Upcoming Event

Quilt Show

First ever competitive quilt show by

Bundaberg Quilters Inc

Saturday August 10^th

Sunday August 11^th2013

Open to public 10am – 4pm

At Family Centre, in the old Showgrounds, Kensington St Bundaberg

Entry by gold coin donation; raffle; morning tea and light lunch will be on sale at reasonable prices

Sponsored by Quilters Shack, Fabric Palette, ABC Beads & Crafts, Teacups Quilts & Niceties, Corbett’s Sewing Centre, Patchwork on Pallas, Professional Quilting Service, Arts Plus, Howard Drapery, Spotlight Bundaberg, Queensland Quilters.

 For further information contact: Ailsa Koloi on 4151 3760

Or    Rosemary Morris on 41548554

Where Is The Sun?

Ok, so the title has nothing to do with the content but I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever see a lovely sunny day to coincide with a day at home.  9.30 and still a heavy fog ... will my washing dry?

To get back on track with some quilting content, this is the quilt I made for my son and his lovely new bride in April this year. Seems these wavey quilts are very popular.

I've also been plugging away at my workshop mystery quilt and have gone with the initial layout.

 

Looks a bit jumbled yet but also looks like there may have been some sun out that day.

Now that the roadworks have finished in town Kath and I may be able to pop up next patchwork day to see what the girls have been up to. 

Happy Stitching for now from Narelle

Sewing Day June 12 2013 Information

 A pleasant day in the Hall, good company, an excellent catch up of all things quilty. Even the vibrations from the rollapak machine doing the road repairs outside were not quite enough to destroy our day.
 Lyn is showing her recently completed wall hanging  She also had us all intrigued by her bookbinding efforts after a workshop in Bundaberg. She even has found the time to design 2 more quilts and has made a start on one after purchasing fabric.

 Sandra was impressed with Fay's curvy quilts from our last day, so decided to visit Fay for a lesson and she is nearly finished this beauty. Amazing what you can achieve with some inspiration and assistance from a friend.

Next patchwork day is July 10th, after the school holidays. Also plan ahead for Christmas. House Rules are
bring along 4 gifts from the letters XMAS to swap. One must be food to share for the day. No more than $5 each in value. You must contribute to receive.  Some suggestions have been M for material,M and M's,  A for applique, apple pie, S for sewing thread, X for Xray film for templates. So start thinking outside the box.
Patty also announced the theme for the Mt Perry Art Exhibition in September is eMotion, lots of ways to interpret this. Check for further details, as she is setting the size rules this week for the brochures.
I also brought along my Mt Perry Quilters Blog Book I had printed. Amazing how many items we have finished. These books can be made to order through the Blog2print website.

A quick snapshot of my recent handiwork. Our house is like a patchwork quilt, bits restored here and there. I am hoping to complete some more of this work soon, then just maybe , we may be able to have a "retreat" sewing on the  restored veranda sometime before Christmas. Does anyone feel like learning how to remove paint? We might be able to sew sooner if you care to climb the ladders with me. You all said you are enjoying House Rules on the television. By the way those windows are earmarked for replacement.
Don't forget the competitive Bundaberg Quilt Show in August, looks like it could be a bit busy for the rest of the year. Catch you in July, Ruth.

Patchwork Day Success

 Wednesday May 15th found us at the Hall for a day of sewing, showing and catch up. Fay has been busy sewing her Mystery Jelly Roll quilt. Definately not what the Mystery Quilt designer had planned but Fay is very happy with this quilt.

 She also had time to make this aboriginal print themed quilt for her husband for his birthday the previous Monday. Amazing what this girl can accomplish amidst taking care of the property, cattle, horses and her family.

 Here Kerry is busy working away on her Jelly Roll Mystery, it certainly looks vastly different to Fay's quilt. Ooops, I forgot to take a photo of the works in progress.

 Fay is busy working on another curvy quilt for a granddaughter who loves Pink. Amazing how the addition of the contrast bias changes the entire quilt.
I think Sandra may have been inspired by this, she is on a scrap busting and WIP mission as she had pieces from years ago with her  in an attempt to jog her memory as to how to proceed. A quick lesson on half square triangles an easy way and we may see some further progress next patchwork day.

Ruth has finished her grandbaby quilt, ready in time for the due date in June.

A date to remember is the Bundaberg Quilters Competitive Quilt Show. Friday night 9 August is the Awards Night, Saturday 10 and 11 August is the show open to the public. If you wish to compete you must be a financial member of the Bundaberg Quilters. Contact Patty or Ruth for further details.
Next patchwork day is Wednesday 12 June. Hope to see you there. 
Ruth

A Pleasant Evening Out in Bundaberg

Fay and I had an evening out in Bundaberg at the Gloria Loughman Trunk Show hosted by the Bundaberg Quilters. She is teaching workshops there this weekend. Unfortunately, neither of us could attend a workshop but just viewing some of her landscape quilts was wonderful. Gloria is an internationally acclaimed quilter, author and teacher and told us quite a few stories about her teaching career.

 

A linear landscape quilt. Her stitching is so neat, and these are art quilts so they will never be washed, just vacuumed to remove the dust.

 A sample of some of her quilts that were on display. I asked for her permission for a photograph of her with her quilts for our blog and she was very happy for me to take them for you. Notice that her clothing is as vibrant as her quilts.

 This large quite was my personal favourite.

She has a new book published called Radiant Landscapes and this is the cover quilt. She also has a Craftsy Class called Linear Landscape Class which you can purchase anytime online. When she was in America filming those classes, she was told to "tone down " her wardrobe for the camera, glad she doesn't do that to her quilts. An evening well spent.  Faye, I did take a few more photoes for you also, and I hope you are enjoying your new books. Whilst, there I was also thrilled to find out that  Karen, a Bundaberg Quilters member enjoys reading our blog, so I hope you do too.
Some of us, are off to a social patchwork day at Childers, next week instead of our usual patchwork day. Mt Perry Show is on next weekend so I hope you are all busy finishing off your entries. Me, I am much too busy with all this socialising to get mine finished. See you all sometime next week, Ruth.

CANCELLATION

Please note that the April date for patchwork has been CANCELLED.

Our regular program should resume with the next patchwork day on Wednesday 15th May.

Kerry has been playing with the layout of her workshop quilt. (if I can find the photo)

Found it!

Hope everyone has found some time to sew over the Easter Break and also indulged in a little chocolate.

Anyone Home?

Kath and Narelle raced out the gate at lunch and up to the hall to find ...

Where is everyone?

 

Fay

The girls were next door admiring the art on exhibit by the locla Mt. Perry Art Group.

A return visit by Narelle in the afternoon revealed more beauties.  Would you believe the green/black/white quilt above and these two below started out life from the same instructions.

Kerry

Margaret

Margaret has also had her embroidery machine running hot on this stunning quilt.

Please check back for an April date as it could change due to Show commitments and a possible outing to Childers.

Patchwork Day Envy

Wednesday every 4 weeks is usually Patchwork Day somewhere in Mt Perry. Unfortunately for some of us, work commitments seem to block our paths to the door.This is what happened to me this week. I thought I'd give you a quick peek at what I had to play with instead of fabric today. These were just some of the agar plates I had to deal with today.

Here is what I  would have preferred to spend time with today. I am pleased to say that these 12 blocks have been stitched together and it is now ready to be put together as a quilt. The colours are a bit washed out in this photo and it does look far brighter than this suggests and this photo was taken 2 weeks ago.

Hope you all had a good day. I was certainly envious of you. I am looking forward to seeing what you all have been doing in April. Hope the Easter holidays means some quality sewing time for you. By the way, Why does it always seem to rain on our patchwork day? Catch you next time, Ruth

After the Floods - Patchwork Day

We missed you too Ruth :)  Here is a little of what the girls got up to.

Both Kath and I are working on Wednesdays this year so were out the back gate like a shot and popped in for a lunchtime visit and snapped some photos.

Kerry was busy at her machine sewing jelly roll strips together, pressing and then cutting into 4.5" squares.  This is from the workshop 5 of us attended in Bundaberg last Saturday.

Fay was also busy at her machine working on the same mystery quilt ... see the peak of the pattern?

Margaret and her gorgeous assistance Rachel were "playing" with layouts for the mystery quilt. I ducked in again in the afternoon as they were placing the last pieces of the puzzle. The second photo is Margaret's choice of design for the morning session at the workshop.

Not sure if Lyn had been working on her workshop quilt but I snapped this shot of her lovely applique/embroidery piece.

Anna and Noela were visiting the girls when we arrived and as we headed back to work, Patty also made a lunchtime call.  Never a dull moment on patchwork day ... plenty of chatter with a good dollop of laughter and yes they do get some sewing done as well. It was nice to be able to catch up if only for a short time and look forward to seeing what you're all up to next month ... hope Ruth is able to join us next time too.

Flooding in the North Burnett

Our area has been through a bit of a disaster in recent weeks.The rain started falling a few days after our first patchwork day for the year. Most of us have never experienced this type of weather before, certainly a new experience for me. I have gathered a few photoes sent to me to share.  This first one is on the road west of Mt Perry to Monto at Reids Creek Bridge. Certainly a sight repeated often throughout this area. I have seen a similar picture on the road east of Mt Perry towards Gin Gin, isolating Mt Perry for quite a few days. The road gangs have been out and fortunately made a lot of temporary repairs, allowing access for food supplies and medical needs.

 

This house at Cooee on Reids Creek, bears the high water mark, about 2 metres higher than previous known creek heights.

 

 

Bundaberg our main business centre fared badly as well. I did see a photo of people hurriedly emptying The Quilters Shack of all its stock before the water got too deep. I am unaware if they have reopened for business yet, but they will need our support when they do. This is a photo of North Bundaberg with Gavin Street, the long street in the middle of the photo. I am not sure if this was taken at the height of the flood.

 

 



 

We have all probably heard the miraculous story of survival of Lucy by now. Lucy no longer lives in Mt Perry having moved to Ceratodus near the Burnett River a while ago. If you haven't watched the interview with her rescuer Rodney Hartwig, you should do so. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-08/were-bloody-glad-to-see-you---a-story-of-flood/4509506  hopefully will get you there.

 This is an after photo of the paulownia tree farm at Ceratodus where she clung to the tree along with the snakes listening to the trees snapping off around her.

. Amazing story, and we are thankful to her rescuers and her amazing courage for her survival.

 

This was Patty's driveway after 785mm rain, I am not sure how they have repaired it, but at least the goats would be enjoying their fresh grass.

.

 

 

Back to Bundaberg, the Tallon Bridge or "New Bridge" as locally called. This was the main northbound link over the Burnett River and rail line, this certainly caused very local traffic delays and chaos. With the Cedars Bridge also under water, it meant a very long trip for awhile just to get to Bundaberg. Thank goodness, the necessary repairs have been made.

 

A forlorn sight to me, an old steam engine that is usually resplendent on the banks of the Burnett River at Mundubbera. It has nowhere to go as the trains do not come to Mundubbera anymore ( nowhere in the North and Central Burnett for that matter) and now surrounded by water. Luckily the water receded fairly quickly allowing the massive cleanup to start.

 

The patchwork shop at Mundubbera (Lemon Jo's ) had water over its floorboards. Most of the stock was safely moved to higher ground.



 



 

I have heard so many stories from my family and friends throughout the North, Central and South Burnett areas and Bundaberg about how this has impacted on everybody. My brother in law is still rescuing the neighbours pigs and cows amongst his devastated citrus trees 3 weeks on from the flood. I have heard about Faye having to burn the washed up dead pigs at Paradise Dam, I was glad to hear that Faye was safe down there. It is a bit heartbreaking for me, knowing the people who have lost the pigs and the people finding them further downstream. A work colleague lives on the northern side of the Paradise Dam wall and said the noise of the water rushing over the wall was phenomenal.





I spent an evening at the Bundaberg Quilters before this flood, packing up the last of their comfort quilts to be sent to Tasmania after their bushfires, never thinking that their city and area would be suffering a natural disaster in a few weeks. They have certainly been busy since, sewing and quilting making more comfort quilts. They are holding a Market Stall for Flood Relief at the Family Centre Tuesday and Wednesday 26 and 27 th February at the Family Centre Showgrounds in Bundaberg selling all things quilty and even cooking books, from 11am to 4pm. Of course they have already made a Raffle Quilt for the flood appeal. So if you are in Bundaberg that day, hop along to visit.

I am certain that most of us can get through this with a bit of help from our friends. I had to miss Patchwork in Perry yesterday, so this is my way of keeping in touch with you all, miss you all,

Ruth

2013 Is Here!

Welcome to a new year even though January is now behind us and February has begun. Already this year Australians have faced many challenges from fire and flood while others are still in drought. It can be at these times that friendships hold us together.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful group of friends who had the opportunity to get together on Wednesday 23rd for some sewing, chatting and show and tell. Margaret and her embroidery machine have been very busy ... click on this photo to see the gorgeous blossom detail, and a couple of cheeky tails.

A ray of sunshine.

Fay made these two lovely bags from a new book and brought them along to show.

Our next get together is Wednesday February 20 and we would love to see as many there as possible. New faces are most welcome to pop and see what we're working on and join in.

We're Here! Part III ~ Lunch

As today was our final meet for 2012 we celebrated a year of fun, friendship and fabric with a special festive lunch.

 

 

Back to the workstations for the rest of the afternoon.  Thankyou ladies for a lovely day.

 

Wishing you and your families a Merry and Safe Christmas.

 

 



We're Here! Part II

The work begins ...

Narelle

Sandra

Ruth

 

Fay

 

Di

 

Lyn

 

Margaret and Kerry

 

Rachel

 

Kath

 

and Patty was able to join us for a most delicious lunch.