Old friends in Print

Isn't it great when your favourite quilt mag arrives in the post?   My quarterly copy of New Zealand Quilter magazine arrived safe and sound, just as well I had remembered to advise my change of address.  And inside were articles about two members from my former quilt club, Pinestream Quilters.

Award winning quilter Heather Harding told of her quest to show quilters that they didn’t have to spend a fortune on new fabrics to indulge their quilting habit.  Heather has been collecting men’s shirts from Op Shops for quite some time and has made a series of quilts from them.  I remember her bringing the finished quilts to show the ladies at our regular Stitching Mondays and Quilt Club nights.  Shirt Tale Series No 13, a wonderful quilt of log cabin blocks, lots of tiny pieced triangles and stars won  the award for “Best Traditional Piecing” at last years Pinestream Quilters quilt show, as well as my vote for Viewers Choice.  Heather intends to donate these quilts to charity.

Shirt Tale No 13

I had a lovely surprise at the very last Stitching Monday I attended before moving out of the area after our previous house was sold.  Heather had made me a needle holder as a “going away gift”.  What a lovely thing to do for me.   “I’ll treasure it”, I told her, Heather is such a lovely warm hearted lady, always willing to help with friendly advice.

  A hug from Heather

The very talented June Nixey was also featured in the magazine, and she is well known for her love of scrap quilts.  She is particularly adept at using charm squares, and has taught classes on using these squares to best advantage.  Another abiding interest is teaching patchwork on Saturday mornings to her girls from “Shut In Stitchers” at Arahata Prison.  They have to work with what ever donated fabric is available and sometimes wait for ages if they want a particular colour.  June proudly brought some of the finished quilts along for Show and Tell occasionally on club nights.  She always remained quite elusive and liked to hide behind the quilts as they were being shown, so I never managed to snap a photo of her at all.  But here are three made by the Shut In Quilters, brought along to show the club some time ago, a strippy quilt, one made with a panel, and blue and peach pinwheels.  June also writes a quilt  blog, Junez Scrapz – do check it out.

Quilts made by the Shut In Quilters

How do you like to read your quilt mags?  When I receive mine, I like to quickly flick through to see what articles there are, then settle down with a cup of coffee and read it from cover to cover, even the ads.  I am a “foundation subscriber” of this magazine, and have every single one carefully stored away. 

Pinestream Quilters November Club-night

This was another “final” for me, the final monthly club-night of the year and the final one I will attend  before moving house.  The tables were dressed with Christmas table clothes, and there was fruit juice for each table.  Members were asked to bring along a donation for the Food Bank, and a couple of boxes were soon filled up for those less fortunate.  And because it was our Christmas meeting, there were a double number of raffle prizes handed out.  Not at my table though, we may have had twice as many prizes, but not one of us were lucky to get our raffle numbers called out.

“Show and Tell” was interesting and varied, as usual.  There were bags, and quilts, including several lovely little ones made for the Neo Natal Unit at Hutt Hospital.  Two Christmas Angels made an appearance – these were years old and had been unfinished all that time.  Then the ladies concerned issued themselves a challenge to hurry up and complete them for the coming festive season.  I also noticed a black, white and lime green quilt recently finished for a 14 year old nephew.  His aunt told us that the teenager was still using a quilt she had made for him when he was 6 years old,  so she thought he really did deserve a more grown up quilt.

Over the last few months our members were issued with a Challenge for a charity Christmas gift.  They dipped into a bag and pulled out a slip of paper – this told which age group the gift was to be for, such as 3 year old girl, or teenage boy.  The purchased gift was to be $5-$10 value, and the challenge was to make a fabric bag, stocking, or package to pop the gift inside.  The creative juices must have been working overtime as there such a lot of lovely packages on display.

Some of the Christmas Challenge items

“Viewers Choice” winner was Jenny H-A who made a rather splendid turkey to contain her gift.  The bags and gifts will be given to the Upper Hutt Leader Christmas appeal.

Christmas Turkey at the back with skate board package in front

The Organising Committee from our recent exhibition had two announcements to make.  The raffle quilt on display at the exhibition raised $1400 for the Wellington Free Ambulance.  And after counting up the votes, the Viewers Choice at the exhibition was June’s lovely quilt, “Amazing Grace”.

Viewers Choice – Amazing Grace

The meeting concluded with a tasty supper, as usual, and I enjoyed my first slice of Christmas cake of the season.  After being a member of Pinestream Quilters for many years it will be sad to move on.  But new challenges await, and I hope to become a member of the Levin quilt club in the near future.  

Pinestream Quilters October Club Night

Was this the quilting club or a knitting circle we wondered?  The number of members sitting knitting at our October club night was amazing.  Everywhere we looked, the needles were clicking away busily – just goes to show that quilters can do lots of other things too.

The speakers for the evening were our two shop owners, Sharon and Dianna, who brought along new goodies from their respective quilt shops to tempt us.  Sharon van der Gulik from Thimbles and Threads took the floor first.  Sharon’s message was to “treat ourselves”, enjoy our hobby of P & Q, and buy the very best to help us in our stitching.  Sharon’s selection of products ranged from Daylight lamps, (we are all getting older and need help to see),  flexible rubber bobbin holders, (drop them and the bobbins stay put), to easy to hold rotary cutters and scissors.  Rulers with yellow lines make it so much easier to see where to cut fabric, and I rather liked the yellow chalk pen which makes a fine line, must buy myself one of those, I decided.

  Some items to make our quilting lives easier

Dianna Carol from Kapiti Coast Bernina then showed us some new products.  She demonstrated how the lines from the Frixion marking pen can be erased by a hot iron.  Fusible web to join lengths of batting together is a relatively new product here, as is the fine bobbin fill threads.  But the highlight of the evening was a glimpse of a brand new Bernina sewing machine.  Maybe some lucky quilter from our club will find one in her Christmas stocking soon.

New Bernina and a selection of threads

Show and Tell was interesting as usual.  There were bags galore, and two special birthday quilts which were proudly displayed.  Cathy is another member making quilts from Op Shop shirts, and brought along quilt number three in the series to show us.  The Neo Natal Unit will be pleased with the selection of little quilts finished this month, together with knitted baby blankets, singlets and tiny little socks. 

It was another interesting meeting, and as always, great to catch up with other members.

Final photos from Inspire Quilt Exhibition

Here are a few more photos from my club’s exhibition.  It’s always interesting to go and view the quilts several times, as you always see something previously missed.  Like this gorgeous little fish, stitched by first time exhibitor, Pam Ritchie.

“Fish”, by Pam Ritchie

Just look what proud grandmother Clare Grant has made for Erin and Adam.  The idea behind these two bed sized quilts are the paper dolls with their wardrobe of paper clothing that were part of her childhood.  What a couple of lucky youngsters Erin and Adam are to have such a creative grandmother.

  

Paper Doll quilts, by Clare  Grant.

Linda Johnson made her beautiful quilt “Effervescence” as a 21st birthday gift for daughter Hope.  Linda is well known for her love of intricate paper piecing, and she has made a wonderful job of this quilt.  The pattern is “An unusual Lone Star”, by designer Karen Stone. 

“Effervescence”, by Linda Johnson

The inspiration behind this quilt was a visit to L’Orangie Museum in Paris to view some of Claude Monet’s  paintings.  The background blocks were paper pieced over old telephone book pages, and I can remember seeing Petronella busily stitching away on these blocks at several “Stitching Monday” workdays.

“Memories of L’Orangie” by Petronella Lazet Polman

We’ll finish our little showing with “Spinning Kaleidoscope”, by Shirley Mooney, another first time exhibitor.  This original design was inspired by the lush New Zealand forests, and the opening fern frond (koru) represents new growth.

“Spinning Kaleidoscope”, by Shirley Mooney

So that is all from my own particular quilt club’ Pinestream Quilters exhibition.  However, tomorrow I am off to the big city to view a just opened exhibition, this one put on by the Wellington Quilters Guild.  I just hope they allow photos to be taken!  Check back tomorrow and I’ll let you know.

Pinestream Quilters September Club night

Ladies from the “New Settlers Group” came along to our club night on Thursday.  This church based group was set up for new settlers including immigrants and refugees, to get together for company and support.  They asked to learn cooking and sewing skills.  Several ladies from our quilt club help teach sewing, members often donate fabric and notions, and the club has helped out with purchasing sewing machines.  Ladies from the New Settlers came along to our meeting to show what they had been making during the year, and to thank the club for it’s ongoing support.

There was not quite so much Show and Tell at this meeting, probably because all the members had been busy with their entries for our current quilt show.  Our President Karen proudly told how her Mum (a visitor at our meeting) had been busy knitting and had completed several little baby blankets to be donated to the Neo Natal  hospital ward.

These lovely bright fabrics were purchased by Jan while on holiday in USA.  They have been cut and stitched to form the blocks and then Jan appliquéd those rather exotic looking flowers on top.  There will be lots of happy holiday memories in this quilt.

Jan’s lovely floral quilt

This cute quilt had quite a “country” feel to it, and Janet told us that she really enjoyed stitching the blocks of this quilt.

Janet’s country style quilt

I’m a real fan of New Zealand quilts, and this one made by Pauline is full of lots of different New Zealand design fabrics. 

Pauline’s New Zealand inspired quilt

Last but not least is Joyce’s pretty pastel Love Ring design quilt.   The girls from our Friday Stitchers group all had a hand in this, and each made Joyce several of these little curved blocks.  She then had to sit down and make hundreds more, she told us

. 

Love Ring quilt

I was scheduled for supper duty at the end of the meeting, so did my bit with taking something along for supper, pouring drinks and helping with the dishes.  It was not too onerous at all, especially with four of us helping.  It was another good club night, and it is always nice to catch up with the other members.

Pinestream Quilters August Meeting

This month’s meeting was a little bit different, as it was our “birthday and a half” meeting.  The official birthday month had slipped under the radar, so we were celebrating it several months later.  That didn’t matter, as we all had a fun night.  Instead of the usual raffles, each table played “pass the parcel” till the music stopped.  Then the lucky person ripped off the wrapping paper to find a small gift, and the parcel was sent on it’s way again.  No one missed out, and we all came away with a little something.

We were invited to bring along any special birthday quilts for Show and Tell, those we had made for others, and those we had received.  As any quilter knows, quilts made and given away far exceed those which someone may have made for us.  Linda showed us a birthday quilt she had made for her cousin.  Linda is well known for her love of paper pieced spiky patterns, and this quilt is beautifully shaded from light to dark.

Linda’s quilt made for her cousin

Joyce is the proud owner of this birthday quilt, lovingly made by her sister, that’s two quilters in the family.

Birthday quilt made for Joyce

Brenda received a birthday quilt too, for her 60th birthday, she told us.  Made in lots of lovely batiks, it was stitched by members of her quilting group.

Brenda’s birthday quilt

I loved the bright and cheerful quilt Pam had made for a Tongan friend’s birthday.  The floral print is from a cotton sarong, and the quilt also features New Zealand fabrics.  Pam’s  friend wanted the quilt to acknowledge both her Tongan heritage and her life now in New Zealand.  Great job, Pam.

Birthday quilt for a Tongan friend

My quilting friend Jenni F brought along the 60th birthday quilt she had made for her husband, complete with a rod and reel.  She named it “Caught”, and there’s no doubt that he is a keen fisherman!

“Caught” – 60th birthday quilt

I took along a couple of birthday quilts too.  “A Fishy Supper”  was a 60th birthday gift and was made by my pen-friend Rose in the UK. The label reads, “made especially for my friend Jenny and her love of sea food”.  This small quilt is beautifully hand quilted.

My 60th birthday quilt from UK

Another 60th birthday quilt on show was the one I had stitched for my husband Robin.  This is a tee shirt quilt called “Memories of Work and Play”.  I used tee shirts, backed with non stretch interfacing, and logos cut from his former work shirts.  The border is a New Zealand design of silver ferns on a black background.

Robin’s 60th birthday quilt

In keeping with the birthday theme, we had a special supper of dainty little decorated cupcakes, and other goodies.  Doesn’t the supper table look great!  We all had a lovely evening, and thanks to the committee for making it so special.

The supper table

Pinestream Quilters July Clubnight

There was a “rugby” theme at our meeting last night and our speaker Tina Downes spoke about “Insights into the history of the NZ Rugby Jersey”.  Most of us probably wondered what that would be all about.  Tina is a lecturer of Fashion Design at Massy University and told  how the Rugby Museum had asked if her team could replicate copies of early New Zealand All Black jerseys.  This challenging brief led to much research, and the jerseys chosen were from the 1884, 1905 and 1925 touring teams.  These early rugby jerseys were made from knitted wool fabric and surprisingly some early knitting machines were still available in a Manawatu factory.  Once set up with yarn after standing idle for many years the machines had no trouble in producing the woollen fabric, then the silver fern emblems were hand embroidered on the completed replica jerseys.  One of the replicas was passed around the hall for us to inspect.  Sadly not a single All Black could make our meeting – that would have been an eye opener for our bunch of quilters!

I was on hall duty holding up the quilts for “Show and Tell” and didn’t really expect many quilts to arrive, since our quilt exhibition is coming up fast.  I imagined that most would have their quilts hidden away till exhibition time.  However, there was a good selection, including several items from recent classes.  Penny had been rather busy and had brought several quilts along to show us.  Her wall hanging was as a result of a challenge with her stitching group to use a particular fabric, and this is what Penny came up with.

Penny’s wall hanging

Penny also showed us a quilt she had made from some floral blocks she had won  from a “block of the month” draw, adding nine patch blocks to complete the quilt.  This is Penny’s first attempt at free motion machine quilting.

   Pretty floral quilt

This lovely quilt was made by Jeanette.  She took her blocks along to a quilt shop and the assistant suggested that she use this particular fabric for the background.  Although not a fabric that Jeanette would have originally considered, she was pleased with the choice and it certainly does go together very nicely.

 

Jeanette’s quilt

Words, words, words - Margaret R is a teacher, and that is probably why she chose to use a selection of fabrics printed with text as the background of her quilt.  The simple design looks very effective and the text fabrics adds extra interest.

  Margaret’s quilt

A lucky little boy named Charlie will be getting this bright quilt very soon.  You can’t see it as the quilt is folded over, but his name is appliquéd in large letters on the top of his quilt.  Lynley made this great train quilt which will surely be a huge hit with Charlie.

Charlie’s very own train quilt

And last but not least is Heather’s Op Shop Shirt Challenge quilt number 12.  I asked her if she had used up all her op shop shirts yet, but no, she still has plenty of them left to work with.  The red centre squares of this log cabin quilt came from a blouse, not a shirt, but that’s close enough, isn’t it.

Heather’s latest shirt quilt

Another interesting quilt club night, showing you just a selection of the show and tell.  We all found out things we didn’t know about early rugby jerseys.  There was great show and tell, as usual, and nice home baked goodies for supper.

Pinestream Quilters June Clubnight

The night was cold and chilly but the hall was full of eager club members and visitors for our June Pinestream Quilters clubnight.  We had two speakers, both full of tips and ideas to keep us fit and flexible to make up for the hours we spend sitting hunched over our sewing machines.  In fact, we shouldn’t be hunched up at all, but should use the same principles employed as when sitting in front of a PC at work, we were advised, good seating at the correct height, and good lighting.  And make sure we get up and move around, and stretch that neck, arms, and shoulders before they stiffen up.  Another good tip was to remember to change the blade on the rotary cutter regularly, I’m sure mine is well overdue - sharp tools make cutting so much easier.  The two speakers were very interesting and informative, and I’m sure we all benefited from their expertise.

“Show and Tell” is always the highlight of the evening, and there was a nice range of different styles and colours in the quilts brought along.  Margaret brought along her teal, black and white quilt, and quilted it all over with 1inch grid machine quilting.

Margaret’s Kaffe Fassett quilt

Heather had great news – she is going to be a great-grandmother soon!  And no, the proud parents told the family that they  don’t want to know the sex of the baby.  Heather has all bases covered and has made two pretty cot quilts, one pink and one blue!

Will it be a girl or a boy?

She also brought along her latest quilt in the “Op Shop Shirt Challenge”.  Heather is doing a wonderful job with her shirt quilts, every single one is a work of art.

Heather’s latest op shop shirt quilt

Ruth has just finished this warm and cosy red four patch quilt, for her brother.  The black and white striped binding finishes it off very nicely and picks up the black and white in the sashing. 

Made by Ruth for her brother

Karen is the proud owner of this very pretty quilt, stitched with love by her friend who has sadly passed away.  Karen and Myra were close friends and quilting buddies, so this quilt is a reminder of the friendship and love of stitching they shared.

Karen’s pretty quilt from her friend

Another lovely quilt with a story behind it was a warm and cosy wool quilt.  Maria had gathered items of clothing from her Grand-dad after he had passed away and made this wonderful quilt in his memory.  His home and family were his life, she told us, and the quilt is made from wool fabrics and corduroy.  Such a nice way to remember a loved Grand-dad.

Maria’s wool quilt

Jeanette was a visitor and had brought along several quilts to show us.  I particularly liked her 1930s Dresden Plate quilt, and she had custom quilted it herself on her long-arm quilting machine.

Jeanette’s 1930s quilt

And last but not least was June’s lovely bag, made from one piece of fabric in shades of pink, green and grey.  June and a friend were “guinea pigs” to check out the instructions for a club workshop on the bag  which will be presented shortly.  The instructions were perfect, June commented, and she is really pleased with her new bag.  Isn’t that a cheeky elephant I can see?

June’s new bag

This is just a taste of the quilts shown at clubnight.  With a tasty supper, people to catch up with, interesting speakers, and quilts to admire, it is always a good night out.

Button Lady at Pinestream Quilters Club Night

It was good to be back at my patchwork club’s monthly meeting, after travelling around the South Island for the last three months.  The hall was abuzz, as it usually is, with groups of members chatting, catching up with friends, checking out the club library, while waiting for the meeting to get underway. 

Our speaker for the evening was Ruth Meier, known as “The Button Lady”, who calls herself a passionate collector of buttons.  So passionate, in fact, that she admitted to buying a collection of 700kg of buttons while she was living in Zurich some years ago.  She related how she and her husband hired a truck and drove through a snow storm to load up the tea chests chock full of all those glorious buttons.  Ruth told of the history of buttons and had many interesting historical treasures to show, from portraits painted on ivory buttons, to the home industry of Dorset buttons made by winding thread around rings, to examples of shell, metal and glass buttons.  Victorian black glass mourning buttons were popular after the death of Prince Albert, and she showed us a selection of these.  There were both loose buttons and mixed bags for sale, and these seemed very popular with the ladies.

Buttons galore

Show and Tell is always a special part of the meeting, and as usual, there was a good variety of quilts on show. Sandy is very prolific and can be relied on to bring a finished quilt (or sometimes two) along to most meetings.  She related how she received a bag of donated hexagons, and completed this quilt which will be donated to the City Mission.

Hexagon quilt made by Sandy

This is a very special birthday quilt made by Faye in the Turning Twenty pattern for her husband’s birthday.  Her hubby is skilled at making violins, and Faye sourced many violin and musical fabrics for this quilt.

Musical themed birthday quilt

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get the maker’s name for this quilt, but it was made for a friend coping with a health issue, we were told.

 A special quilt for a friend 

It wasn’t all quilts on show, and I was rather taken with the little knitted dolly that Maria brought along to show us.  I’ve heard several others say they want to make one too.

Cute knitted dolly

After the formal part of the evening, we had supper, (loved that apricot slice) and the opportunity to get a close look at the quilts on display.  It was a very enjoyable evening, and nice to catch up with others after so long away.  

Pinestream Quilters 1st meeting of the year

It seemed a long time since our last quilt club meeting, way back in November, so that probably explains why there was such a happy bunch of quilters all chatting madly together last night.  The January meeting is always rather informal and we do not have a speaker for this month.  Instead, members have the opportunity to set up stalls to sell their extra quilting goods.  Most of us have plenty of these, don’t we,  - in fact sometimes we wonder if some of our “stuff” doesn’t get together at night and breed!  I shared a table with Jenni F and we laid out our fabric, buttons, orphan blocks and books for members to peruse and hopefully purchase.  We didn’t sell everything, but both of us went home with less than we arrived with, so that’s got to be good.  I noticed that some of the other tables had smaller pieces of fabric packed up in “grab bags”, and these sold very well. 

Then it was time for show and tell, although I must admit that after all this time between meetings there didn’t seem to be an extra lot of quilts on show.  Perhaps everyone was away on holidays and didn’t have too much time to spend sewing.  These two pretty little quilts were made to be donated to  the Neo Natal Ward at Hutt Hospital.  Our Pinestream members are very committed and make lots of little quilts for this good cause throughout the year.

Two quilts for the Neo Natal Ward

Sharon brought along her quilt which will be donated to brighten up the Palliative Care Unit of Wellington Hospital.  Those cheeky looking cats came in a panel, she told me, and then she carefully pieced all those stripes for the sashings.  She completed the quilt with a checkerboard border.  What a lovely quilt, and it will surely be most appreciated.

Sharon’s cheeky cat quilt is hospital bound

Another bright and breezy quilt was this one from Anne, full of black and white spots set off with plenty of colour.  This was a class from Thimbles and Threads, and it certainly looks like it would have been a lot of fun to make.  There’s stars in there, houses, trees and goodness knows what else!  Anne’s quilt was machine quilted by Sue B, who always does a great job.

Anne’s fun quilt

Burgundy and cream as a colour scheme always looks good, and Barbara bought along this lovely quilt.  Very simple, with log cabin blocks in the corners, and a nice restful colour scheme.

  Barbara’s burgundy and cream quilt

Katherine is well known for working with wool, and she brought along three quilts for show and tell.  I rather liked this one with the addition of blue crosses stitched behind sheeting, making it look quite ethereal.

Wool and sheeting quilt made by Katherine

So those are the highlights from our January meeting, and as usual it was a great night out.  The supper was as delicious as ever, especially the hand made chocolates – I was very restrained and only had one!  It was good to catch up with members I hadn’t seen in a while over the Christmas break. 

Pinestream Quilters Christmas Meeting

It was the last meeting of the year for my quilt club, Pinestream Quilters.   Christmas tablecloths, water, juice and fizz were on each table (no wine, as we all had to drive home).  There were Santa hats galore, Christmas earrings dangling from many ears, and this gorgeous dark haired angel sporting a beautiful pair of wings.  On closer inspection, that’s no angel, it’s Tricia!

Tricia wearing her angel wings

As usual, there were lots of lovely quilts at “show and tell”.  Pat had made this pretty Oriental themed quilt for her daughter as a Christmas gift, and has quilted it with both hand and machine quilting. 

Pat’s  Oriental quilt

Rugby is our number one winter sport here in New Zealand, and June had made a rugby quilt for her grandson.  He has been selected to play for the Manawatu Representative team, she proudly announced.

Rugby quilt for June’s grandson

The simple nine patch can make beautiful quilts, and this Wedding quilt was made by Ruth.  The photo doesn’t really do it justice, as the dark squares are made from a beautiful purple and blue floral batik.  Some of the lighter fabrics feature writing, I noticed.

Batik nine patch made by Ruth

Another nine patch  brought along was made from tiny one inch squares.  Sandy’s nine patch quilt also had some square in a square blocks scattered throughout.  This design would help use up some of those smallest scraps that quilters often keep, just in case. 

Sandy’s nine patch quilt

Fay was stitching the binding on her lovely jewel toned quilt on our last Stitching Monday, and here is the finished quilt.  I believe that Fay won some of the blocks at a club night and made some more to finish the quilt.  She added a pieced border around her quilt which really complements the design.  Those colours just glow, don’t they, and the quilt was beautifully quilted by Sue B.

Fay’s quilt

Christine had been working away quite happily doing hand appliqué on this colourful child’s quilt not really knowing who she would be giving it to.  That all changed with the exciting announcement that her son and his wife are expecting their first baby.  The appliqué patterns were a free internet download from Susan Claire, and Sue B once again worked her magic on the quilting.

Christine is hiding behind her quilt

Jan brought two striking bags along to show us.  She made one for herself, and one for her sister.  Aren’t they great?

Two bags for two sisters

As this was the last club night of the year, we all participated in a Christmas quiz.  After a great start of getting the first 9 out of 10 answers correct, sadly our team bombed out.  Some members took part in the Christmas Gift Bag challenge.  This was a little different, as the bags had to be made without using either Christmas themed fabrics, or Christmas colours.  Viewers choice was Gaye and her lovely embellished book bag.

Viewer’s choice in the challenge

Our meeting concluded with a yummy supper with all sorts of special goodies.  Pride of place went to the most delicious Christmas cake baked and iced by Joyce.  It was so popular that I don’t think there would be any left for Joyce to take home.  Hard to believe that this is the last club night of the year, and Christmas is just around the corner.  Merry Christmas to all Pinestream Quilters, and your families.