April & May blocks

This is my April block for Amira in yellows and browns, she has received it.

And here's my May block for Terry. I'll go in the mail next week.

Aprils block for Kerry

New member Julieanne has asked me to pop this photo up of the lovely block she has made for Kerry.  its being posted to you now

One Half of An April Swap

I say one half because, sadly, I have not never heard anything from my April partner.  However, I have sent her this block but don't know if she has received it or if she likes it.  Since I am feeling a little unloved (lol!!) I thought I would totally, transparently and a little sheepishly beg for some group appreciation!

My partner requested any block in red and white and since I had made this block for my previous partner and really liked it I thought I would remake it in red and white.

Cheers,
Karen

April Block For Val

Better late than never.  Was a bit late in sending off Aprils block to Val as life sometimes gets in the way, but finally done it.

Val asked for any block in pinks, greens and burgundy, so here it is.

May Block from Leena

I was paired up with the lovely Leena this month and I received a lovely squishy envelope in the mail today which contained this terrific block:

I asked for any block in red, black and white and this one is gorgeous and goes really well with my other blocks too!  Lucky me though as Leena also sent me these two lovely panels as well! I love them!

Leena has also received the blocks I sent her. She asked for a spool block in bright colours and I couldn't make up my mind between two fabrics for the thread so I made both for her.

I really enjoyed making these, might use that block again one day.
Thanks so much for being my swap buddy this month Leena!

Cheers,
Sue xx

We have a sponsor

I am thrilled to announce that FABRIC DIRECT has agreed to be a sponsor of QBSA.  Thanks so much to the lovely Eveleen Curtis for accepting my request for sponsorship.  Fabric Direct are an Australian based online fabric company.

Visit them now at   http://www.fabricdirect.com.au/ to see the lovey array of fabrics, patterns and notions that you can purchase.  In coming months we will be holding some lovely give aways courtesy of fabric direct.

Blocks for Julie

Julie from California is my May partner. She had one block on its way to me before the end of April, what a whiz!. She then informed me that she wasn't 100% happy with the first so made a second and that is on the way. I had made one block and had made a mistake in cutting out some of the fabric so had part of a second different colour way already done. So now Julie had two blocks also. Julie sent me a pattern which has been added to my collection and wanted red, black and aqua. I hope she likes these blocks, the colour combination is quite dramatic and eye catching.

Block for Rosemary

Above is my block for April for Rosemary.  I have to say sorry that I am slow and behind this month.  My new baby is now 4 weeks old and we almost feel like were are getting settled.  You would think with my wife doing most of the work with the baby its not a good excuse but its the best I got.  This block will be in the mail in the morning hope it gets too you quickly.

This is the block I received from Rosemary and I love it.  I have a thing for Purple (yes I am a guy but hey its a pretty color) thanks again for the great block.

Richard Healey

"I Spy" Ohio Stars...

Over the past year I have been sent my 'I Spy" Ohio Stars  and now they have been put together in to this gorgeous girly quilt.

Many thanks to Debbie,Lynda, Cathy.C, Anne Mc, Isabelle, Leena, Rosemary, Jolanda, Amria, Raelene and Dawnelle(2) for sending me their lovely blocks..

I am looking forward to collecting my next blocks in Yellow and Blues to make my third quilt..

Hugz
Maria

Early start for May

I had the afternoon off today, so spent it busy making my May block for Raelene

Raelene requested traditional sampler blocks in 1930's fabric, so I made one of my favourites the tulip block

I also made a block for member Jan that had been let down with a swap in Feb,  SShh, she doesn't know I have made this for her

March and April Blocks...

My partner for March was Richard and he sent me two blocks...

 and he has been madly sewing granny squares

thank you Richard and thanks for being my partner...

 and my partner for April was Lynda and she wished for a Dresden plate in soft pinks and greens...

this is the first ever Dresden plate I have ever made... hope it is done right for you Lynda...

Luv Tarnyia xxx

Dawnelle's block arrived

Dawnelle was my swap partner last month and she has made me not one but two lovely "I Spy" Ohio blocks...

thank you Dawnelle.

Now I have enough blocks to make a nice quilt.

Next month I will start to collect Yellow and Blue blocks for my next quilt...

Hugz, Maria

May partners allocated

Anzac Day is a day for remembering, and for relaxing and spending time with family.

I spent some time today with my DH and his Brother and SIL.  For the most part of the day I did some sewing, but also took the time to get in early with the MAY partnerships.

This is the first month that we have our categories and I can tell you that we have

BEGINNERS: 8 members (all participating this month)

INTERMEDIATE: 38 members (all participating this month )

ADVANCED: 20 members (one sitting out this month)

That's a total of 66 members welcoming newcomers

Rosie from Queensland in the Beginners group

Vanessa from Victoria, Julieanne from California, Elle from Washington

in the Intermediate group

 and farewelling members

 Lisa, Isabelle and Erin from QBSA

thank you for spending time with us.

March block from Encarna

Encarna very generously sent me two blocks [and some buttons and scissors charms] because she was my March partner and was running a little late.
The blocks are just lovely. So far my other partners have made my Scrappy Framed Squares - such a beautiful, simple block - but this one is just a little more challenging.



Thank you for making these blocks.

Owl Block for Shirley

My block swap buddy for April was Shirley in the USA who asked for an owl block in primary colours.  I had a lovely time making him although he looks a little dubious. Perhaps he knew he was going to be stuck in an envelope for a long time!

Shirley let me know today that she has received her block so now I can happily post a photo!

Birthday give away winners announced

I have finally had confirmation that the article featuring our group will be published in the May edition (out on May 16th) of Quilters Companion magazine and the editor will send me the magazines promised as prizes in our birthday giveaway

A big thank you to Jane Kelly who is a member of the 12 inch group and a feature writer for this magazine that approached me to do the article, and arrange the gift with the editor.

So, without any further delay here are the lucky winners that will receive their own copy of this edition of the magazine, with compliments of the editor of Quilters Companion, and two batik fat quarters from my private stash as a birthday gift from me.


Our overseas winner is......
Janet from Yukon in Canada.
Janet is a member of the six inch and Christmas block swap groups and her blog can be found here

Our Australian winners are.....
Larissa from the Northern Territory whos blog is here Larissa is in the 12 inch group

Raelene from Victoria whos blog is here Raelene is a member of the 12 inch and Christmas group

and
Maria from Western Australia whos blog is here Maria was the 5th member to ever join the 12 inch group so has been with me almost the entire time that I have had the group running.

Congratulations ladies your gifts will be in the Mail as soon as I receive them.
Quilted hugs, Sue xx

Bev's Block Arrived....

When I went to the post yesterday there was a parcel with my lovely block in from Bev.

She also included a beautiful Easter Mug Rug.
Thanks Bev the block looks great with the others and I will have my own special Mug Rug for next year.

March block for Dawn

Hopefully by now, Dawn's block for March has arrived safely ;-)

Dawn asked for any block in a south west colour scheme - Browns, Oranges, sage greens, golds - I must admit, I had to Google it to get a better idea of what it was.  I had very few greens, so I stayed with the browns, oranges & golds.  

Categories for members

Hi ladies
By the time you read this you should have received an email from me regarding categories for members.  I have decided to group members into the following categories.

BEGINNERS

INTERMEDIATE

ADVANCED

This way, you will be partnered with members with a similar skill level as you,
As you move through the months, if you think you would like to move up or down a skill level please let me know.

Sometimes when there are odd swap members in a month, I will pair a beginner with and intermediate or and an intermediate with an advanced, but never a beginner with an advanced.

Please reply to the email to let me know your skill level before May partners are allocated (28th April)
If I do not hear from you then you will be categorised as a beginner (unless I have been your partner and know your work).  You can upgrade a category or downgrade a category if you need to.

Happy sewing

Sue

PS, if for some strange reason you did not get an email from me, please let me know.  I sent it to all of my contacts in the quilting group, but one or two may have gone into cyberspace.

Some tragic news

I have just been informed via Helen that our dear member Elaine and her husband were killed in light plane crash last Saturday

Her daughter Heather emailed Helen in reply to an email she has sent to let her know that her block was on the way.  Here is an excerpt from that email from Heather:

This is Elaine’s daughter Heather.

I am very sorry to have to tell you that both Mum & Dad have past away in the ultralight crash on Saturday night.

I look forward to seeing the block and one day finishing the quilts that are in progress.

Our heart goes out to her family.

April Blocks.....

How lucky for me to have 2 partners this month...

Your blocks will be in the post this week ladies ....

For Encara...
(anvil block red on cream background)

For Megan
(Jacob's Ladder - red on white)

Your blocks will be in the post this week...

Hugz from Fiona

April blocks for Brenda

My april partner is Brenda from the U.S.A. She requested Storm at Sea or a Log Cabin in blue and brown. After checking  the first block pattern i decided to make the Log Cabin

Two days later I thought... I'm being silly. Maybe it's a difficult one but al least I should give it a try.
It took me almost all afternoon to paper piece and sew all the parts together. It's not a perfect block but I fell good for having the courage to try. I just hope you like your blocks Brenda

Happy Birthday Quilting Block Swaps Australia

QBSA is TWO today and I wish to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our members both past and present for the amazing experience and friendship that I have found and enjoyed as founder of the group.

Our group stretches far and wide across the globe with current members as follows

Australia - 44

America - 9

Canada - 6

New Zealand - 3

Portugal - 1

Spain -1

France -1

England  -1

Scotland -1

Netherlands -1

Sweden 1

To celebrate our birthday I held a give away (details here).  I am waiting for delivery of the magazines that were promised from quilters Companion. As soon as I have delivery of them will announce the winners and post them out with a couple of batik fat quarters tucked in from my own stash as a gift from me.  Sorry for the delay - it is beyond my control.

. Thank you to all that participated in the birthday celebrations and for your continued support.

Blocks for Kate and Lisa

Both Kate (of Blacktown, New South Wales) and Lisa (of Texas) have requested Blocks of turquoise, black and white. For Kate  (top pix),I did a Log Cabin Star and as the fabrics were stripes, it was a bit tricky to keep the stripes 'on the line'.

As for Lisa, I took a more safer route and ended up doing a Star for her. Lisa, your Block is on the way.

Two Blocks From Karen P

Karen P was my swap partner for March.  Not only did she make me one block but she made me two wonderful blocks!  She said she did this because she was a little late but I still received them right at the end of the month.  Karen and I were in the first ever pattern swap and she sent me a pattern she has used several times.  I look forward to making the little back pack soon.  Thank you for the adorable blocks, Karen!!

Hugs,

Linda G

Stray Stitches

Billy's Beautiful Hexagons

Billy was partnered in April with new member Lorna and she has made her a gorgeous hexagon block, I love the colours and the fussy cut centre - Beautiful work Billy

An Easter treat

Jane was my April partner and today her lovely block arrived in the post.  I have not seen this pattern before but I LOVE IT, its called A Dandy, and it is just dandy.  Jane also sent me a cute Easter card, a first for me,  Thank you Jane.

April Block for Chantell

This is the pastel floral, star block I sent to Chantell, with a log cabin mug mat from the same fabrics.

From Jan



Civil war prints

This beautifully made block is winging its way to Sue in Scotland from Vicki in New South Wales

This block is a perfect example of a lovely block that anyone would be happy to receive,

 well done Vicki.

WHAT NOT TO DO

I have received an email lately from a disappointed member regarding  the blocks they have received.

I am not naming names, nor am I going to email the lady that made and sent these blocks but have decided to show the offending blocks as a lesson to all of us.

The yellow background shows the 12.5 inch square so you can see that they are clearly undersized.
The seams and points do not meet and the block is not well made and crooked.  Dark fabric is used, but a light thread which shows in the seams.  Its like not a lot of love has gone into making this block, which would have been stunning if it was well made.

The second block sent is also undersized, and the selvidges are clearly visible as the fabric was not trimmed before being used.  Not trimming your selvideges is a big no no in quilting land.

Remember when making a block for your member to:

1. Trim the selvidges before cutting the fabric
2. Measure your block and ensure that its 12.5 inches raw edge to raw edge and
3. Make sure that it s square.

Only send a block that you would be happy to receive,

Lovely March Block

I would love to share the lovely March block that has been made for me by Linda Gilli from Stray Stitches.  It is exactly what I asked for and the colours are absolutely spot on.  Thank you so much Linda.

This month Linda and I were also participants in the first ever pre-loved pattern swap.  Linda's gift to me was a lovely pattern for a wall hanging that she had made.

You can see I feel very fortunate in my March partnership.  Thanks again Linda.

Until next time,  happy quilting, knitting, sewing and crafting ....

I did a boo boo

Lucky for me Jane spotted the block I had made her on the blog and emailed me, as I had read the instructions wrong.

Second lucky is that its an easy block to make so I immediately popped into the sewing room to make it correctly, sadly I didnt have enough of the lime green, so had to substitute it with a different lime in my stash - still part of the summer house range. I actually think it goes better with the centre block.

March Block from Maria W

Sorry it has taken so long to blog this.
I love my Tulip block from Maria.

I am collecting 1930's blocks and this will fit in beautifully.

March blocks

Jen was my partner for March and I sent her a postage stamp block, phew 144 tiny 1.5" squares. Lots of fun to find as many different fabrics as possible though.

Jen sent me two blocks as the first she made wasn't a star block which was my requested block. I do love them both though so thanks Jen. She also sent me the print outs of the patterns that she used which is fantastic. Love the site that she got them from... a good source! My blocks look blue but they are the most stunningly beautiful purple.