Starship Quilts

These special quilts were part of Show n Tell last Saturday at Club. They have been made for Starship Childrens' Hospital in Auckland. They were a team effort between Jeanne Ody & Pamela Danher.

Jeanne loves machine embroidery, and made the embroidered panels, and then Pamela made them into quilts.
 

Animals in PJ's! They are so cute. Close up's below of the Cow & Koala  






Farm Animals on this one, close up below of one of the panels. It looks like the bee is singing!




Love this one. Do you think the cow on the tractor or the Monkey on the Banana will win the race?
I'm backing the Monkey below.



I'm sure these quilts will be well loved by a child at Starship. Thanks Pamela & Jeanne for sharing them with us at Club first.

Interesting Emails!

Today I had a lovely email from John Nielsen (fabulous longarm quilter) he has just finished quilting several 'Pike River Heart Quilts' and he sent me a photo of a quilt with one of my hearts in it. There were over 8000 blocks from all around the world, and a lot of completed quilts donated to Pike River, after these are distributed, any excess quilts are going to Christchurch.

You can see more quilts for Pike River in Shirley Goodwin's Blog under the Archives, for Nov, Dec & Jan or click on these links below.

November 2010, December 2010, January 2011

_______________________

Then I had a few emails from people saying they really liked one of my quilts in the Gallery of The Quilt Show. I thought that's a bit of a coincidence, so I visited The Quilt Shows blog and they are featuring one of my quilts!

Check it out using this link. http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php (scroll down to 6 march)

The Gallery on The Quilt Show site is worth a look it has 16,863 quilts on it. Just make a cup of Tea first! http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/quilt_gallery.php

Charity Block for the February Meeting

OK, I don't feel like sewing in this lovely weather but some of you do, and have asked for info on making the Charity Block.

It's a Disappearing Four Patch, you start with four 5 inch squares, 1 red, 1 blue and 2 cream. Sew them together into a four patch as above.

Then sub cut it one and a half inches (1& 1/2) away from the centre seams.

It is easiest to cut once vertically, then once horizontally. Then carefully turn the cutting board around (without moving the fabric) to make the last two cuts. NB: I have moved the units apart so you can see where I have cut, but you won't move the fabric till all the cuts are made.

Then you swap the rectangle units around and sew your block together.

Ta Da! This is how it looks finished, make as many as you like and bring to the February Meeting.

Update for Hearts

Sorry no posts in a while, I have been busy with end of year stuff at work, so have come home tired! I have been doing quilty things too, but stuff I can't show here, like Christmas Challenge for Club Meeting. I have made more hearts also for Pike Piver Mine families, these ones are going out to The Country Yard. Kerryn has kindly donated batting and backing so they can be made into quilts and sent down completed for Shirley to distribute. Kerryn, Leeanne and Raewyn are quilt making machines! If you want to make some more hearts or you haven't posted them yet, bring them to the club meeting. We will take them out to The Country Yard for you. Shirley has been a bit overwhelmed with the response she has had, so if we can get them made into quilts first it will be a big help.

Check out Shirley Goodwins blog and you can see some of the quilts she has put together already for the families. 

Pike River Mine Tragedy

The whole Country is mourning the loss of 29 Miners from Pike River Mine. We were all hoping for a miracle but it was not to be. 

If you haven't heard about it go here to read about it. Pike River Mine.

If you would like to do something to help, you can. Below is a letter from Shirley Goodwin who is co-ordinating the making of quilts for the Miners families. 

Dear quilting friends,

You may be aware that New Zealand has suffered a major mining disaster at Pike River mine on the west coast of the South Island, resulting in the deaths of 29 miners. Many of these miners had young families. One was soon to be a father. Like many New Zealanders, I am sharing the pain of the families of the miners. And like many, I have thought about what I could do to help.

I am part of Kiwiquilters, an email group for New Zealand quilters. We have a tradition, as do other quilting groups, of making Healing Hearts quilts for members and their families or friends who are suffering personal tragedy or serious illness. I have asked the group, and other quilting groups around the country, to contribute heart blocks to make into quilts for the miner’s families, and I will assemble and co-ordinate these.

Please consider making a block or several blocks for this cause. It doesn't matter that you don't know the people involved - neither do I. The love and support from strangers that is embodied in these quilts is something tangible that the families can get comfort from for years.

Shirley Goodwin

Here are the block details if you want to make some:-

- - Cream background – calico is fine

- - 6 ½” unfinished size (so they will be 6” finished)

- - Pieced or appliquéd heart or hearts

- - Any colours or patterns for the hearts. Some of the quilts will be for children, so children’s fabrics are fine too.

Send Blocks to:
Shirley Goodwin
51 Charles St
Rangiora 7400
New Zealand

She is also happy to receive any quilt tops or completed quilts too, so check out Shirley's Blog as she is updating it with more details all the time.

PS: I think its nice to sign the blocks with a name and town (country if not from NZ) so the families can see people from all over the country & world are thinking of them.

Charity Block for December Meeting

The block to make this month is a Diamond in a Square. Make as many as you like and bring to the Xmas Meeting.

Cut a 6-7/8 (six and seven eighths) inch square in a dark blue fabric. And cut two, 5-1/2 (five and a half) inch squares in light blue.

Cut the light blue squares in half on the diagonal.

I laid two of the light blue triangles on opposite sides of the dark blue square, right sides together. (To get them in the right place I folded them in half and finger pressed them to find the centres, then pinned them together on that finger pressed mark).

Then I sewed down the long side of both light blue triangles.

NB: The light blue triangles will hang over the end on the dark blue square. (see photo above)

Okay if you didn't understand that ramble, I hope you can see what happened in the photo above. After I have sewn the two triangles onto the square, I have folded them back and finger pressed the seams. (seam is pressed towards the light fabric)

Then I find my centres again on the other sides of the dark square, and the centres of the long sides of the last two light blue triangles. I put a pin through the centres, and sewed these last two seams.

Then I folded back the triangles and pressed the finished block. Don't trim your blocks, in case they need any tweaking later when we put the charity quilts together.

This is the 'plan' for the blocks you are making. We're going to put them together with the nine patch blocks we made in October.

Charity Block for the November Meeting

Hi everyone this is the Charity Block to make for the November Meeting. Its a Snowball, cut an 8 inch Square of a Floral Fabric for the base and the cut four, 3 inch Green Squares for the corners. (Please use the SAME green fabric for all 4 corners)

Place the green squares on the corners of the floral square (right sides together). Then sew diagonally from corner to corner of green square as shown above.

Then fold back the green fabric (don't trim away the underneath fabrics, leave them there in case we have to do some reverse stitching when the quilts are made).

Press the corner down, repeat for the other three corners, block done! Super easy, super quick, make as many as you like.

The instructions will be in the Newsletter too, to remind you if you forget. :-)

Club Charity Blocks

Last month at club we started making blocks to put aside to make Charity Quilts. The block to make and bring for the October meeting is a Nine Patch. Make in any shades of blue, with darker blue in the corners. Cut your squares 3 and 1/2 inches. Make as many as you like.

Here's a photo of Oscar looking after a couple I have made.

September Meeting and Show n Tell

This incredible quilt was made by Sandy Robinson for hers son Jeff's 21st Birthday. Sandy had friends and family write messages and advice for Jeff on fabric and then made up the quilt with photos of Jeff. My favorite message was 'Think like you have a brain, Run like you have diarrhoea, Tell no one!'

Everyone was impressed with the intensity of colour in the photos. Sandy had them put on fabric at Copy World. The photos have a rubber like texture to them, and this process is usually used on tee shirts.

Log Cabin quilt made by Rikki Going. These colours always look stunning together. Rikki used really interesting fabric there's skulls, bones roses, ferns and heaps more. Rikki's keeping this one for herself.

Donna Farmer made this sleeve for her husband's laptop. Its made out of old ties.

Kaye O'Hagan made this quilt for her 17th (!) grandchild. Kaye designed the quilt herself, she started with the animals and then went from there.

'Colours of the Outback' by Robin Halverson. A design by Caroline Sharkey from a recent 'Quilters Companion' magazine.

'Bow Tie Bears' made by Helen Barron for Hospice to sell.

Made by Yvonne Davies for 'Starship' (National Children's Hospital). It's backed with candlewick fabric to make it cosy.

These two are also by Yvonne for Starship.

This machine stitched lace was made by Petra Pilkington, using wash away, gold paint and beads.

The start of a table runner by Ross Baker. Made in Kerry Glen's class 'Circulation'.

Reversible fat quarter apron made by Sue Farrier. It was made for a lady who demonstrates cupcake decorating.

'Sunshine and Butterflies' By Lynn Watkins, quilted by Sally Smith from Warkworth

Here's Lynn Watkins (right) demonstrating how to braid bag handles to Sue Farrier (left).

Lynn's using an old CD to do this. It reminded me of the 'french knitting' that I used to do as a kid with an old wooden cotton reel. The handles of the bag in the photo below are made from the braid.

It was also 'suitcase sale' at club yesterday. Members bring items to sell. Here we have members busy filling bags with buttons. A bargain a $1 a bag.