MERRY CHRISTMAS

Town and Country Quilters have made their presence felt in the community this upcoming Christmas season.

Hanging in Winchester House is a lovely seasonal quilt stitched by Helen Cole, called “Christmas Memories”.  The lovely stitchery rows are separated by pieced strips, and applique stars shimmer on the green border.  The quilt was completed with Helen’s wonderful machine quilting.  Helen has taken responsibilty of sourcing quilts to ring the changes in Winchester House each month, and has been doing a wonderful job.  Christmas memories was stitched especially to be hung in the house during December.

Christmas Memories, by Helen Cole

I attended the “Avenue of Trees” on Sunday for the very first time, and what a glorious sparkling spectacle it was.  There were so many beautifully decorated trees to stop at and admire, that it took me quite some time to find “our” tree.  And finally, there it was, “Handmade Fabric Art”, looking so nice with all the handmade decorations.

Tree decorated by members of T&C Quilters

Wishing all our members  a lovely Happy Christmas, spent with family and friends, all the people you love.  And to those travelling over the holidays, do take care on the roads.  We will be out and about in our caravan for a couple of weeks, and it goes without saying that I will have some hand stitching with me.  Plus the cat, of course.

Club Members work on show at Te Takare

Embroiders from Levin have produced a replica of a Gil Hanley photo "Golden Summer", and this lovely joint project has been on show at Te Takere.  Club members Debi Levet and Yvonne Symonds took part.  Other familiar names were Griet Lombard and Sharon Crosbie.

Each embroider was given a photo of a section and worked on their own panel, not knowing what piece of the photo the others were working on.  Each were free to chose their own threads and techniques.  It took about 18 months to complete the large piece, which was framed and called "Summer Gold". 

December Club Night

There was certainly a lot happening at our December Club Night.  On entering the hall, we could see a magnificent red and gold uniform on display on the stage.   Our speaker later in the evening was to be Patrick Nolan, born in Marton, and the only non British ex soldier ever to become one of the famous Beefeater’s of the Tower of London.

It was great to welcome a handful of husbands who had come along to listen to our special speaker.   We had the final showing of the Suitcase Exhibition on display, and although some of us had seen this before, many members had not had the chance to view this interesting touring exhibition.

Checking out the Suitcase Exhibition

Many had dressed in festive accessories for our Christmas meeting.  There were many sporting fancy earrings, flashing necklaces, and various versions of Christmas hats.  I’d never seen one quite like Paula’s hat before, I must admit.

 

Paula’s Santa Hat

There were raffles galore with Denise, Sandra, Catherine, Marjorie, Ute, Rachel, Bev and Lynne’s hubby Errol being the lucky winners.  Robyn and Luchelle  from Fox’s Cottage came along to tell us about the new larger premises they had moved to, classes on offer, and the exciting stock items they have.  And as usual, Show and Tell was a delight, with quilts, bags, and Dougal the Reindeer being proudly displayed.

Dougal was quite a cutie

 

Margaret’s Bag

Patrick Nolan then took to the stage, and kept us entertained with his tale of how he managed to become a Beefeater.  Once he was finally accepted,  Patrick and Dawn sold up everything and arrived in London with four suitcases to take up his dream job, with accommodation provided in the Tower.  There were facts and figures to learn by rote, tests to pass, ravens to deal with, and idiotic questions to answer civilly every day.  But he loved his new job, and they  happily stayed there for 16 years before finally returning home to New Zealand.

 

Patrick explaining the intricacies of his dress uniform

The evening concluded with a fabulous supper, the table was practically groaning with food.  Thanks to everyone who brought along a plate for supper.  And the Food Bank will be pleased with all the donations from club members who brought along a tin or packet to help those less fortunate. 

December Christmas Club Night

Don’t forget, the December Club Night will be starting at the earlier time of 7.00pm.

And to remind you – there are a few things to bring.

• Your husband, or a friend.
• Extra cash for the extra raffles.
• Something for the Food Bank.
• A plate for supper.
• And wear something festive.

No charge for visitors, hope to see you all there, ready for a night of fun and companionship.

December Allcomers Day

It was the last club stitching day of the year, and 18 or so keen and dedicated ladies brought their sewing machines and hand work along to the Red Cross Hall for a day of stitching and companionship.

Quietly working away

I’d decided on hand stitching for the day, and feeling rather ambitious, took along three bags of different projects!  I was joined at the table by Moira, who was busy stitching her latest William Morris block, Debi, who was adding more hexagons to her autumn toned quilt, and Diane, hand stitching lace and doilies to her Nostalgia blocks.  She had done a whole lot of blocks, all different, and several of us crowded around to admire these very personal blocks, using family doilies, pretty lace, beads and buttons, and even a family photo printed on fabric.

  A small selection of Diane’s pretty blocks

Placemats from a recent Sashiko class were being finished off by Marjorie.  She had added an interesting little flange strip which gave the placemats a touch of colour.  How did she do that, I wondered?

Marjorie’s placemats

Pink, purple and a smattering of 1930s fabrics – how pretty is that?  Alison was assembling this lovely quilt top, and I think she said it was for a grand-daughter.

Alison’s quilt top

There were some goodies to take home too, and the quilt magazines quickly found new homes. Debi had brought along some lovely fresh free range eggs, and Ute had tomato plants to give away. Thanks very much, ladies, it was a great day.

Hanging at Winchester House

I recently popped into Winchester House, the Cancer Society rooms,  to see what was on show this month.  And it was a very colourful, happy looking  heart quilt in shades of red, teal blue and touches of yellow.  Susan Riley made her lovely bright quilt attending  a class to learn the  “quilt as you go” technique.  And it certainly adds a lovely splash of colour to Winchester House.

Made by Susan Riley

And the Winners Are………..

The winners of the Town and Country Quilter’s Challenge are:

Advanced Class:  

1st,  Helen Cole,  Entry # 4

2nd,  Paula Shailer,  Entry #10

3rd,  Luchelle Cotterell,  Entry #5

Intermediate Class:

Merit,  Janneke de Vries,  Entry #11

Novice: 

Merit,  Wendy Tunley,  Entry #12

Judges Choice: 

Paula Shailer,  Entry #9

Viewers Choice 

Paula Shailer,  Entry #9

Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks for those members who produced a challenge quilt for the competition.  Well done, everyone.

Helen Cole’s winning entry

Challenge Quilt Awards on Wednesday

At club night on Wednesday 11th November, the awards will be made for the challenge entries.  Shirley Mooney has judged the Advanced Class – do come along and check out our clever members work.

Shirley will also be our guest speaker, so it promises to be a great evening. 

Don’t forget to return any outstanding library books.  These need to be returned so that our Librarian can conduct a stock take over the Christmas break.

See you on Wednesday evening.

Hanging at Winchester House

Taking pride of place in Winchester House this month, is a lovely quilt made by Luchelle Cotterill.  Yellow and white daisies seem to burst out of the quilt.  They have been stitched onto a crazy patched background in shades of pink and blue.  I love it – very nice indeed.

Luchelle’s daisy quilt, hanging this month at Winchester House

Another Successful Allcomers Day

This month our Allcomers Stitching Day was held on Saturday to cater for those who cannot attend during the week.  Numbers were a little lower this time but a dozen or so happy stitchers met at the Red Cross Rooms and sewed for the day.  I was unable to join in as I had other commitments but popped in for a wee while to take a few photos.  And most importantly, I had it on good authority that Val was bringing some of her world famous Ginger Gems for morning tea, and I didn’t want to miss out on those.  As soon as I walked in the door, the  ladies burst into song, all joining together to sing me Happy Birthday.  That was so nice, and such a lovely surprise.

After we all sat down for morning tea around the big table for a cuppa and one (let’s be honest, I had two) of those Ginger Gems, I walked around the hall to check out what everyone was doing.   Hand stitching, machine piecing, machine quilting – it was full steam ahead. 

  Busy working at the Red Cross Rooms

I loved the cat blocks Alison was working on.  All individual, with their own pussy cat expressions, and made in shades of grey and taupe.  This is going to be a gorgeous quilt.

Alison’s cat blocks

I left the ladies to their stitching day and returned home.  With visitors expected for the evening meal I was busy in the kitchen, whipping up a bacon and egg pie, then a rhubarb crumble for dessert, ran around with the vacuum cleaner and flicked the duster around.  Whew!  I needed a sit down after that lot, I can tell you.

October Club Night

What an exciting night it was!  The Challenge entries were coming in thick and fast.  These were received and checked, and will be judged very soon.  Prize winners will be announced at the November meeting – so that will be an exciting night too.  And there will be a Viewers Choice, so everyone will get a chance to check them out and vote for their favourite.

Sharon Crosbie was such an interesting and inspiring speaker, as she told us of the trials and tribulations of undertaking the 3 year City and Guilds Course.  Sadly, I was busy out in the supper room with the Challenge quilt entries, so missed the start of her talk.  But I heard enough to realise that embarking on such an undertaking can be time consuming, frustrating,  and exciting all at the same time.  Various modules were discussed, and we came away with Sharon’s recipe to make clay beads, as she did for her course, if we so desire.  And it goes without saying that the talk was delivered in Sharon Crosbie’s beautifully modulated voice, as we used to hear on TV and radio in earlier years.

Sharon Crosbie

Have you finished your Club Challenge?

Have you finished in good time?  Or are you still putting the finishing touches on your Club Challenge quilt?  Don’t forget to bring them along to Club Night this coming Wednesday, 14th October.  Jenny and Francis will be ready and waiting to receive your Challenge Quilt at Club Night.

Sharon Crosby will be our Guest Speaker – she is sure to be very interesting.

Come along – it will be a great night.

Hanging at Winchester House

Helen Cole does a wonderful job of selecting quilts to hang at Winchester House, home of the Cancer Society, here in Levin.  On show this month is another quilt by Carol Bellinger, featuring some more of her beautiful stitchery blocks.  Named, “Spring is in the Air”, this lovely quilt tells of spring blossoms and warmer weather to come.

 

Spring is in the Air, by Carol Bellinger

Inaugural Allcomers Stitching Day

The first Allcomers Stitching Day took place in the Red Cross Rooms, and by the numbers attending, was a complete success.    17 happy club members set themselves up on tables and settled down to a day of stitching.  Most had their sewing machines, with a few doing hand stitching.  We all gathered around the large table at morning tea time, and Lynne welcomed the group to our first Allcomers Day.    Then, as some of us  didn’t know everyone, we all took turns at introducing ourselves and saying a few words. 

As always, the projects were many and varied.  Madalyn was coming along well with her Susan Claire design, “Two for the Zoo”, adding extra embellishments as she went.  Just look at those cute animals.

Two for the Zoo, by Madalyn

Dianne was working on her long term project, stitching another heritage block for her quilt.  This particular block will no doubt have a special meaning as the satin fabric used in the dove was a snippet used in her daughter’s wedding dress.   Lynne provided a few words of advice on how best to attach the wing of the dove.  The pretty lace doily stitched on with gold thread is a nice finishing touch.

Dianne’s heritage block

Kath and I were busy stitching away on our Sashiko blocks, from Sunday’s class with Claire Smith, it was lovely sitting at the table with the sunshine streaming in the window.  I managed to complete  my simple design during the day, while Kath’s more complicated design will take her a while, as there is a lot more stitching to do.

Kath and her Sashiko

Thanks to all who agreed to me taking photos of their work, and particular thanks to Val who seemed to spend an awful lot of time in the kitchen, making pots of tea, and tiding up afterwards.  And, I was reliably informed, it was Ruby’s birthday!  Everyone certainly enjoyed themselves at the inaugural Allcomers Stitching day, and we will all be eagerly awaiting details of the next one.

September Club Night

It seems that the fates were against me once again – what do I have to do to win one of those interesting looking raffle prizes at club night?  Ruby and Carol were the lucky winners this time.  With the raffles drawn, announcements made, it was time for Show and Tell.  Wendy had brought along a box of her cute little Tea Cup Dollies, which she said, make lovely little gifts for special people.  How cute are these!

Tea Cup Dollies

Kaye had made a rather sophisticated table runner, featuring coffee themed fabric and finished with prairie points.  Very nice indeed.

Kaye’s table runner

And a flock of Kingfishers had flown in, stitched at Sonja Prchal’s recent class.  They all looked great, and I’ve been told the technique is not as hard as it looks.

Kingfishers galore

Our guest speaker was Aimee from Aimee’s Homestead Quilts.  After working at the Cloth Shop for 10 years, Aimee decided to branch out on her own, and opened her shop in April this year.  

Aimee showing us a little ornament she had made

She leads a very busy life, as well as running her shop and offering classes, she will do quilting for customers, and even make commission quilts, if required.  Such as this lovely black and white quilt with stitchery blocks.  I had seen this design made up in pretty pastels, a completely different look, but the customer wanted black and white only.

Black and white commission quilt

Aimee loves to cross stitch, and likes to make a large design each year.  Another love is Christmas quilts, and once again, she manages to produce a Christmas quilt each year.  Where does she find the time to do all this,  I wonder, and still run her shop?

Two Christmas quilts featuring stitchery blocks

She must have cleared out her shop, as there were several tables of goodies to temp us at the end of the meeting.  Fabric and notions, cute storage boxes and patterns, all sorts of interesting things.  I purchased a Christmas gift for my overseas quilting pen-friend, plus a little something for me.  It was certainly another interesting club night.

Aimee and her wares

T&C Quilters Club Night on Wednesday

Our next club night is coming up fast.  Aimee Torwick from Aimee’s Homestead Quilts will be our guest speaker  She will be bring some goodies from her shop for us, including threads for those going to the upcoming Sashiko class.

Don’t forget your library books, a few dollars for raffle tickets, and perhaps you have some bright or kiddies fabric for the Thimblelinas donation box.

See you all on Wednesday evening.

CanTeen Exhibition

Colourful Cancer Society bandannas were at the heart of this exhibition, organised by CanTeen Manawatu, and held at the Globe Theatre, Palmerston North.  I walked in the door, paid my gold coin donation,  and recognised a lady sitting in a chair stitching.  It was club member Barbara, patiently waiting for a friend to join her at the exhibition.

Barbara was sitting stitching

This is the first time such an exhibition has been held, the ladies on the desk told me.  The Manawatu team decided to take up the challenge, and organise the competition and exhibition.  There were four categories, entries from Primary schools, Secondary schools, and Learning Support.  Then quilters and crafters alike got behind the idea and the entries poured in for the Open Section. Over 100 entries were received, and the criteria was to use a recognisable portion of one or more of the colourful Cancer Society’s bandannas.

 

Many featured butterflies or hearts

 

Loved the English bus

Everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer,  so it was good to see all the bright and colourful works of art bring a positive message. 

August Remnants Night

I was a little late getting to Remnants Night on Friday as I was recovering from my daughter’s lunchtime  Big Birthday Bash in Palmy.  My goodness – I was full after that large lunch!  But I made it to the Art Centre to find a small elite group working on their various projects.  Janneke was busy finishing off a whole pile of little drawstring bags she was making for the Health Camp kids for toiletries.  As often happens, this job took far longer than she thought it would.  And continuing with good deeds, Janneke was also hand quilting a Lone Star quilt to be given as a charity quilt.  The quilt top was kindly donated by Cheryl.

Lone Star charity quilt

Sandra was machine quilting another charity quilt for Ronald McDonald, while Linda was doing something completely different – taking the scissors to her favourite nighty.  But she had worn it to death, she said, and was unpicking it to use the parts as a pattern to make a new one in the same style.  Wendy had the cutest pattern for Tea Cup Dollies and she had already made quite a few, but wasn’t quite ready to stop yet, she said.

Pattern for Tea Cup Dollies

Ute and her young daughter were there too, both busy at their sewing machines, while I was sitting stitching on another of my ABC Christmas blocks, trying to finish off “C is for Candle”.  Didn’t quite get it done by I’m almost there.

Last few days to see Suitcase Exhibition

If you haven’t already popped into Te Takere Library to see the travelling Suitcase Exhibition, time is running out.  I returned again today to view these 21 small works of art, and as often happens, noticed things I never did first time around.  Here are a few which took my fancy.

Sonja Revell is a name we all know, the current President of Rose City Quilters,  and she was our Speaker in July.  I love soft and pretty quilts and “There are Tuis in my Garden” is delightful.  An original design featuring tuis, kowhai flowers and ferns – what could be more Kiwi than that?

Paying homage to our cousins across the ditch is “Australian Desert” by Carole Sorrel.  This is an abstract interpretation of the colourful Australian desert, and is hand quilted with perle cotton.

 

And now for something completely different - “Hopscotch”, by Alison Laurence.  This original design was inspired by memories of schooldays in the playground.

 

Do go along to see the exhibition – you won’t be disappointed.

Friday Night is Remnants Night

Coming up fast – the next Remnants Night is Friday 28th August, at the Art Society Rooms, Bath Street.  Come along any time from 5.30pm, and early birds bring something for the shared meal.  Tea and coffee supplied, and occasionally chocolate fish make an appearance.

If you can’t make it for the shared meal, just drop in when you can.  (I will be coming along a little later in the evening, after we have recovered from my daughter’s  big family birthday lunch in Palmy).

As always, there is plenty of room at the big tables for those who wish to bring their sewing machines and need to spread out, or take hand stitching if you wish, the choice is yours.   There is always good company, help on hand if required, plenty of fun and companionship.  Hope to see you there.

August Club Night

Our monthly meeting started with a “Special Meeting” where the Proposal presenting the Review of the Finance Committee was passed and adopted.  With that important piece of business out of the way, the meeting continued.  The last of the Symposium Tea-towels went in a flash, at only $2 each they were such a bargain.  Raffles were drawn,  with Heather Easton and Moira Parsons being the lucky winners.

I was on Show and Tell duty and up on stage so couldn’t take notes of all the lovely quilts,  but hopefully I remembered a few facts.  This lovely Blue Basket quilt was made by Griet and will be donated to Ronald McDonald House.  Griet loves to use up all her bits and pieces and both the background blocks and the baskets are pieced from scraps.

  Blue Basket quilt made by Griet

Lesley had made a pretty kiddies quilt featuring machine embroidered blocks.  Not sure who this is going to, but it is sure to be well loved.

Lesley’s quilt with machine embroidered blocks

And Carol had made a very pretty quilt featuring hand embroidery, and bordered with lovely rose fabric. 

  Carol’s quilt with hand embroidered blocks.

Instead of a speaker arranged for the evening, we had Four Corners, with four of our talented members demonstrating different techniques.  Lynne had several Mystery Blocks to show, and people were most interested in how these were achieved.  And Cheryl sat quietly stitching away on her Suffolk Puffs, or Yo-yos.  I was interested to see that she turned the outside edge of her circle over, before stitching, something I don’t bother to do.  Guess that is why her Yo-yos are so much neater than mine!

Cheryl demonstrating Suffolk Puffs

Sandra was busy in another corner showing how to join Quilt as You Go blocks, and Diane had lots of interest as she demonstrated printing on fabric using specially prepared sheets which are available commercially.  

Diane showing how to print on fabric

It was another interesting club night, and special thanks to Val who was on kitchen duties and brought along a plate of delicious Ginger Gems for our supper.  I can attest that they were delicious!

New Zealand Suitcase Exhibition now at Te Takere Library

This touring exhibition is a collection of 21 selected entries from the Quilt Symposium Manawatu 2015 Exhibition.  We are very fortunate to have them in our home town, so do pop along to the library and check them out.

You will have to have a good look to find Griet Lombard’s “Touch the Stars”, as it is around the corner from the other quilts.  “An original design, using recycled fabrics to bring the old into a new quilt future”.   Griet was awarded Merit Inspired Fibres” for this lovely work of art.

“Touch the Stars”, by Griet Lombard

The quilts are on show from Monday 10 August till Sunday 30th August 2015 before being packed up and sent to pastures new.  I will need to return again,  I feel, to take in all these lovely little quilts hanging at Te Takere.