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.

Modern square

I am getting my April block swaps done early and Jane is my partner this month. 

Jane is saving modern square blocks in fresh bright colours.  It gave me a chance to use some of my new Amy Butler Lark fabric.

I hope Jane likes the colours I have chosen for her.

HELPERS PLEASE

Hi ladies
With an influx of new members it seems I am calling on the same ladies every 2-3 months to do a double swap.  Now I know they don't mind - but I am all about sharing it around.

So if you think you would like to be a double swap queen let me know and I will pop this on the data base, examples of when this is called upon are.

1. When we have an uneven number of members swapping in the month
2. When new members join up after the swaps have been sent out
(eg I have had 2 join today with a 3rd lady making enquiries) and the April partners were only sent out 2 days ago.  Note: New members are only paired with members that have been with the group for more than thre months.

I do keep tabs on who has done a double swap and the frequency of them but an example is that we had 5 double swaps last month and 3 in February.

I have 15 members registered for a double swap which means that they are doing one almost every second month.

Also, if someone joins past the middle of the month they do need to wait for the next month to be included in a swap so the pressure is not put on you in the end of the month.

Eligible members to be double swappers need to have been with the group for 3 months or more - just to make sure you fully understand how the group is run, but you can let me know if you would like to do this and I will automatically register you at the 3 month mark.

Blocks Received and Block Sent

Just a quick update on blocks.  These are blocks received from Cate and Nolene from the Feb / March swap

Received from Cate Feb 2012

Received from Cate Feb 2012

Received from Nolene March 2012

This is the block I am sending to Nolene later on today, with some NZ fabrics in it

Sent to Nolene March 2012

APRIL PARTNERS OFF THE PRESS

I am taking a mini break from work today and therefore had the time to get the April partners allocated a couple of days early.

April is my favourite month of the year, the weather is always milder, (we get a lot of public holidays) and I like the change of seasons with the colours of the leaves.  Its also a good gardening month one of my favourite pastimes.

This month the message was back to basics, with April marking our 2 year anniversary its time to reflect on the groups rules and remember that we are here to support and be friends with each other.

We have a whopping 67 members with only 3 sitting out this month.  with the group being featured in this months Quilters companion I am expecting a few more membership enquiries.

A big quilted hugs farewell to our Christmas swap mummy Crafty Pugs was seen in March, she is also taking a rest from this group and I hope to see her back one day. We also farewell Beatrice, and Lynette from the group.

On the other side, join me in welcoming new members:

Lorna from Victoria, Shirley from the USA, and Carin our first member from Sweden, welcome ladies.

Now I am off to hit the sewing room for the afternoon, and looking forward to seeing every ones April creations