Show and Tell from Elaine

 These are all the quilts that I have donated this year, just not sure what ones I gave to Sutherland Hospital and which went to the cancer clinic.

Such a lovely lot of colour. Thanks Elaine. You are quite the patchworker.

Instructions for Mosaic block

 

Collect:

• mosaic focus fabric supplied - F
• orange fabric supplied - O
• your choice fabric - A - which must match one of the paler colours in the focus fabric - any pale colour or tone on tone.

Cut:

Sections as per the drawing and lay them out as in the drawing and photograph. Remember that the measurements must include 1/2" seam allowance on each piece.

Construct:

You will need to sew the pieces together in sections  that create straight 1/4" seams (see below). Press all seams to the orange for the sections.

When attaching sections to the mosaic piece press seams towards the mosaic.

Your finished block should be 14 1/2" and returned untrimmed. Remember to include your stamp addressed envelope if you live in Australia.

Achievements today

 We were only 3 members at our day today but we had 4 more join us on zoom. 

We tacked Karen's quiltop to make a sandwich ready for quilting and also tacked our swan together ready for quilting. 

Linda came on to make a sixth screen on zoom but Heather dropped out for some reason about half way through. Elaine raced home just as we started because a storm came to threaten her washing. Luckily she got it all in before the zoom meeting finished.

In the foreground you can see the layout of our next block. Apparently we initially thought the third fabric should be calico but a we started putting it together we think the third colour should be one of the paler colours in the focus fabric. We rather liked this piece of hand dyed fabric in the pale blues and mauves. So the 'rules' have changed. I'll send instructions later.

Ugly duckling becomes a swan (nearly)

 We were all a bit disappointed with our Suzannah Twist quilt top as it grew...

During the week I tried putting in some 'knots' as shown to us by Jo when she came but they could not even be seen on the top so I unpicked the one I had done.

Then I decided it needed corners but 'OH NO' I made them too big. So then I decided rather than changing the corner blocks I'd increase the width of the border. However, we did not have enough of the focus fabric. So I've used a yellow that we had plenty of...

I almost like it now. One lesson to learn with group quilts is about colour! The colours used in the block MUST be IN the Focus Fabric! It is important not to just use colours that GO WITH IT.

The other thing I did was add a sashing because the junctions of the block pieces were never going to line up. With a sashing this is less obvious.

Click on the picture and you'll see it larger. I can even see how to quilt it now.

This was a difficult block so thank you all for your struggles. We've all learned a lot about colour and set in seams.

A pop-up quilting day

 Yesterday, because Jo and Tony were visiting, I called a pop-up quilting day for anyone who could come to join us. We ended up with 6 quilters yabbering away all day and discussing various options for our ongoing projects. 

Some people chose to complete their blocks for the Bear's Paw project and there was a bit of show and tell of completed projects. Elaine has bound and labelled the Pebbles quilt so it is now ready to donate.

I finished my next Broken Rules experiment with colour so it is also ready to donate. Elaine added a label to that too.

Stephanie arrived with a load of cottons and some fabric to give away so some people left with more than they brought.

We trimmed the next lot of blocks and the quilt looks much better. We even have enough fabric to make the extra diamonds between the blocks if we want to. 

Jo taught us a few more tricks about 'appliqued' diamonds and double thickness bag straps. Thank you Jo.

With lots more Bear's Paws we could get a better idea of how that quilt will look with Jo's fabric as the focus.

Jo and Stephanie then set to with some remaining rainbow strips to make a Courthouse Steps version of the rainbow. Tina has taken that flimsy home to make into a quilt.

Meanwhile Tony was entertained by our continuous chatter and feeding rituals. He had his laptop for extra entertainment when needed and also ventured up to see what we were doing.

Jo drew our next fabric which turned out to be Tina's metre. We discussed various options for a block that suited the fabric. There might be issues as the design is printed skew on the fabric but I'm sure it will look great in the end.

We sent off all our finished quilts except for the Rainbow ones with Karen to be delivered to RPAH cancer day centre. I hope they like them.

A Zoom nightmare

 Today's gathering involved a zoom nightmare until Linda rescued us from her end. Some people may have missed out so here is our show and tell summary.

Stephanie showed us her newest quilt...

Elaine showed us her watermelon ribbons quilt she has made for her grand daughter and some bits and another quilt she made from the left overs.

Jeanette sent a photo of her latest finish, ready for the Hanging of the Quilts in a few months.

I could not take us on the walk around upstairs so here is a photo of the Suzannah Twist blocks from Karen's fabric that have been returned.

And here is a photo of the Bear's Paw blocks and the medalion from Jo's fabric so far.

And here is my latest quilt top...

When all was over I checked my Zoom and updated it so I hope it works better next time.

Until next time, happy sewing.

Our last gathering

 At our July gathering we had a small group of 5 here plus Ruby. Our movement was a little more restricted than usual with barriers blocking various doors for Ruby.

Tina joined us so was able to get help with her first block then chose our next fabric (donated by Jo).

We had a lovely time trying to work out what we could achieve with the fabric and I must get on and write instructions as I make up the blocks we decided upon. This is something I might start tomorrow when Elaine is coming over to play a bit.

Jo showed us her hexie placemats when we were on zoom and she has now written about them on her blog here. They are certainly stunning and quite easy to make.

I have still not received Deana's parcel from Utah and it is now 6 weeks since she sent it. I'm hoping the postal service at either end get's their acts together and that it appears soon. 

Jeanette's Hexie Vest

At our zoom on Saturday Jeanette showed us her hexie vest. She was finishing the binding on the arm holes as we chatted. She has now finished it and sent us pics...

 An amazing job well done! Thanks for sharing Jeanette. We also learned that all Jeanette's hexie work is with 3/4" hexies!!!!!!!

Jo's Show and Tell zig zag quilts

 Last time we were on Zoom Jo zoomed in from a class she was giving using a relatively easy zigzag block. Here are some of the results...

This is Jo's version - 9-patch mixed colours with a final border to echo the sashing.

Another version with a pale grey instead of black.

This version has oriented the blocks to create 'bats' flying.

This one uses 16-patch coloured blocks to start with.

Here the 9-patch blocks are colour co-ordinated and arranged in rainbow strips.

This lady forgot to bring the 9-patches so decided to run with another idea.

It is great to see all the variations of a theme and it will be fun to try it in our group one day.

Show and Tell from Jeanette

 This month's show and tell from Jeanette (Dongara WA) is great. 

First there is Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australia with polar animals to commemorate her trips to the polar regions of our earth.

Then there is her Hexie Quilt with hexie scraps and over 1700 hexies!

I remember sitting in your lounge room years ago cutting your scraps for leaders and enders. Now you are using scraps in amazing ways. Hooray!