May Meeting Show and Tell

We had a great meeting with Carol and Valerie demonstrating quilt-as-you-go techniques.  Next month is hand embellishment with Lyn - there will be a requirements list in your newsletter.  And now, here are some photos of May's show and tell.  

Sue made this lovely bright quilt top for Quilts for Kids.

Terri's flowers are dimensional on this wall hanging.

Terri has been busy and finished her hand-painted silk organza sampler that was started in a class with Jeanette De Nicolis Meyer.

Ingrid took the ideas of last month's machine embellishment class and made this neat little underwater scene complete with fuzzy anemones. 

Margaret confessed that she can't throw anything away...but who would want to when you can make these  gorgeous little postcards with your leftover threads?

Margaret likes working in mini size - these wonky houses were just sweet!

A close up for you.

Suzanne finished this for her daughter.  It's backed with flannelette and was quilted on her new quilting frame.

Margaret made this for her 18th great grandchild!!

Above are photos to show you the two floor mat quilts that so many people helped Imogen put together before her hurried trip to the UK.  She wanted to thank everyone who helped with providing "I Spy" fabric, cutting out, layering, quilting etc - it really wouldn't have been possible to get them done without so many wonderful friends.  She also would like to thank those other friends who, she knows, would only have been too willing to help as well if they had only known that the need was there.  Special thanks to Valerie, Shannon, Suzanne, Charlotte, Monica and Steph B.  Imogen knows they will be thanked again by the recipients in the UK.

See you all in June.

March Meeting 2012

We had our AGM in March, which generally means a lot of talking - but we like to keep it short and sweet and as an added bonus for attending, you get to listen to an interesting speaker.  This year we had Kerry from Tulis Textiles.  Kerry was a great speaker, full of energy, you could tell she loves the life she is living.  She also had a fantastic amount and range of quilts to show us.  But she doesn't stand still ;) !  Eventually I got a couple of reasonably unblurry pictures of her and her delicious quilts.

Most of Kerry's quilts are made out of batiks, because that is her deep love and what her whole business is built around.  She gave us interesting backgrounds about batik fabrics and the way they are made.

And Kerry loves to teach and has several different classes.  I love this blue and yellow drunkard's path quilt and she had it made in the same colours but a different layout to illustrate how different it could look.

After a bite to eat we had a bit of show and tell.  

This is made by Margaret and I love the scrappy look of it against the plain background.

This is Betty's lovely stitchery quilt.  You might get a better look if you click on it to enlarge it.

Carol finished her piece started in the Jeanette De Nicolis Meyer workshop.  She cleverly used her drop cloth for the binding and it works perfectly.

This is Dolores' piece from the Jeanette class that she brought to show members who weren't  lucky enough to be at the class (it's a bit washed out from the flash unfortunately). 

And this is also Dolores' work.  She found some beautiful batik fat quarters in Kerry's stock to border it.

That's all for March.  I won't be at the April meeting but I'll try and bribe someone to take pics for me ;).  Have a great month everyone!

March Retreat 2012

Last weekend, a dozen or so quilters from our guild filled up a school camp hall with our machines, boards, rulers and fabric and sewed and chatted away the days.  Margaret was strip piecing lots of little bits.  She put them all away though when she decided that she didn't like the cream blocks she'd brought to go with them.

Darryl reckoned she didn't get much done, but she managed to finish quilting this quilt-for-kids quilt and she solved lots of problems for people!  You can see the whole quilt pinned up on the wall below.  I love this graphic pattern.

Perfect for a boy .

Leonie worked on a few things including this wreath.  But I missed a shot of her gorgeous pleated bag!

Jane worked on these poinsettias. 

And these neat little foundation pieced blocks.  Some clever fussy cutting makes them really effective.

Here's a progress shot of Vicki's wall hanging.  She started it 12 years ago!

And now she's finished it!  Well, she still has to quilt it, but major progress has occurred.

This was also Vicki's, from a Gloria Loughman class she took at Symposium.

Delores was also pulling out the ancient UFO's.

And here is the final layout (except for one block that blew off the wall as I was taking the pic).

I finished a mat and ruler bag for myself.

Here's the back.

And this is Camilla the Gorilla who comes to retreat with us.

She always gets up to mischief of one sort or another!

These stunners are Alison's.  She won them in a raffle and so has been adding some more.

They are made from ties and are just gorgeous!

Beryl and Leonie were both working on projects made in a Hazel Foote class at Symposium.

 Edna was going crazy piecing teeny weeny squares.

 But the top kept growing and growing.

There is a large, square, stainless steel kitchen bench.  Perfect for basting.

 This is Darryl's.  She wanted to unpick the orange feature squares but was bullied talked into keeping them in there by the rest of us.  I think it's stunning!

And this photo doesn't do this wall hanging justice.  It's Beryl's and she's done it on a linen background.

 Gaylene was crumb piecing.  We've crowned her Queen of Crumbs.

You can see why when you see her quilt up on the wall.  I think she should call it Google Earth!

More of Edna's handywork.

Alison did some thread sketching of a favourite bouncy wee dog.

Delores finished off this kaleidoscope top. 

And last word goes to Margaret who reckoned these counted as a finish!

See you all next time.

On the Line Challenge Winners

Recently Aotearoa Quilters (the National Association of New Zealand Quilters) held an on-line challenge.  Members were encouraged to make an A3 sized piece of work in a horizontal orientation that interpreted the theme: On the Line.

The winners have been announced and all entries are now viewable on their website:

Best in Show Snakes on Ladders by Helen Beaven  prize sponsored by Distressed Threads

Best Traditional On line Flowers by Ruth Wheelerprize sponsored by Patch and Quilt Taradale

Best Innovative Floating Free by Sheryl Anicich prize sponsored by Dye-it Fabrics

Jeanette DeNicolis Meyer Workshop

What a weekend!  Jeanette's workshop 'Layers of Lightness - Quilt and Collage with Translucent Fabrics' was a  huge success.  Everyone I spoke to took something away with them, whether it was new skills that they were sure they would use again, inspiration for a new work, or just more of an idea of where they are heading in their quilting journey.  

Day one and we got to play with lots of paint.  Trying out colour mixes, methods of laying down paint and getting texture were all part of our experiments.  We were painting on silk organza for the most part and it was wonderful stuff.

Our drop cloths were almost as exciting as the organza, and I for one, caught myself planning my next colour to match my drop cloth rather than what I needed to complete a range of colours in my organza!

We all ended up with a pile of beautiful fabrics.  And they were all completely different. 

Day two saw us learning about the different ways to seam our fabrics and then we jumped right in to composing.  Sue was congratulated in being so brave as to cut up her beautiful piece of organza that forms the centre of her quilt.

And here are our compositions up on the design wall.  Above, from left to right, are Kerry, Gaylin and Terri's pieces.

From left to right we have Vikki's, Charlotte's (who did two) and Sue's.

Then we have Shirley, Petra and Dolores.

From left to right again, Carol and Donna.

Then we have Patricia, Robyn, Cynthia and Monika.

And last, but not least, we have Suz.

You can see how different each piece is.  Yet we all started with the same white organza and the same paints.  Some people used their drop cloths and others added a patterned fabric as their base to work on.

Jeanette is a fabulous tutor and a wonderful person as well.  She is teaching again in New Zealand next year, Wanaka's Autumn Art School (this links to the 2012 programme as they haven't put up the 2013 one yet) from from 22 to the 26 of April 2013.  If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with her, you won't be disappointed, whatever it is she may be teaching.