Another quilt finished

Patricia's quilt is now finished, labelled and photographed ready to donate to Bezzina House. Well done ladies!

November Quilting Weekend

Well it was an extremely hot weekend with temperatures up to 42 C in Sydney. Upstairs in our sewing space with our new tiny air conditioner it only got to 34 C and was just below 30 C for most of the time. Luckily the hottest time was on Sunday afternoon as we were about to stop anyway.

It was still a most productive and fun weekend, interspersed with hospital visits to see Surrey. He was very poorly and died a week or so later, hence the lateness of this post. We will miss his smiles, his music and his cooking on our quilting weekends.

We actually had 8 people working upstairs by lunch time on Saturday, 5 on Sunday.

I presented everyone with a copy of our book "Rainbow Connection Quilts - 2007-2009". If anyone would like a copy of this book just contact me or leave a comment here. They are $10 plus postage for non-members.

We have now finished Patricia's Cross Quilt and I'll send out a picture for the quilt book via email. You will be able to complete one DIY page in our book.

We arranged and joined the blocks for Marion's Sickle quilt. Because one block was not returned we had the wrong number of blocks. We decided to leave out two blocks and we will perhaps use pieces of those blocks for the corners of the borders yet to be added. We were amazed at how these blocks created more patterns when put together, especially if we did it without sashing.

Our next task was to finish off some of the Soft Blue Sampler blocks and arrange them on the design wall. There are three blocks still to come before we can put it all together but it looks great already.

Our long distance visitor this time was Jane from Toowoomba. It was great to see you Jane. Both Jane and Leonie stayed overnight.

We drew our next lucky dip and have drawn some Mr Men fabric. I will send that out to everyone and will email the instructions as soon as I have written them. I will also put up photos of the three quilts we are working on in the next post.

St George Hospital Markets

Yesterday I stumbled upon the Market Day at St George Public Hospital. Wow! It is well worth a visit. I bought two lovely back rests for my chairs - they are very comfortable. There were lots of other Christmas shopping ideas for people who have absolutely everything.

There are two more this year - 11 and 18 Dec 2009 so try and make a visit. They pack up at 2.30 so make sure you get there on time.

Adding Images to a Blog

I have a few friends out there who would like to add images to their blog so I have written some instructions. If you click on the image here it should appear in a large enough format to read or even print out. Hope these instructions work. Let me know if they help.

Online Stitch School

I have found an online set of instructions for various stitches. The stitches are listed in the right hand pane for easy finding. I will also list this link in my Patchwork and Quilting Links in my right hand pane.

Quilt Raffle Results

ST GEORGE HOSPITAL BREAST CARE SERVICES QUILT RAFFLE RESULTS

1ST PRIZE

Beautiful Handmade Patchwork Quilt

2ND PRIZE

Babies Crocheted Rug

Thank you to all that supported the raffle by purchasing tickets
The raffle has raised $846 which will be used to support Breast Care Services at St George Hospital

Back to basics

I now have my old 1906 treadle Singer sewing machine overhauled and am enjoying using it for quilting. The stitches are much more even than any modern machine I've used and there is plenty of room for feeding a whole quilt through the machine. It is also very relaxing to use and requires no electricity. I even get in a bit of exercise in as I sew!

I used it back in the 1970s for patchwork but it had then sat unused for 30 years so an overhaul was definitely in order. I was able to get it done by a sewing machine repair man in Heathcote. He does old and new machines.

If you have one of these machines or see one going cheaply think about getting it in working order and use it. I would recommend it.

Bobbin Sorter

At last I have worked out how to make a stand on which I can store my bobbins and their matching reels of cotton. This one is quite simple. All you need is a Laughing Cow cheese box, polystyrene vegetable trays to cut into circles to fill the box, some long finger food skewers or long tooth picks. Assemble then cover with fabric. Use an awl to start the holes for the tooth picks and - voila!

Graph Paper

Sometimes you'll need graph paper for designing your quilts. Three types that might be needed are square (cartesian), equilateral triangles (isometric) and hexagons. I have just spent a week or so looking for shops that sell the triangular one without success then thought to search the internet. Up popped a site where you can Print Your Own Free Graph Paper . You can choose what type and what units of measurement then the size of the page you want to print. Cool!

Scrappy Quilt Project

At our last workshop some of us started making scrappy blocks for our final quilt of 2009. I have been experimenting with how to make the instruction sheets small enough so that I don't clog up your email inbox with large files so here is my attempt.
This second page has a lot of blank space to be filled when the quilt is finished but it also gives a few more ideas for scrappy blocks. There are even more ideas if you follow the links to Scrappy Quilts and Typing Paper Block on this blog.

The idea is that everyone makes either 6 1/2" or 12 1/2" scrappy blocks of any design and sends them in. We can then arrange them all as per usual and see the magic that can happen when such a random idea is put into action.

Let's give it a try. Looking forward to seeing all your scrappy blocks.

September Workshop

We held an extra workshop to introduce a few new members to patchwork and quilting and to give some of our other members time out to do something different. The first activity was our 'show and tell'. Robyn showed us her latest quilt. No picture is available yet.

Leonie caught up on her applique block for our next project while Evelyn, Linda, Betty and Mary completed some scrappy blocks using foundation piecing techniques.

Mary, our newest member finished her first ever block. Well done Mary!

Elaine and Joy also came for a quick visit.

Quilt Raffle Active

Click on the pic to read the details. Actual proportions of the quilt are in the pic below.

Brown Sampler Quilt Raffle

St George hospital will dedicate the raffle of our Brown Sampler towards breast care services (within the Cancer Care Centre) in conjunction with the Pink Ribbon luncheon and an information session on breast cancer they are holding in October.

The raffle will start from Monday, 7 September.

Volunteers will sell the tickets in the Gray St Foyer, in the Cancer Care Centre and at both events. Flyers will go up around the hospital. 

Now here is a goal!

Message from Anne at Bezzina House

Hold your breath - we have 18 singles, 6 doubles and 1 baby cot.  Good reason to live for the next 20 years!!!!

So far we've made one single.

August Quilting Weekend

Only a small gathering this time with five of us working like busy beavers to finish off a few quilts.
Our first task was to bind, label and photograph our Brown Sampler quilt. This meant that we had two finished quilts for donation.

We had an outing to Bezzina House to look around and see if it was an appropriate home for our quilts. Anne was thrilled and we were also able to view two of the units and see the quilts already there (made in 1998) and looking very comforting and well worn.

Helen's Stars is now complete and has a home at Bezzina House. Our Brown Sampler will be donated to St George Hospital to raffle for fundraising. Anne from Bezzina House felt that it could earn a lot of funds that way.


There was also a visit to Spotlight to buy some wadding for our next quilt. We have chosen one from our Lucky Dip that has an opportunity to try some hand quilting and some applique techniques. Robyn gave us a lesson on using iron-on sticky paper to cut and attach the applique pieces before sewing them on so we are going to try that out.

So our Woodstock Anniversary quilting weekend was as active as ever with lots of peace and love. Leonie even made a lentil stew for our dinner. Of course everyone provided excellent fare for all our meals and we all ate too much again.

A new distant member

Debbie visited us from the US with her husband yesterday. She has enrolled as our latest distance member and lives quite near Marion. She does quilting at home already so will be able to teach us lots! Welcome Debbie.

More St George Hospital Craft Markets

Click on the picture to see a larger version so you can read it.

Donating Quilts

I've done a bit of research and have now found two ways to donate quilts in the St George area that will cut out the need for expensive postage of quilts to other charities.

The two options are:

Bezzina House - the St George Community Cancer Care Lodge. When this facility was built the quilters guild made quilts for all the beds. These have since worn with use and some need replacing or repairing. I have organised for us to visit this lodge at 1pm on the Sunday of our next quilting weekend to see what is there and discuss what is needed.

St George Hospital Fundraising Network - who raffle quilts, sell quilts at their craft stalls or distribute quilts to needy folk as appropriate. I have dates for the craft stalls till the end of 2009 and include them here in case you would like to see what is sold. You might even like to donate some other craft items to the stalls. The stalls are held in the Gray St entrance to St George Hospital (the main entrance) from 8.30-3pm on the following dates:

Tuesday	28-Jul
Thursday	6-Aug
Friday	28-Aug
Thursday	3-Sep
Tuesday	8-Sep
Friday	11-Sep
Saturday	12-Sep
Monday	14-Sep
Thursday	1-Oct
Friday	30-Oct
Thursday	5-Nov
Tuesday	10-Nov
Friday	13-Nov
Saturday	14-Nov
Monday	16-Nov
Thursday	3-Dec
Friday	18-Dec

Those two should give us plenty to work towards for the next few years.

Keeping Kitty Fed

At our last weekend it was decided that we really need to keep a kitty to cover our expenses of postage, batting and backing, and our sashing and border fabrics. Marion had donated money before she left and we've now run out. So Leonie has donated a 'kitty' money box (above). Here is what we agreed to:

1. When you join the Rainbow Connection Quilters we ask for a coin or note donation into the kitty.
2. When you attend one of our quilting weekends you can put a gold coin in the kitty.
3. When you join (or we run out) we also ask for a donation of 1 metre of fabric and a block design (wrapped so it can't be identified) for our Mystery Metre Quilts for charity. These are kept in our Lucky Dip basket (below) until needed. We still have 3 lucky dips which should keep us going until 2010.
4. If you can't afford anything that is OK and we certainly don't want any foreign currencies as these cost money to exchange. Overseas and other distance members can just donate their fabric and block design and pay for return postage of their blocks etc.
   

Please leave a comment if you would like to make a contribution to these rules.

June Quilting Weekend

As normal our June quilting weekend was begun with morning tea. We are using a beautiful new tablecloth made by Jane in Wolverhampton. It is most unusual. There is also the lovely tea set Surrey gave me for such occasions.
Here is a view of Leonie hard at work on the design wall. In the background are some of our other projects. The Brown Sampler Quilt is now professionally quilted and looks great. Just the binding left to go. Helen's Stars are complete. The other one is my project that I wanted to start in 1983. Some projects are slow. It is a bird's eye view of English countryside. Embellishments, woodlands and hedges are still to come.
Betty, Evelyn, Patricia and Elaine busy at work on Patricia's Cross quilt.
Linda enjoying another cuppa with Leonie.
Patricia's Cross blocks on the design wall. We are trying a quilt-as-you-go technique on this one to see how it works. The top row is all quilted as individual blocks then joined back and front with sashing which also has batting in it.
In all we had a great weekend but missed Robyn who was absent for the first time ever.

Marion's latest quilt

Here is a link to Marion's blog and her latest quilt - Sunburnt Country.

Our April Weekend

It might seem from all the photos that all we did was eat for the weekend. In fact we did do lots of patchwork but our eating was interesting amongst the chaos of laundry renovations that meant we could not use the dining room.

Jane is shown here to prove that we did do some work. The Helen's Stars quilt is now being bound thanks to Robyn completing the quilting around the stars then attaching the binding. Only half way round to hem left.

Our Brown Sampler quilt top is now all together and we are hoping to have it professionally quilted this time. It looks magnificent.

We have drawn Patricia's Cross for our next quilt and some time was spent working out the instructions for this very original design. We now have a few blocks completed and the photo above shows Jane working through the instructions.

We all had a great time and were pleased to welcome Linda to our group for the first time. She is a beginner and is loving it so far.

Our Brown Sampler So Far

Our design wall with Patricia's block set on point in the centre. Our three cheater blocks are the next three below.



Here are some pics of the finished blocks.

The rest of the pictures have a block of the hand on fabric next to each one.