What a treat! Part 2

 Post written by Evelyn

The Big 0 birthday celebrations

A big fuss was made of the ladies celebrating their Big 0 birthdays!  Most of whom missed out on being spoiled on their actual day because of lockdown.  The birthday ladies were Carolyn, Gail, Karen, Judy A and Maree.

Presents!

The birthday ladies!  

And we all enjoyed cake!

I took 10 shots of this scene.  Do you think I could get one where they all look at the camera?!

Judy requested Kaffe Fassett for her fat quarter gifts.  I don't believe she had a single repeated design.

Karen wanted stripes and Carolyn stripes or spots or checks.

Gail asked for blues.  

Maree is a pink girl!  Do you know how many shades of pink there are?!

Here are a selection of some of the fabrics.  Gail and Maree were still busy unwrapping when these pictures were taken.

All in all it was a lovely day.  And we had cake.  What more can you ask for?

Two other ladies celebrated big 0 birthdays just as we went into the first lockdown.  I had their birthday fat quarters for over a year so those ladies were very lucky I didn't run out of fabric while we were in isolation!  I did eye them up rather a lot mind you!  Last month ten of us went to retreat so we celebrated Rosie and Robyn's big 0 birthdays while we were there.  

 

Who's next to celebrate I wonder??

What a treat!

 Post written by Evelyn

The Shirt Challenge Reveal

What a day it's been! Today we had Sit n Sew with a Shirt Challenge reveal, big O birthday celebrations and the Quilt Fairy and her helpers showed themselves!  It was great to see so many Quilters attending. I'll be breaking the day up into several blog post entries so stay tuned.

Firstly, here are the long awaited and much anticipated shirt challenge reveals!  Thanks to Karen and Andrea for organising this challenge many moons ago!  The challengers bought shirts from OP shops and these shirts were collected by Andrea and Karen and redistributed to the challengers.  The rule was to use the shirt fabrics plus one other fabric.  It's amazing that with the same or similar shirts and the same rules that such a variety of quilts were created!

Click on the pictures if you'd like to see them bigger.

The quilts were displayed several times as people came and went.  The final display was of the quilts draped over the back fence.  I do wonder what the people in the houses would have made of it all!

Hanging the quilts.

A small portion of the display.

A familiar scene whenever anyone shows off a quilt or two!

Some of the challenges draped over any available tables and chairs.

Andrea made this stars quilt.  It's been hand pieced and hand quilted.  

Karen also did a stars quilt.  The pale stars are very effective and the hand quilting is beautiful.

Rosie made this friendly quilt.  It features appliquéd circles and the odd shirt cuff and pocket!

Julie made two quilts!  Julie quilted free motion motif designs within the zig zags.

This one of Julie's has an all over free motion quilting design.

Judy V was very busy making Dresden Plates.  She's working on making another two of these quilts using different background fabrics.

Kay made this pinwheel quilt.  The fabric didn't go to waste as she made a feature of it in the border and pieced a strip of the fabrics on the backing too.

Annie M's Dachshunds!  Aren't they just the cutest?! 

Janette put her embroidery machine to good use making her quilt.  This is made out of the shirt fabrics with the addition of the green fabric.  It's a mixture of appliqué and machine embroidery.

Margaret made this Orange peel quilt.  She machine embroidered a braidlike design around the shapes.

This Dresden Plate quilt with a difference was made by Maree.

Sheila is off on her travels but it was lovely to see her finished shirt challenge!  Who'd have thought to do shirts and ties?!

Kate made this Drunkards Path quilt. It's a gift for one of Kate's lucky cousins!

Annie C, the Queen of miniatures, made this gigantic Mountains quilt.  She quilted it on her domestic machine!

Here's Judy's shirt challenge quilt.  It was pieced whilst she was on holiday in Tasmania and quilted back at home on her long arm.

The bed in their holiday accommodation was perfect for displaying the quilt.

Did these quilts inspire you?  Go on, give it a go!

Sit n Sew workshop

 Post written by Evelyn

I finally made it back to Saturday Sit n Sew at the Salvation Hall woo!  Judy V showed us how to make a portable ironing pad/cutting board folder and she generously provided kits too! Judy has more if anyone is interested in making one.

Gail, Mary and Debbie were teacher's pets and had theirs put together in no time!  Here's Mary's version.  She and a friend are making a larger sized folder together next.

Here's Debbie's!  The fabric is so much fun!

Gail made this lovely flowery version.  

Judy and I were slackers and the others had finished theirs before we'd even really got started.  Judy used special fabric she's put aside to make matching useful quilting items.  She quilted her outer fabric before assembling the folder.

I used a fabric panel that was gifted to me from a friend of a friend that I hadn't known what to do with.  It was perfect!  I had to piece my inside pocket together before I could start assembling my folder.  

Here's the folder opened out.

And a picture of it in use.  Well, posing as if it's in use at least!

I forgot to take pictures during the day which is really annoying!  Judy V was very organised with her kits and prep work and was very willing to help.  I could have done with one of those full body aprons though because I was a bit slapdash with the glue.  It even ended up in my hair!  Judy V also took over hammering my decorative/protective corners after I hammered my thumb.  Twice.

It was a great workshop!  Thanks Judy V!!!

Don't forget that the next Saturday Sit n Sew is the much anticipated shirt challenge reveal.  It's a day not to be missed.  See you there!