Hello there, here I am ... utterly replete from a splendiferous day at the Barn. Practically perfect in every way .. as Mary Poppins would say ..
Our 'Christmas in July' lunch theme ... and an added bonus of a wonderful 'workshop' put on for us by the extremely talented Jennifer Knol. Present today (and we had a full house ... a promise of Christmas tasty comestibles will do that!!) were Sandi, Val R, Yvonne, Gaynor, Christine, Mel, Pauline, Deborah, Sheryl, Val.S, Sinling, Noelle, Joy, Maxine, Carol, Julie, Jenny, myself .. and Jennifer Knol. A brilliant turnout indeed.
Before I start sharing the pictures of our 'class', I will show two beautiful quilt tops brought in today by our Joy. One completed by her, with cute elephant fabric. These two tops will soon be quilted by our Yvonne, who takes particular pride in matching the quilting 'pattern' with the fabric motif in mind.
How very cute is this fabric eh?
And from our Isobel, this beautiful quilt top, in chocolate and rose pink colours reminiscent of a Cherry Ripe ;) Beautiful work ladies ...
Joy shared with us that she recently shipped off 20 quilts to the Butterfly Childrens Hospice in China. Those who follow us will remember that we have provided many quilts for this organisation since we began. And we must particularly give thanks to Les Quigg who generously funded the postage costs for getting these quilts to China. Bless you Les, this is a magnificent gesture of help and we at QFO sincerely appreciate your kindness. Whilst we can always manage to provide quilts for those in need across the globe, the actual 'getting them there' is entirely dependent on mission trips and similar means of transportation. So the generosity of folk like Les is much appreciated.
We also received recently feedback on the quilts we provided for Tanzania last month. This message came thru in the comments on our last Blogpost, so I will share it with the readers of this months Blog. Thank you so very much Mary Ann :)
'Debbie and Warren Harper dropped the quilts off today!! They are soo very beautiful. Amazing really. Each and every one a true work of art. They are now safely packed as we start our journey to Matombo village in Tanzania tomorrow. I can't wait to see the faces of the girls when they receive them. I wish those who have put so much love into creating these treasures could be there with me when the girls receive them but you all will be there in spirit. I will send photos as soon possible. God bless you all❤️'
Mary Ann Thomas
The Matombo Village Project
Now .... we got involved in the process of needleturn applique, one of Jennifer Knols absolute passions, and she soon had us learning the skills.
Jennifer Knol ... explaining the needleturn applique process and her background in stitching ...
Her audience ... listening intently ...
And soon we were put to work. Jennifer had brought along a large number of 'blocks' with circles and hexie pieces ..and we were soon learning the skills required to affix them 'invisibly and securely' together.
Jennifer demonstrates the 'art' of turning the edges in on her perfect circles.
Next .... Jennifer clambered onto a chair to show us one of her 'works in progress' ...
Demonstrating her 'Pilates core strength' in the process. Queen of multitasking as well as needleturn applique. No end to her skills.
Showing us a quilt top in the making.
Hexie 'flowers' .. basted and ready to stitch on Jennifers project.
The 'underside' of a hexie applique piece. now to flip it over, baste it to the circle ... and start stitching.
Busy, busy, busy ... and not a sewing machine in sight ;)
Then Gaynor and Jenny enlisted Jennifers advice on a piece of applique being worked on ....
Sandi and Mel having a chat in the 'quiet corner' of the Barn ;)
We kindly allowed Jennifer to play with our iron, whilst Joy and Christine are deep in discussion over fabrics...
Then back to the applique process ...
'It's beginning to look a lot like ... Christmas in July ... and lunchtime is about to happen in the Barn.
First a tasty cheese platter ....
And then ... the rest of the Christmas lunch ...
Scrumdiddlyumptious ....
Dessert ... a 'berry nice' Pavlova ...
But wait ... there's more ...
And now .. Gaynor beginning to plot out the appliqued blocks that we had helped create today. This will make a beautiful cot size quilt I believe.
And that just about winds up the Blog on our July quilting day. many thanks to the incredible Jennifer Knol for sharing her skills (and her fabrics) with us .. such a generous heart and a talent for imparting her knowledge. It was a delight to have you join us Jennifer and on behalf of we at QFO a sincere thankyou is extended to you for your time and generosity. Cannot wait to see all our appliqued blocks from today joined up and quilted.
Now we meet up again on August 12th, and the lunch 'theme' will be .... Soups and Sweets ... which no doubt will go down a treat mid winter at the Barn.
I will now finish off with our usual Links and suggest that, for those on social media, you wander over to our Facebook Page and view the little video clip I've uploaded from todays quilting day. Check out our Website also and remember that the more traffic that visits our website, the higher up the Google 'ranking' we remain and will thus be easily visible to passers by on the Web. Many thanks for reading .. and for supporting us in our little Ministry, providing fabric hugs across the globe.
Blessings,
Susan
Our Contact details:
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
And .... we are www.quiltsforphans.org
On 'social media' aka Facebook find us at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsForOrphans/
Check out the following Links:
http://www.facebook.com/Chelseaonesock .... for delightful retro fabric childrens clothing
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
We also stitch for the following Childrens Homes ....
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.hopefosterhome.com ... the babies we are creating crib quilts for in China ...
www.zoehopeproject.blogspot.com .... giving hope to children in Zambia.
http://english.chinaconcern.org/ ... more children in China that we have stitched for ...
http://www.lolachildrensfund.org/ .... in Ethiopia
http://www.fikelela.org.za/orphan.asp .... the Fikelala AIDS Project in Capetown
http://mifanmama.com/Shining_Star_2.html the Home for vision impaired children in Shanghai
http://www.austchamshanghai.com/about-us/csr/mifan-mama.aspx
www.jewelsofhope.org ... the project we stitch for in Lesotho Southern Africa
http://www.thebabesproject.com.au/
http://elishacare.blogspot.com.au/
http://rangescc.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/elisha-care/
The Matombo Village Project vimeo.com/217129149
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