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.

Gatherings

The Village Quilters do like an outing! Over the years, we've had many quilt shop-hops, lunches, and
movie trips to keep us entertained.

This was taken some years back at the Patchwork Tea House in Warburton, a lovely destination for anybody who likes quilts, lunches and teas. (Left to right - Alleyne, Jean, Christine, Mary, Kathryn).




This one was taken a while ago when Chris, a quilter friend from Mildura visited us. We made her an honorary member. (L to R - Mary, Christine, Alleyne, Jean, Kathryn, Chris in the back).

This was our Christmas breakup at the Gisborne Peak Winery in 2012. We had brought our challenge quilts along and entertained the other guests for a while.

History

So who are the Village Quilters? Well, we've been sewing together since 1999 and were previously known as the Sunshine Quilters. In 1999, three ladies working at Sunshine Hospital, Leisa, Ursula, and Alleyne got together to sit and sew once a month. These three were later joined by Donna, Paula and Kathryn, who also worked at Sunshine and Footscray hospitals.  Others came into the group occasionally and left again, but the 'core' was always Ursula, Alleyne, Donna, and Kathryn, after Paula moved to Tasmania. We usually met at Ursula's place in Sydenham and had lots of fun sewing and sharing stories - and lots of bubbly! Ursula unfortunately became ill and sadly, passed away several years ago. We miss her.
The group then continued to meet in Gisborne, and were joined by Mary, Christine, and Jean. Because of the group moving to Gisborne (the village in the valley), Kathryn suggested to rename us the Village Quilters, so here we are! Many quilts were stitched during that time, and we hope to show some of them, as well as the ones we are currently working on.