The Lost Quilter

It has been a long time since I have posted on our BLOG but I have appreciated those penned by others.  The club has been a busy place while I have been touring in the northern hemisphere.  I am just getting my quilting mojo back and should soon appear needle in hand and a few hexies to sew.  I have no wonderful trips to quilt shops to report or amazing exhibitions to extoll over.  However I had a great family holiday and many memories to keep close.

My greatest quilting achievement was to introduce one niece, Cheryl, to the wonders of hexagons and by the time I left she was addicted.  We also had the opportunity to learn about board quilting.  With a dead iPhone and all my photos lost I have had to rely on others to produce a few contributions.  I learnt a hard lesson about iCloud!

Retreat Show and Tell!

Last weekend a group of us stayed at Uno in Hepburn Springs.  We were very busy bees.  Of course, I won't be showing or telling all because what happens at retreat stays at retreat!  Ahem.

Gail was very industrious.  She finished piecing this jelly roll quilt, pottered with a few more things and then almost finished quilting her Dear Jane wall hanging.

Sue is delighted to have finished the wall hanging she made for her son in law!  Sue also added borders to a hexagon quilt and did some embroidery.

If you see Kay tell her that next time she needs to be in the photos!  Kay made these beautiful Dresden Plates for her niece and partner for their wedding day.

Rosie hand stitched a bit of binding on her quilt as you go baby quilt.  She claims the amount of binding is growing as she swears she's already sewn 5 corners already and she still has lots to do!  Rosie also tackled this quilt as you go William Morris fabric quilt that she started in 2009.

Robyn worked on her squares quilt.  She is hand piecing all of those little itty bitty squares!

Ann is making a quilt for her son and daughter in law to be for their wedding gift.  These stars are going to have pretty sashing edges and the quilt is going to be HUGE!  If you value your life do not ask Ann how many half square triangles she had to make, press and trim.

Photo op take two.  Judy made this fantastic quilt for her husband's grandson.  It took forever to get the fabrics placed in the correct positions but, as you can see, was worth every second.

 And last but not least...here I am with part of the quilt top I'm making for my daughter's best friend (in the UK) for her wedding gift.  It's foundation pieced and lots of swearing went into the making of it.  I also finished sewing the rail fence blocks for a Hat Creek Quilts quilt I'm working on.

We also had trips to the shops, ate loads, drank even more (Tea of course!), laughed, chatted and screamed.  Oh and we swore a fair bit too.  It was great fun and we can't wait for the next retreat!

Wedding Quilt Show and Tell

This quilt was one of Joy's I took to finish for her.  It came with a ready made label that Joy had embroidered for her son's wedding day so I felt it was an important one to finish.  My husband and sons recently went away for a couple of weeks so I decided to crack on with the quilt.  I laid all the blocks out on the floor in order of sewing and went to get the camera to capture the shot so I wouldn't get the blocks mixed up as I sewed.  

This is what I saw when I came back...

The next few minutes were spent trying to persuade Mooch, the stubborn greyhound, to get his doggy body off the CREAM CALICO quilt blocks while the darling creature rolled around like he was in heaven.  Several of the blocks flew through the air which added to his doggy delightedness.  Let's just say that at the end of it this was the only picture I had of the blocks in the correct order.

Despite his help I managed to finish the quilt.

Joy had embroidered and quilted all of the blocks and I had to add the sashing and put it all together using a quilt as you go method.  I hope the newlyweds of 8 years enjoy their quilt.  Sssh!  Don't tell them the part about the dog helping out!

Christmas in July

We all had a wonderful time at our Christmas in July celebration last Saturday.  Thanks to Judy and Rosie for all their hard work as The Elves and to Judy for organising the day and the project!

The project was brilliant!  We all made fancy necklaces or scissor fobs with cute little frames and assorted fabrics and embroidery floss.

The Elves challenge was thought provoking!  Art is all around us and our challenge was to be inspired by the arts used in fashion, architecture, paintings etc. to create our own piece of art.

I made this based on crayon art.  The silhouette is of my daughter and her wife on their wedding day.

Annie made this after being inspired by the picture below it.  Annie's version uses appliqué and free motion embroidery.

Maureen was inspired by the painting "Girl with the Pearl Earring".  The face was printed onto fabric and it and the rest of the design was appliquéd onto the background.  Maureen used paints to add shading. 

Robyn wanted to create a swirl of leaves after being inspired by a scene in a movie.

                                       

Sheila's inspiration for her design, which has many techniques, was the Eiffel Tower.

Julie was inspired by the Mario game and made this quilt top for her grandson.

Kay made this lovely wall hanging while sitting with her husband in hospice.  Sadly, he's passed away and the wall hanging, which features the hospice's logo is a gift of thanks to the staff working there.

Janice was inspired by the carving on a door in India.  You can just see the door peeking out from behind the cushion.

Throughout the day we stitched, chatted, laughed and ate and a good time was had by all.  Rosie showed off this beautiful baby quilt which she has been making using a quilt as you go method after quilting the individual blocks with fancy stitches on her machine.  (Disclaimer -  Rosie didn't actually show this off and the person who did will remain nameless for fear of Rosie killing her)

It has been decided that this will be our last Elf Challenge but next year we'll still be having a Christmas in July celebration and a different challenge will run throughout the year.  Bye Elves!