Yes ... boring title for this months Blogpost ... but coming up with an amusing title 10 times or more a year kinda stretches my grey cells a tad :) Anyway .... without further ado, lets hop into it and present all that we did on Saturday April 13th at our Working Bee ... for your 'Ooooohs and Aaaaahhhs' .... :)
We had a slightly smaller group gathering this time ... but were still more than a bit chuffed to see Elizabeth, Yvonne, Jan, Val, Jenny, Karen, Maxine, Carol, Pauline, Jill, Julie, Emily, Tracy and Margaret (who cruised by from Bendigo to say Hi!!).
We had some donations to acknowledge and I will indeed say a big Thank You to Elsie Blick who donated HUNDREDS of reels of sewing thread in every colour of the rainbow ... this will be used, I believe, to quilt our fabric hugs by Yvonne. Thank You so very, very much Elsie. Unfortunately I was running late and so missed the chance to photograph the donation ... so sorry about the lack of photo :(
Also on our Thank You list is Beverley Waddingham, who donated some BEAUTIFUL fabric for us to use ... its always exciting when we have new fabric to admire, so thank you muchly Beverley ....
We were also blessed with a fabric donation from Meryl .... whose last name I missed ... but I did manage to get a picture of the fabric ... so all is not lost :)
Thank you so very much also Meryl .... this fabric is gorgeous :)
Next we moved on to Show and Tell ... always a fun time, as the stitchers shared what they had made and we could then imagine how great it would look when custom quilted by Yvonne later ..
First Show and Tell was Pauline .... with this lovely blue and yellow top ... with fanned corners.
Blue and yellow is always a winning colour combination I think :)
Next we had Vals offerings ... and she had been extremely busy ...
This was a nice little cot size quilt top ...
Lovely combination of colours in this one ... also by Val ...
For some reason this one put me in mind of the seaside and semaphore flags ... perhaps it was the combination of red/yellow/blue?
And finally ... Vals 'Stack and Slash' pattern ... very effective ....
Now on to Gaynor ... and what had SHE been up to?
Firstly ... this lovely 'fan' effect mauve and green quilt top ... ^
A completed (all but the binding) custom quilted piece from Gaynor ... beautiful, isn't it?
Next we had Jan share her efforts. She keeps herself incredibly busy between times .. & here is why..
Isn't this stunning? Puts me in mind of underwater scenery ... with waving grasses on the seabed ...
Some lovely vintage look prints in this one from Jan ...
Another interesting combination of watermelon/lime/lemon and rich brown tones ... works well :)
And Jans final offering for the day ... was this stunning star effort .... wonderful!!!
We then moved on to a 'lesson' of sorts ... courtesy of Val ... who showed us how to piece together a crazy squares quilt ... this was utterly random stuff and we soon paired up and got down to work ...
This was what we were aiming for ....
'Start with a five sided piece' ...
You can add machine embellishment. Centre the starting piece and then add to it ... moving in an anti-clockwise direction as you add each piece till the backing square of fabric is covered. Press as you go ...
We added lace to ours ....
All corners covered .... thats one done :)
Karen and Ethan ... hard at work in the fabric sorting and cutting corner :)
Carol and Maxine busied themeselves hand finishing bindings on some quilts before lunch ...
As did Julie and Jenny ....
Elizabeth and Pauline .... two of our willing stitchers ... with Val ...
Ooooohhh .... a bit more Show and Tell .... this is from Jill ..... another 'fan' themed quilt top ..
Tracy brought along two that she had been finishing off for us .... a nice navy and red piece ..
.... and this two tone blue one which will look lovely when Yvonne has done some custom quilting in the centre panels ...
Here is Margaret ... who dropped by from Bendigo ... lovely to see her smiling face again ...
.... and just in time for lunch .... with a Chinese 'Theme' this month ... yum!!!!
Margaret brought some delightful quilt tops, to prove that she had not been idle since moving :)
Isn't this stunning!!!
And this 'windmill' pattern ....
Nice use of paisley fabric here ....
And a bright and cheerful yellow and blue toned quilt top ... she HAD been busy!!!
Meanwhile Val and Emily are hard at work assembling the crazy quilt blocks ....
While Pauline is not letting the grass grow beneath her feet either :)
Tracy and Gaynor have a little 'catch up' chat ....
Carol and Maxine discuss the perfect colour combination for the sashing on a donated quilt top ...
The quilt top came to us with alternating heart insets and embroidery which was ...in some places .... incomplete. Maxine and Carol, both being excellent embroiderers were invited to take it home for completion. We look forward to seeing what they will achieve .... it promises to be just beautiful!
Remember the 'Lesson of the Day' ... our 'crazy squares' quilt blocks? Well these are some of the ones completed by our stitchers. When the 'blanks' are filled in with contrasting plain squares it will look stunning!!
And that ALMOST winds up this months Blogpost ... with the exception of the feedback given to us by Yvonne ... regarding the Monbulk Quilt Show at the Living and Learning Centre ... hosted last month by Mrs Martins Quilt Shoppe.
You will recall that we were kindly invited to participate as part of our fundraising efforts. Yvonne was proud to be able to tell us that our stall raised $825.00 ... which included revenue raised by the sale of 71 miniature 'Prayer Squares' donated and sold by Julie Robinson @ 50c each. We also sold 3 quilts and a vast amount of fat quarters and bags of fabric scraps which was all included in the final tally. A truly magnificent result and we thank Mrs Martin very much for allowing us to be a part of her awesome Quilt Show!!
We gather next month on May 11th ... the lunch 'Theme' will be Italian ... bellissimo!!! And we look forward to another busy day as we continue to create quilts for children in far off places as well as bits'n'bobs for sale our Open Weekend later in the year.
That almost wraps up this Blog entry .... but before I close I will also give you the 'Heads Up' again about another linked service that QFO would like to share with you. I'm sure you have seen on this Blog over the years, some of the amazing custom quilting done by our very own Yvonne Grant. She has passed on one of her business cards to me and so I am sharing details of her services, should any of the quilters reading this Blog require the services of Yvonne and her awesome all-singing all-dancing long arm quilting machine. She has thousands of patterns to select from and would be more than happy to discuss your requirements. Call Yvonne on (03) 97520334 when you have a quilt that needs that little 'extra' to elevate it to one of a kind heirloom status.
And don't forget .... as the year progresses and you think about craft projects of your own ... we still have that awesome Warwick mock suede furnishing fabric at $5.00 per metre for sale, as part of our fundraising for quilting supplies (batting/threads etc) We also still have a number of beautiful wedding dresses ... (contact Gaynor to discuss and view) ... plenty of Deb Balls coming up later in the year ... as well as Brides in need of beautiful frocks ... which we have!!! All money generated by the sale of these items goes directly back into purchasing supplies in order for us to make more quilts for more children. We anticipate doing some quilts for New Guinea very soon, so we will always be in need of supplies for our needs.
Our contact details are as follow:
Gaynor Peterson ... phone (03)9756 7950
email ... [email protected]
Susan Hamilton .....phone (03)9737 1825
email: [email protected]
Our postal address (for donations) is P.O Box 398 Monbulk Victoria 3793
Check out the following Links:
http://www.butterflych.org/.... for news about the Butterfly Palliative Care hospice in China
And their very own Blog ... which is beautifully written and contains inspirational stories on the children in their care. See the Link below:
http://butterflyhospice.blogspot.com.au/
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.
Don't forget that you can support COM and the children in the COM Homes in India by making donations to them via details on their website. I believe they may also have a range of products which can be 'gifted' to the Homes on your behalf and which would make a wonderful 'reverse' Christmas gift later on this year. For your efforts COM will provide you with Thank You certification .... you can purchase mattresses for the children, school supplies, chickens which will enable the families to have a source of income from the eggs produced ... apparently you can even purchase a GOAT!! How incredible to be able to give a family on the other side of the world the independence that owning a milk producing goat would provide. Give it some thought and contact COM now to set in place plans for Christmas 2013, it will be here sooner than you can imagine !!!
Now on to the rest of our Links .....
http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit
http://mellyandme.typepad.com .... creative clothing etc for children
http://mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com/ whose customer blessed us with awesome fabric
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.
http://english.chinaconcern.org/
... and our newest recipients of quilts .... in Ethiopia
http://www.lolachildrensfund.org/
And now ... the Fikelala AIDS Project in Capetown
http://www.fikelela.org.za/orphan.asp
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.
And for those on Facebook ... check out the Treasure Corner 'Page' via this Link ... it's another way of sharing the COM story with the world ... and I get to share our Quilts for Orphans news thru there too ... whats not to love about THAT???
http://www.facebook.com/#!/TreasureCornerOpportunityShop
Blessings all,
Susan