Retreat Fun Continues.......

Lorraine and Cheryl have sent us some more piccies to enjoy and some lovely words from Lorraine:

"Well, what a wonderful weekend we all had.  It was really fabulous - lovely ladies, lots of gorgeous fabrics and ideas floating everywhere - and all the scrumptious food we could handle!

 Here are some more photos for you from the weekend.  The two group photos were of the tea towel swap, 

and the cute little fabric ring pin cushions Sue made for us all as gifts.  Sue also had two workshops, the hexagons workshop on Sunday was a great success.  See photos of Sheila's

coasters and my blue and white hexagons for a handbag.

It seemed every time someone had fabric pieces ready to assemble, a crowd would gather around the layout table and much discussion and swapping of designs would carry on for ages - it was such a lot of fun.  

My gorgeous Butterfly Logcabin project went well.  I made a "leaving home" bag to carry big quilts in, and it was nearly completed by the time we finished up on Sunday afternoon.

So lovely to see you and Betty up for the day on Saturday.  We all agreed we should book in again for next year!

Bye - Lorraine H.

Just how many hands does it take to finish a quilt?, a tad of help for Fran's Tesselation quilt from Sue, Andrea, Fran and Betty on the Saturday arvo.

Some of Cheryl's pics, there was a lot of conversation and envy on Saturday of Wendy's Jim Jams, now I see why, how cute are they?, and a few pooped quilters waiting to go home at end of Sunday.
Cheryl also pointed out that the only one of the group who wore a name tag, Norma, got her name changed to Sharron........Sharron? where did I get that from??  Sorry, sorry Norma, have fixed the post below.

Norma showing us some of her marvellous machine embroidery.

Some Saturday night entertainment from a pair of cheeky girls, no idea who they are, do you have a clue?!

Judy with her Australiana flimsey all assembled, some wonderful embroidery designs and work in this lovely quilt to be.

Marion has assembled her table runner top, great going for a first time go at patchwork.  Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Wow Fran!, many hands do make light work!, they even get blocks made into sandwiches....
Fran is planning on giving this lovely to one of the  Grandies.

Yvonne has her Star all sandwiched up and is right into quilting it, still deciding on wall hanging versus machine cover.

Look at how many more hand pieced blocks Jackie has now! there will be a quilt on the Show and Tell screens before we know it.

Wendy has pieced a couple of lines of her 'Thirties Twist' the colours are just gorgeous.

Retreats, what can I say, what a wonderful way to achieve a lot of work in a weekend, inspiration from those around you, laughter and play. 

Gotta go now, gotta go sew......and sew...

Our First Retreat.

Betty and I popped up to visit the girls on Retreat on Saturday, this is part of the lovely gardens the Convention Center is nestled in.

After a bit of a false start (o.k., got lost, just a little) we found them in one of the large conference/workrooms.  Great light and lots of room to spread out.

'Cause we were a tad late, there was a bit of a hurry along to get to Morning Tea, these girls had only had breakfast a mere couple of hours ago and were anxious not to miss out, so a walk through the gardens, over to the Dining Room for some delish fruit scones with mountains of fresh chantilly cream and strawberry jam,

The cream came in a Bai Marie tray, mountains of it, of course most ladies managed beautifully, but all that cream and jam was a bit of a challenge for the odd one or two..........(odd as in number...not, well you know, not odd..really)

there was a bit of cream threatening to slide and decorate the verandah, but we scooped it up and stuffed it in the gob where it was supposed to be.  Waste not want not ya know.

Then a stroll back through the gardens, past a 'nature hut' full of bugs, butterflies, shells and even a little house made of shells.

Marion is a member of the Machine Embroidery Group, but decided to have a go at patchwork for the retreat, she chose a table runner, but quite a complicated pattern for a beginner.  Lots of points there Marion.

Lorraine needs a 'running away from home bag' big enough to take a queen size quilt, and decided to create some log cabin butterflies for each side of her bag, no pattern,....just doing it, "Somehow I'm going to have antenna and everything on these little guys" was her comment.  I believe her.

She took this little guy for his 'first flight' fluttering around the room.  Don't the blocks look great on the wall?

Sheila was finishing off the pouch that Sue had taught earlier in the morning, and then decided to practice her machine quilting skills, she has a new machine, comes with it's own little cupboard of gizmos.....(so so cute, I want one of those!) and a stitch regulator, the finished quilt will be for a family pet called Julius,.... he was the runt of the litter delivered by Caesarian..... 

Cheryl has been making these beautiful blocks for awhile, she is a Machine Embroiderer and jumped at the opportunity of getting quilters advice on layout and assembly tips.

Not one to be daunted by a project, Cheryl is also giving machine quilting her first ever go.

Ailsa was also putting the finishing touches to the pouch from Sues' tutorial, she then moved on to stitching down the binding on her Row x Row quilt.

Fran was having a good time, but her pouch seemed to be a bit long, she promptly christened it a sporran, and plans to carry her phone handset around the house in it!....so phone Fran and no answer you will know why!

She was then working on her 'Tessellation' quilt, getting layout help from Betty.


Judy, another of the Machine Embroidery group, has embroidered this amazing quilt using Glen Harris Australiana designs that she purchased from a magazine featuring the same quilt made by Michelle Stokie.

Judy was just one of the many people who went to the recent quilt show over in Gatton, and came home with this beauty.  Yep she won it!!  sadly there is no label so Judy is unable to thank the maker, but if you recognise it, Judy would love some info. including is there any of the border fabric still in the market?!

And then, it was time for lunch, there is no shortage of food at this venue, simple but fresh and flavoursome.

Wendy was a bit take by the welcome note on the group's tables, a nice touch.  Everything was toastie warm in the Dining room thanks to a roaring log fire.

Jackie is working on another floral quilt, number 3 from the fabrics she has been collecting for the past 5 years.  This is the quilt that started the whole collection off...(mag pic top right) and for a bit of a break from machining she bought along a hand stitching project! Knew better than to ask what it will be....this is Jackie's bring along project for meeting days, and she is more of a 'wait and see' gal on this one. <g>

Who could resist this pic, two thoughtful lasses, Lorraine still planning the antenna for her bag, and Sue being the good little helper/mentor that she is, making 'squaring up' decisions.

Wendy was making 'lozenge' or 'coffin blocks' when we arrived, she had made quite a pile for a half mornings work, the quilt is one she spotted in a mag (pic on top right) she is using lovely soft colours for the strip pieced square sashings, but just see how in control this gal is, leaning back and whizzing along those seams.  I pressed some of them for her and I can tell you - straight as a die...!not a wobble, not a waggle! wow!

Of course, there was a lot of this going on!, laughter and jokes abounded!

Marcia certainly wasn't going to let herself get tired of a project, she has a pile of 9 patches completed ready to be slashed and turned into a disappearing 9patch quilt, was wrestling with Suduko - I tell you, it's not as simple as it would seem, one little lapse of concentration and whoopsie!, wrong square in there!

and a stack of beautiful logs cut to get going on 'Hotch Potch' a pattern and fabric she purchased while on hols.

Fran was finding the pouch useful to cart bibs and bobs around with her.  She and Betty were hard at work getting the layout right for her 'Tesselation' quilt

Sharon has machine embroidered these lovely blocks from an Annie Moody pattern that she got from 'Hoopsisters. com. 

The final layout of Norma's quilt 'Mood Swings' on bottom right.

Yvonne, one of our Thursday night members and a Machine Embroider bought this amazing quilt along for Show and Tell and to finish the binding.  She made 'Catz' to donate to the Foster Childrens group, possibly to be raffled as a fundraiser.......now if that happens I know a group of ladies who all want tickets!.

Closer views of some of the blocks, there is applique, pieced, machine embroidered and fabric squares, all ingeniously used.

Yvonne was also working on this piece, it might be a wall hanging or it might end up as a cover for her machine......now that's lurvin' ya machine!

Getting close to time to leave, we decided to go look at the sleeping arrangements and spied this on the hall wall, quilters are an ingenious lot, impromptu design wall.!

Well, you would have to know its a quilters retreat, with such beautiful quilts on the bunks.  Not gonna show you the pic I took of 'little miss kaleidoscope' taking a Nanna Nap.....

And who's bunk is this???well it was allocated to someone who decided to whizz off on a European Holiday instead........

And so farewells were said, the last joke was told and Betty and I meandered through the gardens and so off home.......hope you enjoyed seeing just a little of what the girls got up to...perhaps piccies will be sent of Sunday

Tinsy Hexagons on a Thursday......

...Yep Tinsy ones....as tinsy as 1/2", yes really!, the largest are 1 1/2" ....Got an email this morning from Thursday Group Leader Lorraine with some piccies attached...so without further fanfare...here are Lorraine's words and the pics............1/2"? I'm blown away, can you imagine the quilt....wow!

"Hexagon Fever" has well and truly hit the group lately following a visit to Ipswich by some of our girls to see "The Fabric of Society" show.  This show displays Australia's Quilt Heritage from Colonial Times to 1960.  Whilst there, the girls were "Blown Away" (their words) by one of the magnificent quilts made entirely of tiny hexagons!!  Jenny, Leigh and Jane have all decided to make their own quilts using these tiny 1/2" hexagons in beautiful Reproduction fabrics.  Jenny has already made over 2,000 of her 1/2" hexagons!! - Jane has constructed over 1,000 of her 1/2" ones, and Leigh has completed over 30 of the little ones!

Donna has passed the 100 mark with her 3/4" hexagons - also in Reproduction fabrics.   

Jane, concentrating....you can really get an idea of how tiny these hexies are when you see them between Jane's fingers....'tiny' just doesn't do it.  Jane is construting a 'worm' of hexies, (you can see the worm laying across the books binding) threading them onto a length of cotton, keeping them colour coordinated for stitching.

Stacks of flowers all set to be assembled and many more hexagons waiting to be stitched into flowers.

Jenny with her Two Thousand

A bit of a closer view of the lovely fabrics Jenny is using.

More lovely fabrics and completed flowers, petals being stored in a floss box, shows just how tiny these hexagons are.

Fiona has completed a beautiful quilt top using 1 1/2" hexagons, and Lorraine has made over 600 of the 1 1/2" hexagons using her lovely 1930's fabrics.  Hopefully we will have piccies in the near future.

Charity, Friendship, Organisation..........

.............all very good reasons to quilt.  And so the girls did.
Inge was busily pinning her sandwich, another of her charity quilts, this one a bright and vibrant kaleidoscope quilt.

Inge has the handiest tool to aid in closing the pins,  little dowel rods with a thin metal extension to slide under and raise each pin for easy closing.....

Didn't think to take a close piccie, so this is a cropped version, hence a bit blurry, but if you squint just right you can see the end of the rod, looks a bit like a nail without the head.......(ugh! did I just say nail, near a quilt?....)
Sheila was our group Leader a couple of years back and at the end of her term, as a Thank You for all of her hard work, we made friendship blocks for her.
Sheila decided she wanted a quilt for the Guest bedroom, so added a few of her own blocks, then, for a bit of fun, using the quilt tying idea, she decided to use some of her favourite buttons and buttoned this beauty. We had such fun today, remembering and recognising our blocks.

The block Sheila is holding up is her fave........or as she said one of her most faves, it really was most cleverly designed just for Sheila, who in a previous life was a sports teacher.

We are having a 'Friendship' Quilt day in the near future, where all those with a friendship quilt will bring it in for Show and Tell, those without have permission to cry........now who said that!!
I wonder if a plackie bag of blocks will qualify......maybe some fast stitching should take place, or maybe it will be tears for me.....

Some of the wonderful blocks that were created for Sheila.

 

We were all given a piece of fabric to play with and create from, there was a choice of two, one with bright daylight tropical colours the other was the night, clever concept chosen by Helen, who sadly is no longer with us.

Sue bought along her newly created Hexagon Bag, it always stands upright! and has the cutest created square button closure. Sue will be teaching Hexagon madness, among other things at the Retreat this weekend, the girls are going to have so much fun, I know, they have started with the laughs already, and the descriptions of what the are going to wear..........well really, the mind boggles, I think mainly is is just Jim Jams and fluffy slippers.......cutting down on space you see....more room to pack more fabric and stuff......

 Ooooh, how did that happen? missed the pic of Arvo Tea, and it was totally delish, a wonderful spread again, so here it is.....our Arvo Tea.....talk about spoilt for choice!

Lastly, I would like to share with you a few of my remembrances of a wonderful lady, Irene Marshall, Leader of the Silversmith group, who suddenly passed away on Monday.

I remember the wonderful floral displays she created while leader of the Floral Artists group until it disbanded.
The beautiful silver and gold pieces she created, including two pieces she did for our Son's wedding, the bride and grooms initials for their ring pillows.
Her willingness to teach, to share.  She was an avid gardener and never stinted on gardening advice when asked.  She struck cuttings and sold them at the Cottage to raise cottage funds.
Her humour, she had a great insight into people and their ways.
Her energy, she was a tireless worker for the cottage, and I'm not the only one who will never forget the sight of Irene, at that time in her late eighties, up a ladder, dragging the stored fair items down from an overhead cupboard while two gents held the ladder for her....truth be told they probably rushed over after spotting her up the ladder, but it was a sight!
She will be sadly and greatly missed.
We have truly lost a Treasure.

Wonky Log Cabin Block from Quilt Dad

John from Quilt Dad blog has a very clear and informative tutorial with step by step pics on how to assemble these Wonky Log Cabin Blocks.

These posts are from Johns blog back in 2009, he did a series of 'Wonky' block tutorials, all with the same style of step by step pics and breezy instructions.

To follow John's tutorials click on the following links:-
Wonky Quarter Log Cabin Blocks  quarter log cabins of the wonky variety
Wonky Squares-inSquares Block pretty well self explanatory.
Wonky Bento Box-Style block - basically 4 quarter log cabin blocks to form one block
Great blocks to make fast easy and interesting quilts.

Large Dresden Plates

 Peg from 'Happy in Quilting' blog has been busy making very large Dresden Plates using the Dresden ruler we have in our collection.

To have a peek at these stunning blocks, as well as others by her friend,  pop over here.
Peg doesn't mention the size of the Plates she and Chookyblue have made, but you get the idea of size from the first pic, they are draped over a garden chair.
Peg has given us permission to use her pic.  She used an 8" cut, making the plates approx. 18" across, wow!, that would make a large quilt very quickly.  Thanks for your permission and info Peg.