Ignore all those wonky liney little thingies across the fabric, they really aren't there,  it happens when you take pics of screens)
 
We had another fab. baby quilt for show and tell, Lainey, who seems to have a whole heap of family & friends who all expect baby quilts, bought along an unfinished quilt to share, more than a flimsey but still not a quilt....racing against the clock is Lainey, Christening on Sunday....3 days and 2 bits of days away....Her good friend is finally a Grannie, and yeah! happy dancin' in her neck of the woods.
New Mum is not a fan of pastels, so Lainey made this darling quilt in New Mum's fave colour scheme...great job, not pastels, but undeniably a baby quilt.

and the backing is just amazing.

The lucky little one who gets this quilt gets the ABC up front and all the fun of the beach on the flip side, all bases covered!

Courtney had something to share today, yep the finished long-stitch, last stitches this morning Courtney tells. Makes you smile just looking at those Dolphins,

Courtney plans to get this lovely framed, hope we get to see it when that happens.

Spotted Inge with a crochet hook and red wool playing in and out of her fingers, just look at those fingers fly!

So what is she up to?
Red Poppies is what.
This one just sitting there awaiting it's 'eyelashes'

 

Yep, eyelashes, Inge will be  using those fluffy, curly cute little crocheted 'eyelashes' to create the black center of the poppy.

And just in case you are wondering why crochet poppies? pop over here to the 5000 Poppies site to learn all about this great endeavor, and perhaps be inspired to pick up a ball of red wool and a crochet hook.

Gwen is not only busily hand quilting for others but is also 'Hand Piecing Queen' in residence, she is currently teaching many of our group the intricacies of hand piecing.

Michelle is learning the skill, and just look at those vibrant pieces....she shared a closer look.

Michelle found this vibrant fabric range on a trip to New York, and has enough for a complimentary border and backing for what is going to be a vibrant 'Bow Tie' quilt...and....she is thinking of learning the art of hand quilting on it, with Gwen as Tutor of course.  

Hand piecing and embroidery seems to be all the go at the mo.  

Denise is also into hand piecing, she has been caught up in the romance of Jen Kingwell's 'Green Tea and Sweet Beans' quilt pattern that so many of the Thursday evening gals have been immersed in.  Just look at the size of that tinsy piece Denise is working on! yeah, that tiny smidge of hot pink between her fingers!

Sue W. bought along a lovely wall hanging with quite the story attached, all about seeing a lovely quilt way back in 2000 that she thought would be special done with Liberty prints, but considering herself more of an applique quilter as opposed to a piecing quilter, she filed it away in the 'one day' box.

Well, long story short, realising that the Liberty stash was growing, Sue decided to launch into the world of piecing and created this lovely wall hanging.  A simple but stunning pattern created by Churn Dash blocks on point.

Sue then shared that this will be one of the quilts on show in our upcoming 2015 Quilt show and Sale.  

It is our month to use the Display cabinet to show the other Cottage group members some of the works and pieces that Quilters create.  Using the display cabinet this way is a great idea, the display changes every month with a different group showcasing their crafts, although it's always a bit of a challenge to get quilting pieces small enough to display to advantage.

This time round Deanne volunteered to do the display.

The cabinet looks a treat Deanne.

Did you notice the work going on in the Atrium behind Deanne?

Well, the Calligraphy and Papercraft group are just starting to set up for their exhibition, 'Taking Tea'.

It promises to be a great affair, the guys and gals have an astounding array of goodies and there were even a few already hung so of course, just had to grab a sneak peek.

Pastel to vibrant, something for everyone.

Now if you remember the tale from last week of Heather and the lovely black and white piece....well it was on the wall, really, I couldn't believe it either!

Sad bit though....had to stand so far back to get it all in that the pic doesn't do it justice.  Just when you need a decent camera.....

The wording? 'Butterflies are self propelled flowers'

Pop in to see it for yourself, you won't be disappointed

The exhibition opens on Friday evening 5th Sept. and runs through to Saturday 13th Sept.

Scroll down to the bottom of the previous post for more info on what this exhibition has in store for you.