A last Australian quilt...

We have been privileged to have such a wonderful, productive and giving member in Catti, she has kept us in stitches with her stories and greatly amused us with her astonishment at good 'ole Aussie sayings, but sadly Catti will soon be flying home to her native land, something that came home with a bit of a bang yesterday when she presented her last Australian quilt for show and tell, and I suspect she kept the best for last, showing off this superb quilt to us at yesterdays meeting.

 

 Catti was glowing in her praise of Gwen as a teacher and very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn all the different aspects of quilting in the series of workshops presented  by Gwen last year.  

That favourite day of the year for many came around last Sunday, yep, you guessed it, 'Mother's Day', lots of flowers and pressies made an appearance but Janice reckons she got one of the best.  Her Daughter, who does lovely cross-stitch inserted a native kangaroo paw flower into this sewing compendium as her gift.  Janice has just about worn it out with pats!!

 A closer view of the cross-stitched flower and a flimsey of our next workshop that Janice will be presenting.

 and when she wasn't strolling and patting, Janice was stitching down the binding on this lovely quilt, the top was a donation, and Pamela Jones from Kimz Sewing and Patchwork Center in Warana very kindly did the beautiful quilting in between the chains, the finished quilt will be raffled at the Biggest Morning Tea being held at  'Craft in the Chapel' in Nambour next Thur.19th..  Pop along for a cuppa and a chance to win.

 Maree bought along a 3-D wall hanging that she made about 2 years ago through Quilt University, just to show some of the gals what is available as quilting courses with Quilt University.  '4 Elements' is a very textural wall hanging, with silver lightning bolts shooting throug 'Air',and even tiny shells stitched to the sand in 'Water'

http://www.quiltuniversity.com/ is the link if you would like to check the site out for yourself, lots of talented tutors, and there is always a Forum set up for each course so students can communicate with each other and the tutor.  Thank you Maree.

Quite a while back, the gals that generally sit at the noisy err...end table, found a rather enchanting quilt with pattern and directions in one of the quilt magazines from our library, they were so entranced it was decided to do a 'friendship' challenge quilt.  Sadly some have fallen by the wayside but Wendy has finished the first of the challenge quilts with promises of more to be shown at our up-coming (more like up-rushing) TREE-mendous Quilt and Sale Show in July.

 Betty has been working on a Japanese Fabric Hexagon quilt, and bought in the finished flimsey to share with us "Just something I ran up in my spare time" she commented when asked what her inspiration was,  ....and then added "and just something to use up my spare money", bit tongue in cheek.

Heather has been knitting up a storm for her new Grandie to be, the first babe for one of her daughters.  Bub will be born in the middle of winter in Sydney so those cute little cardies will be just the ant'z pantz.

 We were also give the chance to grab some goodies courtesy of Ruth and the lovely folks at Neuendorf Interiors. Ruth came along with boxes and bags of fabric offcuts and ends, just the thing to make loads of cushions, and other house-hold bibs and bobs.  One of our more energetic gals even had the idea of re-upholstering her day bed in a patchwork design!  Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

 Thank you for bringing all those lovely 'treasures to be' along for us Ruth.

Marcia is busily crocheting a knee rug for friends she and her Darling will be visiting next week, yep, next week!, and although she was busily telling a rather hilarious tale from her last holiday, as you can see, those fingers didn't stop for a second.

 Crocheting is really 'The Thing' at the moment, Marguerite is also making a knee rug, sadly I chopped her head off in the pic!........no I didn't!, I just had a flat battery in the camera and by the time I took a pic of Marguerite everything was way way fuzzy, but heres the goodies anyway.  Sorry Marguerite.

 And as some of us know, Lorraine is an apiarist, she often supplies us with lovely local honey, always a different flavour and colour, depending on the flowers and seasons, well, long story short, the talk yesterday got around to bees and our local blue banded bees, yep blue bees, or blue bottomed bees, or even Amegilla Cingulata if you want to be flash!, however you say it, it's a bit of a startlement when you first clap eyes on one I can tell you, so if you have never seen one - here is a pic

 Took the pic (and a few dozen others) out through the window the other day.  Pleased to see them back and active.

Jenny's Trunk Show

Yes, another month has rolled around and it's time for another Trunk Show from the Thursday Night Girls, this time it is Jenny's turn to astonish and astound with her many beautiful quilts, bears and cross stitcheries.
Be warned, the Trunk Show posts by their very nature are photo heavy but well worth the viewing.
Words and Pics bought to us courtesy of Debby with help from Letitia.  Thanks Debby and Letitia.

Jenny had lots of lovely art work which she has bought from people selling on the side of the road in South Africa.  The Zulu women raise money for Aids.

Bead work is done by Zimbabwe instead of Zulus.  Unfortunately the women don't make as many of the beautiful items today.

Jenny started quilting 25 years ago when fabrics and books were very scarce.  Her 1st quilt is in South Africa with her Mom.  Jenny loves paper piecing and hand quilts all of them except 2, and Jenny has made a lot of quilts.
This quilt is her 2nd quilt, there wasn't much fabric due to apartheid.

 Jenny made this star quilt on the machine.

 This quilt is paper pieced by hand, its very worn and has been very loved over the years.  It used to be very bright.

This quilt is a polyester scotty dog quilt made for her daughter

 Jenny created this quilt using the strip piecing method, standing rows of pastel flowers, all with lemon centers

A Kaffe Fasset quilt, foundation pieced, love the colours

 A birthday quilt made for Jenny by her friends for her 40th birthday, naive red hearts, surrounded by a log cabin variation.

 Jenny used Margaret Rolfe foundation piecing patterns to make this story quilt for her Son.

 Hand Pieced Hexies in a 'Grandmothers Flower Garden', Jenny has pieced this quilt since arriving in Australia.

Love this one, Jenny has collected lots of Doilys and made a doily and denim quilt.  Doilys are hand embroidered.

Jenny made this 'Nelson Mandela' quilt.  One of her friends in South Africa made some of the fabrics.

 Jenny has said that she actually likes the back better.

Another strip pieced quilt.

 An around the world variation quilt with the addition of a 'Pies and Tarts' border

 Jenny took a long time to finish this quilt as she didn't really like it.  It's a paper pieced kite scrappy quilt.

 This is gorgeous, another paper pieced pastel quilt with beautiful appliqué flowers.  Jenny loves paper piecing.

Jenny created this soft pastel quilt using elongated hexagons.

 Jenny made this suffolk puff quilt last year, it is sooo cute and her dog George just loves it.

 Another hexy quilt Jenny started last year after visiting the Ipswich quilt show, where she saw the worlds longest quilt.  Yes, they are 1/2" hexies done in reproduction fabrics.  Jenny is just finishing it off.  It is a wall hanging.

 This is a raffle quilt she made and was quilted by our quilting fairy, Fiona.

 Another quilt made for a class that Jenny teaches at the Angel.  The flowers have raw edges, looks great.

 Jenny loves making mini quilts for her laundry.

  

 This was Jenny's first crazy patch bag and this is what got her hooked on crazy.

 More of her crazy quilting, 4 patch, crazy bags, small crazy wall quilt used as a teaching tool.

Oh my gosh, Jenny also loves making these gorgeous tiny winny cute teddy bears.  How adorable!

This motor bike has been made out of wire, very clever.  Another piece of art work made by a very clever man and sold on the side of the road in South Africa.

  Thank you so much Jenny, your Trunk Show and Tell was enjoyed by all.  You are a very clever lady, thanks for sharing with us  :)

All the Show and Tell are WIP's..

Yep, not a single completed article for Show and Tell on Wednesday, the Girls are all gearing up for our up coming TREE-mendous quilt show, and were all busily starting new projects or finishing off bindings etc.

Lorraine is stitching 'Love Is..' a freebie from Paula Stoddard, a link to this cutie is in our side bar.

 After many weeks of having her arm in a sling it was great to see Fae slowly getting back into her stitching, and Winnifred has tamed her paper pieced 'octopus', so named because it kept curling around her arm.  She is turning it into a European sized cushion cover.

Do have to confess though, there was an awful lot of skylarking going on, especially with Julie chasing around selling raffle tickets to our quilts, she got just about everyone, and not just a ticket mind you, a book a go!

Judy was about to launch into the binding on this vegetable themed stack and slash place mat, Innes is just finishing off the binding on her runner while Marguerite, Fran and Betty all had busy fingers but were enjoying a bit of a goss while hard at it.

Sheila is working on a requested Blue quilt for her Granddaughter Zoe, based on the Jan Mullins square in a square design and using motifs of all the loves in Zoe's life, her music, love of animals and marine creatures, and of course, a big X, love from Grandma.  Sheila is working on the quilt in sections and will join them after the quilting is completed.

Our Easter Fair...

...was a bit smaller than previous years, however we certainly had a wide range of goodies on display and for sale and the cottage looked a treat all spruced up in it's new dress.
The very first quilt to catch your eye as you entered the Patchwork Group's Sales Room were these two, a clever 'I Spy' version of the disappearing 9 Patch and a 3-D floral wall hanging, sadly the only way to photograph anything on this wall is to pop into the cupboard opposite - and wouldn't you believe it! someone was already in the cupboard - doing important things and organising, so please forgive the pic.

 

The Geisha Girls in this Oriental inspired Wall Hanging were created using Machine Embroidery, paired with just the right fabric combinations in the Dresden Plates, along with a use of piping between the blocks and clever quilting to make this a real eye catcher. 

The large Snowball quilt got a lot of interest, all those tiny pieces and beautifully intersecting seams.  The clever design of the outer edge blocks help to create an impression of a 2nd border.

The Patchwork Girls met market demand with the supply of smaller quilts this Easter, including a number of children's quilts such as these cuties.

and another clever disappearing 9-Patch using a novelty print 

 There were also a range of designs and colours in Lap and Smaller quilts, to suit all decors and ages.

This bright Hourglass/1 Patch combination would be loved by any little recipient, and if the colours were not just the right thing, the pastel pink and blue around the corner would surely be the ant's pantz.

Along the line of more adult quilts there was also a large range of designs and colours, including this clever blue and white quilt.  All straight edge piecing but giving the illusion of circular lines.

A recent in-house work shop on the Hidden Wells design and variations produced some lovely quilts, such as this lovely.

There is the promise of a nip in the air today, which makes me wish for the warmth and softness of this lovely raw edge design using soft flannel fabrics.  The wall hanging was one of the creations from another in-house workshop on Tessellated Quilt Designs taken from Christine Porter's book 'Tessellation Quilts"

Amongst the wonderful display of quilts there were tables of smaller items offered for viewing pleasure and sale.  Bags, bibs, baskets and bunnies were a few scattered throughout the tables.

There were Beach Bags, Aprons, Soft Toys, lots of hand and kitchen towels, table linnen and the cutest 'cup and saucer' pot holder.

Sewing Machine Mats, complete with little thread bins and matching pincushions, 'Crazy' silk shoulder bags decorated with the prettiest stitching and plaited shoulder straps, lots more pretty aprons and potholders.

Very handy hand massages, just right to take a break at the machine and relax those fingers, Luggage Tags to easily identify your luggage, coasters, tissue holders and stitching compendiums, all backed by a fresh lemon baby quilt.

And  how special would you feel wearing this wonderful Sashiko inspired Vest, just the thing to keep the winter chills at bay.

 

Just outside the Patchwork Group's Sales room, the Needlework Ladies had their 'Novelties' table all set up with a huge range of Easter Egg inspired goodies for the little folks.  The Novelties table is expressly aimed at providing small quality gifts for the kiddies to spend their pennies on and be part of the 'Fun of the Fair'.  It has a faithful following of littlies who visit Fran every Fair Day.  

Further along the Machine Embroidery Group, many of whom are also Patchworkers, had their tables set out with a huge range of beautiful goodies all under a Happy Easter banner

 There was even the cutest quilt decorated with Matryoshka Dolls, with its own little soft doll in the Martyoshka style and matching  Martyoshka pillow case, and some beautiful table linnens, including this tray cover worked with twin needle embroidery. 

And what an eye catching way to display your beautifully worked jewelry, Turquoise and Silver, Stunning!

 Hope you made it to the Fair and had a Fun time, we all did!.