Wednesday 17 January 2024

We've changed platforms - check out our website


This is the link to our new website which contains information and contact details and occasional updates on activities held at the club. Be sure to bookmark the new site!


 https://queanbeyanquilters.org.au

Friday 18 August 2023

New Committee and Technique nights continue

 Recently we held our Annual General Meeting at which all positions were deemed vacant. A bit of shuffling and interest by newer members and all the positions were filled.

President - Bryony De La Motte

Vice President - Christine Ashley

Treasurer - Chris Gillespie

Secretary - Di Challen

Committee - Monika McKinlay, Cassandra Philpot, Amanda Pratt and Narell Smit


During our meeting, we have Show and Tell, we display the recent Blocks of the Month, we get news of club doings and discuss future activities and then we have supper with a cuppa and have a chat.

On the second Friday of the month, we generally have a Technique Night. This time Cassandra gave a demonstration of measuring, cutting, pinning and sewing on borders so that they lay flat. She also demonstrated her method of adding measured mitred corner borders. She also showed how she makes her hanging sleeve, which will be required on all quilts going into the various shows coming up.

If you would like to join an active group of quilters to share your skills and enjoy social occasions, come along to the club on any Friday night or on the second or fourth Thursday morning of the month.


Thursday 25 May 2023

Save The Date!

 After much crystal ball gazing and finding out when the next AQC in Melbourne is on, we have settled on the dates for our next biennial Quilt Exhibition.

Queanbeyan Quilter's next Exhibition will be held over the weekend of 27 + 28 April 2024, with our special catered Opening Night being held on Friday 26 April.

The club is now working hard on the raffle quilts, gearing up to make our own quilts, to make gorgeous items for the Sales Table for you, and try to organise a seamless, smooth and attractive event that everyone will enjoy.


If not before, see you in April at the Exhibition!
 

Thursday 20 April 2023

What a great club

One of the marvellous things about our club, and there are many, is that we share things and join in. Examples include putting on a major exhibition with just a few people going beyond, making really interesting blocks of the month to put together for gift quilts, donating goods to go to worthy causes, making lovely items for sale, sharing techniques and quilting knowledge: and the list goes on.

Starting with our Red White and Black block of the month that ran last year, the tops have been assembled by several members, all in different styles. Our long arm quilters will quilt them over the coming months. Then the quilts will be added to our Gift Quilt program.




A very recent evening saw two members who have been overseas to India and Bali together on fabric hunting and collecting trips. Christine held the audience captive with stories and information which accompanied her excellent slideshow.  Maryanne added extra information and presented samples for everyone to touch and also provided some lovely Indian sweet treats to have with coffee. They enthusiastically shared their shopping experiences and had plenty of 'eye candy' as show and tell. A really great evening was had by all.


Sandra gave a well-attended workshop on how to do foundation piecing on New York Beauty blocks. Club members are now making a number of blocks to add to the centre piece shown here for a very important quilt in our calendar: making the raffle quilt for the next Exhibition 12-14 April 2024.


In January we started our new Shapely Block of the Month. Each month, we pick a shape and a colour and members all make blocks using that criteria. A small piece of common fabric is given out to everyone participating; the block is 12.5" (12" finished) square but because the red white and black quilts showed the half size blocks to such advantage in their layouts,  6.5" blocks for this BOM are encouraged too!


Tuesday 1 November 2022

October meeting and other matters

 Firstly, it's great to have you come to read our occasional blog and see what we are doing. A little earlier, we had our Annual General Meeting and changed up the Committee a little.

President:  Bryony De La Motte

Vice President: Liz Hendrickson

Treasurer:  Marianne Haslam

Secretary:  Chris Gillespie

Ordinary Committee Members: Monika McKinlay, Cassandra Philpot, Amanda Pratt, Narell Smit

The club is in good shape and there are many ideas for activities into the future. The membership is very involved in the running of the club, from the way meetings are run to the way the Exhibition happens. Fortunately that is only every two years so there is plenty of recovery time.


Meanwhile, at the October meeting there was a special guest who brought a sampling of her beautiful batik fabrics. Elaine White from Treasured Textiles is always getting in new stock to augment her attractive collection so it was great to see her.



Narell has been demonstrating a simple and effective quilt method and several have now been made by the group. Here are some of the quilts shown at the meeting.
And lastly, some of the blocks from the very last Block of the Month in Red, White and Black that has been running since August 2021. Members could choose to keep their blocks to make their own quilt or donate them to the club. Once they are all done, t
hey will be used to make gift quilts for our vigorous Gift Quilt Program.



Wednesday 8 June 2022

May meeting and other quilts

Hello there! The months rush by, so much to do and so little time to make quilts we all say. On the fourth Friday of every month we manage to get together and share a little of our creations to our very supportive group. May's meeting was well attended and we had special visitors.

 Our President Bryony De La Motte was very pleased to make a presentation of several quilts to representatives from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Michael and Kathy. These quilts will go to Ukrainians who have been displaced by the ongoing war in their homeland. Like many in Australia, they both have relatives still living in Ukraine. Michael gave much credit to Poland for the support being shown to displaced persons especially taking them into their own homes. Although there are only a few here in Canberra region now, more are expected to arrive.



Wilma Cawley represented the Makerie shop and gave a talk about Jacquie and her journey in quilting and how she came to decide to open her shop in Gungahlin recently. It is now full of about 5,000 bolts of fabric along with knitting supplies, counted cross stitch, threads and books, as well as a large friendly workshop room. https://www.makeriebyhand.com/


Then on to members showing off their wonderful works. Here is a small selection.

Pam made these two quilts above. The diagonal stripe in bright colours and the chandelier quilt that she started at our recent retreat.
Narell made her second diagonal quilt featuring elephant fabrics this time.
The giraffe and other animals quilt was made by Narell, lovely soft animal baby quilt.
These two black white and lime quilts from were from some years past. Blocks were made by various members of the club, put together by Narell and beautifully quilted by Kay's Quilts.

Hanna shows two baby quilts she made.
Jacqui shows off two lovely baby quilts
Liz showing an old lace lingerie bag she had made.


Saturday 12 March 2022

March Technique night at the club

 Hello to everyone who makes their way to our occasional blog page. We are all very busy these days with preparation for our quilt exhibition. We still manage to get together for our stitching mornings and evenings and on the second Friday of the month we do try to run a Technique Night.

This month's volunteer was Monika McKinlay, who demonstrated very ably the making of a 2 or 3 in one cutting/block holding/pressing caddy. Certain requirements such as cutting mat of required size, thin plywood to give the construction strength, fabric, batting and a hot glue gun with lots of glue sticks!

We thank Monika for a very impressive demonstration. She made it look very easy to make an extremely useful caddy.