February 2015 Show and Tell

Welcome to the New Year.  February is our first official meeting, we hold our January meeting at a members house and it's more of a casual get together and catch up after the holidays.

There was the National Quilt Symposium in January, so we did have some show and tell from that.  Nita used her orange goodie bag as a pattern and then as the lining for this purple bag she made using techniques she learnt in Karen Eckmeier's class.

And here's her panel also made using the same techniques.

Shirley took a class from Kim Thittichai and put together her samples in this interesting composition backed with purple silk.

Shirley also showed us this little quilt, which is a piece of silk that she dyed, but didn't like.  She's intensely quilted it and then further coloured some of the flowers.

Ingrid showed us this embroidered table runner.

And this machine embroidered thread painting of a seal she did.

And then a bit of brightly coloured fun!

Judy has not been quilting long, but somehow has found the time to hand stitch this paper-pieced hexagon top - next challenge is to quilt it!

Gayleen's quilting group have been making quilts for kids in the community who have cancer.  Isn't this beautiful?

Terri's been making matching pillows for a quilt she completed last year.

And then a sewing machine cover.

And another pillow.

Judith's old quilting group sent her this book about an exhibition some of them were in.  There were some very interesting and beautiful quilts in it.

And I'm so sorry, but I've forgotten who's light pad cover this is!  Let me know and I'll add it in.  The light pad is one of those new slim LED ones - just great I reckon.

We were very proud to see that Mathea had an article published in Down Under Textiles magazine - an Australian publication.  Mathea also won viewer's choice at the Quilt Symposium, as well as first in her category and had a small quilt picked for the suitcase exhibition.

And then it was time for lunch and some stitching.  Here's Darryl working on a hexie quilt, they must be catching.

See you next month!

Spring Quilting Retreat November 2013

The weekend just been saw a small gathering of club members take over Lonsdale Park for our annual Spring Retreat.  We just squeaked in for Spring as Sunday was officially the first day of Summer!  Grab a cup of tea and enjoy the photos.

So we sewed and talked and laughed and ate and slept (when the smoke alarm wasn't randomly going off!) and we even took care of a few feathered friends.

Steph does a lot of bird rescue work and this baby finch needs feeding every hour or two so he had to come along for the ride.

When she wasn't feeding baby birds, Steph was making pretty embroidery on her machine,

or trimming and stitching some Princess Mary Quilt blocks.  They were a product of a workshop our club ran recently. 

Or she was keeping an eye on Ziggy, who was getting bored at home so came for a visit on Sunday.  What a character!

Carol had a thing for squares this weekend.  She rustled up the two bassinet quilt tops pictured above - they will be donated to the local maternity unit when they are done.

Then she converted this rather large pile of squares into the HUGE scrappy quilt top below.  I think it's destined for a friend's bed once it's quilted.

Ingrid was carefully foundation piecing the beautiful star above.  She made two of these then turned them into placemat rolls - a placemat that has a pocket on either end for cutlery and napkins and has ties so you can roll them up for camping or travelling.

She was also working on some Princess Mary blocks and got to the quilting stage.

We had a talented embroiderer in our midst.  Aida has been steadily working away at these blocks at her Friday stitching group meetings and was figuring out how to put them together into a quilt.  They are framed with sweet floral prints, including lots of liberty fabrics.

Sorry about the photo quality - it was night when I took those shots.  The lupins are made up of hundreds of french knots!

Aida was also busy finishing this quilt that she started at the Taupo Symposium in July.  She was brave and attempted her first free motion quilting on it once it was basted and I think she did a great job - sorry, I didn't get a photo of it, but she hopes to have it in our January exhibition.

I tried to work through my UFO pile.  This kokako was started in a Hollis Chatelain workshop in January and all it needed was the quilting finished.  That got done so it's on to the binding next.

I made the top of a table runner that I plan to use as a sample for some beginner patchwork classes.

And I got the backing for my HUGE blue and white quilt pieced.  They have a wonderfully large floor in the hall - just perfect for those big projects.

And the bassinet quilt above started as an orphan block that was too cute to stick in the scrap pile so had been lurking in my UFO shelves for a few years.  This will also be donated to the local maternity unit.

Every retreat I manage to snap a shot of Darryl not quilting!  Sorry Darryl (she does actually get plenty accomplished!)  The quilt below was her project for the weekend and Sunday found her sewing on the binding - almost finished.

Alison was also working on roll up placemats.  There's that Princess Mary block again.

I wouldn't mind handwork if I had such beautiful scissors and pincushions to keep me company.

This is more of Alison's work.  These panels are made on her embroidery machine.

Stephanie was attacking her UFO pile too.  This colourful wall hanging got quilted after languishing for a few years.

She made two cute Christmas coasters.  They'd made a neat little handmade gift or stocking filler.

Stephanie also worked on quilting this project from her UFO pile.

And putting on the binding on this table topper made for her Mum and quilted by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi.

And last but not least, Mathea was impressing us with her thread painting skills.  It was a pleasure to see her sheep come to life.

Our next retreat will be in Autumn of 2014.  Have a wonderful and safe Christmas everybody and see you next year.