Elephant show and tell...

In order to encourage all of you very talented stitchers and quilters to contribute and show off your work, I decided to share with you some show and tell that I'm very proud of! {I couldn't bring this one into sewing as it had to go to it's new owner the day after it was finished}.

These images are of the very first baby quilt I've ever made, which is also the first quilt I've finished from start to finish on my own {to clarify, I've done a few quilt tops, but nothing in it's entirety}. It's also the first time I've used my free-motion quilting skills to great effect! Workshops do come in handy!!

The elephants were raw-edged appliqued onto a 1m x 1.5m piece of white Moda solid fabric. The quilting was mostly squiggly, swirly, "e" shapes and curls and a few elephant shapes here and there to break things up a bit. I did find it quite challenging handling the quilt bulk with such a small sewing machine, but after a while I found I got into a bit of a rhythm. The stitches became more even and flowed really well and I became more confident with my "driving" of the machine. I'm sure Pauline {teacher of our SS&Q quilting workshop from last year} would've been proud of me!

One little Ellie... prior to applique magic!

free motion quilting...

Sewing that binding... probably my least fave part!

Label... and oh so cute spotty, dotty backing!

The label had a quote from Winnie the Pooh that I love...

"Sometimes," said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

And here in all it's finished glory is Amy's Elephant Walk... my first completed quilt {all on my very own}. The little feet sticking out of the bottom belong to my Mum... isn't she brilliant?

Here it is! Finished...

See ladies! It didn't hurt a bit to share. Hope you like my elephants.

Kylie x

The annual bus trip and other stuff...

Ladies don't forget we have our annual patchwork bus trip coming up on
October 22nd {only two weeks to go} and this year we are heading up to Bendigo!

wheels on the bus! source - John

We will visit various patchwork shops along the way, with lunch at The Basement Cafe in Bendigo. Lunch will be included in the price as it was last time so if you haven't put your name down with me please let me know either at group, by email or by phone 0421 110 977.

If you have a friend you would like to invite along for the fun (and goodies!) that's great! Just let me know, and get ready to shop till you drop. At present the cost is $45 {which includes lunch} but when we are able to finalise numbers, this may change slightly. Could you please finalise any outstanding payment for the trip this week and see me about your lunch order if you haven’t done so already.

Ladies, we also have a few spots available for the Quilting Work Shop on November 5th so if you haven't put your name down or you have a friend you would like to invite to join us then let me know. The cost is $25 for the workshop and $5 for the hall hire, this is a great price for such a valuable learning experience, and just imagine not having to pay to get someone else to quilt all those beautiful quilts you do anymore.

Again I can be contacted on the above email, phone or in person at group.

Cheers
Jan

President's Natter - September...

Well we are into spring now and haven’t we had some nice weather so far. We have started the year really well with over 40 members and having a lovely time on Tuesday evenings.

source - Annika

We had a lovely day celebrating Christmas in July at Riddells Creek Hotel, thanks to Judy and Marlene for all their work. Also thanks to Glo and Evelyn for lots of fun with the exhibiting of the Christmas Elves challenge items and games.  The ladies excelled themselves with the Leadlight projects.

The Chinese Whispers blocks are going well and we are now just over halfway through the challenge.  New members don’t hesitate to ask someone if you are having trouble with your blocks.

Our library is growing steadily with some new additions, thanks to Glo for her continuing work.

The Quilt Exhibition is coming up in June and the committee will have their first meeting in October, to get things underway.

The Charity Quilt for the raffle at the Exhibition has been donated by Rosie. It is a beautiful quilt and has already been started.  We will require members to participate by making blocks, appliquéing etc. These will be distributed soon.

The first Free Motion Quilting Class with Sherrie Jewson will be on Saturday 17^th September. There are a few spaces left, so if you are interested contact Jan, the cost is $30, bring your own lunch and a plate to share for a cuppa. There will be a second class on 7^th October for those who are unable to get to the first one.  There will be another more advanced class on November 5th. Keep tuned for the details or contact Jan.

Next Tuesday evening 20^th September we will be having a “Westalee” Rulers demonstration.  All welcome and feel free to bring a friend. Cost will be the usual $3 and starting at 6:30 pm.   Bring along a small plate for supper.

Jan is organizing the Bus Trip for Saturday the 22^nd October. Please let her know if you are interested and make your payment to Esmae.  The cost will be approximately $46 including lunch. Ask a friend to come along.

The Christmas breakup is booked for the 6^th December at the Gamekeepers Secret Inn on Melton Highway at 6:30pm.

We will be having some beginners classes starting in a couple of weeks the first will be “needle turn appliqué”.  Anyone wishing to take part in this, bring along a small project such as a flower or simple animal, so that we can get you started on Tuesday 27^th September.

We have decided to make an SS&Q wall hanging using quilt as you go hexagons or squares this can be displayed at the quilt exhibition and any other functions. Annie and Lyn are looking after this project and will advise when they have worked out the details.  All present members will be asked to make a small block of a size to be decided and embroider their name and date they joined the group and any other decoration the want to “pretty up” their piece.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything, but you are probably sick of me by now, so until next time.

Diane Hutchinson
President.

Wyndham Patchworkers Quilt-In

I attended the Wyndham Patchworkers Quilt-In on Saturday and had a fabulous day. The members did a wonderful job with morning and afternoon tea and door prizes (everyone received one, yay).

Local business's donated prizes for the numerous raffles and the guest speaker was Esther Aliu a textile artist, who likes to stencil her quilts. Esther donated two books of her block of the month to be raffled and I am happy to report I was one of the lucky recipients (yay again).

One of Esther's beautiful quilts...

There were four shops in attendance (so lots to browse) as well as a "guess the weight of the buttons" and "how many many safety pins in the jar" competitions for a bit of fun.

Members were encouraged to dress up in black and white with a splash of colour, and of course there were plenty of beautiful quilts to look at.

All in all I had a great day,

Bronwyn

New and Wonderful Additions to Our Library

I am sure you will enjoy this amazing bright cheerful book Quilt a New Christmas  (Number 134) that puts a new slant on Christmas projects. I wanted to keep it myself but must share with everyone!


Read the review from the publisher's site -  http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=10767

Review By: Tara Batman, - August 12, 2011
Review Title: Quilt a New Christmas Book Review: An interesting concept in this book is capturing Christmas by using context instead of Green & Red colors. Why do all Christmas quilts have to be made in traditional colors; their approach is to use context with any colors. The quilts in the book show modern color schemes while still retaining the Christmas look. Piece O' Cake designs has wonderful techniques for needle turn applique that is easy to understand and helps make your work mistake proof, so all their books are very good for beginners wanting to do this type of applique. A great discuss of value, scale and contrast was done in this book which is very well illustrated. Also, they address picking fabrics for the backgrounds using unusually typed of prints, then how to combine it with applique fabrics while using a planning board. I really enjoyed this book and the quilts are very unusual but very Christmas. I have at least two projects picked out to do!! 

We have also purchased the first of the William Morris In Applique books (Number 135) .We already have the second book.  No artist ever captured the beauty of nature in such exquisite detail as William Morris. Now Michele Hill has transformed his graceful birds, flowers, vines, and woodland creatures into appliqué designs any quilter can master. (Reference: http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1270). 

If interested you can see the video launch of this book.
http://vimeo.com/3376934









While browsing to find information about our new books I came across this free classic reference, defintely one to explore just for the fun of it! -  Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese Dillmont.    There are lots of other needlecraft references there as well. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20776/20776-h/20776-h.htm


That's all for now!   Enjoy!