Free Motion in Progress

Last Friday had us all busy sewing, drafting and of course chatting. We all look forward to this day each fortnight to catch up with what everyone is up to and just have a lovely day out with friends.

Narelle's time is usually cut short between work and family but Friday she was able to whip out the sewing machine and continue with some free motion quilting. We had a FMQ Day at the end of last year and Narelle made this colourful wall hanging to work on (after much practice).

So far she has done some flame quilting in the orange squares . . . . . . .

And a daisy chain that she thought up after trying some continuous leaves on a practice piece. (Click on the photos for a close-up) She also shadow quilted around the applique.

Kerry has finished piecing and joining all the blocks for the raffle quilt and has sewn the first border on. The quilt is coming along nicely and will soon be ready for quilting.

Roll on fortnight so we can sew and chat once more.

Cancer Quilt Update

Here's a photo of the pinup stage of our "Cancer Quilt" raffle prize. We are really pleased with the way it has all come together and the pattern is showing up so clearly. The two borders are just being tried at the bottom but will be all the way round in the finished product.

A visitor called for a look. She was impressed with our work but we weren't listening when she suggested a strip that might be better moved to another block. Too many seams completed dear!!

More Applique

Looks like applique is a popular topic. Quite a few visitors have found us through searching for applique topics. Welcome, glad you have found us and come back to visit us often.

Ruth has been slowly working on a shadow applique project. Progress certainly has been slow and here is a photo of one lone block.

She hopes to finish some more soon to make a quilt for a special person.

Shadow applique involves placing organza over the raw edge applique shapes. Ruth uses 2 rows of machine stitching around each shape. This finishes off the edges and creates an overall delicate picture. A twin needle would give the same effect but tension problems would easily cause puckering.

Applique Centre Block

Satin stitch applique by machine is the method used by Fay in her centre block. More borders are being added to finish off this quilt. More applique elements will appear in the borders. Faye's fabric selection creates wonderful flowers. She is also ending up with some swiss cheese fabric left over.

Next patchwork day is not until May 9th so mark your calendars.

The Local Show

No unfortunately it's not just a Quilt Show we're talking about. Our local agricultural show where everybody rolls up and participates in something is coming to town. Whether you are a steward, competitor, volunteer or spectator ( or all 4 during the day) we must attend our local show.


Cooking, sewing , craft work, woodchopping, horse events, cattle shows and ringside entertainment and of course some side shows, flowers,fruit,vegetables , floral art and schoolwork. There's even demonstrations of some things new and the proverbial old as well.


Yes it's all coming this Saturday April 19 at the Mt Perry Showgrounds.

So hope you have been avidly reading the schedule and been organising ( finishing ) your entries.
Here is one item that probably wont be entered as it should by now be on its way to its new owner. This quilt was made in 12 hours of machine sewing by Patty. It's to keep her daughter warm whilst in her gap year serving her country. I'm sure it will be loved in its new home. Patty's 2 sisters machine quilted it on their mid arm frame in 6 hours for her. Doesn't she have some lovely sisters?

Patty is a well known hoarder of bits and pieces. The bright pink patches are of an old shiny dressing gown and the finished item is certainly not how she envisaged it would be when she started. She just wanted to use up some calico. The new owners fave colour is you guessed it PINK!. Not that she is probably wearing much pink these days. Hope it keeps you warm Yanna.

Applique Techniques

We certainly showed the various applique techniques that are available for quilt making.

Out of 5 quiltmakers sewing in the hall , 4 were working on applique projects.

Narelle was out of style as she was finishing a quilt for sending off for an internet swap to someplace overseas.

The rest of us were appliqueing and designing more things to applique.

Lia was buttonholing by machine a series of blocks commenced before the Brisbane visit rudely interrupted her sewing career.

There are quite a few of these and she has a production line in action buttonholing around all those small flowers. It was good to see her return and therapeutic for her to keep sewing.

Saturday 12 April sees the Charity Auction at the Grand Hotel Mt Perry to raise funds for the Burns Unit at RBWH Brisbane.

Margaret was busy with her pansy leaves. These are satin stitch applique using a variety of different machine embroidery techniques for the backgrounds. The total number of these pansy petals are quite high so we know what Margaret will be working on for awhile yet. Margaret is very good at artwork so we reckon she should start designing her own pattern line.

Margarets clever use of her fabric has ensured she now possesses swiss cheese fabric in her workbox. She is also very clever at her colour combinations.

More photoes will be displayed in our next post of our other projects.

Our next sewing day is May 9th because Anzac Day falls on our next Friday date. This is also a Bundaberg Agro Trend day so plan your busy schedules accordingly.

Some Good News at last

Friday 28 March delivered us some good news. As we no longer have a community newsletter since Perry Shire ceased to exist we thought we would share some snippets.

One of our members who has spent a while "working " in Brisbane at the Burns Unit assisting in the care of her family members has returned home. Eager to rev up the sewing machine and pick up the threads where they were interrupted weeks ago. She called in for a visit on Friday 28th vowing to return to sew on the 11 April.
A charity auction is being conducted on April 12 at the Grand Hotel Mt. Perry to raise some funds for the Burns Unit in Brisbane as a result of their misadventures.

Politically speaking we had some news as well, with a previous councillor from Mt Perry surviving a close count to be elected as our Division 5 councillor in the North Burnett Regional Council. Division 5 covers a large area and Mt Perry only has a small population within that area.
The Mayor of our new council was also the Mayor of Perry Shire Council so we know the interests of all in the North Burnett Regional Council area will be well served by these two people who have been elected to this new council.

Patchwork also plays a large role in the life of the new Blackall Tambo Council Mayor as Jan Ross is the current QCWA Piecemakers convenor. We have a link to their blog if you wish to visit .
We talk about large distances to travel around our area, she has a 2 hour drive just to get to her new office. Maybe she should employ a driver and she could do some hand piecing in that time.

The last sewing day saw Kerry proceeding with our latest adventure. A raffle quilt for a Cancer Fund Raiser. We purchased the fabric on our shopping spree in December. Ruth cut it up and Kerry has commenced sewing. Anybody wishing to assist with this project will be welcomed with open arms and given a small job.
The rest of us continued working on our projects. Patty spent the day preparing for her big adventure overseas. I hope she takes a camera with her.
Next patchwork day is during the school holidays so we may have some young ones with us learning to sew.

Our latest sewing adventures

Our last sewing day on Friday 14 March was quite historic politically speaking of course. Perry Shire Council ceased to exist on Saturday 15 March due to the forced upon us amalgamations. Whether we believed this was good or bad for us as a community was irrelevant. One day you would think politicians would learn to listen to their constituents.

We are interested in whether our sewing place will have to be renamed as well. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this small community on the very edge of our large new super regional council called the North Burnett Regional Council.

Perhaps we might be sewing in the Mt. Perry Hall soon if our new elected councillors decide all the current halls need a name change. More money spent on new signs.

Some actual sewing did happen last Friday in amongst some distractions. Kerry has finished the baby quilt and it will soon be jetsetting off to Bali with the baby.

Fay continued machine quilting her quilt. A cream on cream heirloom style quilt which she always says "wont photograph well" when you approach with a camera so no luck with a photo.

Margaret has been working on some applique pansies for a cushion and Ruth was still procrastinating over her contemporary blocks. Patty actually visited but alas the school clothes were more important than patchwork. Mind you Patty has some exciting news we'll mention IF she comes back from her travels.

Here's a photo of Ruth's latest blocks.

Sewing Day 29 Feb

At the last sewing day we certainly showed our talents in different styles of patchwork and quilting. Kerry's baby quilt is certainly bright. Narelle was working on her english pieced heaxagons by hand, Sandra was burning the motor out on her new Janome creating stitched fabric for her heirloom quilt, Ruth was procrastinating in the corner about an upcoming workshop using hand dyed fabrics creating a contemporary pieced quilt. Margaret was finishing of her bargello started in Dec 2006 and Faye was machine quilting another bed quilt. ( Until the phone rang) and she was called away. Better luck this coming Friday I hope.

As promised here are some progress pics.

This is Sandra's second quilt using these techniques. She has certainly put a lot of time and effort into this quilt. She is now a committed hoarder of all things nice that can be used for these blocks.
This is a close up of a basket block. There are two of these in this quilt. Look at all that machine embroidery. Hours of marking and sewing . That new Janome will need a rest soon.

Works in Progress 1

Friday 29 th February saw us all sewing in the Hall. No proposals from this group of girls to any unsuspecting males on this Leap Year Day. It was hard to believe it's the last day of summer.


Some projects are well under way for 2008. Kerry has been feverishly finishing another baby quilt for another family arrival. The last one was featured on the blog and it turns out that was the only photo taken of it before the baby received it, so the photo was much appreciated.


This one is still at the basting stage. Kerry will be too busy travelling to worry about the quilting for 2 weeks.

Kerry has used some of her hand dyed fabrics as well as some prints. The baby will certainly love sleeping on this bright quilt.

More quilts next week as 3 cameras made it to patchwork today.

What Can We Do to Help?

Our blog has always been intended to be an informal newsletter for our small group as we could not see the point in using a paper version. We had no idea the interest that it could generate. Other small community groups in our local area are following our lead and joining in.

This is one time to fulfill that mission for a community newsletter as on a sad note , one of our members family has been going through a bit of a tough time with some severe injuries to 2 of their children after a shocking accident last week.
The local school bus driver has even decided to donate his swear jar money to the Hospital Unit that the children are in. I'm sure he'd be grateful of some more donations to the cause without having to listen to the swearing of course. So how about it girls, what else can we do?

Lets hope the boys recover soon and you are all back home in Mt Perry with us again.

2008 Sewing Days

Yes! We finally met for the first time in 2008 in the Perry Shire Hall. Wonder what we will soon have to rename the Hall to as Perry Shire will no longer exist. Council amalgamations will effect changes on everybody's daily lives soon. We have decided to meet fortnightly for awhile as one of our members now works part time on Fridays. This should give her a chance to catch up with the rest of us and spend some time relaxing with the needle and thread.

The major project for 2008 was cut up today and Kerry started sewing pieces together. Looks like she will have to sew it all now as we learnt about using different quarter inch feet in a previous project causing us headaches. We will keep you informed about this project along the way and are hoping for your support in some way later in the year.

We are also discussing having another dyeing day and we may make it a two day workshop.

More information will be available at a later posting. It sure looks like it might be another busy year.

Ready for 2008

FINALLY, the date has been set for our first patchwork day. Our best intentions of getting together over the holidays were squashed but now that the kiddies are back to school and routines are set back in motion, its sewing time.

We will be meeting in the Hall on Friday 1st February to catch-up not only with sewing but in all honesty there will be a lot of catch-up chat as well. After all the patchwork and quilting is only half the equation, the other half is friendship. So here's to a wonderful year full of both.

Encouraging the younger ones.........

This runner was started at the end of the September school

holidays when we encouraged a few daughters along instead of

cancelling our patchwork day. The idea was a smaller project

for a 14 year old with the view to having it completed in

time to be a Christmas present for Mum. But the question was,

"Which Christmas?" Well, here it is! I'm proud to say that

it was completed almost 100% by Rachel and found wrapped

under the christmas tree on christmas day. Congratulations

on a job well done. There are now orders in for a few more.

Have We All Left Town?

It is the holiday season after all isn't it? Looks like January is a wipeout for sewing once again. Everybody has been too busy having fun travelling around over the holiday break, visiting friends and relatives. I think it will be February before the Hall sees us gathering there once again.

To keep the quilting theme alive here is a pic of a quilt that Ruth made some years ago.

It is foundation pieced and machine quilted using scraps of navy and yellow prints. It is a bit difficult to see the variegated thread used in this picture though.

Then and Now

This Santa wall hanging was made a few years ago and is hung in pride of place each Christmas at Narelle's house.

The Bolster Cushion was made as a gift for this Christmas.

Wishing all a happy and healthy 2008 filled with family, friends and fabric.

Christmas Greetings

Isn't it wonderful when someone gives you your Christmas parcel days before Christmas and they give you something like this. It gives you an opportunity to hang it for this festive season and not have to impatiently wait until next year.
Ruth's sister who is also a prolific patchworker had geat fun making this. She also made a patchwork bag in bright colours for a niece.
Hope there are many Christmas goodies arriving for you all.
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and see you all in 2008.

Toowoomba Quilters Club Inc.

Our network of quilters seems to be growing as we now also have a link to Toowoomba Quilters. Welcome to our new visitors.
Isn't it amazing that with one click we can enter a different page and meet so many like minded people and share information about quilting.
Most of our Mt Perry members live on rural properties in an isolated area and we have embraced blogging as a large part of our social life as well as being our newsletter. We also love to see what other people are up to in their patchwork pursuits.
To minimise the time spent blogging we have three editors to share the workload, in case you noticed the different blogging styles. We certainly don't want to cut into our valuable sewing time do we girls?

New Link to PANDORA

In case you are wondering about our new link.
We received a letter from The Sate Library of Queensland asking for copyright permission to archive our blog under the PANDORA project. They archive websites they consider to be worthy of preservation. We felt really proud to have our blog selected and thank them for their interest and we hope to continue sharing our love of patchwork and quilting with you whilst providing entertainment and recording a visual diary through future posts.

Free Motion Quilting Day

Here are the samples from two of the ladies who took part in learning about free motion quilting.

Lisa (left) and Narelle (right) both thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were pleased with their results. Both are keen to do some more practicing if they can just find the time.

Isn't it amazing how the texture of the hand dyed fabric changes with a different quilting pattern? The newly skilled quilters will soon be attempting feathers and more feathers on their traditional style quilts.