Wednesday 26 March 2014

Salvation Army Quilt appeal for fire victims.

The Salvation Army of Winmalee put out an appeal asking for quilts to be donated. The quilts were for the recent fire victims in the Blue Mountains. This appeal was very successful and the Salvation Army collected over 1,038 quilts, sewing accessories and magazines. These goods were donated from all over Australia and New Zealand. The display of quilts were opened for public viewing in Falcounbridge last week. The Salvation Army displays the quilts for one day only prior to the going to their new home.  The generosity of people donating the quilts were awe inspiring and demonstrates how generous and giving quilters are.


One of the sheds filled with quilts.









Believe it or not this was a cheats appliqué, made stunning by creative machine quilting.



A great number of the quilts donated were hand quilted.

Well done to the quilters of Australia and New Zealand, a quilt made and donated with love and friendship.


Tuesday 11 March 2014

UFO's and the end of a journey.

After Lucy's crosses were completed and sent to the quilters I decided to get into my sewing room and tidy things up a bit. Aamazing the amount of fabric that I found in crates, that I  even forgot I  had. How many of us are like that. After my little discovery tour with the fabric,  it was next onto looking to see what UFO's that I have to complete. There is just so much that I want to do and eager to move onto the next project, there is not enough hours in the day. But with some determination  and good intentions I will also finish what I have started. My Incompleted projects are, 1 x Christmas quilt, looked at and was not happy so pulled it apart and will redo it from the beginning, but only have a third of the patern so looks like it may be up to me to complete the last third. One 5 inch hexagon quilt, all hexagons are cut, but not covered, may change the idea of this one, so some thoughts needed, before it is completed. A quilt with hearts, that have all been embroided in burgundy, I have  embroidered  a total of 22 hearts, no pattern as such, so this quilt will also need drafting up. Noodle box is a WIP, steady as you go, not worried about this one. Dear Jane, only has 3 rows to go, to complete Dear Jane would be a bit like Lucy, my other UFO's will be completed more readily and without as much time so she will have to be on the back burner for awhile, my intention was to get her finished in 2013 for the 150th anniversary of the civil war. I saw Dear Jane in Vermont at the Bennington museum in 2012 and this was a highlight for me, we also visited Gettysburg which I would highly recommended.

 The tradegy is that I only have 3 rows to go, but to make one square 5 inches in all, takes about 4-6 hours and I do not have the energy or commitment at the moment! I am thinking about it.

Below is the original Dear Jane, housed in the Bennington museum in Vermont.
Gettysburg bus, a tour highly recommended.

Cannon's housed in the Gettysburg museum.

Gettysburg Battle fields.

Oops !!! got a bit lost in reminiscing there for a moment, this holiday, a total of 4 weeks, travelling west to east in America, was an amazing time with our very dear friends, Sandy and Steve.

Back to unfinished projects.
On my discovery tour of unfinished projects, I also uncovered the embroideries that were completed a few years ago for a quilt designed by Bronwyn Hayes, "Polka Dot Girls"I am pleased to share with you! one days work on Monday! This quilt is on the way to completion, this is what I have done so far.

Another block will be completed today hopefully, prep has been completed. My daughter- Inlaw "Cara " was pleasantly surprised by pretty,  I Usually do civil war or reproductions quilts. Maybe this will inspire me to do The Gingham girls also by Bronwyn Hayes, a present bought by the family a few years back.


I also uncovered quite a few embroideries for bags, sewing kits and needle keeps, not much work needed to complete these, small achievable projects, so in between doing hexagons for the Anne Levens quilt by Margaret Sampson, these will be completed.

With the help of the lovey Anne Murray in a class with Chris Jurd last week, I completed the Stable bag, thank you Chris Jurd for doing the stippling on the bag.

As well as my own  UFO's I have bought quite a lot of UFO's from other quilters as well, I Unearthed 1 x mini quilt with a 1930's vintage check and a completed quilt top from Chris Jurd, bought from the Springwood quilt show last year. I will be busy completing these as well. In the past my first stop at the Springwood quilt show has been Alexandra's table and then onto Chris and Co's table as there is always lots of bargains available.
Talking about the Springwood Community Quilt show and unfinished projects,!! Lucy's Crosses has been returned to me from the quilters, looks great, binding is on,hopefully it will be selected and entered into the Springwood quilt show, so you will all need to attend to view my quilt,  as well as many others, always a popular event.

Springwood Community Show held on the 25, 26 and 27th April

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