The RAINBOW Piecer

2011-04-19T12:20:00.012+10:00

As you can see I haven't worked out how to get the pics where I would like them but............

Once again I have managed to find time to update this sometime blog.

Since my last post I have kept busy making charity quilts and also have even done some of my own works, including a landscape of the Bungle Bungle Ranges in the Kimberley Ranges of Western Australia...pictured...and I am currently working on a quilt for the local Quilters Guild BiAnnual show in July. This show runs for 3 weeks so if you are on the Gold Coast in July check it out at the Gold Coast Arts Centre.

I have also acquired another Great grand daughter, our gorgeous Olivia was born on 23rd August 2010 and is already standing and trying to walk. A happier little girl I have yet to meet and her big sister Mia...two and a half...thinks she is the bees knees. See Olivia and Mia in the pics above the quilts.

The quilts pictured above are #1 A Round Robin from my home group 2009 which will be give for a charity raffle, #2 is made from lovely fabrics donated by a friend to make quilts for charity, as is the cute panda one, which will go to flood survivors in Queensland.

2011-03-20T12:06:00.002+10:00

2010-06-08T16:39:00.002+10:00

8th June 2010

Here is the quilt I made for my grandson James for his 18th birthday in April.

My DD helped with the quilt design and fabrics, the guitar was my idea as he loves music.

The background is done as a 'rail fence' design using fabrics with a music theme in the top half and the sheet music was my DDs idea.

The bottom section used mostly photographic fabrics and I added a strip of film featuring photos of the Beatles.

I am pleased to say James loves the quilt.

SATURDAY 29th MAY 2010

2010-05-29T13:49:00.006+10:00

Well I seem to have become a sometimes blogger.
I still haven't worked out how to get the pictures where I want them either.

I have been busy keeping up with so many things, quilting for family, making charity quilts, planning new projects and catching up on UFOs. As well as running my home group and a Senior Citizens Group for quilters once a week.

Last week my home group 'Rainbow Piecers' went away on our annual retreat. WOW, we had the most amazing accomadation in a 12th floor of a penthouse in Surfers Paradise. It had 4 large bedrooms which meant that 8 could stay, 3 bathrooms, 3 living areas, Kitchen/dining and 3 balconies. The views were magnificent both to the ocean and the the mountains in the Gold Coast hinterland. At night it was like looking out over a fairyland with all the lights of the city.

Two other members of the group came for day visits and joined in the challenge which was presented by one of our members. As you can see by the pics I am not exagerating about the views and there is a pic of the 'mystery project' which we did [who would have expected an apron?] also a pic of the group rebel's beautiful quilt top assembled during the 2 days of stitching.

It hasn't been decided where we will go next year but it will be difficult to beat the 2010 venue.

I am presently finishing off a 'Music and Photography' quilt for one of my grand sons 18th birthday which he had on 30th April. I will post pics as soon as it is finished.

Stay tuned

Coral

Home Group...exciting day

2009-10-21T16:59:00.015+10:00

Today's meeting of Rainbow Piercers (my home group) was a very much anticipated reveal of our round robin which has been running for the past 8 months. After much searching through stashes and shops for appropriate fabrics, these are the results. The seven of our eleven members who took part were surprised and delighted to see the final results. Please see pictures below. To see a larger version of the photo, click on it. Once viewed, click on your back button on the browser.

Marie's Quilt

Robynne's Quilt

Lauray's Quilt

Ann's Quilt

Coral's Quilt

Loretta's Quilt

and Jan's Quilt

We also offer a chance for show and tell, and today Robyn brought along 2 quilts that she has made for her grand daughter. They are ready for quilting and we are hoping to see them at next months meeting.

Group Photo

My completed wall hangings

2009-10-21T16:36:00.009+10:00

The sunflower is a design of Vikki Pignatelli which
I made after doing a 2 day workshop with her.

It was a great workshop and I was happy with the
outcome of my wall hanging.

This wall hanging was constructed in a workshop with Helen Godden. It was a 2 day workshop which consisted of drawing (freehand) a design of choice (still life) on to calico.

The next step was to paint the picture and then quilting the design to bring out the features.

Also if you wanted you could add appliques to enhance the design further and this I did in the way of the white chair and I added a cheaters piece of fabric to form the quilt on the chair.

Stay tuned, more to come, Coral

2009-09-06T20:17:00.003+10:00

Hello, I just had to add these photo's of me with my daughter [Julie], grandson Brent and great grand daughter Chelsea aged 13 months. Also me with my daughter [Julie] grand daughter [Melissa] and great grand daughter Mia taken on Mia's first birthday last month. Yes, the purple shirts were planned.

AN EXCITING DAY AT GUILD

2009-08-27T06:09:00.009+10:00

Yesterday I attended our monthly Guild meeting knowing I was to collect the Show Hangers prize for my 'Jacobean Romantica' quilt won at the Guild Show last month [see picture 17th Feb '09 post] but my day turned into an extremely exciting event.

As I mentioned in my last post I was entering the Guild challenge by producing a quilt 15" x 15" using the techniques learned in Vikki Pignatelli's workshop. Well I won second place and and also the best use of colour award. I named it 'Spring Curves' and it is pictured here.

Now I was very happy with all of that but wait there's more, I then won a lucky door prize. I came home on cloud nine as you could imagine.

So what is next?

Last weekend I attended a workshop with Helen Godden and learned how to draw and paint on fabric to be finished with quilting/machine drawing all the details. Now this is a real challenge for me as number one I can't draw and number two I have only just mastered free motion quilting. BUT I am always up for a challenge so watch this space. I have wanted for some time to produce the Bungle Bungle's in fabric so this may be it, as I said watch this space.

Thanks for looking in on my blog
happy quilting all

2009-07-31T06:44:00.004+10:00

It is some time since I updated but life has been very busy for me.

I have finally finished making my Black and White quilt which has been a WIP for almost 2 years. I decided it should be finished so it could be included in the display at the Gold Coast Quilters Guild biannual show which has just ended.

Several grand children have celebrated birthdays recently, 2 of them having twenty firsts, others were 23, 20, 16 and 12, and one great grand daughter celebrated her first birthday and another will be one on the 15th August.

Also, I made a quilt for my newest great grand daughter [Liliana] who was born in March and lives in San Francisco in the USA. I had the opportunity to take it to her this month and spent 10 days in the city with family where I also met my youngest grandson [Nathan 12] for the first time. Did I say this has been a very busy time in my life??

As my DH does not travel well he decided he would not go with me so my dear Sister came from Perth and we travelled together, need I say we had a ball.

Now it is time to get over jet lag, get my feet firmly back on the ground and do some quilting.

In August I hope to meet a challenge by GC Quilters Guild and do a small quilt using the techniques learnd in a Vikki Pignatelli workshop in June. See her work at http://www.vikkipignatelli.com/ I just love it. I also have a couple of quilts to quilt for friends and and a 2 day workshop to attend with Helen Godden, really looking forward to this one too.

In the mean time I will attend Nerang Seniors Quilters each week, hold my monthly home group meeting, attend Nerang Seniors Needlecraft Group fornightly and attend the monthly Guild meeting. Somewhere amongst all this I will attend more parties, run my household, spend time with my DH and hopefully get some sleep.

2009-04-30T13:34:00.006+10:00

My DH and I have returned from a delightful 10 days in Sydney visiting our youngest son and daughter in law. They managed to spoil us with visits to local destinations and really lovely restaurants.

A highlight was when they took us to a rugby league match at the ANZ Stadium. I had not been to a game other than a local home game when our sons and grandsons have played. The atmosphere is unbelievable in the big stadium.

I managed to get to three wonderful fabric shops namely, The Patchwork Shop in Berrima, The Remnant Warehouse in Botany Road [don't be put off by the name] and Craft Depot at Pennant Hills. I could have done a lot of damage to the plastic but as I would have had to carry it home I decided on a few choice pieces to share with my daughter instead.

The photos show us entering the Stadiun and 2 of the many beautiful stained glass windows in the 'Garrison Church' at The Rocks.

April 4th 2009

2009-03-30T08:45:00.017+10:00

I attended the Gold Coast Craftfest on Saturday 28th March and am pleased to report it was another great show. There was a wonderful display of quilts by Gold Coast Quilters Guild and some other groups as well. The pictured quilt is one I had on show and is a design by Lisa Walton. I started this quilt is a wonderful fun workshop with Lisa in August 2008. The title is 'Fabrications in Pink' and it gleaned a lot of interest and favourable comment.

The Challenge quilts were fantastic and have made me want to stretch my efforts in this type of work. I thoroughly enjoyed all the 'Royal Flying Doctor' quilts and the trading area did not disappoint.

I managed to lighten my wallet considerably. I bought the X Block ruler and can't wait to try it out. It seems you can make a wide variety of designs from some simple stripping. I will add pics when I have succeded in making something.

The pic on the left is of my entry in the 'Fantasy Challenge' at the show named Fantasy Galaxie. i enjoyed trying out some of my free motion quilting on this quilt and am very pleased with the result.

Also added to the stash with some lovely Orientals

and Batiks.

I also want to introduce you to my newest Great Grand daughter Liliana Violettewho was born on 23rd March in SanFrancisco. I am pleased to report that I will be going to meet her in July with an airline ticket purchased by her Grand Father who is my son. Aren't I the lucky one, I will be looking for any quilt shops in the area while I am there

2009-03-05T06:53:00.003+10:00

These past few weeks have seen me working with a wonderful dedicated group of Senior Citizens and my home group ladies making 'quilt as you go blocks' to be used in quilts for the survivors of the devastating bushfires

in Victoria.

The pictures show these ladies very busy at their sewing machines and some of the blocks we

have made.

The Stained glass quilt you can see on the wall was made by this Senior Citizens group in 2008 of which we are all suitably proud. I did the quilting and this quilt will remain on show in the centre for all time.

Finished a Bolster

2009-02-17T07:37:00.003+10:00

I have just finished a bolster to put on my bed with the Jacobean Romamtica quilt that I finished for our 50th wedding anniversary in October 2008.

I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

Currently working madly on blocks and quilts for the survivors or of the ravaging bushfires in Victoria.

Also need to finish 3 quilts I have entered in the Gold Coast Quiltfest on 27th March. I had better get on with it as time is fast getting away.

I'm Excited

2009-01-12T17:25:00.006+10:00

This is my first entry into my blog and I wanted to show you what I am excited about. I have been working on this project since doing a workshop with Cara Gulati back in Aug 2008. Also I am excited because I have FINALLY mastered free motion quilting. It only took 8 years to master! This year I am planning many more art type quilts and landscapes. I have already started on 2 art quilts and hope to show them in the Craftfest (Gold Coast) in March.