Beautiful Creations of February

Perhaps I should explain, ...blog postings have been changed to a monthly posting for awhile and the wonderful Marie is editing the pics for us all, no reasons to worry about.  However....did you know that when you get one of those little plastic lens popped into your eyeball you see colours differently? I kid you not! apparently as we age our vision changes, becoming slightly yellowed........so now I have the lovely bright white on one side and the fuzzy yellowish on the other, really gives a whole new dimension to choosing fabrics.  Enough goss...onto the wonderful goodies created by our talented members.

Some time back Beryl presented a class on a 'stitchery roll', I'm sure you are all familiar with the trials of taking stitcheries and blocks to and from home to class/meetings and back again.
This amazingly simple but effective roll uses a postage tube as it's foundation.   Heather has finished hers and bought it along to share/inspire us, the embroidery on the closure is fabulous.

Lorraine was missing in action for quite a bit of February, she tells us she was on a quilting retreat and bought this along to prove it....Lorraine's group pop off on a retreat on a yearly basis and each year one of the gals presents a 1 day tutorial, last year was a wonderful 'go anywhere bag'...more on that later, but this year it was this rather intricate looking table mat.  Now the girls know that something is going to be happening but what?, well, that's the surprise.  This year Lorraine chose some lovely yellows, reds, and oranges, but the sad part of the tale is those colours will not be comfortable in her home on the dining table, no, not at all...but not to worry! Lorraine will use this great table centrepiece on her patio table. Perfect!

Lorraine's Darling also pops off on a 'guys camping trip', you know the type of thing, hunting, fishing sitting around the campfire yacking...great stuff.  They decided that instead of pulling the caravan on these sometimes rather long trips that scaling down was a good idea.  Of course keeping warm was number one on Lainey's mind, so she made this amazing quilt for her Darling, and just to keep him 'company in spirit', all the fabric squares have a tale to tell in their life, sort of an 'I Spy' for the grown ups, and its a 9-Patch design, yeah really! clever gal Lainey.

and how cute and loving is the label

 and yeah, that is a pic of the ute.....cool huh???

Ailsa was the latest lass to bring along her Christmas Orphan block, Ailsa created a lovely cushion, adding a narrow yellow border with a darker green outer border and back.
The button bag came into being when Ailsa was given a button design FQ, she felt she just had to make this button bag based on one that she was given sometime ago that she uses to this day.

 

 Fae got a request from a long time friend to create a knee quilt, any colours except greens, well, green is Fay's fav colour so choosing fabrics required a few second thoughts with some of her favorite fabrics having to be returned to the stash.  Her friend is delighted with the finished quilt.

 

Sue has returned to the Sunshine Coast  and has been working away at putting the finishing touches  on her friendship quilt from some years back ('bout 18 years back). Sue also created a lovely reverse applique pillow sham to tie the friendship quilt with the other quilt in her guest room.

 

A closer view of some of the lovely work done by Sue's friends, the two owls represent Sue and her Darling, complete with a lovely sparkler on the pink owl's 'finger' to represent Sue's engagement ring!

Since the inspiring talk from Lorraine awhile back its all about scrappy in our quilts, Lyn has created this stunner in pinks with a too cute heart border that tones in perfectly.

Julie bought along this flimsey to share, it's all about the Teddybears Afternoon Tea, done with buttonhole applique. Looking forward to seeing this one quilted.

Sheila's Darling is into home brewing and as those that brew know, the mix has to be kept warm, well not any old rug would do, Sheila created a quilted cover with fabric mementos of her Darlings fave places and trips.  The cover even has a contoured opening to go around the tap.

 

What would be the most romantic day of the year to become engaged? yep, Feb 14th. but as Sheila pointed out, back in the days when we all became engaged Valentines Day wasn't the big deal it is now, so getting engaged on Feb 14 was more a co-incidence that just happened for her and her Darling but to celebrate that wonderful day 48years ago, Sheila created a strip pieced scrappy quilt for her darling to snuggle under, complete with a row of hearts and lots of Valentine Red, all folded up and tied with a big red bow, would have to be the bestest Valentines Day Gift ever.

Val has been to that orphanage in her bottom drawer again, creating these two quilts for her charity, Laurel House.

some of the gals want to visit this orphanage in your bottom drawer Val, we think it has a portal to 'the nether'. (Who's Grandies play Minecraft? )

Back to Lorraine's retreat and the 1 day tutorial, year before last the tutorial was for a 'Go Anywhere' bag, Lorraine's has seen a lot of use and bought it in to Show and Tell a few months back, well of course we all wanted one, so off goes Lainey, drafts a pattern, prints it up - very professional looking and then presented a workshop, lots of Go Anywhere bags going everywhere, lots of Grandies now have their own 'Go Anywhere' bag.
Julie with her bag and Marie with 2 bags she created

Wendy creating one of the 3 she made with advice from Lorraine and Marcia with her creation.

It's a very easy to assemble design with 2 side pockets and a pocket on each end and can be folded into your suitcase for trips to bring home all that shopping we all love to do on vacation as well as a great overnight bag.

A day of sadness, memories, and a story of quilters helping their dear friend.

Our first day back at the Cottage was one of strong and mixed emotions, a day to greet quilting mates, get a big 'Welcome Back' from leader Sheila and catch up on the goss.
Sadly, it was also a time to remember Janet, our dearly loved and talented member who passed away on Tuesday morning.
Janet was a member of our group for nigh on 10 years and was always available to help with a quilting question, a chat, a smile and a positive outlook, she was our Workshop Co-ordinator for quite a few of those years, introducing us all to many new techniques and tutors.  Janet was also the winner of our latest Lyn Ballinger Challenge.

Orchids, Janet's favourite flower

As we all know, Janet was a great supporter and volunteer of STEMM, and her family sent us the suggestion that, if you were intending to send flowers you might like to consider making a donation to STEMM in Janet's memory instead. Our group will be sending a donation and if you would also like to, please send the donation marked 'In Memory of Janet Smith,  STEMM,  Burnside High School, Box 5247 SCMC,  Nambour 4560'

Our love and thoughts go to John, Daughter Alison and Janet's other family members at this sad time.

Janet was creating a lovely quilt for her granddaughter Jenna, bit it wasn't quite finished, so with the help of some good friends - Di, who did the final piecing, Marlene who added the border, Fiona who used her longarm quilting skills to quilt Jenna's quilt and Gwen who bound and finished the quilt, it was finished.  We got to see this lovely quilt for a special lass at Show and Tell yesterday.

As a gift for us all at our Christmas Luncheon, Sheila and Lorraine worked to collect a pile of 'Orphan' Blocks, visiting the hallowed halls of the local op shops, and form all accounts, really getting stuck into Lorraine's little orphan stash - well, it's a little stash now! so that we would all have something to challenge us and for us to work on over the break.....and guess what?...some folks did!

Val pulled open her bottom draw and found a full orphanage! she used some of them to create this colourful kiddies quilt, here she shows us her Christmas Orphan, thanks to Lorraine, the blocks along the bottom of the quilt are all Lynette Anderson stitcheries, and although Val had a story for each block she has no idea where the middle row pin wheel type blocks came from! all in all, a great use of orphans.

Another two orphans turned into goodies, Sue created a cute black, white and red cushion and Julie created a tote.  Both blocks from Lorraine's little stash.

Julie also created this cute little stuffed toy, and some inventive lass created two toiletries bags for our Women's refuge charity.

Another creation from Julie (boy she was a busy little Bunyip over the hols), this lovely coffee table runner, Bronwyn Hayes from Red Brolly stitcheries and lovely fabrics, Julie uses the runner when serving afternoon tea to her stitching friends.

Val was also trimming the stash over the hols, she passed these blocks and fabrics onto Betty who turned them into this terrific quilt.  Another one for Val's charity.

Innes bought along two quilts to share with us, her first quilt and her latest quilt.

The sampler was started a wee while ago in 1992, patterns drafted, fabric cut with scissors, hand pieced and hand quilted.  Innes finished this beauty in 1998.

and her latest quilt, all machine pieced and machine quilted, using Bali Pops and a wide backed Bali Print fabric.

Janet's Trunk Show - Part 2

As promised here is the second part of Janet's Trunk Show, some really beautiful quilts for you to drool over whilst enjoying a cuppa, thank you again to Debby and her team for the pics and words -A
Oh, and by the way, the sashed one patch design is the backing for that wonderful 'Quilt As You Go' half square triangle quilt! all pieced by Janet in the quiet times on their ocean voyage. 

A Kaleidoscope quilt made from watermelon print fabric - gorgeous colours

 

A beautiful Oriental Fan - hand pieced quilt. It’s another wall hanging. 

 Your home must be very colourful with all your beautiful wall hangings Janet.

 

This quilt has a lovely story.  Janet made this quilt for her daughter, the fabric is from the dress she wore for her brothers wedding its a liberty fabric (2005) Snowball pattern, what a great idea.

 This was a Challenge - a postcard from the Sunshine Coast.

 Another workshop by Jan Phillips - cartwheels & circles.

 A Thursday night group Round Robyn - Tulips set on point.

 ‘Mariners Compass’ - Janet made this one for her husband John.

 

Block of the month - Bright & interesting! "Altantis" machine pieced & quilted.

 A foundation pieced wall hanging, ‘Vege Garden’, yummy!

 

A Lorraine Carthew workshop, ‘Poppys’ using some absolutely gorgeous had dyed fabric.

Janet's 'Cottage friendship quilt'.  Janet chose a Christmas theme and wall hanging sizing for her quilt.

 'Colours of Australia' Janet made this clever quilt using a Bali Pop Jelly Roll and had it professionally quilted by the 'Quilting Fairy'

Thank you for sharing your wonderful quilts with us Janet.

Janet's Trunk Show - Part 1

The first part of Janet's trunk show featuring her wonderful quilts, thanks to Debby for pics and words.
 

Thank you Janet for sharing your gorgeous quilts with us, we had another interesting Trunk Show hearing your quilt stories.
Janet stumbled on quilting accidentally in 1997 & started with this sampler quilt to learn the techniques - all hand stitched & pieced.

 Janet then got the bug & bought a sewing machine (good thinking!)
Her next quilt was a Dresden Plate kit using an earthy palet. Machine pieced in 1998

 There was lots of left over fabric from the Dresden Plate kit so Janet created this quilt using the 'quilt as you go' method in a half square triangle pattern.

Janet and her Darling took to the ocean waves in their yacht for 18 months, space was a problem but Janet made sure there was some quilting supplies on board, she created this lovely quilt.

Janet was involved in a friendship block swap with 23 other gals and wanting to make a quilt hit on this great idea of adding extra blocks, the original friendship blocks have the white centers and coloured outer edges, while the additional blocks have a coloured center and a white border.  

The backing of Janet's friendship quilt.

A Christmas wreath wall hanging,  using lovely Christmas fabrics in a colour wash.      

A Lisa Siegal wallhanging 'Under the sea', done in a workshop.

Janet had a Japanese Phase as you do!! It is circles, hand pieced & hand quilted using beautiful Japanese fabrics.

 Janet made this very cosy flannel lap quilt for her mother in England.

 This is a Memory Quilt Janet made for her Mother-In-Laws 85th birthday.

 Janet made a Negative/Positive applique - leaves - wall hanging. Janet also hand dyed some of the fabric, clever girl

 Part 2 of Janet's Trunk Show will be loaded soon.....and there are some beautiful quilts to show you - A

Janice Trunk Show

Janice started the evening with a few of her favourite treasures, all with lovely stories.

The sewing basket was given to Janice and her twin sister to share as children, Janice recently unearthed it and as she is the sewer guess who keeps it now!!

Two of her cross stitcheries
This is amazing Janice!  It’s a photo taken with her twin sister Nancy meeting  Princess Alexandra when she visited Nambour in 1959. Janice is the shy one. How cute.

The ceramic bunny rabbit filled with bath salts was given to her grandma when Janice was 6 or 7 & she just loved it.  When her grandma passed Janice was given the bunny so it holds happy memories.
A much loved doll given to Janice for her 10^th Birthday
A lovely friendship quilt from Coes Creek Quillters group featuring  Australian Wildflowers

Friendship quilt - sampler, machine quilted

Janice made this quilt in 2000 for her parents Golden Wedding Anniversary, her Mum just loves it & Janice had to nearly beg her Mum to take it off her bed so Janice could share it with us!!

Janice made this quilt for her sisters Silver Wedding Anniversary but the sad thing is that Sis has never used it. I'd take it back! Its a nine patch and snowball design.

Here is a gorgeous Heart Colour wash quilt. I love this one, must do a class one day!-D  

This quilt was 4th favourite at the Buderium 2009 Quilt Show. Colour wash in Purples "Spiral Dance"

This is another gorgeous Shabby quilt in purples & greens

"All That Jazz", in red, black & white.

Don't bug me quilt. Very cute.

Batik quilt- just gorgeous Janice.  Hand stitched, reverse appliqué.

Janice used the circle cut-outs from the above quilt to create this wall hanging, recutting the circles to true, stitching them to a fabric square and then recutting into 4 to swap around and again restitch. Very clever.

A Story of Love and Caring.

Janice was visiting with a friend suffering terminal breast cancer, the friend complained to her Darling of being very cold and requested he get ‘one of those camp sleeping bags’ to keep her warm….well, the bag was a bit dusty and a bit ratty – as camping bags usually are.  Janice was inspired to make her friend a quilt with fabrics showing all the farming things that she loved so much, including growing Raspberries and Strawberries.  The only fabric Janice couldn’t source was one with Strawberries so she included some appliquéd strawberries in the quilt.  Her friend loved the quilt and it was returned to Janice at the end.

At a show and tell another of Janice’s friends, a lady well on in years fell in love with the quilt and Janice gifted it to her to use when sitting in her cane chair, where it is still used to this day.

Janice tells the story of how her friends suffering inspired her to insist on a biopsy on a breast lump that Janice had had for some time, always having the lump dismissed, as ‘oh that’s nothing’.  The biopsy showed cancer and Janice was whisked off for some radical treatment, so saving her life for which Janice will always be very grateful to her friends memory. 

This is a very well used and much loved country nine patch quilt which Janice made for her daughter, after she so admired the above quilt made for Janices friend, and as so often happens with a loved and used quilt, this one has faded a little in our harsh Queensland sun.

Janice with her lovely Chinese Lantern runner. We were impressed with this so Janice has given us a lesson in learning this technique.

Thank you Janice for sharing your favourite treasures with us. We have had a lovely evening