Busy, Busy August

We've had a busy month.
The committee have been putting the final touches to organising our October Quilt In.  
Although our evening gathering for August was down on numbers it was great to see a couple of members we hadn't seen in a while.   Great progress is being made by the Salinda Girls on their quilt blocks along with the progress on our latest group project.

This month there were even a few finished quilts at show and tell.

While other ladies were still working on their hexagons both large and small.

We had a Trade Table sewing day although low on numbers in attendance the ladies had a great day and managed to get over 60 items made which included bags, tool wraps, bowl holders, oven mitts and plenty of pin cushions.  Some of the ladies even took items home to finish off.

Our One Block Wonder workshop proved very popular.  The ladies were taught how to cut and construct the blocks and were given plenty of ideas on how go about creating their finished quilts.
The range of fabrics they brought along were amazing and the blocks they created were wonderful.  We are looking forward to seeing the finished quilts over the coming months.


For more photos from our workshop check out our Flikr site.

Almost August ... where has the time gone?

Wow.... July has flown by.... it has been bitterly cold and foggy in July.  But despite the cold the ladies ventured out and were treated with some Christmas yummies at our gatherings to celebrate Christmas in July.

It was great to see the great turnouts at the gatherings in July despite the cold and the ladies have continued to churn out some great work, with fantastic progress on group projects.

Our committee is making great progress on organising our October Quilt In with three traders locked in.   They hope to have the speakers locked in shortly. The challenge has been received with great enthusiasm so we hope to see a wall of mug rugs to vote on.   So watch this space for more information.

Coming up in August we have:

Trade Table Sewing Day : Sunday 17th at 10am    

Night Gathering : Wednesday, 20th at 7pm

Karin  & Annika  - One Block Wonder : Saturday 23rd at  9:30am 
(Class is full)

Day Gathering : Tuesday, 26th at 9am

Congratulations to Maree and Dellareece

Congratulations to all of our members who entered a quilt or quilts into the Vic Quilters Show at Jeff's shed this week, it was great to see the quilts by Kilmore Quilters in the show, we were well represented in a number of styles. 
A special congratulations to Maree for her win in the Miniature quilts section

Dellareece's Rainbow Stars

 and Dellareece for her first ever prize, her quilt was in the secondary school section.

For more pictures of quilts entered by our members in the show click here to have a look at our facebook page.

Almost the end of June already !

It's almost the end of June, we are at our half way point of the year, it is the darkest and coldest time of year for us and it's time for the Melbourne Craft and Quilt fair !   A few of our members will be exhibiting quilts at the show this year... good luck to those ladies who have entered their quilts for judging.

Our group has been very busy so far this year.  We've had several exciting workshops from which we've seen some wonderful work, we've had a fantastic retreat which was very much enjoyed by those who attended.

Some of the ladies were very productive at the retreat as we saw at our last gathering as they took the opportunity to show of their finished work.

Kris's log cabin quilt

Rhonda's scrappy jungle quilt

Alisons bow tie quilt

One of the ladies even finished her Bow tie quilt, which was the block we were taught at the retreat.

While many of us will be doing this one by machine there are some who will be doing it by hand.

This month a small group of ladies attended a workshop held by one of our members in which they learnt the art of fabric weaving.



I was told that this was one of the quieter workshops we've held as there was a lot of concentration required for this technique.

This is a wonderful way to use up some of your stash or the perfect excuse to shop for more fabrics.  




For more photos from our gatherings,workshops, events or even the retreat grab a cuppa and browse through our flikr site.

Retreat 2014

This May we had a wonderful weekend away at the Alpine Ash Retreat in Toolangi. 

37 women from our group attended the retreat over a period of four days. This was the first time we had been to Toolangi and for some it was the first time that they had attended one of our retreats.  We had a wonderful large room to sew in, complete with great lighting, big windows and a wonderfully warm window.  The ladies were very pleased with our new choice of venue, so much so we have already made a booking for next year.

The location was remote which meant we didn't get to spend a lot of money at a quilt shop or at the local businesses, however it did mean we got A LOT of sewing done.  On friday night Andrea taught us how to make bow tie blocks which had a lot of us take up the challenge, while others got on with completing UFOs, charity quilts and the various group projects they had signed up for.

This didn't mean that there was nothing else to do as some of the ladies went to the CJ Denis Singing Gardens, while a couple of us took advantage of the local trails and went bush walking, others ducked into nearby Yarra Glen for a spot of shopping. 




We also had a visit from Anna's Patchwork Quilt shop, kindly arranged by the committee.

Sergei was our special guest at the retreat.  He had quite the adventure, first he was kidnapped and held for ransom and then in revenge he started pilfering objects such as cough drops and scissors.  He even ate all of Maureen's Cheezels.  I wonder who will join us next year ?

For more photos visit our Flikr Page

It's May already - Retreat Time !

Haven't the months flown by.   April was a quiet month for us.  The weather has turned, Easter is over, school holidays are now over, we now get to look forward to our Retreat and the upcoming workshops.

Jude  - Machine Quilting: Saturday 3rd May at 9:30am 

Retreat: Thursday 15th -  Sunday 18th  For more information about the retreat click here.

Night Gathering : Wednesday, 21st at 7pm    This gathering is our AGM

Day Gathering : Tuesday, 27th at 9am

In April our group members moved on with their Salinda "Nearly Insane" quilts with another four blocks and another four blocks in the Honour Quilt.  The ladies are making great progress.

Joan brought along an old quilt top which has been sitting in her cupboard uncompleted for several years.

I think we managed to convince her to complete it as it was lovely.










Maryanne showed us a quilt she had started at our last sit n sew, it came together very quickly.

Sue showed us a mystery quilt from Patchwork and Quilting she has recently finished.

It's April Already !

What are we up to in April ?

No classes - but we have a Pizza Night Sit n Sew and there are at least two wonderful shows to attend

Pizza Night Sit n Sew: Friday 4th at 6pm

5th & 6th April AQA Members’ Exhibition
Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
With the first public viewing of Elizabeth’s Legacy Quilt Project
Enquiries: 98734371 or www.australianquiltersassociation.com

10th - 13th April Australasian Quilt Convention
Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens
10am - 4:30pm daily
Adults $17, Seniors $15
Buy tickets at the door or online at www.aqc.com.au (before April 8)

Night Gathering : Wednesday, 16th at 7pm

Day Gathering : Tuesday, 22nd at 9am

March proved to be a great month for Show and Tell, with the ladies who were doing the Dutch Treat Quilt showing off their very close to finished quilt tops, among the other show and tell we had, we saw an example of the handquilting the ladies learned in the workshop they had earlier in March and got a sneak peek at what can be achieved out of the One Block Wonder workshop we will be holding later in the year.

Alisons Quilt

Robyn on the left and Wendy on the Right

Jude on the left and Robyn on the right

One Block wonder - this is our July workshop

Liz's work from our Handquilting workshop

Jenny's mystery quilt

Jodie's Bargello