Final reminder - Second quarterly meeting

=This post is for members of the Oranje Quilters' Guild only=

I trust that you all had a wonderful long weekend and tomorrow we take yet another day off!  I can live like this, can't you?

Ladies just a final reminder about our second quarterly meeting taking place on Thursday, 3 May 2012.

9am

Altona Street

Fichardtpark

The challenge for this term is Inchies/Twinchies and I can't wait to see what you all came up with.

2012 AQS Quilt Show winners - Paducah, Kentucky

I don't usually post on weekends or public holidays to give myself a little break however I thought those of you working girls might have just a little more time on hand during a long weekend to watch a video.

If you are as inquisitive as I am you'd also like to see how our South African quilts compare to those of the quilters from the United States.  The winning quilts at the years' American Quilting Society Show in Paducah has been released on a video for our enjoyment.  So take a look at this.

The quilt that left me with the most questions was about 4 minutes and 50 seconds into the video and it is named The Monumental Way by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz.  Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Using starch to stabilize your quilt pieces

I can't imagine quilting without using starch and yesterday I read Marié du Toit's blog and she not only shares where and why she uses starch but also has a recipe mix for us.

Unfortunately for our international visitors, this blog is in Afrikaans so you won't understand.  For the rest of us, take time to visit her blog and read all about it by clicking HERE.

Make your own drawings for art quilts

With all the threats of copyright violations going around you can never go wrong doing your own thing.  However most of us don't draw simply because we believe we cannot.

I found a website stating that the only reason we're not good at it is because we don't do it.  True hey?  The more we practice anything, the better we'll get.

So here is a free Summer Drawing Project (winter in our case) that you can follow day by day.  Don't cheat and look ahead.  Just start at day 1 by clicking HERE and try it.  I am sure most of us will be surprised at our own abilities.

Become better at sketching and start making your own art quilts.

Quilts at the Bloem Show - final part

Gerda Breytenback won the Mariëtte Venter trophy for the Best Innovative quilt with this entry.

Martie Botha entered a Trip Around The World.

First prize pillow entered by Santjie Steyn

Little old me won the prize for the best free-motion quilting with this quilt.

Iessie's winning quilt - best quilted item.  I think we have an Afrikaans and English prize for the same thing or do I have it wrong?

Lore and Alta from the Vingerhoede group entered this second prize winner.

The outreach group of ladies from Botshabelo also entered their work.

Christine von Wiellich's horses

Anina Louw's second prize winning quilt

And the final quilt shown on our blog is by Lenie Lourens from the Kwetter Quilter group

Our quilt cupboard displayed beautifully

Hope you enjoyed these eye candy and will be entering one of your quilts next year.

Important - Change in date

=This post is for members of the Oranje Quilters' Guild only=

I know I still have to add photos of the quilts at the Bloem Show but there has been a change in the date of our second quarterly meeting which I wanted to bring to your attention.

The meeting will now take place on the 3rd of May 2012.

Please inform all the members of your group about this change.

The Quilts at the Bloem Show - Part 1

Now I do believe any GOOD blog writer would do research, check categories, phone to find out who won what and write about it all in a well prepared manner.  However, I never claimed to be a good blog writer, I am simply 'the' writer.  So I will show all the photos sent to me and have the name of the quilter but you unfortunately either have to visit the Bloem Show or attend our next guild meeting to find out everything.

This year the theme of our Bloem Show is "Carnival" and the ladies made decorative masks to carry the theme over into our quilt cupboards.  Here these masks can be seen with a quilt from Adie Botha in the background.

In nor particular order, here are some of the quilts on exhibition this year.

Traditional quilt by Magriet Bester.  Winning the first prize and the trophy for the Best Traditional Quilt.

Lia Deysel's beginner quilt.  Iessie's pride and joy - not the quilt, the person.  This is Iessie's daughters' quilt.

First prize for a group quilt went to a Round Robin by the Kwetter Quilters (translated it would mean they talk a heck of a lot.)

Martie-marie Moss entered this quilt.  She too is a member of the Kwetter Quilters.

Alta Stemmet's Art quilt got a second prize.

A rather interesting quilt by Christa Gouws.

Calista von Wieligh won the Best Youth Quilt Trophy (under 18) with these 2 entries.

Daisies by Estelle Calitz was the judge's choice.

Jolita Geel won a special prize for the Best Beginner quilt.

Christa Gouws earned herself not only the award for the Most Outstanding quilt at the show but also the Anita Kleynhans trophy for the most points awarded.

A pretty picture quilt entered by Magda Diedericks

I still have 12 more pictures in my folder but I'll end here for today, so keep looking at this space there is more to follow.

Quilt judging and sorting for the Bloem Show

As we all know the Bloem Show is about to start one of these days but as with any exhibition this doesn't happen without a couple of people working really hard to make this possible.

This year these ladies did their thing to make a neat display for all of us and the public possible.  Note the empty cupboards behind them?  These all need to be filled once the judging was done.

First the quilts were sorted into categories.  These went into the cupboards temporarily awaiting judgement. (Sounds serious doesn't it?)

Then judge Frances too a serious look at every single quilt while Marianne sits ready to write down the verdict.

Magda from the Bloem Show has the ribbons sorted and she is the lady that will guard the quilts with her life for the duration of the Show.

All the first prize quilts are kept aside for consideration for the trophies.

Now who would believe a Cheetah rugby player would take the time to come check out the quilts being judged.  Free States' Junior van Schalkwyk taking a look at how things are done by the opposite sex.

In the mean while all the quilts needed to find a place in the cupboards and here you can see Iessie and Elsa packing, hanging, checking for possible mistakes, rearranging and trying again until it all fits.

Grateful to be done for this year Iessie and Elsa can smile again.

Now I know you are all dying to see more but I will keep you in suspense a little longer and stop here.  This is just for all of us to see how much work went into a seemingly small exhibition.  Let's be grateful for our fellow quilters who stepped up when workers were needed and consider helping one year ourselves.  Ladies, we thank you for all your hard work.

A basket full of Posies

George and Linda Wheeler designed this pattern for Windham Fabrics and it is available as a free download by clicking HERE.

This looks like a nice challenge to test your ability to stitch a variety of blocks and reminds me of a beginner quilt.

Beautiful free patterns from our own Amafu

All this time, here right under our noses, I found a local source of the most beautiful quilt patterns.  All by Glenda from Amafu.  These are lovely, thanks Glenda

There are more patterns than I've shown here so go visit the website by clicking HERE.  Look at the categories on the left until you find 'Quilting Patterns' and download the one you like or seeing that they are free, why don't you just download all of them?

Group leader meeting

=This post is for members of the Oranje Quilters' Guild only=


This is a friendly reminder for all group leaders to note the meeting on:

20 April 2012


Room 10
Hotel school building
CUT


at 9 am

Please bring along any hearts your group made and anything completed for the goody bags.  If you cannot make it to the meeting remember to send a representative from your group to attend.

Aurora Stars free pattern

With winter causing the evenings to become darker soon and seeing the stars at night I thought this pretty star quilt would be appropriate for this time of the year in the southern hemisphere.  Something bright to chase away the winter blues.

To download this free pattern by RJR Fabrics, click HERE

Teaberry Stars free quilt pattern

A full queen sized quilt consisting of 10" squares is my find for the day.  This free pattern is from McCalls Quilting.  Nice people hey?

A combination of an Irish Chain and a Star block makes this a quilt good enough for any age.

To download your free PDF pattern, click HERE, look at the left on the page next to the picture and you'll see 'WEB BONUS' and that's where you'll find your pattern.