Well here we are again with another Blog update ... and profuse apologies to anyone who was wondering what became of our June Working Bee update. Seems that while I can't EXACTLY say that the dog ate my homework, I CAN say that my brain took a small detour and left the Blog update for that session still in Draft mode and 'unpublished' ... at least until I was alerted on the weekend just gone, by the eagle eye of Val and Pauline. What can I say but ..... OOOPS!! But the upside is ... that you now have TWO lots of Blog with which to amuse yourselves .... so enjoy :)
We met again on Saturday July 9th and had an almost record turnout ... quite wonderful. Present were Julie, Yvonne, Amber,Pauline,Christine, Val, Gaynor, Isobel, Kay, Jan, Jenny, Pam, Lois, Alice, Annette, Rachel, Wally, Joy, Emily, Margaret, Karen and yours truly. We also entertained visitors Tony and Veronica Tabone from Careforce Church, who dropped by to see for themselves what we are achieving for the children in India and China.
We have received a wonderful amount of positive recognition since the airing of the segment about QFO on 'Guide to the Good Life' 2 weeks ago. Many offers of fabric donations, quilts and quilt tops ... some of which had arrived just prior to Saturdays get together, so I am able to properly acknowledge and thank the kind folk who have taken our project to their hearts. Before I do that however, I must apologise for not mentioning and thanking an earlier 'giver' .... we received some lovely material that was given to us by Marjie through the Patchwork Fabricator, (the place where our Pauline has lessons). Many thanks Marjie ... not sure how I omitted to say thanks, but be assured that your gift was well received and will be put to use in some wonderful quilts for the children we make our fabric 'hugs' for.
Now I did manage to take some pictures of our other gifts that Gaynor received .. and here they are ...
The note that arrived with Stephanies gift ... of not one, but THREE beautifully appliqued quilts!!
Thank you SO very much Stephanie, the work and love that was put into these gifts was just awesome! And they will bring much pleasure to the children that receive them ... half a world away :)
Sally also sent us two quilt tops & this lovely letter .. thank you muchly Sally, and bless you for your gift.
So much work went into this ... and we appreciate that you could give them away to us ...
We also had a visitor who had seen our show and emailed me with the offer of a magnificent 'stash' of fabric ... how could I resist? Many thanks Diana ... the ladies were absolutely 'blown away' by your generosity and the beautiful fabric that you have gifted us with :)
Isobel and Joy with our modest benefactor Diana ... just discussing, no doubt, how wonderful the quilts will be that are made from her gift to us ....
We then moved on to our 'Show and Tell' segment, always a popular moment, when we "Oooh and Ahhh" over the great quilts that have been created in between our get togethers. We also saw some lovely custom quilting that had been done on some finished quilts by our Yvonne. The final 7 quilts in this particular series of snaps will be destined for sale at the upcoming Tulip Festival, so that we may raise funds through their sale, for the purchase of batting for more quilts for India.
Fistrly, however, I must show a close up of an previously shown and admired quilt ... in order that one of our viewers can figure out how it was pieced. Good luck with it ... looked waaay too complex for this little black duck ...
Good luck with it ..... :)
Now on with the Show and Tell ....
How spectacular is this custom quilting Folks ... Yvonnes work is just brilliant!
This picture doesn't really do justice to the quilting seen in the white 'blocks' ...
How clever is this? Soccerball fabric interspersed with quilted boots and helmets :)
Pretty spiffy huh?
The 'bunny' quilting echoes the Bunnykins inspired fabric in this quilt.
Cats and fishbowls are the theme in this quilting ...
With more cats in the sashing and borders ...
Hearts and rabbits in this one ....
Now remember that the preceding 7 custom quilted quilts will be on sale at the Tulip Festival ... so keep an eye out for the upcoming dates at which we will have our stall there ....
Now to the rest of our Show and tell ... and first cab off the rank was Vals 'Quilt as you go' quilt.
Not to be outdone, Christine came up with two of her own ....
Stunning use of colour and small strips of fabric ... most effective indeed!
Then Val was back with more ... she had indeed been busy and is a welcome addition to our team :)
Next her lovely use of contrasting borders on pretty prints ...
Clever use of vibrant red accents on this one ...
Jan was next with some 'Jelly Roll' combinations .... first this cheerful use of polka dots and stripes.
Isn't this just scrumptious??? Lovely work Jan!
... and here she is ... Jan, the creator of these lovely pieces ... :)
Next we have Jenny who has also been a little busy in recent times .. these are 'charm squares' set off nicely with black sashing and vibrant borders ... so many cute 'pictures' in these little 'windows' :)
Cute appliqued sheep nicely interspersed with patterned blocks ...
Nice use of 'Jelly rolls' donated recently by Spotlight (many thanks!!) quite dramatically set off here.
We all applauded the use of the 'flying duck' picture panels .... put to use nicely by Jenny in this quilt.
... and finally ... this cute little cot quilt ... destined for the Chinakidz Home .... just beautiful!!
Margaret arrived ... just in time for a 'Show and Tell' of her own, isn't this a pretty colour combo?
And finally ... this little 'number' ... from Emily .. a clever use of the fabric pieces left over from bindings ....
Isobel had also been busy, sourcing donated pooches for sending to the children overseas...
This will certainly put a smile on the face of a little one overseas :)
And to show that Quilters have a sense of humour (as if that was ever in doubt!), Julie Robinson had sourced this little piece ... for incorporation into a wall hanging for our barn perhaps?
Soon it was time for lunch ... and as the heading for this months Blog suggests, the theme was 'Christmas in July' ... and we had an absolute feast put together for our enjoyment!
Many thanks to all our ladies who each contributed to the 'whole' that was our yummy luncheon.
No sooner had we cleared the table after lunch ...than it was time to get back to work ...
Isobel, Kay, Joy and Emily ... selecting fabrics and planning their next quilts ..
Annette ... hand stitching bindings ...
Pauline, Jenny and Kay ... admiring some of the custom quilting done ...
.... and whilst mentioning 'custom quilting' ... I must send a cheerio to our talented off-site quilter, Lyn Stott in Mildura. In case I don't have you on my email list Lyn ... contact me so that I can keep you updated with our Blog ... :)
An absolute hive of activity isn't it?
Ever cheerful Margaret .... busily stitching for us....
Whilst the 'Chief Cook and Bottle Washer' ... aka Reg, exchanged sewing tips with Christine and Lois ...
.... and our youngest members ... Charlotte and Lily, took time out for a little rest ...
Now you will have noticed of course, the Christmas theme to this months Blog ... and on that note I will show you some of the things we have been preparing for the stall at Tesselaars Tulip Festival in September/October ... these items will be for sale as part of our fundraising ... which is so important in order for us to fund purchase of batting for our quilts.
Lovely aren't they ... and there will be a lot more by the time the Festival is up and running.
.... Lois has been incredibly busy, creating 'DedoPal' finger puppets ... also destined for the Tulip Festival ... aren't they cute?
And that just about wraps up this edition of the Blog ... tis nearly midnight and this little Blogger is struggling to stay awake ... so will close this now, letting you know that you can contact us in the following manner should you care to make donations of fabric or cash for batting:
Gaynor Peterson .... 9756 7950
P.O Box 398
Monbulk 379
or ...
Susan Hamilton
till next update ... blessings to all ... and stay tuned!!!