More chittering than a scurry of chipmunks

Wednesday was just one of those days, everyone seemed to be talking, laughing and just jollying around, so many projects on the go and all being busily worked on.
Mind you, as soon as the camera comes out they all stop chatting, no-one wants an open mouth pic on the post!

Karen J, with her back to us, was working on the binding of a cute Sudoku quilt.
Karen very kindly gave an impromptu mini class on the construction of her Sudoku quilt using 9 different fabrics,

and being the very clever lass that she is, the same fabrics in a large 9 patch formed the backing.

Sue A presented a tutorial a few years back on a Sudoku quilt, but if you missed it or need a refresher here are a couple of links,
Rose Smith has a youtube video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9_t5DlEhss
with comprehensive instructions here
but if you really want a quilting sudoku challenge, try this one from Moda Bake Shop, http://www.modabakeshop.com/2015/03/sudoku-quilt.html


Julie, who is also a member of the Mooloolah Valley quilting group bought her mystery flimsey along to share,

It was the at the Mooloolah Valley Show and Tell that Wendy was first inspired to present a mystery quilt to our group, and I must say the idea has been enthusically embraced.
Helen T also bought her finished Mystery along

Fae was working on sandwiching another quilt, she already had the cute little bears fabric but a quick trip to the fabric shop was needed to snaffle the other fabrics, including a nicely matched backing.

Fae also had a finished offset squares quilt ready for sharing,

That's Sherrye in the background, helping out Courtney by pressing and cutting her fabrics for the Mystery quilt.


Pat bought her machine along to work on the quilting of her current cutie, 'Catlady', a Coton + Steel pattern by Sarah Watts, Pat was convinced to stay in the main room with the rest of us and it was 'quilt central' most of the day, everyone popped along for a look and a chat.

Quilting progress to date, wanting to use up every little piece of her Japanese cat fabric, Pat pieced the backing for 'Catlady'. Pat ends each quilting line, tying and burrying each thread - no short cuts here!

Karen has been stitching little frock and nicker sets for her newest Grandie, using a Cabbage Patch doll pattern (who remembers those, the dolls and the patterns, the patterns were such a boon to stitching little things for bubbies all those years ago)

beautiful tie backs and edged in lace, Karen even stitched sweet litte roses along the lace on the lavender dress.
Remember that cute little apron Karen made for another Grandie? well lucky lass now has a matching little tote.

Marie has been stitching up a storm,

creating two identical quilts for twin sisters, it's their 21st soon and Marie will have these beauties to gift to them.

A medallion created with 'Sister' sentiments and appliqued roses, edged with (according to Marie, hundreds) of flying geese. Truly a gift to treasure.

Marie was thrilled to find a Derivian marker at Spotlight to use for the verse, comes in different colours and is only $4. You can read about them at.http://www.derivan.com.au/derivan-products/fabricart-marker.html

Jackie shared her latest with us. Lovely vibrant colours, 2.5" strips crosscut and sashed.

The backing was a piece purchased a few years back when the Palmwoods patchwork shop was relocating, of course it was on sale, at a ridiculously low price and Jackie knew she just had to have it, being a little short one end Jackie pieced some more vibrants down the side and voila! another brilliant backing.

Jackie wanted an allover quilting design that didn't detract from the vibrancy of her quilt, and was thrilled with the job Letitia did.
Letitia is growing her longarm quilting business and specialises in quilting all over designs as opposed to pantograph patterns that go edge to edge in a repeat pattern. She prefers to quilt a design that complements your quilt without overpowering the work done by the quilt owner.
If you have the odd flimsey sitting around wishing it was a quilt, speak to Letitia, her rates are most reasonable and she can be reached at:
Letitia Turner
Home Ph. 5476 7351 or
Mob. 0434 829 128

Step 2 reveal of the Mystery quilt, lots of little baggies of finished strips were on display.
Wendy handed out Step 2 instructions and gave a little demo, there were some sneaky questions she managed to answer gardedly so as not to give the game away.

Links to Step 1 instructions can be found in the sidebar.

Sheila is spending some time with the Grandies, took a trip to the wildlife park, but hey, not a Grandie in sight, could be something to do with the crocodile she is holding, reckon we will all be doing a little surreptitious finger counting when she gets back!

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.

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!

A Fond Farewell and a Welcome to Newbies

 Spotted Sheila hanging this balloon on the way into the Cottage, gotta know something is up...

Di was surrounded by a group of gals all admiring this great wall hanging.

Sandy and Di spotted the pattern for the Advent Calendar at the recent Brisbane Craft Show and judged it perfect, all that was missing were decorations for the little heart shaped pockets, and that's when they spotted the buttons, lots of lovely wonderful buttons.  Bliss!  It wasn't long however until they realised just how those button dollars were adding up and was perhaps a little a lot on the side of over capitalising for a Christmas wall hanging so settled for some really lovely glittery velcroed christmas motifs.
Di's own design modification is the addition of tinsy little wooden pegs she has numbered for the advent dates.

New member Nelly is working on her own design of appliqued poppies on a pieced backgound.

Nelly likes to up-cycle and has the eye to get a lot of her fabrics and pieces from various local op-shops.

The flower stalks are couched heavy threads and Nelly has used a combination of freemotion embroidery and beads for the poppies and leaves.

Courtney arrived sporting an eye catching bag, actually a lunch bag but such lovely vibrant colours and constructed from that wonderful invention of foam backed fabric that one often sees beer coolers constructed from...have heard a rumor that the beer coolers are made from leftover bits from making wet suits, can't vouch for that though!

Other bags spotted were this tote in a lovely poppies fabric and a blue toile sewing compendium.

Back in 2013 our group visited the QAGOMA 'Quilts 1700-1945 Exhibition' at which Wendy managed to snaffle a copy of the book 'The Rajah Quilt',  no mean feat as copies were in very short supply!  So when Wendy spotted this pattern by quilter Lessa Siegel she decided on making her own 'Rajah Quilt'

Wendy has opted to use a modern twist and pencil in the tiny designs of the central medallion while needle turning the other blocks.

After winning the Expertise Events 'Rajah Award' Lessa Siegele was inspired to create her own version of the Rajah quilt, albeit a much smaller version.  Lessa was then encouraged to sell the pattern of her version.
The Rajah quilt is one of, if not the most important Australian textile artifact and has had many interesting articles writted about it and the convicts credited with it's creation.
Some interesting links are:
'Stitches in Time' an Australian article
Rajah's Grandaughter - a blog by a 7th generation decendent of a Rajah convict
Lessa Siegel's story by 'Addicted to Fabric' blogger Brenda Wood
a story of Lessa Siegls pattern release by Michell Hill
all very interesting reading.

Marcia was busily trying to put the finishing stitches into the binding of this sweetie, destined to fly away to Sweden in the near future, but she kept getting sidetracked.

A 'Star of the Month' award, for so many many reasons, not the least of was the great job done as our Cottage Rental Officer and group deputy leader while Sheila has been away.

Roslyn came along to join us for the day, a very new newbie and planning her very first quilt.  Roslyn was given a few lessons on the importance of ironing and accurate cutting by Pat and Sue.

Mary has been working away on her lovely blocks, applique, needle turn, couching and embroidery, a real smorgasboard of needle crafting.

Julie was a bit shy to share her WIP, being just a few lines to practice on.  Well that's fine, but a few lines of what??  No, not Hardanger.

Slowly the story emerges, and we get a tinsy glimpse of what Julie is aiming to achieve.

Punto Antico.
You can read all about it here at Nordic Needle.
Julie has ordered a book and is working through it, just because she wanted a bit of a challenge -  like Hardanger isn't a challenge?
Helen decided to hit the net to show just what all the excitement is about.

It seems that Gwen is also learning Punto Antico.

Now have you noticed those white LED lights the girls have? they are like rabbits, really they were all over the place, its a Triumph Desktop Magnifying Lamp, ( Thanks Di) tracked them down to a Janome sewing center in Everton Park and guess what? they also come in black, pink and purple but wait, there's more, (chanelling a T.V. shopping ad.) it's freight included, and on sale at $33 was the best price I could find, mine will be here day after tomorrow....service plus! can't wait.  Been on the lookout for something like this for ages. Thanks Gals.

Betty is feeling both hot and smug, yep the temp was up there today but Betty had a head start with a very cute Chinese fan.

Lorraine shared her latest finish, a double sashed H.S.T. lovely that Lorraine will be giving to charity.

The backing is as stunning as the front of the quilt.

Now where is Sheila off to???

Yep, It's cake and song for Marcia

Could be it's one of those Big '0' birthdays

Sadly, Jenny, one of our Thursday night gals and a co-author of this blog has decided that she isn't able to be a part of our group any longer.  Jenny has a very busy career teaching 'Crazy' at various local quilting stores, writing quilting books on crazy patchwork and is of course author of her own blog Sew So Crazy.
Thank you Jenny for the input to our blog of all the work done by our 'Thursday-nighters'.