Where some of our community quilts go

Most of our community quilts are given to individuals or to other community organisations that distribute them to their clients, and occasionally we are able to donate a quilt for a fundraising activity that benefits a larger number of people through that group’s work. These are just a few examples.

Ten community quilts were delivered to Lifeline to add to
hampers for community clients, gratefully received.
They will be matched to each clients needs and taste,
 wrapped as a gift.

We recently donated this quilt to an event raising funds
 to support children in Cambodia, at the request of one
of our members. Together with another donated quilt
 it raised $3,700 for the Cambodian Children’s Fund.
 The quilt was made from a donated pieced centre, and
a second donation of the pieced borders. Marilyn skilfully
put it together by appliquéing the centre to a background
fabric and joining on the borders. It was quilted by Yvette.
You can read more about the quilt in an earlier post here

New community quilts

 

Julie’s latest ‘Wonky Courthouse Steps’. She says she has
trouble allowing them to be even a little wonky, but loves 
the way they eat up the little stripy scraps.

An orphan block quilt made by Lynette. She had a small
collection of nine patches, found some of the same size at
a destash sale, added some found flower blocks, and a
star block, and included a few strays on the back (below).

Louise found some very nearly finished tops in a recent
declutter at home and donated them. This one was
quilted by Laura.

Pam put the positive/negative blocks together after a workshop,
Lynette added borders and quilted it.

Susan Mac conjured up a very appealing design with a
constant white + tiny grey print fabric placement in quarter
square triangles partnered with a scrappy selection
of half square triangles.
The pink checked border is a community stash donation.

Sue and Hilary helped Julie line up her scrappy hexagons in
straight order so they no longer looked ‘drunken’ (Julie’s word).

… and Laura quilted them for our community collection.

One more colourful beauty from Julie …

… the backing fabric was an astute bargain from the
 community stash that compliments the top nicely

Biggest Morning Tea 2023

We turned our first June meeting into a Biggest Morning Tea in support of the Cancer Council of NSW. So there was a fancy morning tea, a hand-made craft stall, a fat quarter swap, and a beautiful door prize made by and donated by Janice. There was also show and tell, a bit of chat, catching up and even a little stitching. A very good morning.

Our thanks to members for their contributions to the craft stall and morning tea, and to Roslyn and Jo for setting up and running the craft stall, which did excellent trade.

Pat brought the flower decorations she made for our 2020  
exhibition - the one we had to cancel three weeks out as 
the pandemic took hold.

Many bargains were to be had on the craft stall

New community quilts

Made by Elaine W

Made by Dawn, quilted by Laura

Made by Elaine G

Made by Elaine G

Made by Susan Mack

Made by Susan K, quilted by Quilting Finesse

Made by Susan K, quilted by Quilting Finesse

Community Quilts 2022

These are just 63 of the quilts we made during 2022 to give to community members - some in aged care, some children, Dandelion Support Network, and in response to appeals for families affected by the floods in the Northern Rivers and Hawkesbury regions of  NSW. We know there were a few more that were passed on before we could photograph them.  Our thanks to everyone who donated fabric, time and skills, those who kept the community stash in order, those who stored the finished quilts until needed, and those who made sure that the quilts got to where they were needed. The 2023 collection is already started - we’ll start to post them soon.

 

October sewing day

Once a month we sew together for several hours, either on community quilts or our own. It’s a good time to consult with others, or find help with something we’re stuck on. Sometimes we pass a quilt on to someone else to work on, or we collaborate to baste quilts on large tables (no-one’s favourite part of quilting, or prepare them for a long arm quilter. Sometime we just chat, drink tea or coffee, eat together, or look at fabric, rearrange the stash or have a bit of a sort and clear. We’ve been doing it for more than twelve years now, so it must be working. Here are some of the things we did recently …

Susan sewed lots of little strips together …

… but there was a plan.

One of two wonky tree quilts made from
the blocks made at the AGM …

… constructed and quilted by Nerida.
 Both now added to our community collection.

Hilary is attaching the binding to a rescue quilt
 - finished photos soon!

Nerida is making a modern quilt for a nephew turning 18.

Noelle made this large quilt some time ago,
and it has found a home with a Lismore family
affected by the floods.

How to help Etsy sellers in the Ukraine

Canadian quilter Anita LaHay, who posts on Instagram and Facebook and blogs as Daydreams of Quilts, has quickly put together a practical suggestion to offer help to Ukrainians whose lives are currently being disrupted by the Russian invasion. She generously encourages her readers to share the ideas and images. You can find her blog post here, dated 26 February 2022. Or you could share Anita’s short YouTube video .

All of us around the world are devastated by this week’s horrific events in Ukraine. We are wondering what we can do to help. This is one idea.

New ‘Sewing Basket’ location

A new Sewing Basket store selling donated goods is about to open in Sydney’s southern suburbs, with ‘an extensive range of fabrics and patterns, patchwork, embroidery materials, knitting and crochet yarn, haberdashery, and more’.

The new store opens at 11-13 President Avenue, Caringbah is open from 9:00 am on 1 March.

The Sewing Basket shops are an initiative of Achieve Australia, providing employment for people with disability, a sustainable shopping experience and volunteering opportunities. All stock is donated by the community.

Community Quilts 2021

2021saw our community quilts collection grow to its largest ever number. We continued to make community quilts throughout the pandemic, and even managed a few sewing days within restrictions of numbers on our venue when it was open, and delivered just on 100 to various community organisation for distribution to individuals.  Here are just 52 that we managed to photograph before they went to their owners. Thanks to our members who used our ‘stay at home’ time so productively, and those who collected, stored and delivered the quilts as restrictions allowed.

 Collage

Community quilts (2 of 2)

Each of these seven quilts was pieced, quilted and finished by Lynette, most of it during COVID lockdowns  - a wonderful contribution to our community quilts collection much appreciated.

The herringbone pattern comes from squares made

 from two rectangles, one light, one dark.

Disappearing four-patch, using a variety of floral prints

Light, medium and dark toned rectangles

Light and medium toned rectangles

Sashed squares

Diagonal checkerboard

 

Sixteen patch blocks in nine patch layout