Blocks in and out

Last week the postie delivered not one but two blocks……..
Pretty “I Spy” Ohio Star from Ann in Canada for April..



and my first new block choice which can be any block made in Yellow and Blues…..



Vicki’s May Swap Block is lovely….

Love both my blocks, thank you ladies.

Today after my family left it was so quiet that I went into my cave and made both my June Blocks.

Adelaide’s from N.S.W
 
 

and Janet’s From QLD.



both blocks were fun to make. Will pop them in the mail tomorrow…..

Hugz  Maria

Blocks from Billy

Here are the lovely blocks made by Billy.  The first one is for Brenda in the US and is the storm at sea block. This was for the May swap

The second one is for Teresa in Portugal and is the Autograph star. This one is for the June swap

Pretty Stars

here are the pics of the "star" blocks I made for Maria Nelson, Canada

I hope she enjoys them as much I enjoyed stitching them

The blue star block is "Brasstown Star"

The yellow star block is from Jinny Beyer's Album called "New England Star"

(however on googling this it is nothing like the blocks by this name -

maybe Jinny got it wrong in her book)

Cheers,

Kerry Bell (Qld)

Blazing Arrows swap quilt top completed

I am so excited about this (flimsy) finish and how stunning it looks.

I have just popped the black borders on today, and as I write this its laid out on my dining table ready to be pinned (my least favourite job)

I am giving this quilt to my girlfriend Deb for her 50th in July.  Deb loves loves cats, hence why I appliqued two cats on for her.  Deb moved into a new house about a year ago and has decorated her family room with a red sofa and black and white accessories which is why I picked this colourway for her.  I have purchased enough of the red to back it and also bind it with.

I would like to thank the following ladies who contributed to this quilt top.
TOP ROW (L-R) :Helen, Erin and Teresa
MIDDLE ROW: Brenda, Helen and Beatrice
BOTTOM ROW: Encara, Cathy A and Raelene

When the quilting and binding is complete I will pop a new pic on the blog, but I was just so excited to share it with you.

First newbie showcasing her blocks

New member Carolyn was so excited to be part of QBSA that she made her partner two blocks this month.  They are going to be winging their way to Amira this week.

Great blocks, dont you agree?

Thank you to all my partners!

I've been a very bad person. Only now did I realize that I hadn't post about my received blocks neither had I thanked my great partners. Well, better late than never. Here is a photo of all the 2012 blocks I've received. They look great ! Thank you to my partners: Sue B. , Linda G. , Linda Mc K. , Brenda T. and Kym.

Block for Carmen

Heres my June block for Carmen, she requested a navy blue star with any background..I sure hope you are happy with it Carmen..I think its lovely.

From Sue to Sue

Last night I made this diamond star for Sue P, packed it in the envelope ready to post today.  Being ditsy in the head I forgot to photograph it before I packed it, and then today I forgot to post it.  So tonight I opened the envelope to take a picture and I will pack it up again to post on Monday,

Sue is collecting any block in black, white and red.  Take a look at her blog here to see what other beauties she has so far.

Its raining members.

As you all know swap partners were sent out on Saturday and in this swap we had a whopping 11 new members join us

Since then Its remained busy with three more confirmed members. - so please join me in also welcoming

Adelaide from NSW

Sharon from Victoria and

Janeen from New South Wales
Jeneta - West Australia

Thank you to all of the ladies taking on double swaps this month to accommodate these ladies so they can swap straight away.  

I have popped all new members names on the side bar of this blog.  We are now numbering 82 members with only 18 places remaining.

If any of the new members are reading this, and you want to be contributors of the blog, please email me to have an invite sent. 

Blazing arrows from Raelene

My lovely blazing arrows block arrived in the post today from Raelene.  A cute paw print piece of fabric was included.

Now I can finish putting this quilt together, so stay tuned for another Block swap group finish

June swaps allocated

Hi lovely QBSA members,  you should have an email from me with your partner for the June swap sitting in your inbox.  Please remember to email your member to say hi and confirm details before making their block.

By now you should have completed your swap for May and have it ready to post (if you have not already done so). If you are running behind now is the time to drop your member a line and let them know when they can expect it.

We have a whopping 77 members now with 10 newbies thanks to the article in Quilters companion magazine in May.  This is the biggest our group has ever been and there is still room for more, so if you are reading this and thinking of joining better be quick.

We have two double swap queens this month.  A big thank you to Melody doing a double swap in the Beginners group and to Amira for doing a double swap in the Intermediate group (due to an odd number of swaps).  I am also extremely grateful to have quite a number of other ladies on stand by for a double swap this month if we get any more new members join after the partnership allocation today

Just so you know, for interest sake, if someone joins up past the middle of the month I do ask them to wait for the next partnership run rather than give members only 2 weeks to get their blocks made.
So double swap ladies on stand by, you may hear from me again in the next two weeks.

Happy sewing everyone, and I look forward to seeing an amazing array of quilt blocks being displayed on the blog.

May blocks swapped

Jane and I were partnered for this month and this is the block that I sent her.I love this star and will do it again I hope.

This is the amazing block that I received from Jane . I am in awe of this amazing block. Thanks so much. It was lovely being swap partners.

Vicki's Block

While I was in Perth I received an e-mail from Vicki to say her block had arrived.

She requested a block in BRIGHTS. What fun finding the fabrics to make her block in my stash. The colours are much brighter than the photo shows. I am pleased she liked the block.

Maria.

May Block From Ank Received

Received my May Block from Ank a couple of days ago.

Must be a special one as even Customs NZ had to inspect it.

May block from Lorna ...................

This is the framed scrappy squares block Lorna sent to me.

Lorna has kindly offered to make and send another one.I hope you have a full and speedy recovery. Thank you very much,

Jan

Fabric direct give away winners

I have decided to use random org for the first time in this give away ( and in all future giveaways)
rather than my old method of names on pieces of paper in a hat that DH pics out.

So the winner gets the fabric pac of their choice I will put all of the Summer house into one draw and then all of the Civil war in the second draw.  If you have not nominated a preference you will go into the civil way draw as that has less people in it.  Sound fair?

Summer House draw             Civil war draw
1. Sooli                                  1. Teresa
2. Jane                                   2. Catswhiskers (Gina)
3. Larissa                               3. Cheryll
4. Maria  W                           4. Fiona
5.Julieanne                            5. Leena
6. Jan                                     6. Kerry (red hat Kerry)
7. Janet                                  7. Flowershona
8. Cathy                                 8. Sewdown under (Minette)
9. Maria N                             9. Robyn R (Artisan)
10. Ellie K                             10. Michell
11. Raelene                            11. cats mother
12. Ullharvan                         12. Bobbie
13. Larain
14. Shaz
15 Cathy T

Winner in Summer house
Is #10 Ellie K

Winner in Civil War
Is #8 Minette from Sew down under

Congratulations ladies.  I will pop the sets in the mail to you this week

Footnote
I tried to save the random org draws, but as soon as I save it clears to zero again.  Also couldnt copy and paste it to pop it in the blog post so you can see the results.  Any hints on how this is done?

May Block For Ank

This month I was teamed up with Ank in the Netherlands.  She asked for any block in blue, green, warm brown and ecru and loves aboriginal prints  So I thought maybe she would like these colours in NZ Maori prints.  So I made her a Amish Diamond.

Made in the nick of time

As May draws close to the end I have made this block for Lorraine in New Zealand.  Lorraine was my second partner this month by default as her first partner (as it turns out ) has been missing in action since Feb in this swap, and since December in the Christmas swap. {insert grumpy face}

Both Cathy and I have suspended this member and wish we knew about this sooner. 
Lorraine requested any mixed block in any mixed colour.  Personally I actually find non specific requests more challenging than specific ones.

Well, I think its nice and cheery

How is everyone else going with their May swaps, mine are all done :)

Meet some new members - Monday update

So far we have had four six  EIGHT confirmed new members join up after reading the article about our group in Quilters Companion magazine, so a big quilted hugs welcome to :

Petah from Queensland who has join the ADVANCED GROUP

Janet from Queensland who has joined the INTERMEDIATE and Christmas groups
Margaret from New South Wales who joined the INTERMEDIATE and 6 inch groups
Donna from Victoria who has joined the INTERMEDIATE group

Helen and Isa, both from Victoria that have joined the BEGINNERS group

Monday welcome
Erin and Carolyn both from Qld and both into the INTERMEDIATE group.

Welcome ladies, we all look forward to getting to know you.

There are still places left in all groups if any one else if thinking of joining.
(two more joined this evening)

Doing a happy dance

Its out!  its out.! 

The article in quilters companion is out.

I haven't seen it yet as my copy has not arrived in my letterbox, but today I have already had three new membership enquiries so hold onto your hats its going to be a busy month.

This will boost our Australian membership base which at present represents about half of our entire membership.  I plan to initially cap the membership at 100 but may raise that slightly when I see how I cope with it. As of writing this we have 68 active members and at our peak we had 72 and I coping OK with that.  This realistically allows room for 32 more members, and I could be wrong but with the exposure in the magazine I think that we will get a lot more enquiries than that.
And ooohhh how I hate turning people away.
I have been thinking about how I would cope with this, and that is one of the reasons for splitting the groups into categories.  I could stagger the swaps within each group to take the pressure off.  As many ladies that have been with me for awhile would know, at one stage we did run a second group, loosely attached to the first but it didn't really work out so I am not keen on heading down that path again.

Anyhow the purpose of this is to let you all know my thoughts and I welcome any comments on how you think we can make this work.