First meeting for 2013...

and in spite of Mother Nature taking a swipe at us, along with some members still away enjoying holidays, we had a good showing of faces.

Our beautiful state of Queensland has once again suffered massive floods and damage from strong winds, the kind of winds that blow trees down, not shrubs, huge trees, bringing down power lines and crashing through roofs and flattening cars.
Our hearts go out to those who are once again facing the huge cleanup and heartbreak of this disaster, especially those who have lost loved ones.

Found Louise cutting out these cute Matryoshka or Babushka Dolls.
Louise has fused the dolls to fusible web and was busily cutting them out but claimed she is open to suggestions on just what to do with them.  Being the talented lass she is she will come up with something out of the box.

Sheila bought along 2 dinosaur toys to be stuffed - just get a look at the size of that bag of stuffing-serious stuffing will be taking place!, anyway, Betty was only too happy to volunteer to help out with the stuffing of these cuties, one has tinsy prairie points down his back and the little pink one has perfect machine embroidered dots.

 Marie bought her Library Quilt along for an update, she has changed the 'Look at me Daisy', unpicking the embroidered faces and placing them on top of the petals, she is also adding leaves with tiny squares of mirror running up the centres.

 

There are some exciting additions to the quilt, like this really vibrant dressing table, complete with hand mirror and comb.

Continuing the Nautical story there is now a Pirate Boat.

and get this, there is also an Island, complete with a Palm Tree and a swashbuckling Pirate!

Great progress being made, so looking forward to watching these innovative quilts coming into being.

Val has been busy over the holiday period with two commissions, this one is for her Niece's little girl, each of the ladybugs has a her own facial expression.

This disappearing 9patch with the Teddies border is for a friend who wanted a 1st quilt for her new little Grandson.

There were some lovely bags on the Show and Tell table, this innovative one had us stumped for awhile,

Until we found the zipper opening in the bottom, of course, no way to have sticky fingers dabbling in your purse!

Lorraine bought along this cutie to share with us, bit of a fan of bags is Lorraine, (Ooops, had to type that bit twice, had the words bags and lady a bit too close together)  I've heard the rumor that Lorraine has piles of bag patterns!

 

Ailsa bought this bag to show and share, wonderful bead detail on the clasp and stacks of pockets.

 

Thursday night

A small group gathered on Thursday night for the first meeting of the year, although a keen carload did arrive the previous week but seeing that everything was locked up headed off to the local for a wine!! Not mentioning any names here!!!!!!

Leanne spent her evening binding her pink and green cushion......................

Debbie is working on a pretty table runner..............English paper piecing and applique.

Jules and Jane iPad stalking!!!!!

1/2" hexies - one of Jane's many projects on the go..................

Fiona had many stories and photos of her recent trip to the States - this little bag of fabrics and papers  accompanied her on her adventures..............

Linen and hexie flowers - Jenny's WIP.

Hand piecing and vibrant colours for Judy.

Letitia worked on her Scrappy-trip-around quilt....................she will be giving a tutorial on this very quick quilt on Thursday night...........

This is Jenny's completed Scrappy-trip-around.................

For those of you who would like to join in please bring the following on Thursday night:
6 pieces of different fabrics - 2.5" x 17"
Sewing machine
Rotary cutter, ruler and mat
Basic sewing requirements

Here's hoping for a creative 2013...........

2013.......let the fun begin!

An early start back at the Cottage today with a special workshop to make tactile Quilts for the littlies reading corners at our local Sunshine Coast Libraries

Lots of planning, patterns being drafted, cutting, fabrics chosen and of course, the vital work of lots of sewing

Marie has made great inroads over the break on this great quilt, with a lot of the 'I see you, I see me' themes.
Heather, Sue and Wendy were thoroughly enjoying themselves coming up with extra ideas.

How cute is the big yellow daisy, it has a little mirror  center (I see me) and when you lift the petals, a discovery of a machine embroidered face looking back (I see you)

Marie also has two seaside themed activities, 'Under the Sea' with (so far) a turtle and a stingray, both of which are velcroed to the quilt, and a beach scene featuring lots of cute teddies enjoying the surf and sunshine, looks like a day at Mooloolaba Beach to me!

Sue has also been hard at work over the holiday break working on her Library quilt, check out the amazing car!

and from the looks of things, Sue just had a 'light bulb' moment on just what to do with those colourful metallic pot scrubbers.

Jackie and Marie just had to have a play, and who could blame 'em.  Jackie had fun with the robot while Marie was rather taken with the beach bucket and the clever use of beads to represent the sand.

Jackie is putting in some solid thought on the pool noodle arch, will it be part of a ball game or perhaps a rainbow???
Marie was rather taken with the 3-D box, what a delightful little hidey hole that will be.

Great progress to date on these wonderful quilts, I'm sure they will be an enormous hit with the kiddies.  Can't wait to see more, can you??

The competition was such a resounding success with a bunch of Fatties going off to Linda for her guess of a, candle, and b, beeswax.  Yep Linda, they were beeswax candles, they came with a pencil and a pad for those fascinating and wonderful ideas that come to us all in the middle of the night.  Just light your candle and make a note......

Talking of Christmas...

...here are the pics from our Wednesday Christmas Luncheon held at our local TAFE.

The food was delish, Chicken with some innovative takes on vegies - gotta just love vegies, and different ways of presenting them is always a winner, desert was a choice of Pavlova or Vanilla Panna Cotta with a lovely light sauce and berries. Major yummo.

After we had stuffed our faces, er, sorry, finished our Luncheon, the fun began, courtesy of Lorraine.
Each of our groups  'office holders' got a gift from Santa, (of course if was from Santa, it's Christmas! and it's a rule!)
However, Santa did have a couple of helpers, Ailsa with her bag of goodies,

 and Sue, who just couldn't wait to wear her special 'Santa Hat' with her basket of choccies and lollies which she spread with great and gay abandon.

Gotta love that bobbling pom-pom!


Then there were special gifts for the Gals who have worked hard to keep our group running so smoothly throughout the year.  The gifts mirrored the jobs these great ladies have done for our group  and a little trinket is just a token of our appreciation, a BIG THANK YOU, to you all, and I know these gifts have gone straight to the 'Pool Room' in your Castles.

Fran, for her beautiful smiling face and grace, you greet all newcomers with calm and friendship, Fran received a 'Happy Face' made from lollies.

And of course a special pressie for Sheila for all of her hard work and guidance being our group leader this year and for accepting the challenge of being leader for the next year, especially as it is a Quilt Show year and all the extra work that entails.

 Sheila, unwrapping her gift of a Layer Cake, we're all looking forward to seeing her creation from these special fabrics.
 
Heather is our Miss Moneybags (Treasurer) so of course what better than gold coins

Pat recently became our Assistant Treasurer and oversaw the gathering of the $$$'s at the Christmas Fair (One of Heathers rellies decided to get married!   on fair day!   can you imagine!)
so of course more gold coins had to be found.

I believe it was a great wedding and everyone had fun.  We survived beautifully thanks to Pat, and we do wish the happy couple a long and prosperous marriage.

 For some strange reason, and I know you will be equally mystified, Marcia unwrapped a wooden spoon.

Marcia, you have been wonderful as our Management Committee representative.  Bringing us the news and views but mainly the difficult task of putting forward our case to the Committee, you do a great job.

Santa gave Ailsa a coffee cup full of nibblies, I guess that is for backup if someone misses the fact that they are on arvo tea roster?  -  or maybe she and her darling had a special cuppa to celebrate a job very well done.

Lorraine, as our hard working sekretari, got a pencil, not a pen, (you can rub out a pencil - hee hee ) and a ? shiny long thing.
but the really confusing thing is, Sue and Marie got one too!- shiny long thing that is..

Wadda you think? same? different?

Sue works very hard for our group in various positions and this year took over the storing and packing of toiletry bags for the Mums and Kiddies looked after by Najidah.  Currently her home is being over run by products.  Now that's dedication!

Marie is our Workshop co-ordinator, she always has some great in-house workshops (which means she really does pay attention to the work done by the rest of the Patch Girls) and organises some great visitors for us, both tutors and ideas presenters.

 
So, here's the thing.  if you can correctly identify the three shiny long things that these 3 gals got from Santa, then I will send you a pressie!but you have to go to the end of the post to find out what and why.

The happy revelers, table by table.

The Thursday night Gals had their party last night, with some special entertainment, two lovely Grandies bought along their Sax and Oboe to play for the group, they were joined by Denise for the vocals, how special is that!  Will get that story to you ASAP.

Now, about that pressie, if you are an Aussie Lass then the book '500 Art Quilts, an Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work', and some other unused things from my quilting room - that book weighs a brick, so might as well make up the satchel weight allowance with some other stuff.  However, if you are an overseas winner, I will be sending you a selection of new Fat Quarters.

Why am I doing this I hear you ask? well....it's a thank you to you lovely readers as this is my last year of doing the Buderim Patchwork Blog, it's been a hoot and a wonderful experience, but I've been telling myself (and the Darling), that I need a break - a something different - a new avenue to venture down, so next year the lovely Marie will be taking over our blog.
So leave a comment or if that doesn't work for you send us an email, the address is on the blog under 'Contact Us'.
 
This is the second post today, (yeah, who would believe 2 on one day), so don't forget to suss out the previous post on our Christmas Fair and the wonderful quilts and goodies that were on sale.

It's Christmas! again....

...gee, it just seems like a couple of months ago when we were all busily getting ready for the 2011 Christmas Fair, and now the 2012 Fair has been and gone - and what a wonderful Fair it was!
Now before we get to drool over some of the wonderful works done by the Patch Gals there is a pic courtesy of Heather, remember the monkey suit she created for her Grandie?, well here it is being modeled by one very happy little lad.

Patricia and Pat got their act going early, before the doors opened just to make sure all was as it should be.

Sheila was decked out in one of her clever patchwork skirts, all ready to assist the Fair patrons, as you can see, the Cottage fills fast, this was about 2 mins after the doors opened!

Some of the 'theme' quilts presented for sale.  The 'John Deer' wall hanging with 2 cushion covers (hiding behind the bags) was snaffled up early and is winging its way to Japan to live with two lucky young boys.

Lots of stunning cushions in various styles, and two very different styles of quilts, both stunning.

Quilts of all sizes and styles, some terrific table runners and a circular table cloth, lots of little gifts and a really cute half apron, Louise tells me they are called Fat Quarter Aprons, they just cover your top down past the waist.  Brilliant!

'What colour is an elephant'? well any colour you choose would be the answer to that one!

This is it! proof that Jackie just isn't one to sit around, ever on the go, dashing by and tidying the displays.

There was a mountain of goodies for sale, from little personal gifts such as earring carriers, to food carriers to toys, books, throws...you get the idea. Something for everyone, no matter their age or boy or girl.  A wonderful array.  Take a bow Patch Gals, you did yourselves proud - again.