A Christmas Garden Party

We met at our usual club rooms in the car park and then proceeded to our venue.

Our President, Diana,  looking very regal in her Christmas outfit greeting us at the car park.  Could this be a red letter day?

It was a glorious day for a garden party.  The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze atop the mountain.  Some forty members enjoyed their annual Christmas party break-up.

This year we gathered in the grounds of a beautiful old Queensland heritage home and enjoyed the vistas and the well maintained magnificent garden. 

Flowers in the garden.

Morning tea and lunch was partaken on the verandahs of the stately home. 

Members having Morning Tea and relaxing on the verandah enjoying the sunshine.

Morning Tea goodies.

A good old chat in the front garden

Lyle in the kitchen.  Waving her hand again!!

Happy group preparing to go to lunch.  Dianne C, Vida, Marleen, Vicky, Judy F, Shirley B. 

It was a casual and relaxed day and members gathered around in the garden chatting and enjoying each others’ company.

Denise and Genell enjoying a cuppa and a chat.

Fay, Janice B and Vicky on the front verandah where we had lunch.

Gabrielle and June enjoying the views.

Joy, Janice and Leanne having a chat in front of the pool area.

Judy enjoying some time out in a secluded nook in the garden with her friends the geese.

 

Teresa, Linda and Lyn  in the back garden.

Janice K in front of the stunning hydrangea bush.

Shirley B (our newest member)  and Dianne C in front of hydrangea.

The tables were decorated with beautiful floral arrangements.

Secret santa gifts with Christmas bush arrangement.

Lunch was served

Then Sweets.

Ooooh.

Show and tell was beautiful and some of the ladies showed what they had made with their fat quarter draw from last year’s Christmas party. 

Some of the fabric some of the ladies received proved quite challenging but they came up with some great ideas for their fabrics.

Show and Tell:

Angel advent wall hanging – Teresa E.

Candles and a Merry Christmas wish from Linda W.

Panel made by Marleen K.

Folded Christmas tree – Teresa E.

Wall hanging made by Lyn R-S using some of her fat quarter from last year (The darkest green fabric).

There was much, much more.

We then had our Secret Santa swap.

It was a bit sad when the day had to draw to a close.  It was a wonderful day and our sincere thanks go to our entertainment co-ordinators for the year, Joan B and Lyle.  Thank you also to the many ladies who helped out during the day and made this day so relaxing and enjoyable.  Thank you to all the members who supported this event and brought all the delectable food along for us to share.

Wishing all our blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Saturday Activities

Yesterday was a busy Saturday at our club rooms starting with the regular monthly committee meeting. We were delighted to see the return of our president, Diana, who had been absent for a little while due to a series of conflicting demands on her personal time.

Bush Connections was the welfare group chosen as the recipient of proceeds from our 2011 rafffle quilt and during the afternoon Diana (left) presented a cheque to their representative, Pam Bryce.

The winner of our raffle quilt this year was a club member, Vicky Draper, who formally and proudly accepted her new quilt yesterday.

"Show and Tell" included the quilt that Vida started at our retreat last month.

Lyle, a tireless worker for our club, showed us her recently-completed Sashiko quilt.

Quilter’s Retreat 2011

The weekend of 8 – 9 October saw a group of Toowoomba Quilters’ members, their friends, and visitors, enjoy some quality sewing time at Perseverance Dam retreat.

This is a yearly event, and is supported well by club members and subsidised by the sales table at the annual exhibition.

This weekend was enjoyed by all who attended and there was a lot of laughter, sharing, chatting and indulgence (at the goodies table!!).

The surrounds at Perseverance Dam are the quintessential Aussie bushland, and this year it was particularly greened up after recent rains.

This group photo is showing the happy smiley faces of our members enjoying the weekend together.

Thank you to Marilyn C who organized this weekend away for us.  Good job Marilyn!!

Raffle Winners

Last Saturday at the General Meeting we drew the lucky numbers for the raffles.

The goodies baskets and iced cake were very popular raffles at the Exhibition.

1st Prize – Large Basket of Goodies  - Winner – Davina  M of Murwillumbah Qld.

2nd Prize – Bundle of Goodies – Winner – Linda W of Highfields.

3rd Prize – Iced Cake – Winner – Heather G of Beenleigh

Congratulations to the lucky winners.

Our beautiful raffle quilt was won by one of our members, Vicky D.

Congratulations Vicky and hope you enjoy this wonderful hand worked and hand quilted quilt.

Winners–Viewer’s Choice

Our quilt show winners are selected by viewer’s choice.

This year, this magnificent quilt by Jennifer Fenner took out the award.

“Oh My” by Jennifer Fenner.

Congratulations, Jennifer.

 

Jennifer must truly be the master of hexagons!!  This quilt is really, really big.  So big in fact, it was too large to hang from our stands without lapping the floor.  So we displayed it on the carpet stairs at the side of the arena. 

Congratulations to our second place Viewer’s Choice winner, Robyn Ginn. 

“Irish Cream Hexagon Tree” by Robyn Ginn

 

Robyn is a master in the field of hand applique, hand piecing and hand quilting.  A true masterpiece and a fine example of her work.

We would like to express our gratitude to Queensland Quilters Inc. for their generous sponsorship towards our Viewer’s Choice prizes.

Traders & Members

At our quilt show we have members doing demonstrations and trader’s stalls where you can purchase all sorts of goodies.

Joining us for the first time this year was local lady,  Marilyn Kirstenfeldt,  from MK’s Sewable which is situated in Prescott Street, right opposite Pillow Talk.

Marilyn is the distributor for Pfaff and Singer machines and can arrange servicing on all machines.  She stocks sewing and embroidery machines, overlockers, accessories, software, haberdashery, craft fabric, classes, magazine library and gift lines.

It was lovely to have Kathy Adams, from Kool Kat Quilting join us again.  Kathy is an expert long arm quilter and also has some wonderful patterns (some she designs herself), fabrics (gorgeous balis), tools etc. for sale.  Pop onto her website to see more

www.koolkatquilting.com.au

Indigo Niche ladies, Sue Howie and Colleen Shepherd, were there once again and had lots of Japanese inspiration for us.  The most delectable Japanese fabrics, sashiko kits, bags and patterns, threads and notions.  Also some lovely Kitty Pippen patterns and kits.

www.indigoniche.com

We were delighted to have the folk from Patchwork with Busy Fingers join us this year.  They specialize in hand paper piecing and have everything you could possibly need for your paper piecing projects.  Some wonderful patterns for sale and manning and womaning the stall was Greg (who can wield a mean needle) and Shannon.  We hope you enjoyed your stay with us in Toowoomba.

Web Site:

http://www.busyfingerspatchwork.com

Fun loving Nikki, from Nikki Tervo Designs was there to delight us with her fantastic handmade buttons.  There were many to choose from and Nikki also had some other cute gift lines and notions to tempt us.  She also stocks fabrics, patterns and kits.  Great to catch up with you Nikki.

www.nikkitervodesigns.com.au

Nikki is pictured here with two of our members, Jill ( L ) and Marilyn G. ( R )

During the week some of our members displayed and worked on various  projects.

Heather on the right is working on some small hexagon paper piecing and is watched on by Allie ( L) and Carol (R ).

Ann working on some machine piecing.

Fay was showing all the myriad of quilts and blocks one can make with fabric strips.  A wonderful display and one very knowledgeable lady.

Lyn Crump was showing how to do her foundation piecing and was using her very cute Singer featherweight.

Robyn Ginn is a very talented member and is shown here demonstrating some hand piecing.  She also has on show her hand qpplique and hand quilting.

Joye was there every day working on her hexagons, large and small (really, really small).

Yvonne and Joan at the sales table.  It was magnificent this year.

Teresa & Marilyn at the front door and raffle table. 

It was a most enjoyable week for both members and traders.