High Tea in style!

 Our Christmas breakup was at the beautiful Campaspe House in Woodend. This gracious old mansion has Edna Wallings-designed gardens and is a really nice place to celebrate the end of the sewing year! Thanks for finding this one, Tania!

 Some of the ladies arrive, we were all dressed very colourfully, adding a floral ambience to the place!

Now THIS is the life! I could have easily settled in for the afternoon at - and in - the pool.

 And here we all are! Pink champagne was served quicksmart, and everybody relaxed and had a good time. Merry Christmas Pauline, Tracee, Helen, Sue, Tania, Marg, Amanda, and Annette! Oh, and me, taking the picture (now who's the blog hog?).

 We were reliably informed that the custard brulees were "orgasmic". Well, near enough, they were indeed delicious!

 More sweet delights, and some savoury ones, and I must say the scones were the fluffiest I'd ever tasted!

Blondies and brownies, and berry chocolate mousses - mmmmm!

Will have to come back here next year, it was all very satisfying.

See you all next year!

On 12th December, a few of us gathered to farewell the old sewing year and celebrate the season. As usual, we did so in style, although few of us were energetic enough to sew. So we sat in the dark with some flickering candles and had a natter.

 People had brought food to sustain an army, as always. There were cherries, cookies, slices, Tanya even brought mini pavs along, and strawberries and marshmallows with chocolate sauce for dipping.

 Not to forget the decorations, with Tania's pretty blue baubles,
Santas, and a sweet sparkly owl that Annette brought for Donna's collection. Sue's musical frog of course had to show off his talents.

Merry Christmas to all and I hope the new year brings us many hours of fun sewing, and all things good.

Challenge Quilts 2012

On 8th December, the great 'unveiling' of the challenge quilts occurred in the pleasant surrounds of the Gisborne Peak Winery. Nine ladies attended the lunch, and a handful of others around the world were waiting to see what the Aussie girls had done with the challenges. First came the "Australia Quilt" challenge, whereby each quilter had to interpret what Australia means to them as a quilter, using a particular piece of challenge fabric from Lisa Chandler's "Australia" range. The second was the "Poetry" quilt challenge, which required the quilters to interpret a poem by making an art quilt. After eating our woodfired pizzas and fortified with a few glasses of wine, the ladies presented their works -

 Jean, Dorothy, and Sue had made poetry quilts, inspired by a variety of poems. Jean chose Robert Frost's "The road not taken", Dorothy took insprration from Jenny Joseph's poem "Warning", and Sue was moved by the Christmas spirit, interpreting "The night before Christmas". The ladies did a fabulous job, and their quilts will be shown in more detail later.

 This is Alleyne's pretty quilt, an attic window design with May Gibbs' Gumbut Babies fabric. Alleyne used the challenge fabric in some of her blocks, and machine quilted her quilt.

 This is Marg's gorgeous artwork, featuring three galahs on fenceposts, with Uluru in the background. Marg fussy cut the challenge fabric leaves and did a lot of fancy quilting on this.

 This is Jean's amazing quilt. It was full of symbolism, and even though it was one of the Australia quilt challenges, she based it on a poem. Jean also fussy cut the leaves and holepunchend the little wattle flowers, sewing them on individually. The quilt depicts the floods, and fires, and the people of Australia, the sunshine, and has several other meanings. Just stunning!

 Susan had another take on the theme; for her Australia represents all the friends she's made while quilting (the many hands), the cups of tea she's had with her friends, a friendship block and other things reminding her of times with her friends. Very creative and artistic.

 Yours truly, with my Australia quilt, representing Australia's nature, the landscape and the oceans. There are a few appliqueed birds, a lizard, and a lot of 3D leaves.

This is Jean's poetry quilt, based on Robert Frost's poem, "A road less travelled". Jean used a confetti technique as the background, with lots of 'floating leaves and lots of detail, with tufts of grass and rocks etc. Just amazing!

 Dorothy with her poetry quilt, based on the poem "Warning" (When I grow old, I will wear a purple, and a red hat...). Dorothy made excellent use of the Kaffe Fasset flower fabric, and the background is just so Monet!













Susan chose a Christmas poem to inspire her poetry quilt, and has done a marvellous job with with machine quilting and fabric painting. I think that workshop with Helen Godden is going to bring out a lot more amazing quilts!

Eight ladies completed the Australia quilt challenge, and did a fantastic job!

Swapsies

I guess we all have bits of fabric in our stashes that keep resurfacing year after year and just don't get used, for whatever reason. We might never have had time for the project it was intended for, or we've just 'outgrown' the fabric. And let's face it, sometimes fabric becomes dated and our tastes change. So, last Wednesday was time to let some of our unloved fabric go to a new home! The table, as you can see, was covered in bits and bobs, and by the end of the evening, hey presto!- the bits and bobs were re-distributed! Most of it found a home with someone else, and the really tricky bits went with Marg to the Op shop. Must do this again, next year. I'm sure there are more fabric looking for a new home in my stash!

Arty Farty weekend

Here is my work from the Helen Godden weekend near Canberra - we traced on the design in chalk pencil - large picture windows worked really well, then we painted, (love colouring between the lines!!) then we free range quilted around the chalk lines, and then the scarey bit we free range quilted on the painted bits!! Once that was done we painted again in the enclosed spaces made from the last lot of quilting. Was an amazing class and Helen Godden is a fantastic teacher and very accomplished FRQ'er!! Top picture - painting still being finished,

Bottom picture some FRQ done on the ribbons.

BOOOOOOOoooooooo!

Last night, we celebrated Halloween and had bats, pumpkins, vampire teeth and witches to scare ourselves! And lollies to settle those nerves!! Sadly, nobody came trick-or-treating, we must have scared them off!
Once the brooms were parked, we had lots of fun and also unveiled some of the strip quilts we had started last week. And did they turn out special or what?! Check these out -

Sue's strip quilt using a "Wildberry" Bali Pop - how gorgeous is this?! The photo doesn't do the vibrant colours justice. And the purple border sets it off beautifully.

Annette with her delicate and pretty floral quilt. This would make a lovely baby quilt.

Look who's been wildly creative!! Tracee had been a bit worried about how the colours blocked, but this is just stunning!  She designed the birds herself, and the "DREAM" is made from cloud fabric.

Yours truly (sporting a witches hat), with the strippy quilt made from the 'Stonehenge' range - fast becoming a fave of mine! I found a nice, opal-coloured backing and used some of it for the 'blobs' on the front.

Tania shows off her artwork, from a class with Helen Godden that she and Sue participated in recently. The design is drawn on, then machine quilted, and then painted. It shimmers beautifully. Sue, you must upload yours too!

Sue, fetchingly attired in bats  and sporting the latest in dental work!

We had major trouble getting Tania to sit still enough to photograph her with her vampire fangs, she was laughing so much!

There were snakes and fruit lollies, and the wee pumpkin was spewing grubs...

Missing mug rug

Dear all, in case somebody inadvertently packed Sue's mug rug in all the excitement of last week's meeting, could you please bring it along next Wednesday? Cheers!

Strip night

Woohoo! Well, it wasn't the bawdy sort of stripping, but the quilty one! Six of us gathered to sew a 1600 Strip quilt last night, with Amanda working on a round robin quilt, and Marg coming in to share a cuppa and see how things were progressing. And Helen's hubby brought Bella, the German Shepherd girl along for a lot of pats and attention. Adorable doggie!
Everybody had brought beautiful food along, chicken and salad, yummy chicken pasta, crunchy veg & dip, anitpasti, and zucchini slice. And wonderful chocolate mousse for afters. Everybody tucked in, essential sustenance before and during the hard work of strip quilting!

Sue had a stunning Bali Pop called Wildberry, sumptious colours. She was not far from finishing by the time we packed up. Can't wait to see this one finished!

Maureen taking a break and relaxing with a cuppa. Maureen had a lovely Bali Pop with warm autumn tones; should look fabulous..

Well now, somebody got all tangled up!

AH! A lovely smile from Annette, with her surprise jelly roll, in soft pastels and florals.

Tracee had a gorgeous selection of blues, from light to dark.

Helen had another spectacular Bali Pop, called Herb Garden. I was drooling....

Amanda was working on a Round Robin and  was sewing and pressing, sewing and pressing....

And yours truly, with my bundle of 'Stonehenge' strips.

And here we are, stripping away! Next week, we'll see the completed quilt tops.

1600 Strip Quilt

If you want to have a preview of what we'll be doing next week, check out the following You Tube tute -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU&feature=related

We won't have a 'race' as such, but there's a little door prize for the person to finish the piecing first, and one to finish sewing the 1600" first.

See you at 6:15pm and bring a plate for dinner.

Quilty happenings!

Lots of exciting things happening in our little quilting corner!
On 24th October, Donna will show how to make a 1600 Jelly Roll quilt. We'll bring a plate to share for dinner, our machines, and a jelly roll. You'll also need scissors, 3-4 full bobbins, and if you prefer to use a walking foot, bring that along too.
On 14th November, we'll hold a stash swap. Bring fabric you don't want anymore, and maybe swap it for a new one!
On 8th December, the 'great unveiling' of the 2012 Quilt Challenge will take place at Gisborne Peak Winery. People who have worked on the "Australia quilt" and/or the "Poetry quilt"  - and interested friends - are welcome to come along and display their quilts. Please let Donna know by 14NOV if you're attending.
Finally, the 12th of December is our last Wednesday evening sit&sew for 2012. It was suggested to get together for a high tea at Campaspe House and we'll set the date/time in one of our next meetings.
It all sounds like a lot of fun. Watch this space!

More Wednesday work

Here's a quick shot of the rug Susan was working on, nearly finished, too. Aren't the colours fantastic!

Wednesday activities

Two Wednesdays ago I thought it would be a good idea to take photos of what everyone was working on as they were working - that was until I saw a close up of my hands!!! Well!!! Sadly in need of hand cream me thinks!! But I think these photos show what a diverse group we are and gives a different look at what is happening!

More to come - love Donna's hexagons, they are coming along so well!

Christmas in July

Good company, good food, good conversation and some sewing!! What more could you want on a cold wet July evening!