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.

Our May Gathering

Last weekend an intrepid small group of dedicated quilters arrived in the rain to work like slaves and move some of our group projects forward.

The first achievement was to bind the ballerina quilt and it is now at home with Elaine to be hand hemmed.

The next task was to help me with my huge Woven Jacobs' Ladder quilt top and pin it to its backing. It won't have any batting but is too big to handle on my own.

Task 3 was to sandwich the Tessellated Stars quilt which I can now quilt on my sewing machine. I think I'll just do it in cream diamonds.

Task 4 was to do a bit of rearranging of our quilt blocks from Heather's donated fabric.

  Then during our zoom in the afternoon we made even more changes to this one so it is now ready to sew together.

After discussing options for our next project we will be doing a scrappy crumb quilt using the same process that Stephanie and I are using for our Baradine Bits Quilt. There will be no mailout for this one and no draw from the lucky dip basket. I will email out instructions.

Hypothesis: Making scrappy quilts uses up stash?

 Actually Stephanie and I are receiving more scraps. Today I received a lovely lot from Jenny in the mail.

That will be a great variety to add to our crumbly thoughts. Thanks Jenny.

Crumbly thoughts

 In light of recent crumbling of my mind, here is a quilt Elaine made years ago.

I like the black sashing. I think it is quilt as you go.

Karen's latest achievement

 Karen has finished her National Quilt Museum BOM quilt. It was based on a stripy fabric given to her by Stephanie and seen in the Bungle Bungles block and the border.

It is certainly very striking Karen!

Progress and thoughts

 Elaine came last Saturday and while she progressed with joining tessellated stars, I put a hanging sleeve on my tiny sashiko hanging.

After Elaine left I finished off the few bits left on the stars and it is now ready to sandwich.

Stephanie came on Monday and we played around with our latest set of blocks for the group and came up with this.

While we were away we stayed at Jenny's in Mudgee and she donated lots and lots of fabric to the group.

assorted

plaids, checks and stripes

plains - always useful

A friend of Stephanie's also donated heaps of small pieces.

Now it is time to use these donations so rather than asking all our members to donate another metre each, Stephanie and I made an executive decision to save you all postage and wrap up a few of the metres that we've been donated and also to start using up some of the smaller pieces in some scrappy ideas - maybe even a scrappy sampler?? So rather than just 1.5" leaders and enders perhaps we can start with any shape leaders and enders as in this video. We'll need to decide on a few rules about what should go with what and what to avoid so that will be a discussion for our next gathering on 11 May (note the change of date). So far the thoughts are 

• random mix
• no white or black
• colour co-ordinated
• do scraps have a size limit?
• does the final slab have a size limit?

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.

Scrub Stitchin' 2

 I was up early for my birthday and spent most of the day sewing. My first job was binding the Jewel Quilt I had finished at home, 

then to break it up I started the Woven Jacobs' Ladder quilt I am making. I had cut all the pieces for it from Surrey's shirts and brought them with me.

Even though the Jacobs' quilt was to be my main project for the week I had to stop as I got to a stage where the machine was too unmanageable on its wobbly table with some of the thickest seams. I got all the centre blocks finished but not the ones with the large square in the middle of them.

We had lunch and dinner prepared for us today and both meals were most welcome being all the more delicious because we did not have to do anything.

All day I had to wear the birthday sash and also received lots of birthday emails and messages from friends and family.

When any of us needed a break we wandered around the room to see what others were doing and learning from each other as we swapped ideas and tricks. We also had a show and tell when anyone finished their project.