September happenings

Today was Alleyne's birthday, so we made sure she celebrated in style, with bubbly and cake and some of her friends. Cheers, Alleyne!

Christine celebrated with some bubbly too, and some of - ahem! -my triple fudge brownie slice. She's working on that gorgeous border for her Japanese quilt, it's already looking fabulous

 Mary was putting together some interesting blocks, but they're a secret so couldn't post photos.

Alleyne was working on her Friendship Star quilt; she's hand quilting the whole lot! The blocks look great together.

And yours truly was working on some challenges which I'm also not allowed to show yet!

Missed a couple of our buddies this time but looking forward to our next get together.

August meeting

There were a few show-n-tells this month. Alleyne started off with her completed Canadian quilt. She used an attic window design with Nancy's fabrics, and did all her own machine quilting, clever puss! Love all the scattered moose!

 Kathryn also had some interesting things to show - first her American Eagle quilt, all hand pieced and quilted. Doesn't it look fantastic?! It certainly inspired me to attempt my own version of an American quilt.

Then Kathryn showed us her jaw-dropping piece de resistance  -
a beautiful Reproduction star quilt, lovingly hand pieced over the last 9 years, machine quilted by Kerry, and the final touch (binding) painstakingly applied by Mary. A true heirloom quilt.

Not only dd the front look beautiful, the gorgeous quilting can be seen on the back and is a beautiful quilt in itself.

 Kathryn is also charging ahead with her "When Sochi meets Bali" quilt. It's really coming together well.

Finally, Jean showed us her latest project, a miniature quilt in pretty blues. Love the little tulips in the corners.

Alleyne was hand quilting one of her projects, I was piecing one of my challenges, Mary and Jean were reading quilting books and mags, and Kathryn was working on her Sochi/Bali quilt.

We also celebrated Mary's birthday with some cake and afternoon tea and bubbly! Lovely to quilt with all these talented ladies.

A challenge!

Challenges everywhere, and I do love them, but I find I don't really want huge big ones any longer. So I thought I'd propose a small challenge for those who are interested -

The "Blues" Challenge
You'll receive a fat eighth of a Bali fabric ($2 to me, please), and are
invited to make a miniature quilt using that fabric. The topic is "Blues"
and you can interpret that any way you want. The quilt is yours to keep, can
be for any purpose, and should not exceed 20x20" . Embellish all you like,
and have it finished by our December break up.
Please let me know if you wish to participate, then I'll get the fabric to
you asap.

Have fun!

Bali Meets Sochi Update

After spending a day at Donna's cutting out the Bali meets Sochi quilt I have been making slow progress.

I spent another day on the lounge room floor working on the layout and realised that I have some more cutting out to do!

 I made the decision to leave that until I have got a large portion of the quilt sewn together. 

And just for those who are wondering, I'm doing it by hand. 

In between working and studying! 

You know that thing called "spare time"!....Lol

Nothing like a little challenge!

Anyway, I'm getting there! 

I added another row today.

This quilt is to be a wedding gift. 

The wedding is in August but I have told the recipient that it will be a while after the wedding until they receive it!

I don't really like bright's but I do love the way this quilt is coming together.

Quilt of Valour

After 2 years and with the help of Mary (mum)

 my Quilt of Valour is finished.

I fell in love with is quilt and the cause it supports.

 

The brave men and women who have made 

the ultimate sacrifice to bring peace to the world.

The men and women who have made a choice to enter a 

service to ensure that we are kept safe and

 that those who do not have the luxury's

and freedom's that we are lucky to have get a chance in life!

I don't often make quilts for myself, but this one is a keeper! 

I know Donna has her eye on it, but it looks like Atticus

has beaten the two of us to it!

I'm extremely happy with the way this quilt has turned out. 

Hand sewn and hand quilted by me (Kathryn) and binding by Mary aka Mum!  

Winter sit n sew

We braved the windy, wet, and cold Gisborne weather to gather at Christine's this month. We were all stitching away happily, supervised by Medley.

Jean (in hiding!) had completed this stunning little number, a blue and raspberry coloured log cabin with a twist. Love how the layout produced different secondary patterns, and the colours just popped!

Christine (also in hiding!) had finished the top of her new knee rug, all in warm flannels; I can see her rugged up against the cold in this! Very cute moose and bear flannel among that lot, too.

Kathryn was working on her "When Sochi met Bali" quilt. Coming together very nicely indeed. It'll be a stunner when it's finished. We'll wait until she's ready to reveal.

Mary was working on her Christmas project (secret woman's business, this!). It's looking very nice already.

And Donna was putting the binding on her 1600 Stonehenge quilt. A label to go on, and then it's all ready to go.

Alleyne couldn't attend today, and we look forward to catching up with her next month. She missed out on Christine's delicious caramel cake!

Having fun - just not in Mt. Beauty!

 Kathryn and I initially had planned to go to Mt. Beauty for a few days, however, circumstances meant we had to change to Plan B. Plan B involved having a few relaxing days of sit n sew in wintry Gisborne!
We armed ourselves with quilts to quilt and wool to knit, and occupied my loungeroom and kitchen for some - not so serious - fun. Mr. B had kindly laid on a roaring fire, I'd made a big pot of cauliflower soup, and Kathryn provided fresh bread and - wait for it - whoopie pies!! Yay!

 We were very productive - here's Kathryn's American quilt, which she finished quilting on Wednesday. It looks magnificent, just needs the binding now.

 Mr. Pretzel made use of the winter sun streaming through the windows, moving from sunny spot to sunny spot, and inspecting our work every so often. I think it passed muster - his fur deposits on our work kinda says so...

Friday was another good say for sit-n-sew; it was cold and blustery outside, and we kept warm and enjoyed some nice music - and more food. The lunch today was vegie curry, and Kathryn brought some very nice afternoon tea.

Kathryn was cutting out a new quilt today; she's making the "When Sochi met Bali" quilt, and it's going to be spectacular!The colours are just stunning. I don't think I could give that quilt away.

 In the meantime, yours truly was knitting, making a couple of scarves. They're both nearly finished, one is a Moebius (infinity) scarf, the other a man's scarf in a beautiful Patons wool blend.

I loved the days we sewed together, nothing better than doing what you love with good company, good food, good music, and a cat!

Blog Design

Months, and I mean months after Donna setting up our blog and asking us to go and have a play with the blog, change what we wanted I have finally found some time to play with the look of our blog!

While writing this post I am also texting Donna to make sure it doesn't look to dull!!!.....Lol

So, what do you think??? New look, same ladies!......Lol

The May Gathering

Our May gathering started with lunch. Donna had made Osso Buco with polenta and sugar snap peas, followed by apple/passionfruit crumble and icecream.

Happily stuffed, it was time for show and tell. Jean started off with her brilliant Ricky Timms "Rhapsody" quilt, and what a wonderful treasure that is! The Balis look fabulous in this, and the quilting is spectacular.

Below is a close-up of the some of the gorgeous quilting. Jean has done such a fabulous job!

Then it was time for the unveiling of Nancy's challenge quilts. Nancy had kindly sent us some lovely Canadian fabric last year, and we said we'd hold a challenge using the fabric. Four of us had finished our quilts (two are yet to come). Hope you like what we've done, Nancy!

Here's Christine's quilt, with her 'wandering moose' taking a stroll around the edge. It really does justice to the fabric, and Christine found a spot fabric in just the right red colour. Still needs quilting,  so we look forward to seeing the finished quilt - maybe next time?

 This is Mary's quilt, with prominent moose in the square. Good use of that gorgeous moose fabric! Makes a lovely table topper.

 Jean also had the 'wandering moose' idea, and incorporated beautiful maple leaves in her quilt. I like how the upside-down moose legs make up another pattern.

 And yours truly is very happy to have finally finished a "Canada quilt" - on the plan for a long time! It's a large maple leaf with Nancy's fabric, some of my stash, precut maple leaves, and makes a good pin holder for all the Canadian pins collected over the years by myself and received from friends.

Here they all are! It always amazes us how differently we approach our challenges, and end up with very different quilts.

A small gathering

Yesterday, it ended up being Jean and I for our monthly sit n sew. The others were unable to come due to Anzac weekend activities. But the two of us had a lovely time nattering and sewing. Jean had brought her latest table runner along, in lovely cool blues. Must make another one of these sometime, they're so nice.
Peeking out is a little teaser - Jean finished Nancy's challenge quilt. But perhaps we'll unveil next month. Mine is just being quilted.
Jean started the binding on that beautiful strip quilt, with all the points (I think it was a Judy Niemeyer one). I didn't feel like quilting, so I started a new knitted scarf.
When I say I started - I had to undo it 4 times before I got the pattern right!! My brain wasn't in it...

March madness

 Another Saturday and the Village Quilters met at Christine's place. We were greeted by a very excited Medley, flopping herself on the floor in anticipation of tummy rubs.

Christine had outdone herself and made lovely scones with blackberry jam and cream - yum! All my good intentions to maintain my diet flew out the window when tempted with these goodies! And served on such beautiful tableware.

 Christine used her new birthday present, a lovely big teapot. The tea tasted extra special.
And amid all this yumminess, we even quilted! Below are some of Christine's hand quilted borders, can't wait to see that one finished.

 Christine also showed us a couple of her finished tops, soon to be quilted. This one is a black, white, and red art deco quilt. The detail on the panels reminds me of the Great Gatsby.

Christine's other quilt top used up some large print fabrics, which are sometimes difficult to incorporate. This worked extremely well though, and I think once it is quilted, it will be a heirloom!

Jean and Kathryn were not able to come this time, but Alleyne, Mary and I enjoyed the afternoon. Mary was working on a challenge quilt, which we can't show off just yet, and Alleyne was working on a block of the month. As for myself, I continued to hand quilt my Native American quilt. It's very time consuming, and I can't quilt for long, because my fingers get sore. Still, with patience I shall get there eventually.

Remember this?

Remember this? Some years ago, we had a little excursion to Bendigo. After visiting some quilt shops, we had a well-deserved lunch with divine Strawberry Daiquiries. Mmmm.....

January Sit 'n Sew

This was our fist get-together after the Christmas break. We all met at Donna's place, that is, Kathryn, Alleyne, Jean and Donna were present. Christine was swanning around on a cruise - lucky lady! and Mary was doing something with the nieces.
Kathryn was hand quilting her American quilt, definitely a labour of love, and I was still sorting out my magazines. One day, I'll definitely get my quilting mojo back...

 Luckily, Alleyne and Jean brought along some show & tell for us go 'ooh' and 'aah' about.
Jean had been working on this wonderful batik Judy Niemeyer quilt, all foundation pieced. Beautiful colours!

Jean was also working on a Ricky Timms Rhapsody quilt. Again, Jean uses gorgeous batik fabrics to craft this intricate style of quilt. I think it'll be amazing when it's finished!

 Alleyne had a few Bali Pops to use up, so she made a couple of strippy quilts.
This green diamond one reminded me of Ireland. The photo doesn't quite do it justice, the greens just pop!




Alleyne also made this 1600 quilt. The earthy tones and the sky blue go really well together. She was thinking of doing a darker binding perhaps.

As always, we enjoyed our afternoon stitching over champagne, nibblies and coffees.

Challenges

We have had a number of challenges over the years. I'll try and find the photos and post what I can. In 2012, the group challenge was to make a quilt of any sort, using colour swatches chosen by the recipient of the quilt.
Here are the results, which demonstrate the talents of this groups and the creative way in which the colours were used.

 This was Jean's beautiful oriental quilt, with beautiful fans and flying geese and amazing quilting.

 If I remember correctly, this was Kathryn's quilt for Alleyne. The fabric was so cool!

Jean with her work of art.

 And another beauty, from Christine to Kathryn I believe (let me know if I'm wrong).

 Alleyne's quilt for Mary.

 Jean received a lovely book cover.

 Mary had put a lot of love and work into this little gem of a quilt. It had both pieced pieces and hardanger and embroidery. I was a very happy recipient!

I had made these placemats and a table topper for Christine.