June Club Night

There seemed to be visitors and new members galore at our June Club Night, and they were all warmly welcomed by President Lynne.  Our speaker for the evening was Glynn Singleton, the Managing Director of Bernina NZ.  He related the history of the family owned Bernina brand, and ran over some of the problems with home sewers  which can occur from time to time.  Tension is a biggy – different threads and different fabrics can mean that the tension needs to be altered.  Don’t be afraid to turn the dial, he said, it wouldn’t be there if we weren’t meant to tinker with it.

Glyn from Bernina

Changing needles regularly is another thing to be aware of, and make sure you only buy good quality needles.  Another point was cleaning out the lint from the bobbin race, and to drop a little oil here too – it goes without saying that only good quality sewing machine oil should be used.  I’m sure the local Bernina shop will have a steady stream of customers all wanting to buy some nice fresh oil for their machines.

Members who took part in Anna Williams Celtic Circles class took to the stage, and what a variety of colours and designs there were.  Anna is a very popular tutor but has now decided to stop teaching.  Our club really appreciated her professional expertise over the years with the classes she has run for us.

Celtic Circles

There was a Club Challenge as part of our 30th Birthday celebrations, and the theme was 1987 – and what it meant to each of the entrants way back then.  Five entries were received - these were judged, and members cast their vote for Viewer’s Choice at the meeting.

30th Birthday 1987 Challenge entries

1st Professional - Funky Town, by Paula Shailer

2nd Professional - Disarmament, by Dianne Young

1st Advanced - World Cup Rugby Ball, by Helen Cole

1st Intermediate – To the Land of Aucks, by Debi Levet

Viewers Choice – Chinese Year of the Fire Rabbit – Avon Haigh

Congratulations to all!

Jenny Benton

Saturday Allcomers Day

What a lovely hall the committee has found for our future Allcomers Days.  The Vintage Car Club was cozy and warm, with lovely carpet underfoot, and good kitchen facilities for making our cuppas.  Some hardy souls braved the rather wet conditions for a day of sewing and companionship.  There was plenty of room, and we could have accommodated many more club members.

Several had attended the recent Anna Williams workshop and were busy working on attaching their bias Celtic swirls and circles.  Lynne demonstrated how to make bias tape pulling the fabric underneath a pin and pressing the strip with a tiny iron.

Others were working on their own projects.  Such as Madalyn’s Daily Dot quilt, designed by Susan Clair.  At one dot for each day of the year, this is a huge undertaking.

Susan was still working on the Bookcase quilt she is making for her daughter, and had some blocks to show, including one with a hand stitched spider web!

I could only manage half a day stitching time – with visitors due the next day I needed to get back home and prepare food for them.    But I was pleased with my morning’s work, and it’s always so nice to stitch with others.  Do consider coming along to join in next month, there is plenty of room for everyone.

Jenny Benton

Hanging at Winchester House

There is a lovely whimsical quilt hanging at Winchester House this month.  And it’s non other than “Spring has Sprung”, by Avon Haigh, a favourite at  the Quiltfest Challenge last year.  There is lots to look at – cute mice running rings around the  fat lazy cat as he is sitting in his comfy chair by the fire.

While I was at a meeting at Winchester House, it was great to see several of the ladies stand and study all the interesting details in this quilt.

AGM Night

As well as being the AGM, our club is also celebrating it’s 30th birthday.  Certainly quite an achievement and members Yvonne and Diane were invited by our President Lynne to present a potted history of the club and it’s beginnings. 

A group of interested ladies met in 1986, and a year later in 1987 the club was formed and a committee established to run things.  Pam Retter was the very first President, and sadly passed away some months ago.

 

Lynne with Yvonne and Diane

The club banner was made  by Mary Creed, now sadly passed away.

An award for Life membership was made to the unsuspecting Diane Young.  As Lynn mentioned, Diane had been involved with the club for many years, has served in various roles, and helped out immensely with drafting and writing the new club constitution.  Both Yvonne and Diane then had the honour of cutting the 30th Birthday Cake.

Cutting the 30th Birthday Cake

Lynn read her President’s Report, Ute presented the accounts, the Election of Officers took place, and the AGM was declared over.

Club members had been invited to bring along their first quilts, if they still had them, and their latest quilt, for Show and Tell.  What a wonderful selection there was.    I particularly liked new member Leeann’s version of William Morris.

Leeann’s quilt

And the cute little foxes on Kaye’s quilt

Kaye’s fox quilt

The meeting ended with supper, and drawing the raffle prizes. 

Altrusa Club Fabric Bazaar

There were crowds of ladies pouring in to the Memorial Hall on Saturday, all looking for a bargain.  The Altrusa Club had collected fabric, wool, notions, craft magazines for quite a while, and must have spent a huge amount of time getting everything priced and packaged for sale.

There were bargains galore, as everything was priced very reasonably indeed.  I saw plenty of familiar faces, either helping or getting on with the serious business of shopping.  And came home with a few bargains myself.

Bargain hunters everywhere

The proceeds of all this hard work by the Altrusa Club goes towards a number of very good local causes indeed, especially the Arohanui Hospice.

Jenny Benton

Hanging at Winchester House

What’s at Winchester House this month?  I attended a meeting there today and it’s always interesting to see which particular quilt is on show.  Town and Country Quilt members loan their quilts for a month which make an interesting feature at the Cancer Society’s building, Winchester house.

This month’s quilt was “Bright Flowers”, a pretty rail fence quilt with appliqued flowers in the border,  made by Janneke.  Colourful and pretty, it certainly brightens the day of both patients and volunteers.

Bright Flowers, by Janneke

First All Comers Day of the Year

With our usual Red Cross Rooms no longer available, where would we go for our club sewing get-togethers?  The committee sorted out another hall for us, not always easy to do here in Levin, it seems.  A small group of keen dedicated stitchers met in our new accommodation at the Scottish Society Hall in Bartholomew Road on Saturday morning.  This hall was festooned with pennants of clan tartans hanging from the ceiling, and other interesting clan information on the walls.  

There was plenty of room and the early birds had arranged the tables together in a square with the power cords and power boards all in the middle.  Before too long the sewing machines were humming, and we settled down to a good day’s sewing.

Kath was working on her red, black and white quilt, and asked advice on what to quilt in the borders.  A zig zag line was suggested, and Kath set to and carefully marked it out with ruler and chalk.  I didn’t realise that this is Kath’s very first quilt – what a great job she is doing.

Kath and her first quilt

We were intruiged by Madalyn’s project – the Daily Dot quilt, designed by Susan Claire.  Lots and lots of tiny appliques, one for each day of the week.  This was a gift from Madalyn’s daughter, so it is really special.

Madalyn’s Block of the Day quilt

Susan had a big job ahead of her too – she was working on a Bookcase quilt for her daughter’s 21st birthday.  She appreciated having quiet time away from home, she said, as she pondered the possibilities of the bookcase.  Several blocks had been made already, so she has made a good start.

Susan’s Bookcase quilt

Lynne had brought along patterns and fabric to make a rotary cutter pouch.  Most of us took the pattern to do later, while Marilyn took up the challenge and whipped up a pouch in an hour or so.  These would make nice gifts for a sewing friend, I think.

Marilyn’s rotary cutter pouch

The day wasn’t just for machine sewers, two ladies came along with hand work.  Moira stayed for the morning doing hand stitching, and Heather came along in the afternoon and worked on her hexagon quilt.  And I worked away on my “go to” project to take to stitching days, working on paper pieced borders for my long term burgundy and cream log cabin quilt.  And, I couldn’t believe it when I ran out of burgundy strips so had to pack that project away!  Just as well I had packed my stitchery blocks as well, so I spent the last couple of hours working on that.

I’m still working on my paper pieced border blocks

I certainly enjoyed my stitching day – many thanks to Lynne and the committee for putting this on the calendar again.

Jenny Benton