Community Quilts: Bordered Squares

The Tuesday Night group are going to make up some Bordered Squares to be put together for a community quilt (or two). Thanks to Jane for the pattern, instructions, samples and photos.

This is a simple little block, designed to use up any lingering child-bright fabric scraps before Christmas. These could be plain or patterned, and any combination you find pleasing.

Please avoid using black as the contrast fabric – we have a cunning plan to assemble the blocks into quilts.

You will need
Main fabric

• One 4½“ square.

Contrast fabric

• Two 1½“ x 4½“ patches; Two 1½“ x 6½“ patches

Assembly

Attach the two 1½“ x 4½“ patches to the left & right sides of the main square, and press seams away from the square

Attach the two 1½“ x 6½“ patches to the top and bottom of the main square, and press seams away from the square.

Your finished block will measure 6½“ x 6½“ (unfinished):

Make as many as you like - and of course Monday group members are welcome to contribute too.

Workshops - numbers and deposits needed to confirm

We have three upcoming events booked for you all to participate in. The details of all three will be available at our meetings this week on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th August.

1. Margaret Cormack's Folded Flying Geese
When: Saturday 5th September from 9.00am to 3.00pm
Venue: Pennant Hills Learning & Leisure Centre Warne St, Pennant Hills
Cost: $35 per person
A minimum of 10 people is required to run this workshop. We will need names and deposits this week so that requirement lists can be given out, or a decision made to cancel if we have fewer than 10 registrations.

2. Quilt Party with Maria from Material Girls Downunder.
Demonstration and sale of sewing aids, books and fat 1/4's from $2.50 to $5.00.
Monday 21st September
Minimum 10 people needed.
No cost unless you want to buy.

3. Workshop with Lisa Walton, from Dyed and Gone to Heaven
Workshop to be decided by everyone from the Lisa's list.
Saturday 14th November
Venue: Pennant Hills Learning & Leisure Centre Warne St, Pennant Hills
Cost $40 per person
Minimum 10, maximum 15 people required for this event.

If you can't be there Monday or Tuesday this week, give Georgie a call if you'd like to go to any events.

Thanks to the Fairholme Quilters Workshop Committee (Georgie, Helen, Jane, Dawn) for putting the program together and organising these events.

Tuesday night show and tell - not all quilts .... yet.

Dina is contemplating how to cut these gorgeous spicy stripes from Las Vegas for a "magic square" pattern requiring mitre-style perfect matching, with Jane's encouragement. Most visitors to Vegas don't head straight for the four quilting shops and ignore the casinos, but that's just what Dina and her sister Cindy did - those girls have their priorities right!

Pam's Very Big Quilt has taken a while to hand quilt - but she's done it, and it's on the bed! The colours are just beautiful.

With the very big quilt done, Pam finished her challenge row x row (from 2006 or maybe 2007 .....), with machine quilting this time, and look what a clever backing she came up with after she decided that the original backing fabric would make the perfect border. This week - binding!

Janet is foundation piecing her peace cranes by hand. Those little pieces sometimes have minds of their own ....

Jo whipped this quilt up from a Japanese patterned panel and a few bits and pieces!

We've got a bit of a "hexagonathon" going on Tuesday evenings .... all sizes from Louise's tiny, tiny 1 cm hexagons, Noelle's slightly larger and much larger pink, blue and creams, and Robyn's pale blue, taupe and cream hexagon diamonds. Helen is making hexagon's too ......

Elaine's been on a five week trip to Canada and the US, so instead of quilting, she's been shopping! The book includes patterns with pop-out templates .... and check out those cute little grey bear paw prints on cream in the bottom left corner.

Dina's been applique-ing and quilting - a farm animal picnic rug for the little people in her family. Each animal's eye's have been given individual attention so that all have unique facial expressions!

Quilt Block socks!

Looking for a gift for a quilter that isn't fabric?

How about these socks, patterned with quiltblocks?

There are seven traditional block patterns, $9.50 a pair. The online store, Two Bits Patches is Australian, prices are $A.

Weekend quilt sightings

The Sun-Herald had a feature on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock - in a large photo someone in the foreground was wrapped in a large quilted wrap, possibly an eiderdown, but the meander quilting was quite visible. The visible surface wasn't patchwork, but it had a contrasting border ....

Netherby Homestead at Fagan Park, Galston was closed this weekend, but a hexagon quilt was visible through one bedroom window (where a flyscreen had been ripped from its frame by someone too impatient to wait until the museum was open?) A closer inspection on one of its regular opening days may be warranted ....

Label stitching

The labels are stitched, and the community quilts are ready to be distributed, some to Victoria, some through the NSW Guild

The next Sew-In is this Thursday, 20th August - come when you can, leave when you must.

Judy Martin's website

Another (well, probably the first) for my quilting heroes. I have most of her books .... scattered around the world!

Check out www.judymartin.com

Sign up for her newsletter – not as frequent as they used to be, but always worth the wait – highly informative with the odd funny bit slotted in amongst the serious stuff. One giggle from the last edition: “Grandma, how old are you? ... You don’t know? … Check inside your underwear – mine says 8-9 years.”

And if you have plenty of time to spare, take a look at the viewers photos I have one from the Creative Pattern Book: Shakespeare in the Park Variation. Didn’t realise she was going to include my comments in there though!

Jane

Here's a direct link to Jane's Sakespeare in the Park quilt - you can see why it made it onto the website!

Singleton Quilters Inc. will be holding a

Quilt Exhibition : Floral Fantasy

The Mechanics Institute,

74 George Street

Singleton

Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September
10 am to 4pm.

Numerous quilts both large and small, including some heritage and feature quilts, challenge competition items and projects created by the Singleton Quilters during the past two years will be on display.

The proceeds of our raffle quilt are going to the Jane McGrath Foundation.

An entry fee of $5 is requested and we welcome all to view our exhibition and enjoy the time spent in our lovely town of Singleton.

We would appreciate you noting your diary for this event, distributing our notice to your members and friends and we look forward to seeing you in September.

Lisa Walton workshops in Sydney studio

You might have admired Lisa Walton's hand dyed fabrics, her beaded quilts and her award winning quilts (sometimes in collaboration with Nic Bridges) at various shows, exhibitions and in magazines, or have taken one of her classes.

Her business is Dyed and Gone to Heaven. Lisa recently built a new studio in inner western Sydney, and has announced two workshops to be held there: Creative Beading on Wednesday 16th September, and Aurora Quilt on Saturday 3rd October. Details from her blog, or from her website, where you will find some other temptations, including fabrics, beads, threads .....

Down Under Quilts Issue 135 delayed

Deborah Segaert, editor-in-chief of Down Under Quilts wrote in her blog yesterday (Monday 3rd August):

.... the entire shipment of Down Under Quilts # 135 (August 2009) and Creative Expression # 24 have been held up in quarantine. They are being sprayed, and sprayed again, due to a piece of bark being found in the large container that housed not just our stock; some other importer was the culprit ....

While we wait, she suggests that we go online "to grab a look for FREE", by clicking here.

Craft Depot, Pennant Hills $5 bargains

Despite what the date on this post might say, it's being written on Sunday 2nd August. A certain Fairholme Quilter, who will remain anonymous, "popped into" Craft Depot at Pennant Hills a little while ago to buy some buttons ..... and checked out the $5 per m fabric bin at the door, as you do.

Delighted to find it had been restocked very recently with some very good quality bolts of appealing fabrics, she came away with 4 m each of the fabrics on the left and on the right of the photo, and 3 m of the centre one (end of a bolt). They are to be shared with a friend, and maybe a sister.

There were full bolts of each of these still in the bin, and a number of others that she would have been been happy to give a home to. But one can't imagine that they'll be there for long at this price. Just in case you're passing .....

You should be able to click on the photo to get a larger, clearer image.