Last Saturday we had lots of fun making quilts for the Royal Childrens’ Hospital.  This is a spin off from the Bushfires Quilting Bees  of last year and it’s the third time we’ve gotten together since all the Bushfire Quilts were sent off………first to make a quilt to support a lady with Breast Cancer, then making 2 quilts for a Women’s Shelter but this time everyone was on a roll!  We made (or almost finished and gone home with lovely sewers to be completed) 12 quilt tops!!!!  What an amazing effort.  Who could have believe there was so much productivity buried under all that chatter and laughter?

(Sorry I forgot to take my camera………thanks Suzie for the photos……but somehow between our two computers the files are quite big so might take a while to load this post!)

Kay turned up with a bundle of appliqued hearts already done and these were made up into 3 quilts.  It was amazing to see the different effect from differently colored borders…….all the inner blocks were similar but all 3 quilts ended up looking completely different.

Bron turned bits and pieces from the boxes into this gorgeous quilt……another good lesson on working with what you have.

And as usual Maggie was head down and stitching…….she is amazing.

Along with the ‘regular girls’ we had some lovely ladies come along and iron and watch and learn………thanks Pam and Patsy and Elaine!

And the effervescent Jeanette brought along her Show and Tell……..a divine quilt she has done for her old High School to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary.  It was truly stunning.

BUT we still have lots of fabrics left to work with so there will be more opportunities to join in the fun and make some charity quilts later in the year.  Meanwhile we have another day planned on Saturday June 19th especially to quilt and bind all the tops that have been made.  Everyone is welcome so please email me if you would like to join us.

This poor little blog is a bit neglected at the moment.  Doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a lot going on.  Actually it DOES mean there’s been a lot going on!  Hopefully back on track now.  I don’t know where to start really.  So please bear with me over the next few days whilst I post about happenings that might be a week or two (or three or four) old.

Meanwhile I love this photo of my threads all lined up ready for use at Kellie’s workshop……it was refreshing to use so many different colors because when I do patchwork most of the time I use trusted ‘919′ an off white thread.  But it seems when I load photos from my new camera  onto the blog they lose sharpness.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Maybe I am not saving the photos in the best format?  But they are much sharper than this loaded onto my computer or flickr…….and I’m finally learning how to upload to flickr.  As you can see I’d a bit of a novice when it comes to technical things……would much rather be sewing or cooking!

I DID get lots of sewing time yesterday, interspersed with reading the last Harry Potter.  Here’s a snap-shot of what I completed…….more details on each over the next few days.

And I even practised some free motion quilting…….first time since our workshop weekend.

This afternoon I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Sometimes when you really love a book the movie can be a bit disappointing.  Not this one. 

And tonight I’m doing some secret sewing…….

It’s a bit cooler in Melbourne this morning which is a refreshing change after days of warm weather.  But it’s a great day for sewing.  I can’t remember the last day that was completely ‘free’ so that I could have the luxury of spending hours sewing but I hold high hopes for today!  Hopefully I’ll be back later in the day to show some projects……..

Enjoy whatever your weekend brings to you!

…I was sipping champagne and getting to know the other 6 girls at our workshop at Sewjourn whilst Kellie entertained us with the story of her quilting journey (and showed us her gorgeous quilts and cushions…….up close!!)

It was the start of an amazing weekend. Lara summed it up beautifully. It’s sometimes hard work learning a new skill. And for me who is used to precise rotary cutting, sewing straight lines and matching seams and points this was out of my comfort zone! But Kellie is a fantastic teacher and her patience and encouragement nutured us all towards producing pieces we could be proud of.

We appliqued…..

And quilted….

And watched and listened….

And unpicked….

And practised….

And stayed up very late………

Needless to say I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the weekend between concentrating hard on learning and cooking for everyone as well.  But it was worth it!  I came away inspired by Kellie and by the other 6 lovely ladies who had joined us. By early afternoon Sunday we were at the stage of hanging the fruits of our labours on the new design wall. 

It always amazes me to see the different color combinations that people come up with……they were all so different but all looked fantastic!

These are the faces behind the masterpieces…….

Back L to R: Me, Kerry, Mary (one of the gorgeous girls who made the drive from Canberra to join us), Kylie, Donna (Mary’s travelling companion)

Front L to R: Lara and Leah

What a creative group of girls………and hopefully they all had the chance to relax and enjoy as well.

And here’s some close ups of my first attempt at raw edge applique and free motion quilting………..there’s lots of room for improvement but it’s not too bad (especially when it’s home here and not sitting next to Kellie’s exquisite work!)  The plan for this weekendis to make it up into a cushion……and then there’s the Pretty in Pink pattern to start on……..

because it’s only one more sleep until Kellie’s workshop at Sewjourn!!  Along with 6 other girls I’ll be spending the weekend sewing, learning and eating!  I’ve gathered together all my threads and fabrics and I’ll be heading off in the morning.  Can’t wait.  So come back next week and hopefully there will be lots to tell……..and who knows even some photos of finished projects!!!

Meanwhile last weekend we had our Giveaway Day at Sewjourn.  A few friends and I spent the day chatting and sewing along with 6 other creative ladies.  Here’s a few photos…………

And Saturday we spent the day doing this!  We’d always planned on having a design wall here so finally it’s ready to go…….just in time for this weekend’s workshop!

Uploaded from Don’t Look Now blog

I’m sure you’ve seen Kellie’s gorgeous work……..even though she’s only been quilting for a couple of years she produces the most amazing quilts and has had quite a few published in Homespun. 

Uploaded from Don’t Look Now blog

And the exciting news is that Kellie is coming to Sewjourn in February for a Weekend Workshop.  Further details will be available very soon but I can tell you it will be on the weekend of 5-7 Feburary 2010 and places will be limited.  So if you think you might be interested in coming along to spend the weekend at Sewjourn AND do workshops with Kellie then leave me a comment or email me.   Me……..I can’t wait!!!

A couple of  weeks ago Bron and I had a nice day out in Brunswick – visiting Nikki and GJ fabrics.  And we both managed to come away with quite a few goodies.  I particuarly wanted the Lap Top Bag pattern but as it fits into the ‘advanced bag’ category I bought a simpler one to start with.  (I’ve made bags before but Nikki’s patterns are so much more comprehensive and the end result is so much more professional – well hers are anyway!)  And whilst I was at it I picked up a couple of purse patterns too.  So stay tuned for some new bags and purses…….

As we had some fabric and blocks left over from the Bushfires Quilting Bee and because we all had so much fun on our Quilting Bee days we decided to get together a few times a year to make quilts for different charities.  Additionally Victorian Textiles kindly donated another roll of batting for us to use.  So I’d promised to organise another get-together for October but time has gotten away and October is here! 

So……it’s short notice but there are a few of us getting together on Saturday 10th October (yep that’s right THIS Saturday!) from 12 noon to 5pm at Ashburton Uniting Church, 7 Ashburn Grove, Ashburton 3147.  Our aim is to complete a quilt top (or two if there are lots of people able to come along) in the afternoon and being October we are making it for a local Mum recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

Anyone who would like to join us is most welcome – just drop me an email so I know to expect you.  And there will even be yummy afternoon tea…………

Original idea – Yoyo curtain for the Princess Room at Sewjourn.

Photo – old as left camera up in Lancefield tonight whilst popping home for work and netball tomorrow.

Found (by daughters in cupboard under stairs whilst converting into a cubby house during school holidays) – extra bag of yoyos for curtain.

Measured – window in door of Princess Room to calculate how many yoyos needed – answer 504.

Counted – yoyos done – 236!!!  Not even half way there!

Aim – 4 yoyos per day and it will be finished by Christmas (?wishful thinking!)