Kerrie's Quilt Extension

 Kerrie had a quilt that was a wall hanging and she wanted to extend it and use it as a quilt. The hanging was quite old and of course we could not match the fabric. She has been to mine every now and then and we've worked on it together. 

A few weeks ago the quilt was completed and Kerrie is very happy.

One happy warm lady.

Extension tables for sewing machines

 Yesterday Stephanie came to play while my roof gutters were being cleaned. We did a bit more on our Black and Brights quilt but then decided to face the issue of extension tables for sewing machines. 

I'd looked up prices for extension tables but then noticed that I could not even get one for 3 of my machines. I've been using a small cardboard box on one machine and that gave me an idea.

So we spent most of the afternoon considering how to create templates for the bases of the machines (each one is different) then how to cut some very old and damaged herbarium boxes to solve the problem.

Lots of trial and error later and we now have two extension tables.

Last night at 2am I even worked out that if I sit the box back in its lid and cut just the edge flap that goes under the machine the whole thing will be held in place with the weight of the machine. I'll try that tomorrow when I have a bit of time.

Who would have thought?

Windows are finished and more show and tell

Elaine delivered the finished small knee rug I am calling Windows today. 

If anyone wants to suggest where this one should go please let me know.

 Elaine and I also worked today to get this far with our Brown Quilt...

And I also sewed together the Blacks and Brights blocks that Stephanie and I are creating.

In all a lot of homework is done ready for the next steps.

Bags from Baradine

 Stephanie and I had a great trip to Baradine and lots of bags were involved. On the way up we stayed over at a friend's in Mudgee and she donated two bags of treasures as she is downsizing her patchwork activities.

She also donated a floral fabric that I am now using in one of my projects so it does not appear here.

Di donated a huge bag of bits but unfortunately most of them were too small to work with. Scraps need to be big enough to trim to at least 2" square or 1" strips. So these scraps will go straight to rag waste and used by someone else to stuff dog beds. These now fill two large shopping bags.

This is the pile saved from the waste.

Jenny donated another bag of 'bits' but these were much larger pieces!!!

They are all now flattened and there will be lots of usable pieces. Di's pieces are on the top right and Chooky's and mine are the tiny pieces on the top left.

Stephanie had been given lots of fabric so before she came she cut out lots of bags to make at Baradine. They look fabulous and the ladies she was making them for will be able to raise money for their causes.

Of course there was a show and tell session and I photographed quilts that I could use all these scraps in.

Stephanie's 'Oh my gosh' top

Janice's Hexie quilt

Brenda's Hexie quilt

Raewyn put together two of these quilts from blocks we had all made from our scraps and they will be donated to Macquarie Home Stay.

Brenda was a great sewing buddy who was able to solve a lot of my issues with my projects which I will put in a separate post. Thank you Brenda.

And Jo was my other sewing buddy who had such a lovely attitude to using scraps and making mistakes. Here she is knitting up some of the tea bag strings that we all save for her. Thank you Jo for your ideas.

And thank you to Chooky who hosted and organised the group and all the other ladies who came to enjoy working and chatting together.

Last week's quilt gatherings

 At our last quilting weekend we had our two visitors from the Central West - Janice and Chooky (see previous post). Karen presented her latest quilt top. She says... With help from Stephanie and Linda, my leaders-and-enders quilt is now basted. It has reduced my pile of L-&-Es only slightly. 

I began with one of my practice star blocks from some years ago and then worked out from that, aiming to use as many L-&-Es as possible in various patterns, front and back. And using some other fabrics that went with those colours and for which I had no other purpose. 

Next will be a quilt using my accumulation of green, yellow and brown L-&-Es...

Stephanie busied herself putting our Betty's Garden blocks together when she was not basting Karen's quilt. Our two visitors were making Card Trick blocks for our next quilt but unfortunately the large triangles were the wrong size so they were taken home to finish but will be returned.

Then, this week Kerrie came to visit and brought her mother's sewing machine for us to use. We spent time creating extensions for her quilt that used to be a wall hanging. She wants it to be a single bed topper.

So far we have one end complete. Of course we could not match the fabrics so have decided to at least keep it in a 'country' theme. We have enough of the original green fabric for a border to add once the bottom extension is complete. After that we'll consider the next move.

Just behind Kerrie's quilt top can be seen the Betty's Garden blocks that Stephanie was trimming and sewing together.

When Quilters Tour

  On Friday, after 2 hours of rehab, I returned home to await the arrival of Chooky (Coonamble) and Janice (Bathurst) who were coming to stay at mine. Stephanie joined us for afternoon tea as well.

On Saturday Stephanie came back to mine and we all travelled by train to the city to meet up with Janet (Utah) and use a wander around Sydney as the background to meeting in real life (rather than on Zoom). 

Before meeting Janet we met up with Jules (Coonamble), another quilting friend, and took a little detour via Customs House at Circular Quay for the surprise in the floor.

After meeting up with Janet, her husband and two friends she was travelling with, our next stop was to City Extra for lunch.

By then we were quite a crowd as Leah (another friend of Chooky's) had joined us. Janet's 3 travel companions then left us to tour on the Red Bus while we others took the ferry to Manly.

The day was very hot but we were able to stay in the shade most of the time.

When we arrived at Manly Stephanie and I stayed at the ferry terminal enjoying an ice cream which melted as quickly as we could eat it while the others walked to the beach so Janet could put her feet in the Pacific Ocean (or is it the Tasman at that point?). Of course she came back with her jeans wet to the knees!

Once we returned to Circular Quay we returned to Customs House to show Janet where she was in Sydney and enjoyed a coffee nearby. We then caught the Light Rail to the QVB. 

Janet was suitably impressed with the stunning interior of the QVB. We then walked through to Haighs where Stephanie just had to buy supplies. We all sampled the chocolate buttons. Yum!

It was then time to start heading home so we caught a train to Mascot station then while some people walked I caught an Uber with others to the Moxy Airport hotel where Janet and friends were staying for just one night before leaving on a cruise the next day.

We enjoyed dinner together at the Moxy before saying our goodbyes to the Utah mob. How unfortunate that they only had one day in Sydney but maybe they'll be back again. 

The four remaining of us caught an Uber back to my car at Allawah and I drove home to a surprise meeting with Geoff and the girls who were at mine to collect their beehive. Stephanie drove home to hers. This was followed by a bit of a wind down and a long sleep.

On Sunday our quilting day together started at about 10am. We were joined by Stephanie again as well as Karen and Linda.

What a weekend we all had. By the time everyone had left for their respective return journeys I just collapsed in front of TV until bed time. We had had an amazing long weekend with so many friends and look forward to repeating the idea again soon.

Thank you Janet for being the catalyst for this gathering.

A new quilter in the making

 Artie is a young lady interested in patchwork and quilting. She came to mine with her first bundle of fat quarters last weekend and we played. After some discussion about the sorts of designs she liked and a lot of browsing through books and online she decided on a block.

This was followed by lessons on grid paper and some colour play. We searched my stash for some plains to add to her patterned fabrics.

Then we started... ta da!

Artie's first block! She is coming back this weekend to choose another block for a sampler in her chosen colours.

This was just what I needed as I am in house arrest while my hip heals and my movement strengthens.

No quilting today because

 

A June Get-together

 Last weekend on a very very wet day we gathered to have fun with patchwork again. We had a new member, Sue W.,  and quite a few absent members but some of them joined us on zoom later in the day. Kerrie also joined us. She was on her way to a hang-gliding adventure when it was called off so she decided she was closer to my place than her home so came for the day here.

We spent the morning making scrappy squares for our next quilt so the table looked a mess.

It is looking quite good so far.

In the afternoon we drew out our next fabric and spent a while choosing an appropriate block design and hunting through my stash for fabrics that will be good with the Focus Fabric.

 

Everyone arrived home safely even though it was raining cats and dogs when most people left. Thanks for a lovely day.

A Pop-up May gathering

 Heather (NZ) and Jon came to stay for two nights at the weekend. So I called a pop-up gathering and we had lots of fun together. 

On Friday afternoon, soon after they arrived, Stephanie came and we started creating our scrappy crumb blocks for our next challenge. And yes, it is a challenge. Stephanie stayed for dinner as well so we had a great time getting to know one another.

On Saturday Stephanie returned and Elaine came as well so more scrappy crumb blocks were made and we all learned a lot about not 'over-thinking' the process. Just join bits in twos then twos in fours and so on until you get a 6 1/2" trimmed block. Lots of mistakes were made but we all learned in the process.

Then we started discussing the tiny pieces that we trimmed off our block and Stephanie showed us what can be done with such pieces. I am now saving these for her and then the absolutely unusable pieces I am composting.

Lunch was a fun affair and was created by again just putting all available and donated food on the table and tucking in.

At the end of the day we have a beginning of our Scrappy Crumby Quilt and it is looking quite stunning.

Elaine brought back our Ballerina quilt all bound and it is now ready to donate once I put a label on it. If you would like it then please let me know.

Heather was so taken with the Tessellated Stars Quilt that we asked her to take it home to quilt and bind and keep it.

So now we only have Heather's Spots to put together at our next gathering and lots more scrappy crumby blocks to make.

A fun and full weekend.

Scrub Stitchin' 3

 Up early again and I even beat Chooky to the sewing room.

Camp Cypress certainly lives up to its name with dozens of cypress pines dotting the area.

I continued with blocks for the Jacobs' quilt after Chooky helped me to swap tables before many people arrived for breakfast. A much more stable table. By about morning tea time I had finished all of one set of blocks.

Stephanie and I drove to the National Parks Discovery Centre in Baradine then also drove around for a "tour of the 'burbs" after a coffee at the Embassy Cafe. Baradine is a small town of about 600 residents but does have a hospital.

I then went ahead to finish binding the Jewel Quilt before dinner was served.

After dinner I started the project that Chooky introduced us to and by bedtime I had figured out how to change a one ended section into one that travelled in two directions to create a table runner.

Another day of sewing and chatting and a show and tell of all our projects and things we'd also brought with us.

At sunset we were all ushered out of the sewing room for drinks and nibbles in the cool of the evening while the room was prepared for our final night dinner. The theme was stars.

Fun was had by all and an exchange of gifts was enjoyed. Mine was a lovely sewing kit made by Janice.

Other gifts that were in our starry bag on our desk when we arrived included...

I spent a bit of time on our last morning experimenting with creating slabs of fabric from everyone's scraps before packing to leave after lunch.

Everyone set out their zig zag projects to see what they could look like.

We stayed another night with Jen and Alex on our way home and enjoyed dinner at their favourite haunt.

Of course I had to stop on the way home at the Capertee Valley lookout. Such a magnificent view and very significant to Surrey and I.