Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Meanwhile, back in the hall…

Our February St Mark’s Quilters workshop was dedicated to making blocks which would eventually become Quilts for Queensland (you’ll have them soon, Corrie!).

However no-one could have foreseen the terrible destruction that would happen from the earthquake in Christchurch just a few days later and it seemed an excellent idea to spend our March workshop creating more of these simple blocks so that we might be able to help our Kiwi neighbours too.

After a quick refresher on the quilt-as-you-go method, illustrated with a slide show on the wide screen TV, we were quickly in the swing.

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Fabrics were sorted and rotary cutters were wielded to slice the strips. Sewing machines whirred away busily, and our piles of blocks grew at a satisfying rate.

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It’s not our intention to make quilts from these blocks since we’ll be sending them on to others prepared to do this, but quite a few girls have asked how they would go about joining quilt-as-you-go blocks, so I made a sample quilt from these blocks after our February get-together.

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There are many methods, but if you’re interested in seeing how I did it, have a look at Linda’s tutorial here.

This is the back, fully reversible.

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PS.  We had an extra little helper this month - the Princess! She’s quite expert at using my iPad, and I have a growing collection of apps I’ve downloaded just for her.

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OK, so maybe my inner child can’t resist Talking Tom Embarrassed smile. Xan and Matilda at quilting 12.03.11 002

The Princess went on to quietly amuse herself with a spare fat quarter while we sewed, and Di B’s beautiful golden retriever Matilda patiently endured a game of dress-ups without a word of complaint.

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Is it just me, or do you think the expression on Matilda’s face speaks volumes ?

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful look of resigned forbearance on Matilda's face.....and what a look of glee on The Princess' face!

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  2. It's heartwarming to see the blocks you're all sewing for Queenslanders and Christchurchers. And I'm sure you've turned around again and are as crushed about Japan's devastation as we are. I feel quite helpless in the face of so much natural destruction.

    How nice to see pictures of your darling grandie and loveable Matilda. They're both as sweet as can be. I'm impressed that Princess knows to use a pretty piece of fabric to doll-up a girl dog. Very cute.

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