Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Togetherness


If you take ten quilters and put them in a room with 200 hexagons would:
a) they come up with the perfect quilt
b) the hexies get moved around so much that they end up in their original positions or
c) both of the above.
I'll leave mathematical quandaries to Cathy and Elizabeth. I just think the result is purdy!
We've all really enjoyed contributing to this quilt and Vicki has discovered that no two quilters can make the same size hexagon! Hopefully, it will all come out in the wash. No...I don't mean...you know what I mean.
So now, the simple task of putting it all together. May the force be with you Vicki.

What else is happening...










Christina brought in this wonderful Christmas quilt. The details were exquisite and the uneven border gave it some quirkiness.



Marg is working on this lovely hand appliqué. It was to be a cushion but she is enjoying it so much it may just become part of a larger quilt. She's pretty nifty with the needle, so it won't take her long.
Sandy has been working on this sophisticated quilt for a year, but has a July deadline. Sew like the wind Sandy.  There will be 4 similar blocks using Trapunto - mmm, of course. For those of us who are still grappling with the technicalities of quilting, me for one (bet they didn't know that when they let me loose on the blog) 'trapunto'  is Italian for 'to embroider' but is also known as the 'stuffed technique'...   Seriously.  Sounds like a technique you could never get wrong! Anyhoo, you can either use an extra layer or 2 under your appliqué , or you can slit the underside and add in padding later on, to produce a raised surface effect.

And now for something completely different...

A handy hint from Angeles.
The 20 kgs luggage limit on many airlines is roughly equal to 120yards (109 metres) of fabric. This was useful information for some of our members who travelled to Bali on a fabric buying spree. The fabric merchant offered to weigh their luggage for them as a value added service! How thoughtful of him!

Bye for now


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Works in Progress

Hi everyone, thought we'd have a look at what some of our members are working on at the moment.











Mel is hand quilting this pretty lap size quilt. The colours look so fresh.




Chris is enjoying playing around with the Joel
Dewberry Heirloom range of fabrics. 
















Roslyn is adding final touches to her Chinese lantern quilt. To tassel or not on a bed quilt? I say yes! Love tassels.
























Will take a photo that does this quilt justice when it's finished






Rhonda's Quilts.


A new member of our group (welcome!) showed us some of her quilts












Love the colours and details. Use your zoom for a good look!






And now for something completely different...


The topic today turned to the dilemmas of sitting in one position for a long time while we hand or machine sew, (some of us seem to lose all track of time!). Quilter's back, quilter's shoulder and quilter's wrist were mentioned, as was 'upper thoracic syndrome' (now that sounds impressive). We discussed the need for warm up exercises and regular breaks and some people shared some good stretches with the group.





1. Place hands in front of you. Rotate like so (only as far as comfortable). Shoulders back. Arms straight and lean back a little. Aaagh, relaxing.










2. This time place tops of hands on the table. shoulders back, arms straight and lean forward a little. 






If you are having real problems with wrists, arms, shoulders, backs etc its probably safer to see a doctor first.  If anyone has other tips, please share them with us so we can quilt on into old age! 


Bye for now...
                





Friday, March 9, 2012

We're Back!


After a long break for Christmas holidays, ANZA Quilters returned to the Dutch Club with lots of new ideas and plans for the New Year...


Alison, after serving the group for so long and so well, asked for volunteers to take over many   of her activities. Surprisingly, for a large group, almost everyone offered to help in some way. Many hands make light, so we now have different people co-ordinating several projects, such as farewell quilts, fabric swaps, charity quilts, show and tell and of course, this blog! It sounds busy but it's actually casual and fun.




Some of our members recently attended a Dijanne Cevaal workshop in Singapore and brought back some great samples of free motion quilting and embellishing. Sorry about the lack of photos. I promise better images in the future.






And, finally, here is a snapshot of some of the hexagons we are preparing for Vicki's charity quilt to raise money for breast cancer research. It promises to be beautiful, with pinks, reds and greens as the dominant colours. It's great for us to learn new skills (e.g.  leave the hexagons in 2 halves to allow for easier construction) as well as help a worthy cause. 
Will post details of where to buy tickets at a later date. 


Bye for now.