Show & Tell

Teena has made this gorgeous table runner

Shirley's "Breaking the Drought" is now a completed top. We are all looking forward to seeing the finished quilt Shirley, it will be lovely.

These two are both Loris'. A showcase for her terrific quilting talents. Well done Loris.

We had such an exciting meeting at Patch last night. Lots of discussions and decisions were made but just a few beautiful items for Show & Tell. I took more photos but must have been "all shook up" as a couple were so blurry I couldn't possibly show them, they would make you dizzy. Sorry Rosemary and Donna. Next time I'll try to keep still.

A "Friendship Day" is to be held on Saturday 27th at the "School Library" and we are expecting a lovely group of Geraldton Quilters down for lunch. So do try come along and share in the day.

Thoughts of friendship

A gathering of friends should be a joyous occasion.

A time when, as quilting women,

we can share our love of fabrics and quilts,

help each other and give encouragement.

Offer a hand, a shoulder or an ear when needed and know

that it will be offered back in return.

Friendship is an important part of our lives,

to be nurtured, given freely and received with grace.

Have you felt the hand of friendship today?

Patch this Thursday

It's our meeting night this Thursday and the next change over for Beth's Row-by-Row. I've finished mine and it's safely tucked into it's orange bag to take along. Sorry no pix as it's a secret I'm keeping from Lyn. I hope she'll like it.
I popped in to see those at sewing today on my way to work and although only a few girls were there, they were doing some fabulous things. Julie was learning seven different methods of "Flying Geese" all at once. I hope she's not too confused by now.
Loris has done some gorgeous quilting using a variegated thread all over her "Pussy Cats".
Barb U. has asked us to save any small scraps for her stash. She loves to work with the tiny pieces most of us toss away.
I told the girls about my Pay-it-Forward project. If you'd like to be in it or learn more, hop over to my blog and leave a comment http://suescharlottescottage.blogspot.com/ You could win a hand made gift.
There will be give-aways on this blog soon too. So keep following and get into the habit of leaving comments. Thats where we select the prize winners from.

Our trip to Quilt West 2006

When seven of us travelled to Perth to visit the Quilt show we were invited to Mary N's home for dinner on the Saturday night. This was a lovely treat with her beautiful home filled with quilts and a group of Mary's quilting friends gathered to welcome us. We couldn't miss the house on arrival, it was the only one in the street with flood lighting to show up all the quilts hung on the front porch.

The next morning we drove to the hills to have morning tea with Gay D. Once again we were greeted with a gorgeous display of quilts and delightful refreshments. We all really enjoyed seeing Gay's lovely garden...so green when all was dry back in Dongara.

Here are Muriel, Gloria and Lyn admiring one of Gay's quilts

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Gay took this photo of us all as a memento.
Ros, Sue, Gloria, Lyn, Muriel & Shirley

Breaking the Drought with Lisa Walton

Our two day workshop with Lisa was so much fun. Lisa is a great teacher and soon had us all relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

First we learnt a lot of different techniques to embellish our fabric and then we cut the pieces up and arranged them to suit ourselves.

It was great to be able to use our creativity so freely and no two collections of blocks looked the same. I'm ashamed to say that mine are still a collection of blocks but Donna has completed her quilt and I'll soon be able to post a photo of it.

Loris elected to do a different quilt as she had started another pattern at a previous workshop with Lisa. This needed finishing so that was Loris' target. Funny how we've heard this story before Loris or was it another workshop. That's right! Jan Mullen couldn't get you through to the end in one go either could she? Aren't you brave to admit to the UFO's?

Jan Mullen Workshop

Remembering April 2007

Some of the beautiful bright quilts Jan brought to Dongara

We were so lucky to have this experience with her. She is a dynamic teacher and I'm sure we all enjoyed the workshop

Being Challenged

How are you getting on with Beth's "Row by Row". I know I'm having huge problems with my maths. This is a real challenge for me.

I'm also giving some thought to the Geraldton Club's challenge. I've drawn the pattern up on my new EQ6 and played around recolouring it. The variety of effects is amazing by changing the lights and darks around. Actually making it up will be enough of a challenge.

There is a link on the side to "What was I thinking". I've already entered my ugliest quilt. I chose my first Gero Club challenge, using 3 colours from a paint chart (see pic above). My effort was very ugly, as well as being totally unusable for anything, it's so stiff with paint I can't even fold it up to put it away.
Have a look at the competition and enter your ugliest quilt. The more entries the more fun.

I have also added a link to Quilt Aid.
To raise funds for The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, this beautiful collection of patterns can be ordered along with the required fabrics and your choice of finishing kit.
You end up with a lovely quilt and help a good cause at the same time.

I hope some of our members will take up this challenge. The 12 block kits can be ordered over a period of time to spread the cost and the range of finishing kits is gorgeous. My favourite is from The Quilted Crow in Tassie.

CANTEEN QUILTS

Beth sent in these pictures of the CANTEEN QUILTS

Each was made from the bandanas sold to raise funds for teenage cancer patients.



Can you recognise all the faces?

A few years have passed and not just hairstyles have changed.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Who remembers the time we made "Bears in Bags"?
Robyn came to Dongara from Bundaberg for a few years and she brought great energy and enthusiasm to our club. She and Roslyn organised us into a project which created so much laughter and good cheer it would be hard to forget.

We all made a bear and then put our beloved new baby into a bag and sent him/her off into the wilds of Dongara alone to be dressed and adorned by three complete strangers. (Not really strangers of course, we were all club members, but it felt that way as our precious little bundles went off.)

First the undies, shoes and socks, then the outer garments and finally the accessories. I thought my little bloke, made of muted tapestry, would have looked great in dungarees and a plaid shirt.

Weren't we all surprised at the picnic to see our bears in there true guise.

Mine turned up in a gorgeous wine coloured velvet dress with lace bonnet and bag, broderie anglais undies with rosebuds embroidered. I quickly changed her name to Olivia and hoped no one remembered her past as a tomboy.

I still have Olivia sitting in my bedroom. She is a favourite with all my grandies and is being very much loved by little hands.

Dyeing Day

Loris showed us how to mix the potions. We needed all the dyes, some soda and vinegar, plenty of water and plastic containers and a bright sunny day.
Soon we'd run out of washing line and needed to use the fence. The place looked like a dhobiwallah's laundry on the banks of the Ganges.
Before we knew it we had colourful piles of pretty fabrics.
Even our hands were brightly coloured.
The day Loris showed a group of us how to dye fabric. We had great fun and created a rainbow.

Our First Blog

This is your Patchwork Club's blog.
We will display photos from club activities and little snippets of information.
Remember the club is for all our members so please help the blogger team by submitting photos and articles for inclusion.
We especially like brag pix of your latest quilts
Happy quilting