The ‘Play Ball’ series - recap

All three of the ‘Play Ball’ quilts are now finished, so here’s a look at them all together. All of the feature fabrics and two of the backings are part of a very generous donation to our community stash, and come from a coordinated fabric range. Many hands made the four-patch starter blocks, Sue sewed them into three quilt tops, Laura generously quilted all of them. Jeni, Susan K and Anne finished them off with binding and labels. 

The design is by Emily Bailey whose pattern can be purchased online as a .pdf download.

New finishes

Ingenuity, skill and beautiful embroidery …

A versatile, beautifully embroidered and pieced 12 sided
container made by Carol W. The delicate floral embroideries
paired with the subtle checks works so well.
Carol is planning to fill it with her binding clips
or other small treasures.

A recent ‘Happy Saturday’ post from Miriam;
‘I found an embroidery I did years ago ( pattern by 
@kasiajacquotembroidery 💕) and decided to make it
into Sewmiriam Tote bag.’

The reverse is made from Japanese print Miriam
also found in her stash.

 

April events

CAIRNS ART GALLERY

WAR QUILTS

THE ANNETTE GERO COLLECTION

15 March - 15 June 2025

National Gallery of Australia
Canberra

nag.gov.au/exhibitions/know-my-name-kee-jackson-delaunay/

TEXStyle: showcase of top HSC Textiles and Design

Gallery76

 Embroiderers' Guild NSW

76 Queen St, Concord West, NSW, 2138

Weekdays 9-4 / Weekends 10-2

Instagram: gallery76_queenst

Timeless Textiles Gallery
90 Hunter Street Newcastle 2300
Gallery opening hours 10am - 4pm Wednesday - Sunday

www.aqc.com.au

There will be craft books, including a range of quilting books.
www.lifelineh2hsydney.org.au/love-books/giant-book-fair/

New community quilts

 

A soccer fan of any age will be pleased to have Noelle’s
sporty quilt.

The sashing, border and binding prints are a 

brilliant compliment to the sporty feature fabric.

The tiny skull and cross bones on the back add a fun final note.

Unintentionally, Jill made enough improv blocks for two
quilts during the 2023 #30daysofimrovqal online.
This is the second quilts using the blocks. 

Quilted by Laura, with backing from the community stash.

The hexagon flower blocks were donated via Hilary,
 Lynette appliqued them to the backgrounds and added
a border. Janet then quilted it on her longarm machine.

Susan dipped randomly into a large tub of scraps
to piece her improv curve blocks.

She chose a vibrant houndstooth check to sash the
delighfully hectic blocks. Quilted by Laura.

New quilts

 

Robyn made this gentle quilt a friend who lives in aged care.
The yellow border picks out a subtle contrast in the
wattle flowers in the print.

Hand quilted by Robyn.

Miriam’s SiperStar blocks are rearranged in a baby quilt
 made by Jill for a friend’s new grandson.

The pieced back of the baby quilt.

Elaine W made this epic quilt for her brother.

All Japanese prints.

Elaine quilted it on her domestic machine - quite an
accomplishment given it’s large size!

Tidying up her small Liberty scraps has yielded at least
two quilts during tops for Miriam. This one has a border
of  brighter squares in shot cotton, and is hand quilted.

In progress …

Sometimes people say ‘oh, it isn’t finished’ when we ask if they would like to share their quilt tops - they are usually easily persuaded that we just love to see them at any stage. Then we look forward to seeing them all over again when they are a finished quilt.

Miriam’s ‘Bespoked’ quilt top (designed by Annette 

Ferguson) is made with strips of small Liberty Tana lawn 

pieces for the spokes, and a vibrant orange linen for the background. 

Because of the different weights and textures of the linen and lawn,

and it’s large size, Miriam has decided to have this one long-arm 

quilted, although she usually quilts by hand.

Another planned community project is a collection of quilts
made in a number of different lay-outs from half-square
triangles made from the community and personal stashes.
 We started with 6 1/2” squares pieced by various members.
The first top was made by Jill in a straightforward layout.
The bright colours were boosted by pieces from Bernice
Krige’s stash donation and from Jill’s plentiful scraps.

Jenny volunteered to put together a collection of star blocks
generously donated by a quilter from Adelaide. A few
additional blocks made by Jenny make up the numbers.
She is currently deciding on borders.
Thank you for the star blocks and all the others
you have donated Janine Thomson.

Kaffe Fasset fabrics have been missing from Helen’s
stash in the past, so she collected all of these from another
recent generous donation from a down-sizing quilter, and
quickly had a very Kaffe-friendly quilt top together.
Thank you for this donation too Bernice Krige.

 

It’s not just quilts …

Our group members have a wide range of skills, presences and taste, which are not always manifest as quilts. These are some recent projects that are not quilts, and are quite different from each other.

Susan Mack made a new bag - unsurprising - putting her
sewing machine through its paces, using raw edged denim
and pieces cut (with kitchen scissors) from aluminum drink cans!

A heavy duty denim machine needle coped
well with the aluminum.

The stable bottom of the bag include the aluminum pieces.

The mesh fabric that Susan often uses for
pockets adds an industrial element.

Janice and Miriam both participated in an embroidery and fine appliqué workshop with Sue Stitchbury The Crewel Gobelin in Killara, stitching whimsical figures on vintage damask napkins. The appliqué fabric is Liberty Tana lawn, allowing the tiny pieces to be needle-turned. They will become wall hangings or be framed.

Janice chose the butterfly design …

… figures in all directions, and sweet little houses.

Embroidery decorates some elements and
adds fine details to others, such as fairy wings!

Miriam surrounded her centre star with lively figures …

… some of them apparently standing on their heads …

… some flying, and some upright.

 

Community quilts in series

Sometimes we do plan community quilts more than others. The first two here are part of a series of three made from a very generous donation of a coordinated range of bright, playful fabrics. The third is the first of a series of four Noelle is planning from her collection of French General fabrics. We are very grateful for such generosity from so many, as the quilts’ new owners will be.

‘Playball’ is a clever pattern by Emily Bailey that lends
itself to fabrics that appeal to children. Several members made
up the four patches starter blocks, then Sue C attached
the corner triangles and trimmed them, ready for three 
quilts to be put together.

Low volume sashing was added, and Laura quilted all
three on her long arm machine.

The fun backing and binding for this one also came from the 

donation. Susan K big-stitched the binding down by hand.

The mostly blue one.

This cute backing was bought on sale, and Sue C found
the co-ordinating stripe for the binding. 

Ann stitched the binding down and put some
fancy stitches into the label.

Noelle loves her French General fabrics, and has made
several quilts from her collection. She says it’s time to trim
her stash and she estimated that she has enough left for
 four French General community quilts!

Laura’s quilting again adds to this beautiful quilt.