April 20th, 2010

Val, Jennifer, Carole and Kate sat and sewed. We wished Emma's back a quick magical cure and hoped Pixie enjoyed the special ballet evening.

At our March meeting, Carole was worried about the non arrival of her first order from Hancocks. Turns out the package was doing a Grand European tour!. It went to Austria, Zurich and London and took more than three weeks to make it to Melbourne.

Jennifer is really on the home straight with her Floral Flourish quilt - sewing on the hanging sleeve.

Carole takes the prize for optimism. She suggested don't worry if you prick your finger and get blood on your quilt. If the quilt is ever stolen, your DNA will allow positive identification.

And now for a few photographs. This month I used my new Canon G11 instead of lugging the heavy bulky Nikon to the gathering and I will be interested to see how the quality compares.

Carole has been experimenting with thread painting. The background is a photo of Lavatera flowers from her garden.

 Another piece from Carole - A Tuscan village - absolutely gorgeous colours.

Last month, Barbara was knitting hammocks for rats. This month the spoilt animal is Carole's daughter's dog. Its quilt is made of one inch squares and Carole was using it to practise free motion quilting.

 Val was binding a Gift Quilt for P's and Q's.

 Kate (thanks to Jennifer R for piecing 9 blocks) had assembled the Bedford Mystery quilt. Actually two kits each of nine blocks and 2 extra blocks to make a quilt of 5 x 4 blocks. It is truly scrappy!

March 16th, 2010

Already the nights are drawing in and it was a beautiful sunset as we arrived. The photographers had filled the Car Park, but then disappeared leaving the door locked. We had to wait until Emma arrived with the code  (Teach me to transfer EVERYTHING when I change handbags.) 

There were seven of us, Emma, Evie, Esther,Carole, Barb, Jennifer and Kate. Evie didn't have any interesting library books this month, but Esther brought along - Birds and Roses, Quilters Companion and American Quilt, so no shortage of reading material. After paying our annual dues we got down to the serious chat, which shall remain unreported. Why don't you come next month to join the conversation or the sewing.

Show and Tell started with Esther showing us the centre block for her new BOM. The first block will be available soon. It is a bed size quilt and is a mixture of piecing and applique. Judging by what we saw, it will be stunning, i.e. up to Esther's usual standard! So watch Esther's Blog:- 

http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.com/

Below are the photos and comments about this month's Show and Tell. Remember you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

This was February's meeting. Thanks to Del for the picture.

Suffolk Puff caterpillar quilt for Emma's niece. The baby's Mum wore a fabuluous.Suffolk Puff wedding dress (made by Emma) so of course the theme is being continued.

Carole concentrates and Barb knits a hammock for two rats. I hope it is finished in time for the rats to enjoy the lovely autumn days.

Tea Party quilt for the 60th birthday of Emma's surrogate aunt. The 60 guests each made a teacup block - remarkable they could all sew!

Detail showing the D cups

And here is the demi tasse or coffee cup.

Emma shows off Block No 1 - A partridge in a Pear Tree -  from a 12 Days of Christmas kit. The ornaments are felt. The kit includes the sequins and other details and precise instructions for its assembly. It is lovely but a lot of handwork.

Jennifer brought along her blue tumbling blocks. The quilt was finished in 8 hours which is rather different from Jennifer's usual quilts. Jennifer is inclined to think the border needs some embellishment but the concensus on Tuesday night was that it looked good plain.

Emma, Evie and Esther pose for the camera

Last and least I was frantically sewing a skirt and top to wear to a wedding. I did finish it in time and here  is the proof.

February 16th, 2010

On Tuesday nine of us gathered. Although it was a warm evening, the overhead fans kept our high ceilinged room pleasantly cool and we agreed air conditioning was unnecessary.  

We welcomed two visitors, Del from Bathurst and her sister Liz and hope they will come again.
Also present were Candice, Carole, Jennifer, Emma, Esther, Evie and Kate.

The Photography Group were in the other room as they have now accepted our right to the room with adequate lighting and presented us with a box of chocolates as a peace offering for previous misunderstandings.

The usual pleasant evening, sewing and chatting and once again Evie brought a new book from her library for our inspection.

Annabelle, Esther's daughter made a delicious Banana cake which we enjoyed. Here is the recipe - thankyou,

BANANA CAKE

 

pre-heat Oven: 175 C
Bake time 35-45 mins (until skewer comes out clean)
Greased cake tin (bundt tins work best as they bake through the middle)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract and / or fresh lemon zest

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3-4 mashed ripe bananas

Method:
Prepare all ingredients.

Cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla with a beater on medium speed.

Continue beating and add mashed banana until incorporated.
Add flour and butter milk alternatively until all beaten in.
Fold through chopped nuts.

Bake for 35- 45 minutes until skewer comes clean. When done, remove from oven and cover cake tin with a flat plate or
dish to prevent drying out.

Dust with icing sugar or drizzle with icing sugar (1 cup icing sugar to 1/4 lemon juice mixed until smooth)

 

Peace Chocolates from the Photographers

Below are the works in progress from our Show and Tell

 

  

 Mt Egmont block from Liz's Postcards from New Zealand quilt

 

Another of Liz's New Zealand postcards.

Carole's hand appliqued baby quilt featuring delightful animal faces.

Emma's Sassy handbag

Jennifer with her Unchained Butterflies.

Candice's Sudoku - a 9 patch, 9 patch. It is made with 9 oriental fabrics, but as the colours are similar it is a little difficult to distinguish in the photograph.

January 19th, 2010

There were eight of us at the first meeting for 2010, including two new faces. Rather than ramble on I will just post the Show and Tell Quilts. In future, I can see I need to take notes as by the time I came to post the report of this meeting my recollections were pretty hazy! So I will just apologise for the vague descriptions.

Candice and her green fairies

Emma's chocolate Box of Chocolates top. We all thought Desley would approve of this quilt!

Emma's Christmas Angels

Detail from Christmas Angels

Another detail from Christmas Angels

Emma'a afternoon tea quilt mad for the 60th birthday of a lady who has a collection of lovely cups and saucers.

The label of the afternoon tea cloth.

Emma' 3D Tree

Evie's enormous quilt. The accent blue just lifts the whole quilt so much.

Esther's Red Delicious cushion featuring flowers and cherries from Red Delicious.

December 15th, 2009

This was our final meeting for 2009 and as is traditional we celebrated Christmas - lots of yummy food and interesting Kris Kringles. Also we did not clash with Rotary which was a great relief.

Emma chooses a Kris Kringle watched by Annie and Di.

Carole and Val managing to do a few stitches.

Emma sorts out the accounts and Jennifer smiles for the camera.

Jennifer, Shelley and Barb

Pixie and Carole

Val sewing, Di and Annie relaxing.

The stable door backing of Matilda's Peppermint Ponies Quilt.

 Detail of the quilting on the stable doors. If you peer closely at the large version of this photo, you might make out a hoof or two near the centre and a head in the top left corner.

Jennifer with her version of a Caryl Bryer Fallert design.

Detail of the quilting. Jennifer is very proud of the way the line of the swan's neck follows the line of the feathers.

 Another detail showing Jennifer's beautiful quilting. This time on her Iris quilt.

Sorry Jennifer, I don't remember the name, but the border is Jinny Beyer fabric.

Jennifer's Mariner's Compass

 Jennifer's version of Ramona's Carrum Downs Mystery quilt.

Carole's Bosnaville

 A detail of some of the really cute houses.