Toowoomba Quilters Club Inc.

They say that “Quilting Makes the Quilt” - and thanks to the talents of professional quilter (and Toowoomba Quilters Club member!)  Kathy Adams  of KoolKat Quilting our 2008 raffle quilt looks even better than when we last saw it!

Please click on any of these images to see a larger photo:

Kathy has done a superb job with lots of custom quilting - and her rates are extremely reasonable.  Don’t you love the little details - hearts over the house doors, swirly quilting in the suns, and butterflies in the borders.

Fay did the binding and the hanging sleeve - thanks, Fay, it’s a big quilt with a LOT of binding!

Thanks to EVERYONE who helped with the raffle quilt - keep selling those tickets (and if you need more books, just call Lyle!)

And a special thanks to Sue for designing and organising - hope your family in Finland are just as thrilled to see these pictures as you are, Sue!

(Your humble bloggist says: I apologise that some of the photos aren’t as clear as they could be - I forgot my camera so took these with my phone!)

Hello all!  Just a reminder - judging day for our small quilt challenge to provide signs for the Toowoomba Quilters annual exhibition is almost here!

These quilts are only approximately A4 in size - so there’s still plenty of time to whip one up for your chance to win.

We want to remind visitors “Please don’t touch the quilts” - in any way we can. Funny, pretty, traditional, or innovative - all entries are most welcome.

Please note the hand in date for these little quilts is Saturday 6th September 2008.

Contact Vicki Warden or Lyn Lloyd if you would like an entry form or would like to make further enquiries.  Entry forms are also available at the meeting room on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The quilts will be judged by viewer’s choice at the Saturday meeting on 6th September 2008 and the winner will receive a $50 cash prize from Toowoomba Quilters. The little quilts will then become the property of Toowoomba Quilters Club Inc. to use at future exhibitions.  Deliver your quilts to Jellicoe St., or to Vicki or Lyn by 6th September.

Yvonne put together a fantastic “Christmas in July” for us.The funds raised from this day go towards our “Adopt a Family” campaign at Christmas time. We had a great time bidding on all the goodies up for auction around the room. Some of the members were bidding high on various items to try and blow the other bidder out of the water. Everyone at the end of the day seemed happy with their booty.

We will announce in next month’s newsletter, just how much was raised on the day through the silent auction, donations etc. There were some curly quilty questions to solve and the answers were all quilting block names. Easy? Not on your life! It was a tie between a few people for the winnings, but most of us were kicking ourselves for not knowing the block names!

Of course, as usual, we all enjoyed a scrumptious afternoon tea put together by the members.

Show and tell and Christmas quilts adorned the walls and gave our meeting room a very festive feel.A big thank you to Yvonne and all her helpers for making this a most enjoyable day.

Normally we have our shared lunch to celebrate that month’s birthdays on the second Tuesday - but last week many of you were off picnicking by the beautiful seaside!

So - tomorrow, Tuesday 20th, is shared lunch day. Please bring a plate of something savoury or sweet to share.

By all accounts a fun day - even with 6 hours on the bus!

Tuesday 3th, being the second Tuesday in the month, would normally be our shared lunch day. But because so many members will be at the Quilters Picnic, the shared lunch willbe NEXT TUESDAY, the 20th.

And a last reminder for those catching the bus to the picnic -the bus will leave at 7 am WHETHER YOU’RE ON IT OR NOT!

A very happy mother’s day to all the club members - I hope you got to do exactly what you wanted today! (Even if ‘exactly what you wanted” was to do NOTHING!)

(And I also hope that if you were given appliances - you really wanted them!)

This Saturday May 3 is our monthly meeting - and this month we’re also having a shared afternoon tea to help raise money for cancer research. Please bring a plate of something yummy to share!

On Saturday 19 April, members of the club gathered to work on the raffle quilt. We only had a few mishaps – we realised we had only seven sun blocks when we needed eight. Yvonne came to the rescue and whipped up another one for us!

Sheila’s glasses came apart so she was without 20/20 vision and did really well, even though she had trouble matching colours, etc. Sheila also brought her machine to find the power cord was missing (don’t you hate that – it happens so easily!)

Anyway we had a successful day and completed two more rows for ‘Summer’ and finished the blocks for the third row of ‘Summer’.

We also had a band of happy hand stitchers embroidering the Dresden Plate centres – they look great.

Thank you to all who participated. One more session should see the top completed ready for quilting!

This post written by Sue - our wonderful and very busy Events and Promotions Coordinator. Thanks, Sue!

Then have you considered helping out by writing the occasional post for the blog? All help GRATEFULLY received - I can’t always be at every meeting or event. If you’re part of organising any quilty event or activity, why not write with the details to blog@toowoombaquilters.org

Or if you have photos - let me know!

Thanks!

(Or if you’re a regular reader, how about leaving a comment now and then? It can be awful lonely in cyberspace!)

Karey Bresenhan and her team run some of the best quilt shows in America - and you can have a “virtual tour” of the recent Chicago show right here on your computer:

The International Quilt Festival/Chicago is now history, and it was a great show! You can see for yourself by going to our website — www.quilts.com –and visiting Quilt Festival @ Home to take the Ruby Slippers tour. This is the official webcast of the 2008 International Quilt Festival/Chicago.
Here’s how:
* Go to our website– www.quilts.com
* Click on the quilt in the upper left of the page (red and white
Carpenter’s Square)
* On the next page, you’ll see (1) Festival Gallery Online, then (2) 2008
Festival Chicago information and finally (3) QuiltFestival@Home with the
ruby slippers ready to click their heels and transport you to the show.
* Click on the ruby slippers.
* On the QuiltFestival@Home page, navigate between classes, on the show
floor, special exhibits, and Quilts: A World of Beauty by clicking on the
bars you’ll find on the left of the page.

Hope you enjoy the show!
Karey Bresenhan
Director, Int’l Quilt Festival–Houston, Chicago, Long Beach

Spring’s Greeting by Frieda Anderson (winner, 3rd place)

Your bloggist says: Don’t miss the “Celebrate Spring!” quilts for possible inspiration as we head towards our own Quilt Show and the Carnival of Flowers. Wow!

[Edited To add: And here's a link to someone's photos from the same show - I love seeing what grabs different people - the focus is so different!]

Helen’s “NIght and Day Strips”

Sheila’s “Stripparty Quilt” - only 6 more blocks to go.

For various reasons, there were quite a few members we normally see at Saturday meetings who weren’t there on the 5th - I hope you’re all well, and that we’ll see you at the Tuesday meetings or our next Saturday meeting on April 19.

The theme for this month’s Show and Tell was circles. Here are a few of the quilts brought in to share:

By Sue K

By Jan G

by Marilyn, with quilting by Kathy Adams

More to come soon!

Tomorrow is our monthly shared lunch to celebrate all the April birthdays.  Please bring something yummy to share!

For all those club member anxiously standing by the ir mailboxes, hoping for the new issue of Quilting Arts Magazine to arrive, here’s an update from publisher Pokey Bolton:

Quilting Arts magazine will be posted a week later than usual due to the production and posting of the special Studios issue.

There you have it - panic not, it will be worth the wait!

Pssst - don’t forget to check out the call for “Green” quilts over on Pokey’s Editor’s Blog.  She’s also looking for gift ideas for the next issue of Quilting Arts Gifts which we all loved so much last year!

Don’t forget - Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, and our (formal) meeting day. Did you know that EVERYONE is welcome at the morning committee meetings that take place before the general meeting? Get involved with your club by helping out with the exhibition committee, retreat planning committee, or the management committee.

This Saturday’s theme for Show and Tell is CIRCLES. Please bring along any quilts you have recently made, as well as quilts featuring the theme.

Maybe we’ll see a few finished quilts from our Strip Party?

Quilter and artist Michelle Verbeeck has some great tips on her blog today about caring for your rotary cutting mat. I’m off to give mine a bath right now!

(If you find her information helpful, please leave a comment on Michelle’s blog - it’s the only way a blog writer knows that what is written has been useful. Ta!)

Caity’s Wicked Gluten Free Choc Fudge Brownies

(I find weighing most of the ingredients easier than fiddling with cups and spoons.)

• Unsweetened Cocoa (for best results ever, use Dutch processed - I like Droste - but any brand will work) Half cup plus 2 teaspoons, lightly spooned into cup / 50 grams
• Butter (preferably unsalted) 14 tablespoons/200 grams
• Sugar 1 cup + 3 tablespoons /238 grams
• Pure vanilla extract 2 teaspoons/8 grams
• 3 large eggs (150 grams weighed without shell)
• Flour half cup /71 grams (original recipe says plain flour; I use rice flour so these are gluten free)
• salt - just a pinch
• (You can add 1 and a half cups/213 grams of lightly toasted pecans or walnuts to the mix, too - yum!)

Melt the butter over low heat. (microwave is fine.)
Add cocoa and sugar, stir till smooth.
Then add vanilla and the eggs, beating well after each one. (Mix will be glossy and gooey)
(Add nuts if you want.)
Add flour, mix in gently.

Scrape into prepared (greased, lined with paper) 8″ square tin. (Win friends and influence people by letting them lick the bowl/saucepan - it’s goooooooood!)

Bake for 30-40 minutes in a moderate oven (325 F/160-170 C)

A toothpick inserted will come out clean with perhaps some moist crumbs clinging - don’t overbake. These are not a “high rise” sort of brownie, they’re meant to be gooey/chewy.

Best eaten warm with ice cream if you can get away with it!!

They’re supposed to last well (1 week at room temp, 1 month refrigerated, several months frozen) but I’ve never been able to get them to last more than a day in my house.

(They take less time in my fan forced oven than the recipe says , and really, when they start smelling SCRUMPTIOUS is when you take them out - under baked is better than over baked in this recipe.)

Gardams have a small ( but gorgeous!) range of patchwork fabric, and lots of beautiful 100% cotton fabrics that would look wonderful in quilts. They’re also the local stockists of Liberty of London fabrics - swooooon!

Also, pop over to Caity’s blog to see the fun black and white sewing prints she bought from Gardams - perfect for tote bags or even sewing themed clothing!

I’m actually a little hesitant about putting this on the blog: one the one hand, I want to let Toowoomba Quilters know about this, but on the other - I don’t want to seem to be endorsing one business over another. Can you please let the blogteam know your thoughts on this? (just click on the blue words “No comments” (or once there are some there, it will have the number and “comments” ) at the top of this post. That will take you to a new page with a box that says “Your comment” and you just type there.)

Thanks!

PLEASE NOTE: This invitation was posted with permission and approval of Gardams.   You MUST RSVP if you want to attend.