Update on quilts for Papua New Guinea babies.

I now have 68 quilts waiting to be shipped over to PNG in December.   Sixty-three from around Australia and five from the USA.  You can see them all on the PNG Quilt Collective blog here.  I've got more of my own on the proverbial drawing board, and two friends have made tops which need to be finished off into quilts.  If anyone wants to donate just tops, I am happy to finish making them into quilts with the backing and batting.

I had an email from Australian Quilters Companion a while ago.  They are going to write a small feature on the PNG Quilt Collective - what a buzz!!  I think it may be the November issue, but that hasn't been confirmed.   I'll post something here when it comes out.

Eastern Palliative Care Quilt Show.

I met up with my friend Connie at the quilt fair this morning, and as always, we thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the beautiful quilts, and catching up afterwards over scones jam and cream.   You can see my photos of some of the quilts at my Quilt shows blog here.

Terrible fires in New South Wales.

The reports on the NSW bushfires have been shocking, and it may get even worse on Sunday as the weather prediction is more heat and wind.    Whenever there are extreme fires around Australia I feel so helpless.  It's no use to anyone but I wish I could do something other than donate cash to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, which I will be doing online shortly.  Thanks to Ken's late Mum we are in a position to be generous, although it will be a pittance compared to what will be needed there in days and months to come.

Wonder if anyone will be doing a quilt collective for the fire victims, now that Jan Mac is no longer organising the making and collection of quilts for disasters over at Oz Comfort Quilts?   She was actually on vacation up in the Blue Mountains a day ago, according to her blog.  I hope she and her family haven't been caught up in the fires.

I follow quite a few blogger in NSW and some of them read my blog in return.  If at all possible, please leave a message here to let us know you are okay (or not) and if there is anything people down here can do for you.

I-Pad shoulder bag and Xmas card inserts.

Once I get going on something, it's hard to drag me away!  Ken had his first pulmonary rehab session at the hospital today which mean the afternoon was a write-off for doing any sewing, but I was itching to do a couple of things on my list of to-dos, and once dinner was over, I headed for what Ken calls 'my end of the house', and got to work while he watched a new DVD.

A friend recently told me that she'd lost the shoulder bag that she carried her I-pad in, and asked if I could make her another.  I've never made a bag before, so I looked at magazines and online for instructions, and although I found plenty of tutorials, I couldn't get my head around them.  So I asked one of my new blogger buddies (one of the PNG Quilt donors) if she would show me and she said, yes of course, come on over!  Sue lives near my hairdresser, so after I'd been there on Monday, I went over to Sue's place.

She started to tell me how to make a simple bag, and even borrowed her son's I-pad to cut out a template for me to use.   I started to write directions on it, but she could see that I was confused (blonde and senior is a bad combo, lol), so she took some fabric from her stash and proceeded to make a bag right there so I could see how it was done.

She made it look so easy!!   But she is a very creative and busy lady, so if you haven't visited her blog yet, hop over and see all the things she makes for charity groups.  Thanks again for your help Sue - I truly appreciate you spending all that time with me :-)

I knew that if I didn't make a start on my I pad bag, I would forget everything Sue has shown me, so I was determined to do it last night, and I did.   My friend is an Elvis fan, but also loves cats, so I decided to put Elvis on one side and some cat words fabric on the other.  It only took me a couple of hours!  Think she will like it?

 I still had enough time to make a start on some little patchwork Christmas card inserts. I've committed myself to a card swap and have to make nine cards by mid November.  I like the patchwork cards I made a couple of years ago, so I did some more of those.  Not quite the same, but the same principle.

First Christmas project completed.

I can't remember where I obtained the kit for this - opshop, Paddy's Market, maybe somebody gave it to me.  Anyway, it's been in my stash for a while, and I rediscovered it when I was looking for something else Christmassy a month or so ago.  I decided to do this instead of my original plan because it was quick and easy.  The design was supposed to be a cushion cover or a framed picture, but I added a cute button which I bought at the NOTY show last week,  framed the NOEL with Christmas fabric from my stash, and backed it with more Christmas fabric.  I might use some jumbo ric rac to hang it up, or I may just put it on the table over the Christmas months.

New quilting classes with Linda Steele

I have just booked into a three day workshop/class with one of Australia's top quilters, and I am looking forward to it very much.  As much as I am loving my new Janome, I really don't use it to its full potential as the  variety of possibilities with various pressure foots and things is way beyond my limited comprehension.  Linda assures me I'll be able to do a lot more with it after her classes.  They are being held in Balwyn - you can find more details on Linda's blog here.

Another good quilt show next week.

NOTYQ Exhibition.

I took a heap of photos at the NOTY show last weekend, and have posted them on my Quilts Shows blog here if you want to have a look.
And here is what I bought:
Two lengths of fabric - owls and aboriginal art - $10 each metre.

 

 

And lots of cute buttons! I was looking for this seller at the Quilt convention, but she told me she doesn't go to the big craft shows. So I made up for lost time to the tune of $60 - eeeeek!

NOTY Quilt show this weekend.

NOTY shows are one of the best quilt shows in Melbourne.  They are only held once every two years, so if you miss out this time you'll have to wait two years for the next one!   I know Eltham is a long way to travel for some of my blog readers, but I can guarantee you it is well worth the drive.  As well as the fabulous show of quilts by these talented ladies, there are traders selling lots of goodies....as if I need more stash...sigh.