Macquarie Home Stay Appeal

 Hi all, here is a great cause to donate to:

https://chookyblue.blogspot.com/2025/01/macquarie-home-stay-fundraiser.html

Another flimsy finish

 A visit from Stephanie saw the borders on our Daisy quilt top finished. It is now just waiting for a sandwich.

Meanwhile, lots of blocks have been returned for our Tulips, our Little Frames and our 2-4-6 stained glass quilts so we have 3 lots ready to become a flimsy when all the blocks are received.

Our latest finish

 Elaine bound our Heather's Spots quilt and attached the label. It really looks great and all the tiny left-over 1/2 square triangles were used.

If anyone would like to adopt this quilt just let me know or it will go straight to charity.

Meanwhile, I bought three new sets of fabric drawers from Ikea and had 'the man' put them together because life is very busy here. 

They are now all packed and lots of broken plastic containers have been moved on elsewhere. I was most grateful to Elaine and Stephanie for their help with folding and discussing how to organise the new drawers. This was started before our movie night then continued the next day with Elaine.

Elaine's finished quilt

 Stephanie quilted this one for Elaine and it looks stunning. 

The back is also great.

November together

 On Saturday last four of us gathered and early in the day Elaine and I chose another fabric because we realised that with Christmas coming and my hip op in January followed by rehab, we probably won't be getting together for another quilting day until March 2025. We have therefore designed a block that is simple enough but with a bit of quirkiness to keep life interesting.

The base block is known as a Magic Numbers block because it is based on 2-4-6" finished squares which tessellate into a 14" block. However, because I like the idea of Stained Glass we've added some black leading. If we were to add it as strips the maths would all have to be redone. So by making the leading as peepers there are no maths challenges.

The basic block design comes from Sew Katie Did at https://www.sewkatiedid.com/2011/08/21/magic-number-quilt-tutorial/ 

We made our Lilac Flowers quilt back in 2014 using this technique which was introduced to us by Jenny. It is most appropriate that the fabric donation this time also came from Jenny. Those who were here were able to raid my stash of cut patches to include in their blocks.

Now it is time to gather together all the finished blocks for our last three quilts as they come in so that when we get together again we can do the next steps to create beautiful quilts. So keep your blocks coming in.

It was also great to meet up on Zoom with Jenny, Linda and Lynette on Saturday.

As soon as I had collapsed in front of the TV and eaten my early dinner on Saturday I had an email inviting me to a short zoom from Chookyblue. It was great to meet up with those quilting friends and have a bit of time to sort fabrics to post to distance members of our group.

If anyone would like to text or ring to book another pop-up patchwork day please do so. I'm happy to negotiate.

Another flimsy from Stephanie

 I really love this one and it sparkles so well.

Jeanette's Projects

 Jeanette (Geraldton, WA) has sent photos of her latest projects.

She explains I've completed the 2 raffle quilts for our club .... 75"x66". I also made hexi mug mats with caravans as centres, but decided I didn't need more of these so put them together as a table centre.  

The two quilts for the club are the same size.

I like the caravans Jeanette!

Joint projects

 Stephanie and I work well together on joint projects and I learn so much from such a guru of patchwork.

Our latest finish is Baradine Bits by Bubble Buddies...

This was made from all the 'rubbish bin scraps' gleaned from other quilters at Scrub Stitchin' 2024. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Now we need another joint project and have decided on using only fabrics with a black background. This should be fun too.

Stephanie's latest flimsy

Stephanie used a different sashing technique for her latest quilt top and says it is so much easier to put it all together.

 Instead of joining the long columns together with a single strip of sashing she has sashed the bottom and one side of each block individually. This makes it much easier to line up the blocks on the column edges, especially when the blocks don't actually line up anyway.

A really important lesson

 Lynne from Patchery Menagerie has a lot of quilts quilted by others and was applauded for her excellent quilt tops (flimsies). Her lesson for us all is...

"If there are any of you have don't believe the stories you've heard, here it is writ large: Press your seams, trim your threads. Make sure your work is square and lies flat without any ripples. It makes a big difference."