June 2015

Well. I am actually going to get this done before the end of the month and before the next meeting!!

Standing in for aur roving reporter Helen , who has not been well.

 We had a lovely meeting as usual, they are so relaxing!! I am apologising in advance, for some reason, some of my photos won't rotate!! So please, just cock your head to the side :-)

Here is Sally's Carrum By The Sea quilt. All hand pieced she started it in 2001

Here we have the lovely and cheeky Anne Morrison, visiting us from the Blue Mountains.

Thanks Sally for getting her to our meeting

Anne's Dear Jane WIP in this clever booklet made with zip lock bags

Deidre's Red Brolly Carry all is coming along very nicely

Robyn made this lovely Candle mat from a pattern she got at a stitching day

and this quilt she made for her nieces 30th birthday form fabric that her niece had purchased 12 years earlier to make a quilt

Wendy's clam shells from fabric she purchased at the 2007 retreat

Jo brought her beautiful  butterfly quilt. It was International Round Robin.

They usually meet up the NZ symposium every 2 years

We have a new member Fiona, she currently working on this quilt for her daughter, Green Tea & Beans, by Jen Kingwell 

Here is the lovely Dianne with her nearly finished BeeBee Bold Sashiko Kit

and she's ready to quilt this beautiful Fairy quilt for her Grand daughter

Marilyn W is currently working on this stunning Kingsland crosstitch

Wyn, On behalf of Quilts of Valour Australia, is taking this stunner made by Val Dale from Waverley Patchworkers to Sydney to present it to a returned Soldier.

Simone continues with her gorgeous Millefiore Quilt Along

Hope you enjoyed our little Show & Tell

Next month is our Christmas in July, well just a little one.

If you need to fill in a day, Please come and join us for a bit of stitching, lots of chatting and just some good old fashioned company.

Till next time

Yours in Stitches

Ramona Up Upwey Way

Wednesday 6th May 2015

Well, what happened to March and April? You may well ask. I could say that one of our cats ate my home work. I could say I was away in March, and I could mention that I forgot to bring camera, notebook etc. in April. I think I’ll go with the cat ate my home work! I am so sorry, as I have been told the show and tell in March was spectacular and I know it was in April. Actually, the truth is that both Ramona and myself have had a string tragedies amongst family and friends and really just weren’t up to it.
However May was a really great meeting as it was our Cuppa for Cancer meeting and we raised a record – almost $500. Lots of fun was had. Our raffle prizes, donated by the late, lovely Joan Winkler and given with so much love, were stupendous. You would know if I had remembered to take a photo of them, but I was too excited because I was one of the lucky winners!
So much was donated to the trading table that many decided to break their fabric buying abstinance and pick up a real bargain. There were Jams, relishes, and 2 precious jars of passionfruit butter – if you know how many passionfruit you need to make the stuff, you will understand why they were auctioned off!

We also each brought a fabulous lunch to share – our best effort yet! It was truly a wonderful day. However, as a result of all these activities most of us forgot to bring show and tell – so here are a few pics just showing us around the table, some with items to show.

Here is a beautiful floral QAYG hexagon quilt that Cynthia has been working on. Eventually it will fit a QS bed.

Here are the first two blocks of the El Camino Pilgrimage BOM quilt – pictures in the photo beside. Dianne and her daughter Penny  brought these along. The colours are so evocative of the trail – each month comes with pictures of what you would see along the trek and a story about it all. At the time, my sister was in Spain doing the very same walk! Now that was just too much of a coincidence – don’t you think? I certainly did as I admired the blocks, the fabrics and Judy and Penny’s beautiful hand piecing, and wouldn’t you know it – it was available at my local Quilt shop. I think you can guess the rest!

I have written Marilyn – post card about this beautiful print. Whatever it is to be used for Marilyn,  it will be beautiful! Marilyn is our clever bunny - always learning something new.

 Then we have some shenanigans – I think it was Sandra’s fault. I am sure she told us a dirty joke!  I was having a bad hair day -a very bad hair day - perhaps that is what we were laughing at? I have had my hair cut and un-greyed since then – how embarrassment!

And Bar is finally putting together her 1 million (approx.) hexagons. Don't they look fabulous? What a wonderful idea for a scrap quilt. They really look splendid.

Virginia, our small hexagon queen, is working away on her magnum opus - it is going to be incredible when she finishes it in 2020. Go Ginny!4

 Just to show you that I haven't been completely idle these past few months, here it is! As promised I am working on two UFOs before I start a new project and this is one of them. Rosalie Quinlan's Best Friends Forever BOM - as you can see, progress has been made.

You may remember Sally's superb Dear Jane quilt - all hand sewn at Carrum Downs over a period of 7 years. You can see it in the photo on Sally's camera. Well, a stray block popped up the other day, so Sally is finisheing it off to use as a label. A wonderful idea.

And just contemplating life, the universe and Game of Thrones, is Maggy - taking a break from he sewing.



So, there you have it for our May meeting.It really was a lot of fun. We will be back to our usual stitching next week on Wednesday June 3rd. Please come and join us if you can.
Then for our July meeting (Wednesday 1st July) we are having “Christmas in July” where I will be showing you how to make a few quick and easy Christmas decorations – ideal for your tree, you can make them into brooches, or have them with place settings around the Christmas table. I will have a few kits available if anyone wants to make them on the day and will put instructions on our July blog. There is no cost involved
So, with everything back to normal, it is goodbye from your roving reporter until next month,

Helen Evans
Devon Meadows, Vic

Wednesday 6th May 2015

Well, what happened to March and April? You may well ask. I could say that one of our cats

Wednesday 6th May 2015

Well, what happened to March and April? You may well ask. I could say that one of our cats (see above) ate my home work. I could say I was away in March, and I could mention that I forgot to bring camera, notebook etc. in April. I think I’ll go with the cat ate my home work! I am so sorry, as I have been told the show and tell in March was spectacular and I know it was in April. Actually, the truth is that both Ramona and myself have had a string tragedies amongst family and friends and really just weren’t up to it.
However May was a really great meeting as it was our Cuppa for Cancer meeting and we raised a record – almost $500. Lots of fun was had. Our raffle prizes, donated by the late, lovely Joan Winkler and given with so much love, were stupendous. You would know if I had remembered to take a photo of them, but I was too excited because I was one of the lucky winners!
So much was donated to the trading table that many decided to break their fabric buying abstinance and pick up a real bargain. There were Jams, relishes, and 2 precious jars of passionfruit butter – if you know how many passionfruit you need to make the stuff, you will understand why they were auctioned off!
          

We also each brought a fabulous lunch to share – our best effort yet! It was truly a wonderful day. However, as a result of all these activities most of us forgot to bring show and tell – so here are a few pics just showing us around the table, some with items to show.
  
Here is a beautiful floral QAYG hexagon quilt that Cynthia has been working on. Eventually it will fit a QS bed.

  
Here are the first two blocks of the El Camino Pilgrimage BOM quilt – pictures in the photo beside. Dianne and her daughter Penny  brought these along. The colours are so evocative of the trail – each month comes with pictures of what you would see along the trek and a story about it all. At the time, my sister was in Spain doing the very same walk! Now that was just too much of a coincidence – don’t you think? I certainly did as I admired the blocks, the fabrics and Judy and Penny’s beautiful hand piecing, and wouldn’t you know it – it was available at my local Quilt shop. I think you can guess the rest!

    
I have written Marilyn – post card about this beautiful print. Whatever it is to be used for Marilyn,  it will be beautiful! Then we have some shenanigans – I think it was Sandra’s fault, and I have had my hair cut since then – how embarrassment! The next photo shows that Bar has commenced putting the hexagons she has been working on for some time at last being put together. Don’t they look splendid?

     
Here Virginia continues with her hexagons – they are really building up now! And just to show that I haven’t been idle – this is from Rosalie Quinlan’s Best Friends Forever BOM – and it is the total amount of stitching I got done during two weeks in Tassie!

     
Here Maggy is posing delightfully – she is working on a beautiful owl stitchery. Anyone recognise where this block is from? Sally had a photo of her completed DJ on her phone – so you can see it is all done – but she found a spare, so it is going to be the label on this magnificent work, that, if my memory serves me correctly, took about 7 years of hand stitching – just at our meeting.

So, there you have it for our May meeting.It really was a lot of fun. We will be back to our usual stitching next week on Wednesday June 3rd. Please come and join us if you can.
Then for our July meeting (Wednesday 1st July) we are having “Christmas in July” where I will be showing you how to make a few quick and easy Christmas decorations – ideal for your tree, you can make them into brooches, or have them with place settings around the Christmas table. Everything is provided and their is no cost involved.
So, with everything back to normal, it is goodbye from your roving reporter until next month,
Helen Evans
Devon Meadows, Vic