Show & Tell, & Club Meeting September 2011

I hope you managed to buy some bargains from our Merchant Itch to Stitch Bernina. I know several members did. Don't worry my lips are sealed (in case any husbands read this)!! What did you think of the Go! Baby Cutter? I thought it was really cool, if you didn't get to see it, pop into Bernina and check it out. Also while you are there remember to enter the contest that Cushla announced. It is exclusive to WP&Q Club members, and closes on the 6th of October.

Go! Baby.

It was only a small Show and Tell this time which worked out good, because we had less space to hang quilts with Bernina at one end of the gym, and the schools tiered seating taking up a fair bit of space at the other end of the gym. So just the perfect amount of Show and Tell actually  :-)                                

The first four quilts are club charity quilts, so have a look and see if you can see the blocks you made.Two members Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen have quilted these next four quilts for the club to donate. Thank you  both very much for your time, thread, skills etc. It is appreciated

club charity quilt quilted by Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen

club charity quilt quilted by Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen

club charity quilt quilted by Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen

club charity quilt quilted by Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen

Home Sweet Home, made by Pam Carr. It's a row by row quilt. Hand appliqued and hand quilted.
The quilting is beautiful,  I especially like the echo quilting on the cream background.

This quilt is made by Maureen Gray, she said it is made using some of her hexagons,
 but she still has plenty more!

ABC Quilt made by Helen Barron. 
Helen has made this for a friend to have at her house, for when the grandchildren come to stay.
 Helen said she has too many to make individual quilts for them!

Angels at Christmas by Pam Carr.
It's an 'older project' found at the back of her cupboard when she recently moved house!
Ready for Christmas now  :-)

Poppies by Gaylyn Barclay.
 Gaylyn started this in a workshop with tutor Caroline Sharkey earlier this year.

Now these two bags were made by mother and daughter  Gaye Miller & Jessica Fraser. Gaye simplified a pattern from a recent Homespun magazine so she could teach it to girls from Kamo Girls Brigade.

Now I think this one is Jessica's Bag (she helped her Mum teach the class)

And this I think this bag is Gaye's.
 (Gaye let me know if I have got that wrong, so I can correct it!)

Gaye has been busy! She has also made these cushions
 for a friend who is leaving on a exchange for a year  to Canada. 

Dorothy Terpstra made these Doves from a Patchwork & Stitching Magazine.
They are a gift for  a friend.

Dorothy also made a beautiful set of Placemats for herself using a great Coffee Themed fabric. They were really nice and I'd like to have taken them home! But sorry I forgot to take a photo of them. 

I hope you enjoyed the meeting last Saturday. If you are looking for the video of hand basting that Lynne and I demo'ed at club, I posted it a couple of days ago click here to go to that post.

Poroti Quilting

My Friend Sandy Robinson (& WP&Q club member too), has a great longarm quilting business, Poroti Quilting. Many WP&Q club members have enjoyed using Sandy's services, with great results. 
I thought I'd let you all know that Sandy has recently set up a website for her business.
It's packed with a lot of information, a slideshow of quilts she has quilted & more.  
Click on the picture or  any of these links, to go to her website.


PS I've added her link under Great Northland Merchants (right hand side of blog) in case you forget to bookmark her site!

Hand Basting

Hi everyone there is Sharon Schamber's video of Hand Basting a quilt using wooden boards. (Sharon has many videos on youtube, if you click on her name above if you want to go to her other videos too.)

This is the method Lynne and I demo'ed yesterday at Quilt Club. NB I have done this a few times now and haven't starched the backing fabric like Sharon recommends, but it has still worked out fine. Also I have used ordinary thread too. What you use is up to you. I do think the key is the zig zag stitching so make sure you do that! 

Lynne and I also used spoons to help us bring the needle up through the fabric and save our fingers. A lot of members had not seen this before, and really liked it. It is an old trick I learnt years ago, I can't even remember where I learnt this! Obviously don't use your best spoons for this as they will get scratched, but it does make it easier on your fingers.

If you are doing this on a table you don't want scratched by your needle, put a piece of card board, or your cutting mat (upside down) underneath the backing fabric to protect your table.

This a great method as you can do this by yourself, with no crawling around the floor and getting sore knees and back. So go and look in the garage or shed and steel your husbands wooden boards or visit Mitre 10 or Bunnings and buy your own.

 TIP if you are buying your own boards look down them from the end to make sure they aren't 'curved', you want nice flat straight boards

Jacqui Karl Layered Leaves Workshop

Jacqui Karl's class last weekend was a great success. I was an 'Angel' on the second day of the class, and all the ladies taking the class were buzzing.

Jacqui is a great tutor and everyone learnt new techniques and had a great time. I'm sure we will have Jacqui to tutor again, hopefully she can stay longer next time.

I'm pleased to say she remembered me from years ago when I used to live in the Hawkes Bay, and she worked at the Cloth Shop. (I must have been the annoying customer that stayed in her mind!) or maybe it was 'cause I liked a natter when I was at the shop.  :-)

Anyway check out her lovely class samples, below

This is one of Jacqui's samples

close up detail

Another of Jacqui's samples (this has two types of 3D leaves and berries too)

close up detail- I love the 3D leaves and bead work.

Everyone was really hard at work, but enjoying themselves. They got a lot done in class so we may even see some finished for Club day on Saturday.

everyone with their heads down working hard.

layering the organza to make the fabric for the flowers.

this was kind of like doing a jigsaw or tetris.

sealing/cutting out the flowers with a soldering iron. 
(the organza is fused to other side of the black felt)

Here's a few photos of the work around the class, I can't remember who's is whose, but you can see there was a lot of great work. I look forward to seeing all the wall hangings as they come to club for show n tell.