Community quilts catch-up

We had a lovely, productive community sewing day last week - we were so relaxed that no-one thought to take photos of what we were up to.  After some time, the planets have aligned with dry but sunny weather, the high wind of the last few days has died down, and the photographer had a day off, so we do have pictures of the last few finishes.

The 2" hexagons  were pieced together in an unfinished
top donated via the Quilters Guild of NSW. Lynette
appliqued it to a soft aqua border, and quilted it with
 a diamond cross-hatch.

These hexagon blocks were also donated by the
Quilters Guild of NSW, and again Lynette took on
the challenge of piecing them together into a
workable top, followed by quilting and binding.

This very pretty disappearing four-patch emerged
from Lynette's own scrap stash - the spring
colours look very happy together with a
white background.

Dawn tamed this cartoon hunting panel with borders
and binding from the community stash and
quilted it with her mid-arm machine.

Big machine prints were originally arranged in a
panel, but Dawn has rearranged them with checked
sashing and bright borders into a quilt that will delight
a child fascinated by graders, trucks, bulldozers etc.

North Shore Craft Group exhibitions 2014

The North Shore Craft Group is holding two local exhibitions in the northern suburbs:

The North Shore Craft Group, founded in 1957, has an incredibly rich and renowned history. The aim of our group is to foster the unique talents of artisans / craftspeople, to foster the public's interest in high quality handmade articles, and to create opportunities for the display of the works made. 

You see the range of crafts and the works of individual artisans on the North Shore Craft Group's website.

Contemporary Art and Craft Exhibition and Sale

3, 4, 5 and 6th July 2014
Thornleigh Community Centre,

corner of Central and Phyllis Avenues 

Thornleigh

12th, 13th and 14th September 2014

Kuring-gai Wildflower Garden Education centre

off Mona Vale Road

St Ives

Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair 2014: Glebe Island

Like many other Sydney quilters, we have been talking about the 2014 Sydney Quilt Show, to be held for the first time at the temporary exhibition centre at Glebe Island, in just two weeks ... and one of the hottest topics is transport arrangements.

Should we go by public transport, or drive (and how much will be parking be)? What is parking like? How nice would it be to go by ferry of the weather is good?

Substantial information on transport and other arrangements is provided on the Craft and Quilt Fair 2014 website.

In addition to transport, the website has a lot of information about the various exhibitions, workshops and the merchants who will have stands.

Our 2014 raffle quilts will be on display in the group quilts section - see you there.

July school holidays: kids' sewing and crochet classes at Castle Hill

NSW public school holidays start at the end of this week, and some private schools are already on holiday.  Kim Bradley Creations is offering sewing and crochet classes for children 7 and over, at Castle Hill - interesting to those with children and grandchildren wanting to 'make things'. Details, including images of the projects for each class are in Kim Bradley Creations eNewsletter, June 2014:

Sewing Classes with Cath

Tuesday 1st July or Tuesday 8th July 10am to 12:30pm Learn to sew a bag
Ages 7+ $30 includes project kit.

Tuesday 1st July or Tuesday 8th July 1pm to 4pm
Learn to sew a zipper pouch.
Ages 7+ $35 includes project kit

Quilting Classes with Wendy

10am - 3pm (confirm dates with the shop)

Beginners quilting classes.

Ages 9+ $50 for class and $30 for kit to make a 90cm x 120cm (36" x 48") quilt.

Crochet Classes with Cath

Thursday 3rd July 10am to 3pm
Learn to crochet.
Ages 10+ $50 includes project kit.

Please call the shop to book your place in any of the classes, on 9659 2912, and to check on details and requirements.

Adult crochet classes will be offered on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons from 17th July.

Source: Kim Bradley Creations eNewsletter, June 2014

This week at Fairholme ...

Ginnie's ten year old grandson will love his bright
'I spy' zig-zag quilt

Georgie is making good progress on her Jane Pizar quilt
started in Margaret Sampson George's workshop last year.
She chose the teal and print borders at Margaret's
borders workshop a few weeks ago.
(You can't tell from this poorly lit photo, but the
background fabric for the centre is a pretty pale
blue spot on white!)

Elaine W found many shades of blue in her own stash,
and paired them with a soft floral background fabric in
disappearing four patch blocks - she is generously
donating the quilt to our community collection.

Elaine W also made this sweet quilt for a child - from two
identical fabric panels, donated to our community stash,
and bound it in a pretty pink spot we had on hand.

Got scraps?

We all accumulate scraps of fabric - a few of us throw them out, but most of us keep them because we don't like to waste good (and expensive) fabric ...  There are many sources of ideas on organising and using fabric scraps - books, workshops, blogs, for example. Here are a few links on using up scraps to create more beautiful quilts ... let's not talk just now about the scraps that accumulate from making scrap quilts.

• 12 Ways to Bust Your Quilt Fabric Scrap Stash - an online article from We All Sew
• Scrap Quilt Ideas - a Pinterest board put together by Heather Acton (it has 196 pins at the moment)
• Organizing quilt scraps in just 3 steps (no, really!) - from Martingale
• Scrap User's System! - Bonnie Hunter's famous system ...  Have you ever stopped to realize that your scraps cost you just as much per yard as the original fabric purchased that they came from?

Workshop with Margaret Sampson George (2)

We had a workshop with Margaret Sampson George several months ago, and participants have been working steadily away at their intricately pieced quilts since ... some were even finished in time for our show in April!

Two weeks ago, we had another date with Margaret, this time at Cottage Quilt Works in Warriewood, making use of their classroom and the ready availability of many beautiful bolts of fabrics.  This time, Margaret coached us through choosing borders for quilt tops we made from her first workshop, or to other designs.

Most people said they sewed very little on the day, but everyone enjoyed learning a great deal. Sue kindly took these photos, but she was too busy watching and soaking in Margaret's design insights to take many - that sounds like a compliment!

Elaine's version of Hanover Blues began in Anne Sommerlad's
workshop in February - the scale of the print in this border fabric
suggested by Margaret looks just right, followed by the stripe ...

... and then this blue print.  It looks like there are some
additional pieced borders in the making too.

Nice contrast between the check and the contemporary floral 
border suggestions for Jo's version of the Anna Levens 
quilt taught by Margaret in her first workshop ...

... or will Jo go for gold?

Miriam's contemporary take on Anna Levens
calls for a bold border like this stripe

Phyl found a fabulous print to border her hot
pink Celtic blocks

Sue C's blue teacups, started in Anne Sommerlad's workshop, 
look very happy with some flowers, a stipe and a
complimentary graphics/text print in Sue's favoured blues.

Sue S has made great progress on the precisely pieced 
centre of her Jane Pizar quilt, begun in Margaret's first 
workshop. She likes deep pink for her first border, 
but will it be this one ...

... or possibly this one, paired with that beautiful floral print?

Thank you Margaret for another excellent workshop, and Chris and Jann for letting us loose amongst your gorgeous fabrics at Cottage Quiltworks.

Earlier posts about Margaret's workshop, and the resulting quilts are here, and here.

Fairholme Quilt Show 2014: applique quilts

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE  - Peggy Molchanoff
This wall hanging was designed by Sally Miller. Worked for one of my
daughter-in-law’s birthday. She loves dogs. Hand appliqued.

HOW WILL YOU GET THERE? Peggy Molchanoff 
This quilt was designed by Sally Miller of Queensland, and
worked from her pattern with variations. Stitched for a grandson
who likes quirky things. I had a debilitating illness when
part way through, so parts are not as well stitched.
Hand appliqued and poorly machine quilted.

FRAMED FLOWERS ON MY WALL - Robin Stutchbury
The floral designs came from a book called “Artful Applique II”
by Jane Townswick. This could be the last quilt that I make
for myself as it is all hand quilted and becomes rather heavy. 

APPLIQUE IN BLOOM - Lyn Lang
This quilt was inspired from a book by Gabrielle Swain.
Hand and machine appliqued and quilted on my trusty Bernina
sewing machine. I have been working on the hand
applique for years. 

SEASCAPE FANTASY 2 - Dawn Cox
My own design. The first of these quilts I did for a nephew who worked
for a paint company and he had brochures and coffee mugs depicting
fish for the company. That one is here in West Pennant Hills.
My husband complained when I gave it away!!!
So this is my husband's quilt.
Background fabric is from South Australia.
The fish fabric took 6 months to find.

PENTAGON MADNESS - Louise Wyatt-Spratt
While trawling the internet I saw a quilt on the now closed
Killara Village Quilts site that had lovely pentagon flowers
in a border around a medallion centre. This was my inspiration for
this quilt. I chose the primary colours and the dark blue background
to give a crisp definition to the borders. I thought pentagons
might be quicker than hexagons (I have a slight addiction to them)
but alas, as only one side joins another, appliqueing them onto the
background was quite time- consuming.
It will be a lovely lap quilt for our new back living area.

I LOVE A SUNBURNT COUNTRY - Virginia Coote
This wall hanging was made for my granddaughter’s first birthday.
The design was inspired by another wall hanging I did depicting
animals from all over the world. The outlines of the Australian
animals were taken from an Ashton Scholastics Time Savers
book and enlarged. I enjoy doing this type of applique.

TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC - Elaine Walton
I decided that our second grandson needed something to look
at when he came to visit. This quilt was to hang on the wall
above his cot. Unfortunately, Henry was out of the cot and into
a bed before the quilt was completed. Machine pieced,
appliqued and quilted. Pattern:“Teddy Bear’s Picnic” by
Florence Beacom-Halliday, “Quilter’s Companion” no. 37.


Other quilts from the Fairholme Quilters 2014 Quilt Show are posted here.