Well hello and welcome again ... here we are, post Easter ... with all the happenings from our April Gathering Day at the Hall in Hoddles Creek. It was a rather cold day but we soon got into the swing of things with the brave souls who braved the weather and came out to 'play' with fabric and bobbins on behalf of QFO.
Present were: Annette, Yvonne, Kathy, Rachel, Libby, Margaret, Carmel, Sheryl, Sandi, Deborah and yours truly.
Annette had created an Easter 'tableau' to welcome us all as we arrived at the entrance to the Hall..
And once inside we had our 'Trading table' to peruse ... brimful of 'notions' and bits and bobs to tempt us to repurpose/create with donated items that we have been gifted. Many thanks to Sheryl for the effort put into the set-up.
Our Members had been quite busy since we last met in March ... Sandi is an absolute whizz at putting together donated blocks and turning them into rather stunning table runners. These will be part of our fundraising at Market stalls during the year. I think you will agree she has an absolute gift for matching fabrics to best show off the donated blocks.
Can you guess who gifted us the QAYG blocks that form the central theme of this an d the earlier runner? The most generous Jennifer Knol who has been such a blessing to QFO over the years with her 'destashing' donations. Many, many thanks Jennifer.
We next had an assortment of beautifully pieced quilt tops .... absolutely lovely and we thank most kindly the offsite stitchers who gifted them to us.
Love the piecing on this one ^ .... so very clever. Zoom in to see the 'offset' in each block.
Pink, grey, black and white is such a good combination ... right?
Love this 'house' themed top .... very clever use of small pieces artfully combined.
A pretty pastel slightly smaller top ...
And 'now for something completely different' as the saying goes .... a quartet of bears knitted by member Judy Smith.
And ... a 'tower' of fabric bowl cosies created by yours truly .... who has another dozen plus awaiting assembly at home .. as soon as I've finished blogging ;)
And ... to diversify even further ... three cute toddler size dresses made for us by long time supporter Nelly. Sweet eh?
Next Annette presented us with a trio of tops created by her CWA friend Heather.
A break for sustenance and general chit chat ... Annette telling us that we have recently gifted 50 small quilts to Monash Childrens Hospital ... I look forward to sharing photos when we get them. The quilts were extremely well received I believe.
Then it was back to work ... here we have Sandi, Kathy and Annette figuring out fabric ..
Yvonne and Carmen playing on the Gammill ....
Rachel staying cosy whilst hand sewing quilt bindings. Or reading ... or both ;) Multi-tasking at its finest.
Our President and Vice President .... Annette and Libby.
Deborah creating more Fat Quarters.
An overview of our Saturday gathering ...
Still room for more to join us ... don't be a stranger folks :)
Our awesome Horn sewing 'pod' of gifted work stations perfectly set up. Use our machines or bring your own ... :)
And finally ... a reminder of an upcoming Event where we will be showcasing QFO ... save the date and poodle along to the beautiful Warratina Lavender Farm .in Wandin .. we'd love to see you.
And that pretty much wraps it up ... I look forward to sharing more soon, in the interim .. happy stitching and blessings to all,
Susan.
Contact us via our Website : www.quiltsfororphans.org
Blogger: 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.quiltsfororphans.org
On 'social media' aka Facebook find us at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsForOrphans/
Check out the following Links:
http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit
https://lifeslittletreasures.org.au
http://mellyandme.typepad.com .... creative clothing etc for children
http://mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com/ ...whose customer blessed us with awesome fabric
We have also stitched 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