Canberra Quilters Inc.

Desperation Week 2015

November 1, 2015 | Posted in member activity | By Liz Rose

We have just held Desperation Week for 2015. This is the time where members get together for a week in the CQ room to sew on a project they are ‘desperate’ to finish. It is very productive as you can see from the images.

Last year we had the witch finger tool introduced, this year it was a quilted scissor/ tool holder. The pattern was made from folding a piece of A4 paper. Some members were totally captivated and went into a production line or made smaller versions. Full instructions are on the Miss Sews-it-all blog, here.

Scissor holder #1 (Liz)

and a few more to break up the pinwheel production line

Jan worked on her Rowmakers quilt from 2014

Mary worked on a ‘little twister’ quilt – it is a sew/cut/sew method

Here is the final quilt, pin basted and ready for machine quilting

Melinda started her ‘little twister’ Christmas tree – this is the before top – yet to be cut and resewn, like Mary’s

Centre medallion of Libby’s quilt

Side borders and corner pieces, waiting to be added

Libby’s top is all together and ready to go off to the quilter

Jenny made a quilt for a new great-grandchild

Liz worked on the Canberra Quilters 2nd raffle quilt for 2016

Here are some blocks for the raffle quilt – lots more to come in this size (6″) and smaller

May 26, 2015 | Posted in member activity, What's On | By Liz Rose

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There was another Sew-in (Sew’n) held on Friday afternoon and the weekend. Lots of work done on machines and by hand.

Here are some images of some of the work:

Jenny worked on her QAYG children’s quilt

Margaret worked on her ‘woven’ quilt, started at the Modern Quilts meeting on May 14

More blocks finished

Blocks in progress

Kay was quilting…

Kay’s quilt

Oops! This block isn’t right in Liz’s quilt

The next Sew’n is in June, following the Friendly Friday meeting on 25 June and on Sat and Sunday 26 and 27 June. All the places for machine space have been booked, but there is still room if you want to do hand work or use the Happy Jack.

The principle behind a Sew’n is to use the time and space of the CQ room to have a concentrated period of sewing on a particular project or projects. Members leave their set-up in place and come back each day to continue working. Members need to book a space for their machine as there is limited table space in the CQ room.

January 27, 2015 | Posted in member activity | By Liz Rose

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A lot of quilters probably spent some time over the Australia Day long weekend doing some sewing. A few signed up for the Canberra Quilters OzDay weekend Sew-in – 3 1/2 days of sewing with the only interruption for lunch and cups of tea (and going home to sleep at night).

Here are some of the quilts being worked on over the weekend:

Sewing blocks for an “eye spy” quilt

working on a “Shimmer” quilt, from a Jenny Bowker workshop

Trialling a border fabric

Rearranging the blocks for an appealing look

Arcs for a red and white NYB-style quilt

Another arrangement of the NYB arcs

December 5, 2014 | Posted in member activity | By Liz Rose

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The last Sew-in for the year was held last weekend. We all had a good time and were, once again, very productive. The next Sew-in is over the Australia Day long weekend in January 2015. All the places are booked for tables for machines, but members are welcome to join the group to hand sew, pin a quilt or use the Happy Jack.

Here are some images from last weekend:

Liz (your truly) spent the weekend quilting her UFO pledge quilt – practicing feather quilting. Quilt was finished for show & tell at 4 December meeting.

Tricia finished her Dresden fans and worked on the layout.

Tricia bound this quilt to finish it off. Look at all those scraps, held together by the charcoal continuity fabrics.

Tricia also bound her houses quilt.

Jill worked on the layout for her ROWmakers quilt – this isn’t the final version.

Pam quilted her Jewel Box quilt – using a Quilt As You Go method for the first time. Can you tell where the join is?

Close-up of the wavy grid quilted on Pam’s quilt.

Liv started a new quilt – quirky fused applique blocks

Margaret worked on her quilt from the Kathy Doughty workshop.

October 26, 2014 | Posted in member activity | By Liz Rose

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A number of members gathered on Friday afternoon and over the weekend to have a concentrated period of sewing on various projects. Some sought help from the group, others had a plan and just got on with it. Here are some images from the weekend.

Jakki and Mary dropped in to use the HappyJack to quilt their donation for the Common Ground project. Image is a little blurry as these girls are fast!

Pam basted her wool quilt and started the quilting with Pearl thread

Sunday morning and everyone is in to the swing…

Trish used the design wall to work on the layout of an old UFO

Liv is making a fun quilt for her grandchildren

Jenny has been working on this quilt all year – she is up to the borders

That’s a lot of buttonhole applique

Yvonne working on the free motion stitching of a journal cover

June took time out from stitching to prep some applique for her next quilt

May 30, 2014 | Posted in member activity | By Liz Rose

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Last Friday afternoon and over the weekend a group of Canberra Quilters gathered for another “Sew-in”. We set up to have a table each and worked on our various projects over the weekend – leaving everything in place overnight and coming back fresh in the morning.

The image in the banner of this post is the border of a William Morris quilt that Jill was working on. She was using machine buttonhole stitch to applique the design in place. The next Sew-in is at the end of July ( 25-27). There are still a couple of places available.

Here are some images of the weekend:

The room

Rosemary worked on exploring techniques

Detail shot of Rosemary’s work

Another detail shot

A further detail image

Yvonne’s blocks from a block-of-the-quarter draw

Yvonne auditioned some sashing fabrics

Tricia made some blocks

Tricia practiced paper foundation piecing of New York Beauty arcs, using the Valori Wells’ book “Radiant New York Beauties”- from the library

Di marked up and thread basted a quilt ready for hand-quilting

June added the borders to her William Morris quilt

Jenny finished the last block in her quilt – she uses Post-it notes to track the names of the blocks

Jenny moved on to the pieced sashing – which creates a secondary pattern

Beres cut out squares from men’s shirts ready to piece into a quilt

Global Warming by Liz Rose- made in 1993.

Closeup of ‘Global Warming” – note the grey background fabric

Liz worked on her arcs and blocks for the 2014 Rowmakers Design Challenge – note some of the grey fabric – it is the leftovers from the Global Warming quilt.

April 3, 2014 | Posted in member activity, What's On | By Liz Rose

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Last weekend Canberra Quilters ran another successful Sew-In. Members booked a table and came along for a concentrated period of sewing – whether it was quilting, piecing, tracing designs or using the pinning table. Those participating all progressed their projects. Participants leave their equipment in place overnight and come back the next morning.

Some more are being planned for May (fully subscribed), July (just before the exhibition), September, October and November. The later ones still have spots open. The October Sew-In immediately precedes Desperation Week (27-31 October). Desperation, Week is set up to let those doing the UFO pledge or ROWmakers to have a concentrated period of sewing before the final reveals at the end of the year.

If you want to participate email me at blog@canberraquilters.org.au

Here are some images from last weekend: