Jean's quilt

Haven't posted for a while, but we're still getting together once a month, enjoying our various projects. Jean had a show and tell item this week, her amazing foundation-pieced quilt, made with batiks, and heavily quilted on her lovely Bernina. Isn't it exquisite?!
We were at Christine's, with Kathryn piecing a sampler quilt, Christine applique-ing a block, Mary knitting something, Alleyne piecing a block, and me stitching my redwork panel. Lots of fun!

It's been a while

Well, time certainly has flown! And I hope we all had fun. And yes, we did get together several more times in 2015, but yours truly wasn't on the ball in terms of blogging.
So here's another year, and I'll try to do better in 2016. We started the year off with a lunch at Pitruzzello's Estate, on a beautiful summer day. All of us except Kathryn and Mary attended, and they were off to see 'Cats'.
Last week we got together for sewing again, all but Christine who had other commitments.
There were a few show 'n tells, first up Jean, who was working on her hexie star quilt. It's coming together beautifully, and shown against the light,
looks like a stained glass window.I'm sure she'll

 be working on this for a while yet.
Then there's Kathryn's challenge quilt from last? year; it's now quilted and bound, and looks just gorgeous. Professional quilting just makes a quilt look perfect.
The other one Kathryn's holding is also finished, a large quilt  in beautiful pastels. I told her thanks for making that for me, but she was very reluctant to give it up. I winder why, lol!!

A friend of mine, Deb, attended and asked me to show her how to knit. The managed the knit stitches very well and had a chunk of it knitted, before I showed her the purl stitch, which was a little more challenging. But Deb managed it, and I look forward to seeing her 'homework' next week.

 Alleyne was working on a new pattern, and trying to figure out the triangles she had cut and how they fit together.
Kathryn was putting the finishing touches on another quilt - you're a machine, girl! This quilt is another one in lovely shabby chic colours, very girly.
FInally, a picture of some felted Christmas animals Alleyne kindly gave us. A mouse, a moose, an owl, and a squirrel, so cute!

Another fun day with lots getting done.

March meeting

Two of the ladies were missing this time, so Christine, Alleyne, Kathryn and I got together for some relaxed stitching and quilting. No photos this time, I forgot my camera, duh! So I'll just describe what was happening. We met at Christine's, and she had prepared a lovely afternoon tea for us with yummy chocolate cake! Mmm...
Kathryn was working on a rather gorgeous quilt for her niece. It consisted of panels showing wolves, and some matching grey and blue fabrics. That will be one happy little niece!
Alleyne was quilting her large project and we hope to see it finished in all its glory by next time. She also showed us the jelly roll quilts she had finished, and we chatted about more jelly roll patterns.
Christine was piecing her Jemima quilt, it's so cute!
And yours truly was working on secret quilter's business; making another part of a challenge quilt for the Wednesday group. Then I continued with the Scandinavian Rose redwork. I like this current block, there seems to be mostly backstitch, which is good, since I hate satin stitch.
It was another lovely afternoon with friends. Next time will be an 'extraordinary' meeting, when Nancy visits from Canada.

A late start

 It was a late start to the sewing year 2015, our first sit n sew in January was cancelled on short notice due to Donna's bug. So the February sit n sew was the first time some of us caught up since last year.

It was fun to see some of the ladies "Blues" challenge quilts. Jean, Mary and Donna had participated (and several more ladies in the Wednesday night group - see "Gisborne Quilters'" blog).

Here's Donna's quilt, based on the history of blues music, which is about the sadness of the slaves in America (hence the tear drops), but a little happiness in the form of a flower is thrown in.

Jean showed us her magnificent Ricky Timms quilt, it's stunning, including the intricate quilting. Wouldn't mind attempting this, but the rounded edges give me the willies! A stunning quilt, and we all felt Jean should enter it in a show.

Below is a detail showing the amazing quilting Jean did on her quilt.

This is Jean's lovely entry to the "Blues" challenge. It's a beautiful miniature quilt with the tiniest windmill blocks, and a very novel border using prairie points. Jean was so kind to share the technique with us and I think we'll see a few of these borders in the future!



Finally, Mary showed us her sweet Dresden plate quilt, in which used the challenge fabric. Love the vibrant colours, it's fun!

Thanks for playing the challenge with me, ladies!

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!