February Quilting Weekend

 

We were just a small crowd this time for our quilting weekend. Evelyn, Elaine, Patricia and I are here all smiling because we have full tummies.

  

Mary was able to practice the scrappy block techniques we started last time. She was joined by Leonie to make quite a few more scrappy blocks.

  

Notice Leonie's patchwork skirt. I think I'd like to try this very simple pattern for one of the throws I am planning to make from Surrey's shirts.

  

Robyn came on Sunday and we had fun creating our first scrappy quilt layout from both orphan and scrappy blocks. It should look great when finished.

It was a really hot weekend and we had the airconditioner on for most of the time.

I was able to get my new sewing machine working and am using it here to quilt Marion's Sickle quilt. It is really looking great!

We now have another rule...
Do not buy any fabric unless you absolutely have to. We have such a huge stash of both large and small lengths of fabric as well as a box of scraps that I should be able to supply the needs of all our quilts and new blocks. Please just ring and we can make a time for you to browse the stash before you go out and buy.

Our next quilting weekend is 10-11 April so please let me know if you are coming.

We did not draw another lucky dip fabric and design this weekend because we have 4 other quilts in progress:

• Marion's Sickle
• Soft Blue Sampler
• Scrappy Quilt 1
• Mr Men Quilts 1 & 2

If you have any outstanding blocks can you please forward them to me to arrive by the beginning of April ready for our next quilting weekend.

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!