A Warm September Day of Patchwork

We had a lovely group yesterday with Karen G, Karen W, Elaine, Carol, Stephanie and I. Progress was very positive.

My sewing machine was tied up with quilting of Carol's Peach. Stephanie and I shared that job. Not quite finished yet but it will be off the machine by our next get-together.

I have worked out a way to quilt around each dark pink square without turning the quilt in too many circles in the process. I hope to finish this quilting before we meet again.

Karen G, Carol and Elaine worked together on the borders of Christine's Windmills and at the same time Karen W and Carol worked on putting together Helen's Blue Spots. Both these quilts did not inspire us until we started auditioning borders and at last they have both come together very well.

Christine's Windmills still needs borders finished next time we meet.

The finished quilt top of the Blue Spots now looks fabulous and worthy of putting on a bed. Next time we will need to sandwich this quilt reading for quilting and binding.

Because we had space on the design wall we put up the blocks we have for Karen's Blue and Brown Spots. Unfortunately we have not yet received all the blocks back so will wait for those before we can finalise layout and size. If you have any fabric and/or blocks from any of our projects please send them all back to me asap as we do need the excess fabric for corners, replacement blocks etc.

I have received some of the aboriginal stripe blocks back but not all yet.

Because we are now down to the last quilt in our pile we have chosen another fabric - Helen's Sunflowers - and a suitable block. I will post out the fabric soon and write the instructions to go with it.

Thank you to all those who work so busily on our quilting weekends. See you next time I hope. Remember, if you need a fabric fix beforehand just contact me to make a time.

Meanwhile, now that I am not in continual pain I hope to do a bit of tidying and sorting upstairs as everyone was complaining it is a mess!

Hippy August Patchwork

Being 3 weeks post hip replacement op I thought I'd only go upstairs then downstairs once in the day but in fact I did it 4 times! And I did it without any walking aid. I could not multitask as well and had a bit of a short fuse but I hope I did not offend anyone.

We had a great day working on our projects. Our first task for me was to sew together Christine's Windmill blocks while Karen pieced the backing for Carol's Peach quilt.

Once Elaine and Stephanie arrived we had lunch and had a great visit from Geoff et al who entertained us for some time. Geoff delivered a small spotlight for me to use when I photograph the quilts.

It was then back upstairs to tack Carol's Peach quilt.

We then played a bit with borders for Christine's quilt to try an lift it a bit and this is what we have come up with. Thanks Stephanie for the yellow thought. It really lifts the whole thing.

Elaine continued stitching the inside ring of blocks for Helen's Spots. This was followed by lots of discussion about  how to lift this one, experimenting with all sorts of ideas.

This is what we now have and my job is to create the 4 missing corner blocks. After we've finished that centre medallion with its yellow border then we'll consider what to do next.

We drew another fabric out of our lucky dip basket and have a beautiful aboriginal print donated by Ann from the Central Coast. I will post it out soon and write instructions for the block.

Meanwhile, if you feel like another pop-up sewing day just ring me and we can organise.

Finishing and furthering a few PhDs

Today's gathering saw our Glimpses of Japan quilt finished, photographed and labelled. Ann won the quilt and has decided to donate it to charity. It is so big (a queen size topper) that it hardly fits in the photograph.

Linda visited with her two lovely girls for lunch and took our Karen's Pinwheel quilt to donate to her mother's nursing home.

Then there was the backing to make for Robyn's Retro quilt. Karen spent most of the morning piecing a back that included the one orphan block from this project. Then we were all busy for a few hours tacking this quilt sandwich together ready for quilting.

Stephanie and Elaine spent some time trimming all the Helen's blue spots to a common size. Unfortunately this meant that lots of blocks lost their points but that just happens sometimes.

I spent most of the day sewing together Carol's Peach quilt top. Only a bit of unpicking and realigning and this top will be ready for our next border discussion.

This meant there was now one side of the board empty so Karen and Elaine pinned up the blocks from Christine's Windmills. They did cause a lot of discussion and experimentation with placement and sashing options but we have decided on no sashing and concentrating on borders when Elaine makes block #12 to complete the layout. We only had 11 which is an impossible number to work with.

This leaves us with still one set of blocks in our boxes of unfinished quilts, Karen's Blue and Brown spots so if anyone has not returned their blocks there is still time as we won't be having another group gathering until August. We did not draw another fabric but will do so next time.

Don't forget to contact me if you'd like to come for a pop-up sewing day as there are still things to do. I know Elaine will be coming with her extra windmill block and Stephanie will be coming with some pink for Helen's blue spot quilt so why not join them. Just ring or email to make a day.

PhD = Projects Half Done

A small Friday gathering

Last Friday Karen W., Elaine, Carol and I kept ourselves very busy and made lots of progress with our outstanding quilts.

Our first job was to add the binding for our Japanese quilt then Elaine started the hand stitching.

Next we decided on a pale peach sashing for Carol's Peach quilt blocks. They all needed to be trimmed and some needed tiny bits added to make them large enough. This is all now going together quite well.

Carol took on the task of adding the filler triangles to Robyn's Retro quilt. This was a bit of a fiddle but is now done.

This quilt has now had an extra border added and we decided to leave the cut corners on it. It is ready for sandwiching and quilting next time.

With a little bit of time left Karen started to put up Helen's Blue Spots blocks. They looked quite boring until we found an orphan block for a medallion to enhance the centre. We've now also decided to add more of the pink zinger colour as a border at various stages.

We did not draw another project from our lucky dip basket as we still have plenty to be going on with. However, the progress over the day was great and of course we enjoyed the company and food.

A Pop-up Sewing Day

Today Karen G and Stephanie arranged a playdate at mine to have a pop-up sewing day.

Karen almost finished her latest block, using up some of my stash - hooray! The tacking on the Gorilla quilt was finished too.

Stephanie sewed together Robyn's Retro and it is looking amazing.

Meanwhile I finished all the machine stitching on my Gorilla quilt (thanks Jenny for the orphan block donation). It is all done with orphan blocks except for the last border. I'll put a pic of it up when it is properly finished.

Arianne spent the day cutting out on the dining table then sewing upstairs so it was a real hive of industry with lots of achievements made.

Yesterday Fred came to put a new belt on the treadle machine which is now working well. He also cleaned my Janome and showed me how to do it properly. I then replaced all needles in the machine and all blades in the rotary cutters. All is working well now.

If you would like to arrange a pop-up sewing day just email or ring and we can plan our day.

Our latest finished quilt

Karen's Windmill quilt has now been finished thanks to all Jane's hemming. Heather has won the quilt - congratulations.

Heather has decided to donate this quilt to charity. Thank you Heather.

Patchwork in April

I was most remiss this month because I did not take photos on the day. However, we did have a crowd - Karen W, Linda, Elaine and me from the regular mob then Sue visiting and Lynette, our newest member.

We spent the morning sandwiching the Japanese strippy quilt with its pieced back. Karen W has taken it home to practise some quilting on her new sewing machine.

The binding is now being hand finished on Karen's Windmill quilt by Jane who is over from the UK.

The corners are poor because the fabric we used for the binding is quite thick and stiff and does not fold nicely.

We spent some time cutting and sewing the sashing and corner stones onto the Robyn's Retro blocks and soon these will all be strips ready to assemble. Decisions will have to be made about what to use in the blank triangles.

On the back of the design wall, awaiting trimming and joining are the Carol's Peach blocks.

Since the weekend I've had my colonoscopy (all clear) and then bought some plastic fabric drawers to replace the ones that are disintegrating. I have sorted all the stash and labelled the containers so we can find colours quickly. There is far too much so please feel free to come and take any you choose. I think I'll have to donate more to the Crowle Foundation soon.

Unfortunately the new drawers are not as big as the old ones. I think we need to do a few really scrappy quilts on a colour theme when we've finished our latest just to use up some of these fabrics. Now here's a thought from Exuberant Colour.

Lynette (as our newest member) drew the next fabric which was Karen's Blue and Tan Spots. I have written the instructions for this and will email them soon and post out fabric. As there were not enough colours in the focus fabric we also chose another piece for the centre of the block.

We still have a few quilts on the go so the latest block will not be due until July but feel free to send it back as soon as you have completed it.

A quiet day in March

Yesterday Karen W. and I had a quiet day quilting and I am so pleased that we actually got a little more done. I have an awful cold so was quite happy to just sit and quilt Karen's Windmill quilt which is now ready for binding.

Karen was able to complete the piecing of the Japanese quilt with the strips that Carol delivered on Thursday.

Thank you for all the blocks which were in my pile of mail when I returned from Norway.

We decided not to draw another fabric and block as we have 6 quilts on the go.

Until next time, happy quilting.

A New Year Begins

Last Saturday we had quite a crowd for our first gathering of 2018. Carol, Elaine, Karen W, Karen G and Rosalind, Linda, Betty and Jane (from Wolverhampton UK) had a great time progressing our UFOs the next step though nothing was actually finished.

Back: Robyn's Retro waiting for sashing
Centre: Karen's Windmills waiting to be quilted
Front: Stephanie's Japanese waiting for the pieced backing to be completed.

We put up Carol's Peach blocks with lots of laughs about trimming them to size (not small enough yet) and arrangement. It is looking most effective so far though.

Of course our chats over lunch and afternoon tea provided lots of opportunity for unburdening ourselves and our concerns of the last few weeks. What a lovely support our quilting friends are.

Jane drew our next lucky dip pack and we are now working on Christine's donation. I will be sending out focus fabric and emailing instructions in the next week or so.

Happy quilting everyone.

Our Christmas Gathering

This month Karen W., Karen G., Elaine, Linda, Stephanie and I started our day with a brunch at Carss Park Cafe and Grill. A great time was had by all and this meant we did not have to provide lunch at home.

Back to mine to finalise our year...

Drawing the winner of our sampler quilt from Stephanie's donated fabrics. The winner is Stephanie and she has chosen to keep the quilt. I think we all would have loved it. Our hexagon quilt from a previous draw was still waiting to go to a charity but Karen G decided she had just the place at home to use it as a wall hanging so chose to give her money to charity and take the quilt. That means we now have one quilt and about $200 to donate to charity. Does anyone have suggestions as to which charities?

Drawing our next lucky dip fabric. Karen G drew out Helen's donation and I am in the process of writing instructions (luckily Helen supplied some with a sample of her block so that makes it easier). We decided that rather than sending back the completed quilt it might be better if we send back the four smaller units and mix them up creatively on the board. I have a photograph of the four small blocks below. Stephanie's challenge was to get all the required yellow squares from a tiny piece I had in my stash. the dotty fabric is the Focus fabric (remember any colours you use should appear in the focus fabric). We have also supplied the yellow fabric.

Sandwiching Karen's Windmill quilt. This was completed by an industrious team while others cut and arranged for other projects on the go.

I will soon be sending out fabric for our next block due in February and will organise some dates for next year before others book them up.

Merry Christmas to you all!

For those who are interested here are Karen's instructions for her delicious gluten free and egg free meringues and macaroons...

For information about aqua faba recipes, see sites such as 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/sep/29/aquafaba-chickpea-liquid-baking-egg-white-substitute 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/trust-us-you-can-use-the-liquid-from-a-can-of-beans-to-make-dessert/2015/10/05/508ccb42-6852-11e5-9223-70cb36460919_story.html?utm_term=.4bfce6b8c13e 

http://aquafaba.com/

As one of the sites says, the liquid from the tin of chickpeas (or other kinds of beans) shouldn't be too hot. In summer, I'd refrigerate it for a while before whipping. 

The meringues I made were from the recipe on https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/recipes/cakes-meringues-and-desserts/meringues  - see below. I don't know the Lidl brand; I assume it is one in the UK or USA.

Cooking time is much the same as for ordinary meringues so adjust the temp and time in the recipe for your own oven. Slower is usually better with meringues in any case. I cooked at about 100 deg C (fan-forced) for about 2 hours, and then left them in the oven to cool. The meringues do need to be put in a very airtight container as soon as cool if the air is humid.They can get very sticky very quickly on days like today.

I added 1 or 2 tabs of desiccated coconut to part of the batch for the macaroons. Adding the coconut makes the macaroons spread a lot more than the straight meringues do (?because of the oils in the coconut?).

*** Recipe from Vegan Society website ***

With the magical discovery of aquafaba, vegan meringues that taste just like the real thing are everywhere. Enjoy experimenting with bean-juice! 

Ingredients

• One can of chickpeas (certain brands work best - try Lidl)
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• Caster sugar (roughly 4floz, aka 120g)

Method

• Preheat your oven to 120C.
• Put greaseproof paper onto a baking tray and wipe with a small amount of vegetable oil – this will stop the meringues sticking to the paper
• Drain can of chickpeas, catching the bean water ('aquafaba') into a measuring jug 
• Measure out the same volume of caster sugar to aquafaba into a separate bowl
• Pour the aquafaba into a large, clean bowl – bigger bowls are better, you want lots of room to add volume 
• Add 1 tsp of cream of tartar
• Beat the mixture with an electric hand whisk until it looks white and glossy
• Optional – you can add 1 tsp of vanilla or other flavouring at this stage
• Add the sugar slowly whilst still mixing
• It will start to thicken up and develop a sticky marshmallow consistency which holds stiff peaks
• Using a tablespoon place blobs of mixture on the baking tray – leave about an inch between blobs
• When the oven has reached temperature put the meringue in
• Cook for an hour
• After an hour check the meringue, they should be a little golden and *just* firm to the touch and not tacky or sticky
• If they are still sticky, check at 10 minute intervals
• When they are done turn the oven off and leave the meringue in to cool – preferably overnight.