Great Shirt Challenge No.2

Annie and Lyn recently brought their shirt challenge quilts in to show us and we were so impressed we all wanted a go!  So Annie and Lyn kindly organised challenge No.2 for us.  Over the last few weeks we've been scouring the local op shops (or not so local!) for 100% cotton shirts and last night we cut them up into sections, those sections were mixed up and divided into many piles and put into bags, beautifully decorated with a shirt appliqué.  We then all took turns to choose a card bearing a tie and the fabric swatch hidden underneath the tie matched one of the shirts on the bags.  It was so exciting wondering what fabric we'd all end up with!

Cutting the shirts into sections

 

 

Busy group!

 

 

The shirts all cut up

 

 

My lucky dip shirts

 

        Rules

•  Use as much shirt fabric as you can for the front of the quilt.
• If you wish, you may add ONE other fabric of your choice to help tie the shirt fabrics together - the amount can be as much or as little as you want.
• There is to be no dying of fabrics, however you may reverse the shirt fabrics if you prefer the other side.
• Backing will be a fabric of your choice.
• Binding will be a fabric of your choice.
• Completion time : date to be advised in August 2013.

Have fun everyone!

 

 



 

 

Christmas in July

We had a lovely day on Saturday sitting in the hall stitching and chatting and the meal at The Olive Tree was delicious too!  But the best part, of course, was the Elves' challenge.  Last Christmas Beryl and Sharon handed out our little packages containing fabric, ribbon and bells and told us we must use them somehow to create a Christmas project to show at the Christmas in July.  We all had to vote for our favourite entry and there were prizes for first, second and third places.  As you will see it was really difficult voting for just one!  If you want to see more detail click on each photo and it will enlarge.

In first place...

Joy's owls!  Aren't they adorable?  Each owl is different and they have the cutest facial expressions!

In second place...

Glo's carousel house!  There were four rooms altogether and you could spin it around to view each room.  Glo even had working lights!

In third place...

Sandra's Christmas Advent fairy.  All her pockets held small chocolate bars.  Yum!  (Thanks for the photo Judy!)

A feast of other entries...

Heather

Ailsa

Marlene

Esmae

Annie

Barbara P

Barbara B

Judy

Jocelyn

Lyn

Evelyn

Maureen


The elves did a brilliant job and all the completed challenges were fantastic.  Who will be next year's elves I wonder?  It could be YOU!

 

a common thread...

Needle Work Needle Play logo by MaricorMaricar

As there are both quilters and stitchers among us, I'd thought you might enjoy hearing about a new exhibition of artistic embroidery I came across recently.

Named Needle Work Needle Play, it is an exhibition featuring handmade creations from nine of Australia's best contemporary embroiderers. The exhibits include pieces made with coloured twine, soft sculptures, portraiture and jewellery.

For textile art lovers, here is a taste of work from some of the exhibiting artists...

a WIP shot of a gorgeous piece by Cat-Rabbit

softie by Cat-Rabbit

stunning stitches by Haeli Van Veen

Otus by Carly Altree-Williams

For more innovative and amazing behind the scenes photos, as well as interviews with the artists, I encourage you to go and take a look at their amazing blog.

Opening night is on Friday, August 10 at the Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne and runs until Thursday August 23.


Show details are:

Needle Work Needle Play
Brunswick Street Gallery
322 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Opening 10th August at 6pm
Running from 10th - 23rd August 2012
Hrs: Tues - Sun 10am - 10pm

So many ideas and challenges

It has been ages since I have posted on our blog but there is a lot to catch up with especially the wonderful quilt show which I missed because of my travels. However I have heard glowing reports about the show and especially the quality of the quilts being exhibited so congratulations to all involved.  I was also disappointed that I did not get to see the amazing display on the stage (see photos)  -

 

Last weekend some of us attended the Quilt-in at Melton and were inspired by the guest speaker, Dijanne Cevaal.  Is there enough interest in her work for us to organise a workshop?  Go to her website for more information and inspiration - http://origidij.blogspot.com.au/

More library information next time. Glo :-)  .

Sneak peek

I have two show and tell quilts to show you.  These will be on display at the Sunbury Quilt show on 16-17th June so I hope you get a good look at them and all the other wonderful quilts then. 

Barbara bought the pansy fabric about 10 years ago, worked on it a bit and then forgot all about it.  Six months ago she stumbled upon the UFO and decided to finish it!  We've watched Barbara hand stitching the Drunkards Path blocks at our Tuesday meetings just about every week since wondering how she was going to put them together. Kerrie Thomas machine quilted the quilt with a pansy design to match the fabric.  Her contact details are on the The Drapers of Mt Macedon website.

Here's another "old" UFO!  Marlene bought the pattern Just Bein' Girls from Attic Crafts Bendigo a few years ago.  This will be a quilt for her 15 year old granddaughter, Jasmine.  Marlene quilted the quilt using variegated thread which looks really lovely with the colours in the fabrics used.  The embroidered designs are gorgeous so make sure you have a good close up look at them at the show!

 

Christmas in July

This year we will be meeting at the Hall for our Christmas in July festivities.  The Hall has been booked for sit and sew from 10am - 4pm and we will be walking down to the Olive Tree Hotel for lunch from there.

Just a reminder from the Christmas Elves to remember to bring your challenge projects to show!