Spring has almost sprung......

Well at least the plum trees think spring is almost here ..... most of them have started to blossom here in the valley where I'm writing this blog.  But it just doesn't feel like spring quite yet.  On most mornings and especially in the evenings it is still bitterly cold in our corner of the world.

However, that has not stopped our enthusiasm and our quest to churn out our quilts.

The quilt show is not far off now, our members are busy creating bits and bobs for the trade table,finishing off quilts ready for display and hopefully working on our challenge entries.




These gorgeous dolls will be available at our Trade Table if you are quick.  As will these Pedal Mats.

August was a quiet month however, a small group of ladies took on a workshop to learn Gillian Marshall's method for foundation piecing taught by Maureen from Rochester's Quilting Patch.

Sue C is continuing on with her stitchery

This class challenged a few of the ladies in choosing colours and using more fabric than they desired.  But all in all they thoroughly enjoyed the class.

There was plenty of show and tell, with a great turnout to both the evening and the day gatherings.    Some of the ladies have started their La Pascaglia quilts, while others were nearing the end of their Nearly Insane journey.

We were also shown some completed UFO's and some great progress made on stitcheries.

Wendy's Nearly Insane Blocks

Wendy has started La Pascaglia

  For more photos from our gatherings or classes have a look through our Flikr site

Jubilant July

What a busy month it has been for the ladies here at Kilmore Quilters.  

The month started out with a great little Mystery Quilt Workshop run by Rhonda Coates.  There was plenty of homework for the ladies prior to the workshop with lots of HSTs to prepare.  As the day progressed the quilt started to reveal itself, proving to once again be a quilt well worth doing.

Top ready for borders

Great progress was made by those who did their preparation

Despite the bitter cold we are currently experiencing there was a great turnout to both gatherings this month with plenty of show and tell on offer.  



Perhaps due to the colder weather or just because it's fun some of the ladies have even picked up their crotchet needles.  This particular pattern is easy and fun to do.


For more photos from our July Gatherings go to our Flikr page.

Then there was the Vic Quilters Showcase at Jeffs Shed.  It was wonderful to see the Honour Quilts hanging there along with several entries by some of our members.  Along with some award winning Quilts by Wendy and Dellareece - for more information read our previous blog entry.

Jenny's Star of the Galaxy

Wendy's Rotherfield Greys Quilt

Fay's Honour Quilt

Raffle Tickets are now available for our Raffle Quilts - contact one of our members for a ticket if you would like a chance to win one of these wonderful quilts.  The Raffle will be drawn at our Quilt Show which is on the 10th & 11th of October.  For more information go to our Upcoming Events page.

First Prize

Second Prize

Congratulations to our ladies on their wins at Vic Quilters Showcase 2015

What magnificent quilts there were on show at Vic Quilters this weekend.   Amongst those quilts were entries by some of the ladies from Kilmore Quilters.  Congratulations to you all on your wonderful entries and a big hurrah to Dellareece, Wendy and Jenny on your wins.

Wendy's Dutch Treat

Wendy entered her Dutch Treat quilt in the Mainly Appliqué two person category.  She won first prize in this category (so in turn was also a win for Jenny for her Quilting work), Wendy also won the Excellence in Hand Appliqué award for the same quilt. 

Dellareece with her Honour Quilt

Dellareece is the youngest member of Kilmore Quilters.  Her quilt was entered in the Secondary School category at the show.  She won Runner up Secondary School Section AND the Bernina Student Encouragement Award winning a Bernina sewing machine!

Well done to all three ladies on your wins.  We are all very proud of you.

We were also very proud as a group to be one of the Profile groups at the show.  This gave us the opportunity to display a selection of the Honour Quilts.  There were fifteen quilts on show, which looked fantastic all hanging there together.  Despite each quilt containing the same blocks the approach taken in choice of colours, sashings, layouts and borders differed reflecting the personality of the quilter and the approach they took to creating the quilts.  These quilts along with the stories of the soldiers represented and the names on some of the quilts moved some of the viewers with plenty of wonderful feedback received by those representatives of Kilmore Quilters at the show.

Dianne's Quilt

To see more of our Honour Quilts, grab a cuppa and have a look at our Honour Quilt Flikr Album.

Chilly June

Winter is certainly upon us now.  The colder weather is certainly a wonderful excuse to dig out some hand sewing, knitting or crotchet and sit by the fire or heater.  Even better is having a quilt to hand bind, something to keep you warm while you are working.

Our quilt show is getting closer now, only three and half months left.  We usually have approximately 100 quilts to display in our show, along with our Challenge Quilts all of which can be voted on by the public.

First Prize Quilt

Second Prize Quilt

This year we once again have two wonderful quilts to win in our raffle.

Both quilts have been made by our members as a group effort.

Our First Prize Quilt is Corliss' Antique Applique Sampler

Our Second Prize quilt is a disappearing hour glass block from Missouri Star Quilt Company in Kaffe Fassett Fabrics.

Raffle tickets are currently available for purchase from our members.


For further information about our quilt show keep an eye on the Upcoming Events section of our Blog or on our Facebook Page

We are also very delighted to have been accepted as the Profile group of 2015 at the Victorian Quilters Show at Jeffs Shed.  We will be exhibiting 16 of our Honour Quilts at the Exhibition.

This month at our Sit n Sew we introduced a junior sewing session as an experiment.... which proved quite successful.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed the session and went home with completed placemat sized quilted mats.

For photos from our June Day gathering  or our Sit n Sew visit our Flikr page.

Marvelous May

It's been a very busy May for many of our group.

We started out with a fantastic two day workshop run by Fay Winthers.  This workshop was called Fireworks.  During the workshop the ladies who attended learnt how to design and create their own foundation pieced blocks.   Can't wait to see the finished quilts ladies.

Our AGM was held in the middle of the month with a small change in committee.  The wonderful Wendy has now taken a well deserved retirement from the committee.  She has served us very well during her many years on the committee in a variety of roles.   We welcomed Kris onto the committee, she will certainly bring with her some fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

Our wonderful committee spent the early part of the month preparing for our retreat.  They did a stellar job, a great time was had by all who attended.

Bridget's Rutherfield

Maureen's quilt as you go

We were well fed, for the most we managed to keep nice and warm and all of us managed to get a serious amount of work done.   Some of the ladies even ventured out for some bush walking and fortunately managed to find their way home.

Jo's Tablerunner

All in all the atmosphere was friendly, sharing and full of laughs, I'm sure many will return next year.


For more photos from the retreat, click here to visit our Flikr account.  You do not need an account or password to view our photos.  You can either scroll through out Photostream or click on the tab labled Albums to see the photos in their respective albums  eg. workshop albums, retreat albums or Quilt Show albums.

Annika learns to crochet.

Honour Quilts

March was a busy month, but April has just flown by!  With the school holidays, Easter, multiple quilt shows to attend, along with some extraordinary exhibitions there just isn't enough time - not to mention the UFO's piling up needing to be finished and quilted before our quilt show in October.

ANZAC day is now upon us, commemorating 100yrs since the first of the ANZACs.  Our little group embarked on a challenge last year headed by Maree named the Honour Quilt.  Each of the blocks represent a local soldier featured on the cenotaphs and RSL honour boards within the region.  Maree did a wonderful job researching the soldiers and presented us with a back story on how they came to join the army, where they fought and where they fell.

It has been wonderful to see the quilts being presented at the past few gatherings,  We will feature a selection of them here this month as a tribute to the ANZACs.

Although each quilt contains the same blocks, the colours chosen and the placement of the blocks differ, as do the borders and the sashings.  There are many more wonderful quilts that are not represented here.  With luck these quilts and many others will be shown at our quilt show in October.

For a look at what else we have been up to this month have a look at our April Album on our Facebook Page.  or Browse through our Flikr Album

 

 

 

March Madness

Looking at the calendar this month there seems to be a quilt show on somewhere every weekend. I hope that some of you manage to get along to at least one of the shows on in your area, or even if you have to do a little travelling. There is always something at each show which is sure to inspire your creative juices.

We had a great turnout for the March evening gathering with plenty of show and tell on offer.  

The ladies have done a magnificent job with the Honour Quilts - despite all being made using the same blocks, their choice of layouts, sashing, borders and fabrics used, make these quilts all look very individual.

Liz's Quilt

Jo's Quilt

Nancy's Quilt

The Rutherfield quilts are looking magnificent, the ladies have made great progress considering such a large quantity of the quilt is hand pieced.

Rosemary's Kingfisher

Sue's Grandaughters quilt

The variety of the rest of the show and tell was also inspiring, with Joan and Rosemary showing us the results of a class they took in New Zealand. 

For more photo's of March Show and Tell, check out our Facebook page or our Flikr Photostream