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.

Project Linus with Judie Bellingham

For any who may have missed it.....Judie Bellingham is starting a Linus Project here on the Coast to help Sunshine Coasters who need a bit of a hand.

Judie's first meeting will be this coming Monday 9th. starting at 9.30 down at the Patchwork Angel in Forest Glen, so if you have some free time, pop along and help make a quilt for someone in need.  Judie mentions in her newsletter that she has eight big plastic containers full of all that is needed.........so no excuses on that front! <g>

Catch up with Judie's news at http://Quilting.bellaonline.com.  
oh, and if you are going, give the shop a tingle to let them know numbers and check exactly what you need to take.

Have a lovely day stitching.

Special Quilts for Special People, Lessons and a Thank You

What a wonderful quilt to greet you as we came through the doors today.  Marcia made this spider web quilt for her Granddaughters 21st Birthday, choosing to piece the webs in rows forming a secondary pattern with the background diamonds.
Marcia and her Darling have just returned from a bit of a country trip away, and look what she spotted in a little gift store window, that great vest she is wearing, well of course she had to have it, and its reversible!! - too good to leave behind.

As Marcia was coming to the end of her spiderweb blocks, she realised that she was a few strips of fabric short - just needed a little extra to make up a couple of blocks - Daughter Leanne (Hiya Leanne - waving-) came to the rescue with just the right fabrics, lovely pale lemons.  Fiona from the Quilting Fairy did another lovely job on the quilting.

Beryl created this very special Aussie I Spy quilt for her young Grandson, machine quilting a row of stars in the yellow borders and a special message for her Grandie in the bottom border.  Every fabric was chosen to tell a story in her Grandsons life.

Sheila then announced some great news, Gwen will be using this quilt to teach monthly classes on pattern drafting and hand piecing - the right way! 

Rumors have been floating around for a bit about these classes and today it was confirmed! Fab for those of us who are self taught and/or have always machine pieced.

A closer look at one of Gwen's blocks. Neat, all those lovely precise corners.

Tiny quilting stitches, and how about the way the sashings meet in points in the center?

Lyn was purchasing some Pellon for the Group this week, the name Buderim Patchwork came up - as it does - and another customer commented on how she loves to read our blog.  If that was you, Thank You for your very kind comments and I hope you continue to enjoy the read.

We had more of that ever popular chocolate and caramel slice for Arvo Tea, along with a delicious Lemon Ring Cake (yep, snaffled a slice of that one), buttered bun, lamingtons and a Mud Cake......oohh I do love Wednesday arvo teas!

Uh huh, that's all that was left of the caramel slice, a few tinsy crumbs, it's a pretty plate though.

Wonderful Memory/Art Quilt and Workshop shenannigans

Janet took a mystery workshop today, everyone was so busy trying to guess what the article was, hints and guesses being thrown around the room and not too much listening being done, Janet found lots of calming jelly beans were needed, well that's what she told us......
Christine thought she had made a right muck up, but no, she hadn't been listening, Sue went crook at her..

...as you can see, she was dreadfully upset........not....

Sorry about the awful piccie, the photographer arrived late and was trying to catch up......oh those suffolk puffs!
And what was the Mystery I hear you ask, these lovely little rolls were, perfectly designed to hold a reel of thread, your thimble and plenty of space for different sized needles.

We all managed to finish our holders in time for Show and Tell.  Cool, a new and pretty 'essential' started and finished in the one afternoon......and you can have your Suffolk Puff facing in or out, Sue put a little star in the center of her Puff, some beads would be nice...no? and wouldn't it be cool to make a matching block roll from Linda's tutorial?  oooh I can see a project in the making here!  We will be putting up a tutorial for this thread roll in the near future.........will let you know when it happens.

 Betty has been playing with the Disappearing 9 Patch again this week, using 3 different 'feature' fabrics she has created yet again a different layout design.  Betty is going to turn this one into a tablecloth for her patio. 

Was heading for the arvo tea table when Barbara mentioned that she had finished her quilt, now she has been a bit shy about sharing, so I grabbed it while she wasn't looking, and with a bit of help from a friend, whisked it out the back to hang it. ......WOW!!!, I was blown away, I am so in awe of anyone who can create such a free flowing memory quilt........

There is a wealth of stories in this quilt, fabric from family members dresses, a blouse, a fave pair of slacks...Then there are the two blocks created from Lyn Ballinger past challenges, 'Pop Art' and 'Be In It'.  

I love the way the mauve frill emphasises the face but then becomes a 'bonnet' by the simple application of appliqued leaves and a little flip downwards.

The hands were an addition from one of the little folk in Barbara's family, I have to confess, was a bit  lot bad with this quilt, was so engrossed some of the story detail just didn't stick, would it have been a Grandie?, Grandaughter even?
The Cymbal player is to celebrate.......'Hooray, Strike up the Band, finally finished!' and Barbara has also included her 'Star of the Month' button that she earned for all the hard work she did, sorting and pricing the Goods for Sale in our recent Cottage Garage Sale.

The two bottom blocks (above) are blocks from a Diane Johnson workshop that we did sometime back, oh all right then, way way back!
And that's why arvo tea was half gone by the time it was snapped.............ah well......sorry 'bout that.

Gwen was then spied showing a group of nibbling ladies a couple of flimseys,

these lovely softly coloured stitcheries just cried out for fabrics from the same pallet,

Gwen had had a little scratch around in her stash and out fell a bag containing these scraps! Perfect!, Gwen was sure she couldn't have got a better match if she had gone shopping! however there was one tinsy little problem, not enough fabric to complete the borders!.....rats with a capital!, Gwen solved the problem by taking a row of pieced squares from the top and one side and Viola!, plenty of fabric.........well, enough anyway.
And what else did Gwen have to show?...........this beauty..........

Now Gwen has a new addition to her family, a brand new Great Grandson..........(saw the piccies and he is just the cutest!)...........sorry, off track there....... well, a friend was stitching this quilt top and Gwen just fell in love with it, perfect for the new Great Grandie, a deal was struck and Gwen will be finishing this off for her little cutie.
And so back to the arvo tea table, those little savouries were yummo, then stretched the allowance and had a square of caramel slice........not too shabby folks!