Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ALL BLOCKS THE SAME - AFRICAN CHARITY


FROM MELINDA:
This quilt is the product of a Block Swap. There were 10 people
in our group. We each made 10 blocks; kept one and swapped the
remaining nine to the rest of the group. We then had a deadline to make
our finished quilt top. Each block in the quilt is the same even
though they look different due to color placement. The tenth block was cut
into four to make the corner blocks.


Why is Dal smiling so much? Read Below.
FROM DAL:
My cousin, Carrie, returned to S Africa last year, from
Canada where she has lived for the last 20 years. She wanted to
do something positive for underprivileged South Africans and while visiting
various areas and talking to people involved in different aid and
couselling groups, became aware of a need for a food supply
programme.
Each month, Carrie purchases food (fresh produce and staples)
and takes it to an area to be distributed. Many of the families whom she
helps are run by the oldest child as both parents are dead. Others
comprise women who have taken in children, not their own, to care for, as there
are no parents. These people are struggling against the odds, with the
children attending school and striving to earn their place in
society.
The money for this food comes from donations sent to Carrie
by her friends abroad. However, Carrie only has a very small car and this
necessitates several trips to buy the food and distribute it. With the
rising cost of fuel, this is not an ideal situation. She therefore needs a
minivan. Her work touches my heart as she works tirelessly to improve
the lives of these people, meeting with council officials to enable water
and electricity supply to the homes and other basic services that we take for
granted. She has drawn no salary in all the time she has been working on
this project.
I decided to try and make a small contribution towards a
minivan fund for Carrie by doing some fundraising. When I talked
about it, Melinda generously donated this beautiful quilt to help
raise funds. I am investigating the best possible way to use the quilt to
raise the most money, so either a raffle or perhaps selling it on the
Internet.

Editor's note:
If anyone has any fundraising ideas to support Dal/Melinda's quilt please contact Dal directly. Well done both ladies!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

CONDOLENCES

Our sincere condolences to Dal, Luke and family on the passing of Dal's mother last week.

Dal has returned from South Africa and will be back at quilting next week.

We hope our friendship will help during this sad time Dal.

CHARITY QUILT 2007/2008





This quilt was designed by Betty Kerr whilst she was in our Group in Singapore. Two quilts were made by the quilting group members.

One was won by Janice at the Christmas Luncheon last year and the other will be used as a fund raiser this year.
Betty has written an explanation about the Charity quilt process which will soon appear below.


Our sincere thanks to Betty for her untiring work that has resulted in a brilliant quilt. Thank you to everyone who helped in assisting Betty in the cutting and distribution etc and everyone of our group who made their two blocks.
I'm trying to find out who to bribe to get the second charity quilt...... anyone got any idea?????

Betty's explanation of the ins and outs of this quilt.My inspiration for the 2006 charity quilt came about from a wonderful 6 day trip to Japan that Miranda organised just the month
before. We mainly went to see the Tokyo Quilt Fair plus the lovely city of
Kyoto, where I saw lots of beautiful ladies wearing kimonos.

A “Charity Quilt” committee of 5 women was formed to come up with ideas for the
quilt. Four of us went to Japan, hence the theme. I thought of the kimono
design as it was lovely, but it was not enough, so one of the others thought of
the fan design also. On returning home I started designing and sizing up
the quilt.

At the time we had 42 members in our quilting group who participated in making the two quilt tops. It was quite a task to fit that many blocks in the one quilt and then repeat it. So I came up with the idea of each member making two blocks, one of a kimono and the other of a fan,(I saw a fan quilt at the Tokyo show and had a photo of it), therefore each quilt top comprised of half the members blocks.

With each member paying $30 towards the making of the quilts, the committee provided
the backing square and the strips for the border, the members then provided
their own material for the kimono and the fan appliqués. The fan was to have a
section with the kimono material sewn on, enabling them to be kept as a pair on
the quilt top.

I proceeded to cut all the squares and strips for the members so that I knew they were all cut the same. The border of each block was done in a log cabin design, so they had to be cut correctly.

The committee then got together at my house and we packed all the cut pieces along with instructions and diagrams, bagged them up in a zip lock bag with a number from 1-42. When they were completed and returned, they would then correspond with my numbered block design.

The response to this design was wonderful. Within the first week, many members had made them already and thought it was a quick and interesting set of blocks to make,
some members even learned new techniques from it. The members had to return
their blocks in the same bag so that I could match the block placement to my
design.

I was pleased some members even enhanced their kimonos and fans with special stitching patterns which gave it their individual look.

By piecing it together I separated them with a 2” sashing, and then bordered the entire quilt with 8” of Japanese blue indigo, with the idea of stitching sashiko designs on it.

Editor’s note: You will agree that it is a stunning quilt and Betty took the whole project on board and put hours of behind the scenes work into it. AMAZINGLY at the same time Betty was completing her Award winning “Out of the Blue -Steve Irwin Died” quilt, which those of us who were on the Charity
Quilt committee were privileged to have previews of it being worked on, before it’s public launch.
Betty we all thank you for guiding us, teaching us and inspiring us..


September Show and Tell





















Elly's cow print quilt










Kathy's wedding quilt

Friday, September 12, 2008

CONDOLENCES

Our deepest felt condolences to Janice and Andrew on the passing of Andrews father earlier this week.

We send our friendship and prayers to both of you and your families.

from all the group.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Slice and Dice Batik Quilt




My Grandmother interested me in quilting when I was very young. I loved the
feeling of connectedness with women in my family through the generations. I
asked her to make me a quilt for my wedding and she did. Since then Ive repaired
old quilts and used pieces of others work to pull together quilts for my
grandchildren but this is the first Start-to Finish quilt Ive made on my own. I
found it quite challenging. I had help choosing the colors. Colors are not my
strong point. Accuracy is the key. I had to rip out some of my squares because
they were not accurate enough to end up giving me a quilt with square corners.
Its a bit odd when one side is two inches longer than the other. I wasnt happy
with the backing and spent a great deal of time pinning it so that it would come
out even.
It took a great deal of courage on my part to start each new phase
but once I started it and saw that it was going to work, I picked up speed and
confidence. Its worth doing. Im very happy with it.
Ellen Starmer, The Slice
and Dice Batik Quilt, Singapore, 2008

Courtney




Introducing little Hamish in Brisbane.
Here's Courtney holding the quilt our group made for the new baby.

Here's a group photo taken in June when we said farewell to Courtney. We gave her the lovely quilt that members of our group had made, and she was thrilled.


Next we heard she had her little baby a month early and lately we heard that mother and baby are well, though Hamish is still in hospital he's reached his birth weight. Thanks to Betty for the mum and bub photos taken in Brisbane. Betty does voluntary work in the hospital where Counrtney gave birth to Hamish.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

IN ABSENTIA DAL

Dal's mother is very sick and Dal has gone to be with her. Before leaving she sent us these photos and a heart warming story.



Our very best wishes Dal,. for your mum's speedy recovery.




It is a flannel fluffy quilt which I made for my
cousin's daughter in SA so I am taking it with me. She is a young black girl
(12) who has no parents and is being raised by an older sibling.She crept into
my cousin, Carrie's heart while she was in the area working on a project to
improve life for the people. Carrie has 'adopted' her and provides for her and
the rest of the family. They still live in their own environment but their life
is considerably improved by Carrie's involvement