Special Birthday, Amazing quilts and a very good idea

Everyone was in party mood this week, Lyn celebrated a very special birthday, one of those milestone '0' birthdays.

Of course there was cake, rather a yummy one, orange poppyseed, with candles for blowing out and wishing on.

Karen got the job of lighting the candles, she seemed to be dressed for the job.

Debby is busily working on a pretty new longstitch 'Friends of the Ocean',

Way back at the beginning of the year, Wendy started the Esther Aliu 2018 free BOM 'Queens Garden', its been a lot of fun following the ladies from all around the world stitching this years BOM on Esthers Quilt Blog Group on Facebook

Esther posts a free BOM each year, of course if you decide you want to do the BOM from a few years back you can purchase the pattern from Esther or sign up for next years BOM on her site.

Getting ready for Christmas, Sheila shared her Christmas pillowcases created for her Grandies, she even uses them as christmas stockings, stuffing them with goodies.

Lorraine has been a busy little beaver, she got hooked on the Bonnie Hunter block 'Diamond Tile' and just couldn't stop making them. Result is this quilt, sashed in black with cornerstones.

She also created a lovely set of place mats and runner for the Alfresco dining.

Lorrain had all the info ready to share on her ipad, the block was featured in the May/June 2018 issue of Quiltmaker, there is a digital version of Quiltmaker available here. The block is from Bonnies 'Addicted to Scraps' series, there is even a youtube video by Bonnie, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2UnZQxrGxI. It runs for about an hour but Bonnie takes you through all the steps to create your own madness collection.
Lorraine also had this wall hanging to share, a mystery project created on retreat with her other quilting group.

Simple overlay construction and lots of sparkly bling from the paint and beading.

Heather was working on the binding on a christmas stocking for Olivia, mind you, she wasn't getting a good run at it, being part of the arvo tea team, she was a little sidetracked.

Lots of lovely charms stitched to the stocking.

Lastly, the good idea, from Wendy.
Wendy says she is one of those who's sewing table gets a little messy, the more she stitches, the messier. Stuff gets on top of things that hide, the more she looks the more she might.
Frustrated with searching, again, for something or other on her sewing table, a bright idea popped up. Why not have a little box to put everything in? she even took it one step further, a clear little box, see through in fact. The trick is to be disciplined to put everything in the box as you use it, but how easy to glance at your little clear box to find the very thing you need. Sometimes it's the simple things that make the biggest impact.

2017 Quilt Exhibition - Part two

Promising to be another beautiful day here on the Sunny Coast, just perfect to make yourself a refreshing drink and spend a little time drooling over some very drool worthy quilts.

Michelle McGrath
'I Love Crazy'
I love 'Crazy' and was excited to join a 'Crazy' class at The Patchwork Angel taught by Jenny Clouston.
Pattern design by Jenny Clouston of Sew So Crazy Quilting
Quilted by Michelle McGrath

Gaye Cook
'Stripes!'
This quilt began as a bagful of ties collected over a number of years from family, friends and second hand stores. There are silk and synthetic ties but all with beautiful colours and patterns. What previous life did they have? How to give them a second life, a new life?
The gift of a book called 'Recycle Ties' by Christine Copenhaver was the inspiration to make this bold quilt from just striped ties.
Pattern design by Christine Copenhaver
Quilted by Fiona - 'The Quilting Fairy of Mountain Creek'

Rita Buckley
'Nottinghill Tube Quilt'
Who isn't inspired by Missouri Star Quilt Company!!!
Pattern Design by Missouri Star Quilt Company
Quilted by Fiona 'The Quilting Fairy'

Heather Tucker
'Crazy Triptych'
2016 was my year of Crazy! I was inspired by my friend's Crazy patchwork and encouraged to attend classes at The Patchwork Angel with tutor Jenny Clauston.
With Jenny's expert guidance and with the help of her excellent book 'Foolproof Crazy Patchwork' the pieces you see here magically evolved! I had done lots of embroidery in the past but had never worked with twisted silk thread, silk ribbon or beading. I loved the whole creative experience.
Then came the decision of what to do when the pieces were finally finished - is Crazy patchwork ever really finished? You can always add a bit more!
I decided to make three framed pieces, one for each of my three children to be given to them in the future.
Framed by Caloundra Art and Framing

Wendy Tame
'Rajah Quilt'
I have been fascinated by the original Rajah Quilt made by convicts in 1840 on their voyage to Australia and when I saw the pattern (half size of original) I just had to make it. The centre block is a copy of the original only I coloured it then outlined it in stitches. The quilt is then built up of rows around the centre. There are many very tiny squares
Pattern design by Lessa Siegele
Quilted by Wendy Tame

Marion Dempsey
'Christmas Bargello Table Runner'
This table Runner is made from a design by Eileen Wright called 'Twists and Turn Bargello Quilts'
Pattern design by Eileen Wright
Quilted by Marion Dempsey

Karen Daniel
'Em's Quilt'
Originally, when I started this quilt it was for myself. I have combined my love of needlework with patchwork and I was half way into it, when one of my daughters spotted it and decided she loved it and asked if she could have it.
How could I say no? To have one of my own children ACTUALLY wanting one of my quilts was wonderful, so I completed and gave it to her for her 21st birthday. Which actually started the ball rolling, how could I give to one and not them all? This is the first of 3 very similar but different quilts. It is machine pieced and quilted and I embroidered by hand all the squares, using a mixture of Mount Mellick stitchery, candlewicking and other embroidery stitches. It certainly was a work of love, and my daughter has used it on her bed for the last 15 years, hence its 'used' look. I have made a second quilt, similar but different for my second daughter, plus 2 other quilts for each of my sons, I am still in the process of making one of my own. One day!
Pattern design by Karen Daniel
Quilted by B & B Quilting

Closer views of Karen's beautiful stitcheries

Marie Weber
'William De Morgan Sampler'
Nothing more to say then - I just love William De Morgan designs
Pattern design by Michell Hill
Quilted by Marie Weber

Ailsa Ash
'Peachy Snowballs'
Our friend, Marie, made the Snowball Quilt for our Quilt Show four years ago and I admired it very much.
She gave me the patterns she found on a blog. I have kept it for future use and now have finally made it from some pieces of Japanese fabrics left over from other projects, hence the small blocks.
Machine pieced and quilted by Ailsa Ash

Lyn Solomon
'Going Round in Circles'
I needed to reduce my stash but wanted a different pattern that wasn't squares or triangles.
I found this online on one of my quilting sites and liked it because it was different
Pattern design from internet site -'Fave Quilts'
Quilted by Lyn Solomon

Michelle McGrath
'Clamshells'
For my friend Jan's 60th Birthday!
Clamshell Workshop at the Patchwork Angel
Quilted by Fiona Bell 'The Quilting Fairy'

Jackie Swan
'Cream Delight'
This hexagon quilt is the first in a series of low volume quilts I plan to make.

Marion Dempsey
'Ski Run'
This quilt was made with a Sewing Group at 'The Sewing Basket, Pittards Rd. Kuluin
The quilt could be reversible as the backing is a 'Disappearing Nine Patch' design
Inspired by a quilt at 'The Sewing Basket'
Quilted by Marion Dempsey

Jackie Swan
'Blue Circles'
The 'Ring Circle Quilt' was shown to me on the internet so I drafted out a similar pattern. As the body is made up of the squares, hexagons and triangles, ti was a challente to 'fill in' around the edge of the quilt.

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.

A new gadget

Di was beavering away at finishing the binding on this quilt at the beginning of the day, created using a layer cake and drunkards path template - yep we do have it in our library, Di had Fiona from the Quilting Fairy longarm a continuous design over her quilt.

 

To make the binding task a little easier, Di had lashed out on a Clover desk needle threader and was a bit dismayed to find that it didn't perform as promised.

Not to be defeated by a little thing like that, Di did a bit of research and found that Clover recommends you use Clover brand needles, (of course) something to do with the oval eye of the clover needles.  So, a dash into the store on her way to quilting and Di had her required needles but hadn't actually got to the stage of needing to re-thread her needle.  So, does it work or does it not? more on this cliff hanger next week.

Anike was setting up to continue 'free hand quilting' or as we would term it free motion quilting on half of her quilt.

Inspired by a quilt spotted in a magazine, this is Anike's own design, the reds in the layout form large hexagon shapes that will be quilted in an allover circular design with straight line quilting in the black background.  Anike opted to do the quilting in two pieces so as not to have too much bulk in the throat of her machine.

Debby was threading up her needle in preparation of button hole stitching around some really cute farm animals on a baby quilt for her God daughters new baby.

Janice is quite a prolific quilter and usually has her quilts quilted by a long arm quilter, or if her own quilting, has gone with the stitch in the ditch approach.  With the continued support of a friend who convinced her to give it a try she has been pleasantly surprised to find just how easy it is to get a great result using gentle curves and straight lines.

The above quilt and this one below are just two of the quilts that Janice will be offering for sale at the upcoming Easter Fair on Saturday March 26th.

As promised, Michelle bought along her lovely crazy patchwork squares, all framed up and looking beautiful.

some closer peeks at some of Michells blocks and yes, the background fabric is black, not blue as in some of these pics. 

Heather was inspired by Michells work and also joined the happy little gang of 'crazies' who gather at Patchwork Angel to be tutored by Jenny.

Although we have a copy of Jenny's book in our library, Heather chose to buy her own copy.  It's a great reference and inspirational book.

We had two gals visiting with us today with a view to joining our group, Karen and Carol.
Karen chose to bring a piece of Sashiko along to work on.

Carol bought along some 1/2" hexies that she will be using on a quilt for her bed using her own design of Cathederal Windows with a hexie in each window.
 Carol was originally enticed to start on the 'Insanity' quilt by this gift from a friend, a cute mini

sewing kit.  Val identified the fabric as being from one of Lynette Anderson's ranges.
'Insanity' is an award winning quilt by Australian quilter and tutor Rhonda Pearce and uses over 10,000 hexies.  After making a number of the hexies, Carol decided 10 thousand was just a few more than she wanted to create, hence the new design of a quilt for her bed.   The pattern for 'Insanity' was featured on the front cover of an old Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, pictured below if you are interested in your own little piece of insanity


More on the quilt creations from the Jan Phillips workshop held recently.
Jackie, Denise and Val, carefully separating fabrics after one of those breath holding free form cuts.

Heather with her tablerunner, not quilted yet but in the works! - It's all that crazy stitching she is doing - only so many hours in a day!

Marlene's sweetie is at home on her 'design floor' but she did bring us a pic on her phone,
Dots and spots added, coming along nicely.

Marlene is also the first to bring along her finished Najidah toiletry bags, with a handy pocket front for added colour.

New member Karen D. was also working on Shashiko.                         
 

While Lorraine L. was sitting back, taking a break from her hand pieced stars.

 Sandy has almost completed another embroidered block.

and Val has selected just a few fabrics from Derricks donated stash to help in the creation of more charity quilts.

Karen is also working on little hexies that she will be turning into a pretty little make-up bag for herself.

Marcia was given a fat quarter pack and a commission to create 'a rug for the floor for her grandson in law to watch t.v.'

She opted for a pattern sourced from Moda Bake Shop, not unlike this pattern here. to create a very masculine quilt, just perfect to roll around and wrap yourself in for a tellie marathon.

Marcia had her quilt longarm quilted by local lass Carmen, who, whould you believe, only had the quilt for 2 days before returning it to Marcia, talk about speedy.  We will be able to share Carmen's contact details with you in the near future - (it's a holiday thing!)
Update:  just to hand, Carmen's new e-mail contact
 carmensquilting@gmail.com.
So, if you are interested in having Carmen quilt your latest lovely, shoot her off an email, she will contact you and soon you will have a snuggly lovely!