Hello again Folks ... here I am again, reporting on our first Quilting Working Bee for 2012 and we had an absolutely full barn ... AWESOME!!!
We welcome 4 new stitchers to our gathering, and I can report that they all enjoyed spending time with us. Welcome to Jill, Maxine, Maria and Carol .... and we look forward to many more such get togethers and your creative input to our happy little band of Quilters for Orphans!
Here we have Yvonne with three of our new stitchers .. Maxine, Carol and Maria .. and our own Alice.
Maxine and Carol hard at work .... and loving it by the look of things:)
We also had in attendance our 'regulars' .. Lois, Christine, Pauline, Win, Jenny, Joy, Isobel, Jan, Karen, Val, Gaynor, Annette, Emily ... and yours truly. Almost standing room only!!
Now I proceed any further with pics of our gathering ...I must thank Sarah J Home Decor in far off Queensland. Sarah kindly donated a box of scrumptious fabric just before Christmas .. which I resisted opening until Saturday. Well worth the wait ... there were many ladies just itching to create with the gorgeous novelty prints ... I have a few pictures below, but they barely do justice to the delights that were in the package. Just lovely ... thanks again Sarah!!
"Oooohhhh .... shiny " .... or the haberdashery equivalent of ....:)
Truly blessed with this beautiful fabric ......
Sooooo many ideas for quilts ... with fabric this wonderful!
Now the next 'Thank You', hot off the press ... is to Helen Van Dijk and her 90 year old mother Eunice. Helen created 3 lovely quilts for the New Hope Foundation in China ... and Eunice stitched the bindings on them. Brilliant!
Next 'Thank You' is to a quartet of stitchers from far and wide ... who sent us 'blocks' which were then assembled and quilted by our own Yvonne. The finished quilt is below ... together with the names of the talented stitchers...
This quilt was 'blocked' by R.Phillips (Springwood N.S.W), Denise Taunton (Canberra), Nerida Small (Tanunda South Australia) & Lorraine Bradley who made her comtribution all the way from Louisiana U.S.A. Awesome effort, and doesn't it look grand with Yvonnes custom quilting to set it off. A stunner!
Next Thank You is a double-header ... to Yvonne our custom quilter .. .and to Sue Abernethy from New Zealand ...who sent us a quilt top quite some time ago ... which has finally worked its way to the top of Yvonnes 'quilting In-Tray' and is now almost ready to wing its way across to a child in India.
Hearts, Flowers and fairies .. a winning combination ....
And Yvonnes floral custom quilting matches it nicely ...
Next ..another trio of quilts, headed to the New Hope Foundation, from Sue Nagle in Happy Valley S.A.
How cute is this fabric eh?
And backed with Aussie fabric .... to show it was indeed 'Made in Australia' :)
Still more ThankYou messages to give out .... honestly we were blessed beyond measure in the time between the last Working Bee and this one!!
Now to thank two of our Vals friends. Firstly to Louise who kindly donated two large bags of wadding ... the most hard to 'source for free' component of our quilts. And also to Veronica who donated tubs and tubs of fabric for our cause. Thank you SO much ladies!
Isn't that just the nicest sight a quilter can feast her eyes upon?
Now a little bit of our regular 'Show and Tell' segment of the Blog. And lots of stitching had been done over the Christmas break .... as the next batch of pictures will show ....
This quilt top ... and the next one ... are the handiwork of our talented stitcher Win ...
A pretty use of fabric which will surely delight a young girl in India ...
Next we have two 'tops' stitched by Jennys friend Cheryl ... many thanks ... and your work is lovely!!
What a stunner!
And another dramatic piece .... reminiscent of a stained glass window ...
Not to be outdone ... Jenny produced her own quilt efforts ... and some wall hangings which will grace the walls of the newest China group that we will be stitching for ... The I.C.C (International China Concern), which is being set up on the same premises as Chinakidz.
Aren't these lovely? Now for the wall hangings...
Created using 'blocks' which found their way to us a little while back ...
The kiddies will surely get a 'buzz' out of this honey of a wall hanging. Yep ... bad puns abound here:)
Very clever use of 'orphaned' blocks that find their way to us ..... the children in China will LOVE these!
And another stunner from one of Jennys friends ... so much work in this beauty!
My mind went blank here ... it may be one from our Christine ... or another from Jenny ...
But I do know that THIS one IS Christines .... isn't it destined to be popular with a budding archaelogist?
And a colourful crazy patch from Jan .... so many different fabrics for a child to study in these 'blocks'.
And finally ... our Joy ... with a combination of flora AND fauna!!!
While all this was going on Win was busily stitching away ....
As was Val .....
Jan and Karen selected fabrics for their next quilts....
Pauline and Christine were cutting and matching binding fabric to 'almost finished' quilts ...
Pauline .... hard at work ... and always smiling....
.... and ditto for Christine :)
A hive of activity ....
Jill and Lois busily plying their needles in one corner of our 'conversation stitching pit'....
While Yvonne, Maxine, Carol, Maria and Alice are well occupied across the way....
Isobel and Joy discussing our next project .... details will be at the end of this Blog Post ...
Well after all that effort ... we'd earnt lunch ... and it was Quiche and Salad ... yummy!!
Delish!! But wait ... there was more! We also celebrated not one, but TWO, birthdays .. so we ate cake!
And the strawberries very nearly make it a health food .... well that's MY logic anyway!
And here are the Birthday Girls ..... Isobel and Pauline .....
Making sure they eat their dinner so they can qualify for cake!
Karen tries to pull a 'swifty' ... but I can see the piece of quiche she has in her other hand. No dessert till its all gone my girl!
Almost packing up time I guess ... and Isobel farewells Carol, one of our new stitchers ...
But Emily isn't ready to leave just yet ...
And that's where the photos finish for THIS Blog entry, as I was soon caught up in stitching bindings and had to quit my job as a moonlighting paparazzi ... for the time being anyway!
But I still have a few things to share with you ... firstly.... we are now going to be stitching for the I.C.C (International China Concern) Home for disabled babies and children ... situated in the same building as the Butterfly Hospice. Their immediate need is for cot bumpers ... like the one pictured below: This project is the brainchild of our own Isobel, who has such a heart for the babies in China.
The dimensions are as follow: 63cm wide (the width of the cot). With sides 60cm each side ... to keep out draughts. The depth of the 'bumpers' is 20cm.
The cots are grouped in bedrooms of 6 children, with a 'colourway' of Red/Pink ... and Blue/Green.
They also require cot sheet sets in these colours. The mattresses that these sheets are to fit are sized 63cm wide x 110cm long ... with a depth (for tucking the sheeets in) of 5cm. So the sheet size will have to be 115cm wide x 150cm long. They will also require a matching pillowcase that is 25cm x 40cm.
Finally, there is also a need for floor cushions. Any size cover will do, this is to make it comfortable for the children to lay on the floor at playtime, I'm guessing. There is no need for the floor cushions to be filled, as they will be sourcing their own inserts over there.
So.... there you go stitchers .. a nice, fairly easy task for those that have a mind to help make the lives of the disabled babies in the I.C.C Home just that little bit prettier.
Now, before I sign off... I want to share with you an inspirational filmclip, shared with me by COMs Jill Malcolm. She thought it was just wonderful, and I think you will too. I'll not spoil the surprise, just click on the Link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfaSmDxVZQ
Pretty wonderful huh?
We next meet on March 10th ... our scrumptious lunch theme will be cold meats/Seafood and salads. For those joining us on the day, a small plate to share will be appreciated ...
Our contact details are as follow:
Gaynor Peterson ... phone (03)9756 7950
And Gaynor NOW also has email ... [email protected]
Susan Hamilton .....phone (03)9737 1825
or email: [email protected]
Our postal address (for donations) is now P.O Box 398 Monbulk Victoria 3793
And don't forget to support the Blogs and organisations that we both support and publicize for their connection to us ...
www.chinakidz.org .... for news about the Butterfly Palliative Care hospice in China
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a59784e7a45314d6a673d0d0a&sb=1
www.freetobekids.org/- .... the rescue organisation that frees children from slavery and exploitation
www.com.org.au/ .... our very own Christian Outreach Ministry in Mount Evelyn
http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit
http://mellyandme.typepad.com .... creative clothing etc for children
www.hopefosterhome.com ... the latest group of babies we are creating crib quilts for in China ...
www.zoehopeproject.blogspot.com giving hope to children in Zambia.
and of course ... our latest project
http://english.chinaconcern.org/
And finally .......
Our Link to Treasure Corner Opshop in Wray Crescent Mount Evelyn .... the brainchild of Helen Greenwood so many years ago, the start of the support for COM Homes in India is listed below. Well worth a visit for the many bargains available, proceeds from the sales go toward the Childrens Homes in India ... 26 so far have been built through funds raised by this shop, an amazing achievement indeed.
Till my next Blogpost ... happy stitching Folks and I'll be reporting back to you after our next Working Bee, we meet at 9.30 am at Gaynors .. look forward to seeing you there!
Blessings to all,
Susan