Workshop and Community Quilts

Yesterday we welcomed Lisa Walton of Dyed and Gone to Heaven (http://www.dyedheaven.com/bio/) to Toowoomba where she conducted a workshop for fifteen of our members. Participants had the opportunity to stretch their imaginations by using a variety of thread and fabrics to create unique fabric landscapes.  Marilyn was kind enough to show her work-in-progress. Completed landscapes will feature in a future blog.

Gail J and Marilyn C at the workshop

We have a small group of very dedicated quilters who direct much of their effort to making quilts for donation to people in the wider community.  The quilts are frequently the result of a team effort and they often find their way to victims of the regular natural disasters we experience in this country.

These two have been completed recently. Some readers may recognise the double disappearing nine patch quilt that Joan was working on as a demonstration during our 2013 Exhibition last September.

Double disappearing nine block coordinated by Joan R

String quilt coordinated by Lyle Y

The string quilt was made following another pattern so kindly shared by Bonnie Hunter on her Quiltville website (http://www.quiltville.com/).

I am having problems inserting the links into the text so have included the URLs in brackets.

2014 Quilt Challenge

Congratulations to Chriss Jasper whose owl banner was the most popular with members when they voted earlier this month.  Lots of people commented on the wonderful owl eyes and the tree bark.

Owl Love by Chriss J

Our 2014 quilt challenge was to create a banner (12" x 35") showing a minimum of two owls using two pieces of provided fabric. More owls could be added but 90% of the given fabric had to be used in two owls and any method of construction was acceptable.

Here is a random selection of some of the forty banners that were displayed in our meeting rooms.

Apparently the voting was very close. All of the owl banners will be on display at our Quilt Exhibition in September when visitors will be invited to vote for their favourite.

Thanks again to Ineke who organised this challenge for members and who wore her favourite owl apron on voting day.

Scrappy Trip Around the World

This week a group of members spent Tuesday sewing a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt. Penny Vanderval conducted this workshop using one of the many patterns that Bonnie Hunter shares on her website, http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/

Bonnie Hunter's site is a great resource and well-worth a visit. Be prepared spend some hours wandering through her pages!

Irene and Gayle hard at work

Dianne P and Janice B with Trish P and a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top in the background

Bring and Buy Day

A highly successful "Bring and Buy Sale" (a swap meet) was held in our meeting rooms last Tuesday.  Members were able to sell items surplus to their requirements after tidying up their fabric stashes and sewing cupboards - what a wonderful opportunity!

 

 It was a fun day with lots of fabric pieces and assorted treasures finding new homes.

February–a busy month for our Quilters

A busy month is planned for Toowoomba Quilters.

The first meeting of February brought us a lovely display of what people were working on over the holidays.

Marleen K did these lovely home decor items in sashiko and Japanese fabrics – cushions and chair backs.  Marleen has used gold coloured sashiko thread.

Kathy Adams held a workshop in January using a very easy peasy skirt pattern.  Many of the participants wore their skirts on Tuesday and did a fashion parade.

Vicki L has made this delightful little girl’s quilt.

Work has been completed on our 2014 charity raffle quilt.

Thank you to those kind people who put the hard work into making the quilt and to those who contributed material for it.

The top of the quilt is now completed – beautiful.

Coming up for members in February we have an ‘Around the World’ workshop with Penny Vanderwal and a beginner’s ‘Patchwork 101"’ with Angela Langdon.

Members can also look forward to a bring and buy table this month.  Check your newsletter for details.

We look forward to seeing you in February.

Attic Windows

This is Angela L's quilt called Life's a Jungle, but it's warm in here. (She owns one very spoilt cat!)

Angela has taught a series of workshops for our club and on 11 March she will conduct a class on the attic windows block that she used to make this quilt. It will also be an ideal opportunity for some of our newer members to receive expert instruction on rotary cutting, machine piecing, making and joining blocks, Y-seams and adding borders.

June P showed us the quilt that she made for her son's 30th birthday. The photos were printed onto quilters muslin.

June P's Wheels of Time

Reminder: Participating members are reminded that their owl banners for the 2014 Challenge should be handed in by 11 February.

Happy New Year 2014

We had a huge crowd on Tuesday for our first shared lunch of the year. (We have a "Potluck Lunch" on the second Tuesday of each month to celebrate members' recent and imminent birthdays.)  It was a fantastic spread, demonstrating yet again the abundant range of skills in our club.

These are some of the quilts that were displayed this week.

Community quilt made by Lyn R-S

 

 

Lyn R-S is a very active member of our Community Quilting group who has recently completed several "masculine" quilts suitable for males.

Celtic Rose by Joan R

Snowball by Betty F

The meeting rooms were abuzz with plans for the year, some involving New Year resolutions relating to UFOs!  Ineke was encouraging members to complete their quilts for the 2013/14 Challenge while June was refining details for some of the classes and workshops being organised for this year. Information on these activities will be included in the next newsletter that will be sent to financial members in early February.  (Now is the time to renew your membership if you haven't already done so.)

Final notes for 2013

There has been much frivolity of late but there has also been a lot of serious and charitable work accomplished by members of Toowoomba Quilters Club over the same period.

Gabrielle returned last week from a holiday in NSW. Somehow she and her husband managed to fit fourteen quilts into their car to take to the Blue Mountains for victims of the bushfires there during late October. Twelve of these quilts were made by our Community Quilting Group and two others were donated by members.

Gabrielle (TQs) and Tracey Greenaway

Tracey Greenaway was delighted to accept these quilts on behalf of the Salvation Army and will ensure that they are distributed as needed.

Closer to home, five quilts were recently given to Lifeline for a Toowoomba family experiencing tragic circumstances. Lyle, who does a tremendous job coordinating the making of quilts for those in need in our community, and Fay, our club President, were able to present these personally to Derek Tuffield, General Manager of Lifeline Darling Downs and South West Queensland.

Lyle (TQs), Fay (TQs) and Derek Tuffield (Lifeline)

 

 

An earlier post (3 Oct) provided details of the Viewers' Choice winners relating to our 2013 Exhibition.  We were finally able to get them together for a celebratory morning tea and formal presentation of prizes.  The Royal Bulls Head Inn, Toowoomba Branch of the Queensland National Trust, was the recipient of the proceeds from our 2013 Art Union and representatives, Stephanie and Debbie, also attended the function and were thrilled to accept a donation that will help to keep this heritage-listed building open for the community to enjoy.

Penny, Robyn, Christine, Stephanie and Debbie

There will be no more sewing day meetings until Tuesday 7 January 2014. We wish all members, readers and their families a safe, peaceful and Happy Christmas.

Christmas 2013

The bloggers for Toowoomba Quilters have been a bit slack lately.  However the quilters have been active and productive. On Tuesday several members brought in quilts that they have completed as Christmas gifts for family &/or friends.

Tranquility by Dot C

Dot C made this stunning quilt for her grandson and partner as a house-warming / Christmas present.

As often happens, the photo does not do it justice. (If you click on the photo, it will enlarge on your screen.)








 This is not a quilt - but what a work of art!?!

Pavlova made by Val M

This was Val's contribution to our shared Christmas lunch. What a feast it was with the sharing of so many special culinary delights!

But there was more . . . Ineke organised the entertainment and called upon the quickly-assembled Toowoomba Quilters' Choir to lead the singing and that later became the Toowoomba Quilters' Actors for a unique performance of the 12 Days of Christmas.

TQs Christmas Choir 2013

8 maids a-milking

10 lords a-leaping

  See the beautiful Christmas quilts that adorned the walls of our meeting rooms! 

"random group" of diners

 Sixty-three people enjoyed the day! Many thanks to all who participated!

A report on other recent activities will appear soon.

Recent Workshops

Angela Langdon has recently held some machine quilting workshops at our club rooms.  Angela is an accredited quilting teacher and her workshops are very informative and always popular.

The first workshop held on 2nd November was “ Beginner’s Machine Quilting”. 

L. to R. - Carol K, Kim, Angela, Carmel, Barb M, Betty, Val M, and at the front Susan.

The feedback from this class was very positive with comments such as “Thank you for a great workshop, with easy to understand instructions.”

Angela’s next workshop held on 16th November was the “Easy, No-mark Machine Quilting”.

L. to R. - Genell, Gail, Joan, Sheila D, Vicky D, Marilyn and Fay (our Angel), front: Angela.

Some comments from students:  “You have given me much more confidence to start something big.” -  “Thank you Angela.  I found it very informative and it has given me the confidence to quilt my own quilts.” -  “Thanks for a great informative and helpful day.”

A  great workshop coming up is being held  on 28 January 2014,and is with Kathy Adams of KoolKat Quilting . It is a wonderful easy make skirt using your cool quilting cottons.  Kathy has modelled her skirts for us and we are all anxious to make one of our own!

If you would like to become a member of Toowoomba Quilter’s and avail yourself of any of our  workshops, please enquire through our website. 

Quilt Presentation, Melbourne Cup and more

Last Tuesday Andrea Hodgins, the winner of our 2013 Art Union Quilt, travelled from Brisbane with her husband to be presented with her prize.

Andrea with Fay, Club President

Andrea with some of the quilt contributors

She was truly delighted with her win and we are so happy that the beautiful quilt is going to a good home. Angela was interested in the making of the quilt and requested this photo with members who helped with the sewing of the quilt and who were present on the day.

At the previous Tuesday meeting we had a lot of fun as we enjoyed our Melbourne Cup luncheon.

TQs Melbourne Cup finery

Hats and fascinators were the order of the day. Ineke organised a television and some sweeps. 

And, some sewing was done!

Members regularly bring along quilts or recently-completed tops to show. Here's a couple that were recently displayed.

Jean S' disappearing nine-patch

Jean used batik fabrics to meet the brief of "earthy tones with red and blue."

Love the Aussie Bush by Diana R

Diana featured fabrics from Leesa Chandler's collection Under the Australian Sun to make this double bed-sized quilt for her granddaughter.

Today, Angela L will be teaching machine quilting at a workshop for Club members.

Perseverance Retreat 2013

 

Our annual retreat to Perseverance was held October 11 to October 13. The weather turned out to be hot, hot, hot.  Quite unseasonal for this time of year.

Luckily, the facility at Perseverance dam has lovely big decks where we were able to have our meals, chat, and sew in the cool. As you can see, the decks look out to wonderful Australian bushland. 

Some happy snaps following of people enjoying their time of relaxing and creating at the retreat. 

Sally & Angela admiring Angela’s lively jelly roll race quilt.

L-R   Debbie, Vicki, Sally & Dianne

The hand stitching table – Kathy, Heather, Hazel & Carmel

Julie & Ena

Linda with her completed Flower Box top

Two Lyns – one doing some enjoyable ironing.

Marilyn from MK’s Sewable enjoying some time out from her busy life.

Three cheeky gals, Mel, Trish & Agnes

A great time was had by all.

Many thanks to Dot and her helpers for making our weekend a lot of fun.