Faces of Covid19

 Post written by Evelyn

This blog post is all about Sheila!  I have more to show but didn't want to put too many pictures in one post so watch out for more posts soon!  Send me, Sheila or Glo your pictures and stories if you want to share them on the blog!  I urge you to click on the pictures to enlarge them.  The stitching Sheila has done is exquisite!

Sheila says..

Having all this time on our hands I found my sketch book and started doodling. I came up with a few thoughts of Covid Faces. At the end I just had to turn them into stitcheries. The faces depict things such as my loss of the ability to wear my beloved red high heel shoes. I love shoes and have a huge collection which age wont let me wear. You will see the sad face, the thoughtful, the hair a mess and where I want to be under a tree somewhere not in the house.

Ah the wine.  I know you well...

My daughter has never asked me to make her a quilt. Her tastes and mine are poles apart. She likes plain and muted colours. When she asked if I would make a quilt I immediately agreed but nearly fell off the chair when I saw the pattern. Not me at all. The fabric was ordered and cutting commenced. Only a quilter would understand. “Cut 180 WOF 1 1/2 strips". That took forever! Then start sewing them all back up. I did not enjoy this process at all. You make 4 different kinds of blocks and the illusion comes in the joining of them. I had to order some fork pins to ensure my lines met up exactly. My daughter was pleased with the end result.

This was quilted in the ditch!

The walls in my house are covered in wall hangings and quilts so there was no room to put Ron’s favourite picture of Kookaburras. So when I saw this panel I had to buy it. I thought just a border and done. It cried out for some thread painting so I spent 3 weeks using miles of thread to make the kookaburras come to life. Sadly it doesn’t show in a photo. I then added the woolly wattle and some dragonflies to finish it off. Now he can have his kookaburras on the wall.

Lastly the Table Runner. Now this is more my colours! Ron has a cousin in the UK that hinted that she would like something made. She has visited Australia and has travelled the Nullabor, so I thought this Table Runner appropriate bearing in mind postage to the UK. The background is pieced out of scraps to depict the heat and desert areas. Th animals are in profile but highlighted in yellow. They are all raw edged. Hope she likes it!

What a helpful quilt displayer! 

More show and tell!

Post written by Evelyn

Get yourself a cuppa (I believe you may have been sent one recently!) and come and sit and admire these beautiful creations! This blog post is all about our lovely quilters Annie C and Sheila.

Annie says...

 I've been busy using a lot of my pre-cut scraps ... not so much of yardage ... this isolation could go on for years and I'll still have enough fabric!

My pile of memory quilts is growing, as are the knitted teddy bears.

My latest quilt finish is one that I have wanted to do since 2012 when I saw this quilt  http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=46-7A-109 in person and a few days later saw a version at the Houston Quilt Show that a French lady had reproduced..

In 2014 Quilters Companion put out a lovely book called "Inspired by Vintage Quilts" and there was a pattern for the quilt reproduced by an Australian lady.  

The years rolled by, 2020 began and the Corona Virus struck ... time to start that quilt!  So, on 24 March, just at the beginning of isolation, I began.  The quilt kept growing ... and I thought, how am I going to quilt this on my domestic machine?  I did think I could hand quilt it ... but that thought lasted about 30 seconds ... so I decided not to include all the half square triangle borders and finished with a couple of plain borders.

Whilst quilting the quilt, I managed to break not one, but two, prongs on my Westalee fan ruler!  I finished the quilt just before we went into Stage 4 of isolation ... even with a couple of other interruptions thanks to Glo's mystery quilts.

With the quilt finished I wondered if I could make a smaller version and include all the borders.  So, that's what I am working on now ... a quarter size version of the original quilt, with the half square triangles supposed to finish at 1/2 inch ... but they're actually finishing at 5/8" because I have my machine set wrong!

The Baptist fan quilting really gives this stunning quilt a vintage feel!

Annie is crazy as you all know but at least she doesn't need a huge design wall!

Sheila says...

Going back a while I did the Laundry Basket Quilt. It was made from my scrap collection. Making it was one thing but now I have quilted it which took many many hours . Every small piece has some quilting on it so it is hard to show.

Then I fell into the mistake of making the Mysolation Quilt, again totally from my scraps.  It is the quilting I enjoy most so I quilted that to death too.

My new favourite thing to do is paint so I took the theme of the Butterfly being a creature of hope and came up with this. Is drawn then painted with acrylic and fabric medium paint. It has two layers of polyester batting to make it puffy and then the background heavily quilted to make it stand out. 

This is another paint job obviously called The Dragonfly. This is as a gift for a friend.

I tried to do a series of pictures which started off as the Faces of Covid but I got carried away and my drawing skills are not that good. They are a series of 6 faces measuring about 12x12. It is OK doing all these things but in a woeful moment I thought “What for?” So looking for suggestions for my faces. They will probably get joined together with red sashing and put on the pile.

I did the Love n Hugs Stitch along and have finally put it together.

Ron has a picture of Kookaburras which he really likes and wanted to put it up in the house. All wall space is taken up with quilts so when I saw this panel I had to buy it. I have made the border and now it is ready for quilting. I can go to town with some thread painting what fun!

 

Show and tell!

Post written by Evelyn

I've got some lovely finished and partially finished show and tell to share!  If you have anything you'd like to add to the blog please send pictures and a little story to me, Sheila or Glo.

Grace pieced this Laundry Basket quilt top.  She has to wait now to get it quilted.  I fear the quilters are going to be overwhelmed with work after lockdown!

Kay's been busy busy!  Here she is relaxing in front of the TV whilst finishing off some binding. 

Kay has also been doing Jacquelynne Steves' Silver Linings mystery quilt blocks.

Ta da!  Kay has finished another mystery quilt!

Kay has been busy practicing free motion quilting on her new Baby.  This quilt is almost completed and will be shown soon.

Kay has delved into her Liberty collection!

Judy hasn't been sewing much.  She's been sorting and tidying and it's all your fault Annie C!

We all know where to go when we run out of fabric!  Before you gasp in wonder at the immaculate state of Judy's sewing room let me tell you that I've also seen a picture of the rest of the room.  I'm sure the picture isn't for public viewing ha ha!

I finished making all three scrubs tops.  This is the front that belongs to the giraffe back from the previous blog post.  My friend was delighted with it!

I finished piecing my son's t-shirt quilt top.  Here is my "pattern". 

I don't have any backing so this one will be quilted later.

Ann Mc has been astonishingly busy!  She's going to need to hire a truck to bring her quilts to show and tell!  Here's the back of her Farmer's Wife.

And the front!

Here's Ann relaxing in front of the TV and a lovely warm fire sewing hexagons!

Ann's quilts

And more!  Ann has finished over 20 quilts that were in varying stages of completeness.  She must have stitched down over 5,000 inches of binding by now!

Ann bought the fabrics for this quilt at Alice in Fabricland, Kyneton at one of our retreats.  Isn't it divine?!

Another finish for Ann!

Ann and Robyn are both doing the Heartstrings quilt by The Birdhouse Patchwork.  Here's Ann's centre laid out.

Looks like Robyn is sorting and stitching whilst snuggled up under a nice warm quilt!

Robyn's Hexi sashings.

 

Reach out!

Post written by Evelyn

As you all know we've mostly all gone into stage 4 restrictions and it's been tough on a lot of us.  I would urge you to reach out to your friends and family at this time.  If you're feeling down don't wait for someone to call you...pick up the phone!  A few of us had a silly little virtual "Saturday Sit n Sew" this week which cheered us up immensely. Lots of people are on Facebook.  Email someone. Go on! Reach out to people!

Lockdown again?!

Many of you have been busy sewing and crafting and I hear that a few ladies have taken this opportunity to learn new skills or develop old ones.  There are so many videos and lessons available online, you could learn anything!

Robyn made this quilt out of leftovers from the Mysolation mystery quilt.  She decided to make it quilt as you go so that she could practice her quilting skills.  Her fingers are cursing her after all that hand sewing!

Gail made this quilt for a good friend in Queensland.  

Gail learned how to do echo quilting.  It brings a lot of movement to the quilt!

Lyn B has been busy making this fantastic maple leaf quilt top.  She's waiting very patiently to go out and get some backing for it!

Debbie, our new member from Saturday sit n sew, has been very busy making quilts.  Here are a few of the ones she's done!

Kay finished this quilt for her son.  She's delighted with the free motion quilting and is keen to practice some more!   

Grace made this quilt which she's named Zipped rectangles with a twist!  It was started in April when we first went into isolation.  Grace has also been making the Laundry Basket quilt.

I've been making scrubs tops for a friend.  The first two were made with fabric I had stashed away since our bus trip to The Patchwork Teahouse so you can only imagine how old that fabric is!  This last one is going to feature zoo animals to cheer the kids up at her hospital.

Can you believe I cut myself on the knob that you press to cover the sharp blade so that you don't cut yourself???

Guess who!

Just for a laugh (they'll never send me anything ever again!) guess who these lovely ladies are!