March workshops with Sue Bennett and Jinny Beyer

Canberra Quilters are very excited to be hosting Sue Bennett from Miss Sampson's Drapery and Jinny Beyer when they present three workshops and a lecture in March 2013.  

 

Sue will teach a folded Mariner's Compass Class on Friday 15th; Jinny will talk about colour in a 2 hour presentation that evening.

 

On Saturday 16th March, Jinny will teach two workshops. The first is a morning workshop, working with her famous Border Prints, and the second  starts in the afternoon and continues on Sunday 17th for a session of colour and piecing joy with Jinny's techniques for colour selection and quilt construction.

Contact workshop coordinator for details. (Contact informational in Connecting Threads magazine.)

Art Quilters meet on 2 Feb

The Art Quilters are changing their meeting day for this month, due to the clash with a workshop. They are meeting this Saturday, 2 February from 1-4pm.
Here is a message from the convenor of the group:

Hi, all

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful break … happy new year  : D
Next Meeting:  this Saturday, 2^nd February at 1pm
Mini-Workshop:  using soy wax as a resist (Wilma and I will bring the soy wax)
          Please bring:
·       3 acrylic paints, easier to stick to warm or cool colours
·       white fabric, although a quiet batik fabric could be used as a base and added to
·       plastic to cover your working surface
·       newspaper, lots
·       spray bottle
I will bring an electric pot for melting the wax, a bucket, an iron, etc.

See you there,

Buffy

Modern Quilting group- 14 February preparation

Michelle has passed on a message for the Modern Quilters, ahead of the meeting on 14 February:

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and a decent break to do some quilting. The modern quilt group are meeting again in 2013, with our first meeting on Thursday 14 February. 

Over the Christmas holidays, I took part in an informal online quiltalong and it was such a great fun block Jenny and I thought you might like to give it a go. It's perfect for those scraps, fat eighths and fat quarters of modern fabric you have in your stash that you never know quite what to do with. It's also perfect for jelly rolls!

The quilt I speak of is the Scrappy Trip Around the World, as detailed on the Quiltville blog. http://quiltville.com/scrappytrips.shtml  The technique is really very quick and fun, and in fact I can whip up a block (not including the initial cutting of the strips) in around 20 minutes.

Over on Flickr there is a Scrappy Tripalong group - check out their quilts! (I'm onto my second one already) http://www.flickr.com/groups/scrappytripalong/

Take a look at the Quiltville instructions, and if you like, bring with you to the 14 February meeting:

• 16 inch x 2.5 inch strips of fabric of varied values - just bring 6 to start you off, or 12. Or 18!
• Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter
• Pins (very important)
• Unpicker (also very important!)
• Scissors, thread
• Sewing machine (we will set up the guild machines, but if you prefer to sew on your own, please bring it along)

I'll demonstrate how the block is put together, and then we can sew and design a layout.

Of course if you're quick off the mark you might like to get started on the block before the meeting. All the instructions are in the Quiltville link up above.

If there are any questions in the meantime, please ask me. Otherwise I will see you at 7.30 (it starts at 7.30, doesn't it?) on Thursday 14 February (or at the evening meeting the week before - Jenny and I plan to do show and tell or our scrappy trip quilts!)

Stay cool and safe, and see you soon.
Cheers
Michelle

Rowmakers group to meet again in 2013, results from 2012

The design exercises that were undertaken in 2011 and 2012 will happen again in 2013.
In 2011 the group met on the second Wednesday of the month and made row-by-row quilts based on design elements set each month.
In 2012 the group met again and this time the design opportunities were expanded. You could make a row-by-row quilt, or create a feature block each month and then incorporate the blocks into a quilt. Some members chose a different path- one made a jacket, one made a set of Christmas-themed placemats, one a tree skirt and another made a pincushion each month.
Set out below are images of the final (or nearly final) projects.

many hands to pin everything up

Jenny made pin cushions

June went with quilt-as-you-go and a unique method of joining



Elizabeth combined spikey feature blocks with log cabins and delved into the Kaffe Fassett fabric stash

Margaret D - Black,white and brights

Kay went with an art quilt interpretation, including hand stitching

Margaret had a chook theme

closeup of Liv's quilt

Closeup of Berys's quilt - hand stich and beading

Anne tried foundation piecing

Closeup of one of Anne's blocks

Joanne made placemats in blue, based on trees

Joan made a tree skirt

Sandra displays the back of her jacket



Mary went with the rows option

Look out for future blog posts about the first meeting in 2013 on February 13.

 

Canberra Quilters premises have re-opened

Last week was the first meeting of the year and the meeting schedule and drop-ins have resumed their normal cycle.
Tomorrow is the regular Wednesday drop-in day. In the morning Wendy Pang will lead the group with Small Japanese projects. In the afternoon I will help out with UFO pledge quilts.

On Friday the 25th,  the first Friendly Friday meeting of the year will be held. All welcome.

On Thursday 7th of Feb, the first evening meeting of the year is held. Traditionally this is when teachers and sponsors show us what they are planning in the year ahead. Meeting starts at 7.30pm in the Cook Hub Hall. This meeting is the deadline to hand in pledges for the UFO pledge activity.