Community sewing day, August 2017 (2)

More from our community sewing Saturday last week, including two newly finished quilts ...

Louise is taking a turn at hand quilting the
2018 raffle quilt, so she worked on it at
community sewing, allowing us all to catch
up with its progress.

Some of these blocks were made by one of our older members
before she sadly became too ill to continue sewing. She donated
the blocks and the fabric to make the remainder to community
quilts. Elaine B is honing her curved piecing skills in finishing
the quilt. She is nearly finished, so Saturday was a good
opportunity to lay them out with input from others, and to
audition fabric for the borders that will be needed soon.

Roslyn was in charge of fabric cutting, and craft stall business
with Georgie weilding a rotary cutter for a good stretch of time.

Roslyn is often called upon for a fabric and colour opinion.
She liked Helen's border choice for a cute chicken panel
Helen found deep in her stash (with no memory of ever
having bought it), and suggested that mitred corners be
a good finish.

A very collaborative effort, this small lap quilt is one of
two made by Julie from a pretty fabric bundle donated by
Noelle, using Sue C's tumbler template. All three were on
hand to baste them, and Julie is now binding the larger one.

Noelle makes beautiful quilts, and beautiful scraps - these
pretty, fresh pinwheels are made from the leftovers from
quilts she made for her grandchildren. The raspberry
border is a brilliant choice. Thank you for donating it to
community quilts, Noelle.

Community sewing day, August 2017 (1)

We hold one community sewing day a year on a Saturday, so those who cannot come on Thursdays can join us, and we provide lunch, just to make it a little bit special. Last Saturday we had a terrific roll-up of quilters, who sewed, cut fabric, pressed, pinned and pinned and pinned, and enjoyed a day with friends. The chatter and laughter level indicated that we were having a good time. Chris, Adrienne and Denise joined us for the first time - we hope they will come again.

Many quilts were in progress - nine or ten quilts were pin basted - and two completed quilts were handed in. Twenty people came and went during the day, and we got a lot done. Thank you to all who made it such a good day, and for all the work you do.

Just a quick photo line-up of all those finished quilts and tops,
we said.  Sue put on her teacher voice ...

... and we eventually had a straightish line and all the quilts on
view. The quilts were not necessarily made by the people who are
holding them, but Hilary, Pat and Helen are holding their own.

Yvette came very organised with her superhero blocks and
sashing strips already cut ...

... and she got right to work, finishing the top on the day.
A superhero fan is going to love this.

Pat took charge of pin basting, and her rotating team worked
hard all day pinning ten quilts - no time for photos of all of them!
Helen made this top.

Sue C's friend Lyn donated two finished tops and backing
fabric - this is one of them. Thanks Lyn.

This is Pat's latest community quilt - she was determined to
make these fabrics work together and they look fabulous!

Last quilt basted - we ran out of pins and sent Hilary home
for more. Jill busted some stash scraps for this quilt top.

More photos to come ...

First (and some second) quilts

Only some of us still have them, but we thought it would be fun to give our first quilts an airing for show and tell last week. Some people were organised enough to bring their second quilts as well. As you would anticipate, there were several samplers, and most were hand-pieced.

Janice made her first quilt at night classes at a community
college, for her first child in the late 1980s. In 2014 the
wedding quilt she made for Melanie was voted runner up in
the Viewer's Choice awards at our Quilt Show. Note the similar
colour palette, and the development of Janice's skills.

Adrienne says she had an early 'purple patch' - these are her first
and second quilts. The first is hand pieced.

Denise started well with her first quilt, a hand-pieced single
Irish Chain, and her second quilt, a sampler, is still in daily use.

Maraget's first quilt was made in a techniques
class at Berrima Patchwork.

Roslyn thought a deep scalloped border would be nice for her
very first quilt (hand piecd), with no idea how difficult
it would be to bind.

Sue's first quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted. Even the
borders are hand sewn to the centre. The top was made in 2008,
and it then rested until 2014 when she quilted it with both
hand and machine quilting.

Yvette made her first quilt, a kaleidoscope design, without the
benefit of classes (or anyone to tell it was a complex design to
be starting with), and with a strict fabric budget. She pieced it
by machine, and when she had trouble deciding on the colour
 placement, was helped out by her then 8 year old son, for
whom she made it.

Pat's sampler quilt has worn well, and has recently
had its binding replaced.

Miriam made her second quilt while living in Japan, with two
small children, and only able to attend occasional gatherings of
quilters where she collected the block patterns. She made them
up in traditional narrow-loomed Yukata cotton fabric, usually
used for making kimonos.

Canberra Quilters Exhibition award winners.

Canberra Quilters Members' Exhibition is on this weekend, along with the Craft and Quilt Fair. The award winners were announced today, and photos are already on the Canberra Quilters website, Facebook page and Instagram account.

The Bernina Australia Best of Show winner, Iggy, made by Bronwyn Hill is another stunning addition to a strong State line-up for 2017.

Chiaroscuro: a textile exploration of light and shadow

An exhibition by the ATASDA NSW Group 'Frayed' ...

Community quilts 2017 - 2018 (2)

Our community quilt collection is growing again, after the recent delivery of quilts made in the first half of the year. Here are the most recent additions ...

Julie used every scrap of the soft neutrals and green palette
 she chose for some chair/lap quilts - for the last one, she
added some soft yellows.

Pat's wall hanging, started with the blocks she made
in our Logs and Ladders workshop in April is now a
spectacular finish. We are considering how it might add
fun and warmth to a space used by a children's service.

Rich bronze prints play very well with a range of teal
and aqua and a little deep cream in Elaine's beautiful
medallion. She finished off the gently curved quilting
while recovering from recent surgery. These gorgeous
fabrics all came from Elaine's own stash.

A quilt that really tells a story - Dawn arranged a fabric
book panel featuring fun dragons, into the quilt, with some
additional prints. It is backed with a complimentary
appropriately spiky Sarah Fielke print donated by
Materials Girls Down Under.

Modern Quilt Show Australia - entries open

Entries for the 2017 Modern Quilt Show Australia are now open 5 August until 10 September 2017:

Modern Quilt Show Australia 2017

presented by Sydney Modern Quilt Guild

3 - 5 November 2017

Petersham Town Hall, Sydney

107 Crystal St, Petersham NSW 2049 

Show and tell: baby quilts

Baby quilts are great fun to make - luckily we seem to know lots of people having babies ...

Jenn's Ebb quilt (designed by Carolyn Friedlander) is for a
friend's newborn. The background fabric is linen

Mermaid Stars is the baby quilt that Jenn is sending off with the
parents' wedding quilt (which is a little overdue).

The star centres feature a mermaid print ...

... and the backing is Heather Ross's unicorn print.

Jill has mended and hand quilted her son's baby quilt, made
with nine Goose Tracks blocks, by a friend in 1985. It was
originally tied, and is very faded from much washing and wear.
It is being returned to her friend's daughter as a keepsake.

The 1980s prints are visible at the edges where the original
backing was rolled over and stitched. On the right is a small
single block keepsake quilt that Jill has made to keep.

The alligator baby quilt is Jill's daughter Emma's first
attempt at applique (which she designed herself). Jill 
machine quilted it for her, using the serpentine stitch 
#4 on her Bernina to quilt the alligator skin (below). 

Penrith, this weekend

This is the last Mad Quilters Gathering at Penrith Panthers.
Visit the website for information about 2018 venues.

Show and tell: bags and blue and white quilts

Diana is working on a complex quilt of large
embroidered hexagons - her granddaughter loved
the elephant design and asked for a bag with an
embroidered elephant. So naturally Grandma
went off to the op-shop for a large pair of jeans
for some sturdy denim. Now Diana likes this
elephant better then the one in her quilt ...

Elaine W cheered herself up during a recent hospital stay
with her red and teal zip-top Sew Miriam bag for all her
bits and pieces - but she does wish she hadn't put her very
favourite fabric on the bottom, where she couldn't see it.

Lyn loves blue, and she doesn't mind a challenge, either.
So she applied herself to making the Missouri Star Quilt
Company's Disappearing Hour Glass blocks from some a
variety of blues in different tones against a crisp white
background. You can follow a video tutorial for the
block design, or purchase a pattern.

Jenny Doan from Missouri Star says that this block arose
from a mistake that a student made in a class when she was
teaching an easy method for  making a disappearing pinwheel!

Jenn had plans that eventually came together: to make a
traditional Hunter Star quilt; to make a navy and white
quilt; and to make a quilt using all Cotton and Steel designer
fabrics. She  achieved all three aims in one quilt, a wedding
gift for friends who married three years ago. She is parcelling
it up with the baby quilt for their first child (see our next post) ...

...  and she finished it with a cute red ribbon-wearing navy
Cotton and Steel raccoon print perfectly joined for the backing!

Community quilts 2017 - 2018 (1)

After packing up and delivering 28 community quilts last week, the next collection is already growing, boosted by generous donations.

Susan M used a multi-sized grid to showcase the large and
medium scale of these prints, calling to mind Shoji screens.
The red sashing is a brilliant choice, and Susan has quilted a
background of flowers all over.

Bet you can't guess who made  'Raspberry Delight' (and used
 all fabric from her own stash) ... Sue C did not include a
single skerrick of blue, even in the back. Now to decide
whether it will be for a child or for a nursing home resident?
Sue says whoever chooses it will have to love raspberry pink.

It was lovely that Barb was able to join us at community sewing
after several months of being needed elsewhere - and she brought
along this pretty soft floral top made with a variety of squares
from the community stash. We easily chose the deep cream backing
from the recent donation by Material Girls Down Under.

This vibrant floral panel print and the backing fabric were
also donated by Material Girls Down Under. Dawn found an
 excellent dark green border in the community stash and
it was quickly quilted, bound and labelled. 

Three children's quilts were very kindly donated by Lyn
Stephenson, a friend of Julie's neighbour. The last photo
is the reverse of the third quilt.  Lyn obviously has a fun
stash of fabric and likes sewing for children.