Adjust that tension!

I often see the surprise on quilters' faces when I do a free motion class and start fiddling with their tension dials. Some were even told by their dealers never to touch the tension dial.

So for all those who still don't believe me that it is perfectly okay to adjust the tension I found a lovely article by Susan on the Sew-whats-new blog and to add to the explanation on setting the tension lovely illustrations to explain these by Superior Threads.

To read and see these, click HERE...... and adjust that tension.

Skyrise

Now that was fun being able to take a 2 day blog break while Karin wrote what the Goody Bag group was all up to.  I think you all can see that the festival plans is still running smoothly with every member doing their bit.

Back to everyday quilting.  Amanda Murphy from the blog AmandaMurphyDesigns posted this interesting block and gave the free instructions on how to make a quilt over HERE.

Look at how dramatic the difference in two color ways.  Enjoy!

GOODY BAG PROJECT

On Saturday the Rafels got together to work on our goody bags. Here are some of the group members hard at work.

GOODY BAGS.

On the photo below are the boxes of two items packed and sealed. They will only be opened again next year when we pack them into the bags. Everything is going according to plan and on schedule. There are only a few items still outstanding and once they are all together they can also be stored away.

I have cleared a whole room for all the boxes to be stored in until there is 1300 of an item, then it goes to a member of the Rafels group for storage.  The Rafels group is eating sleeping goody bags at the moment, as that is our main project at the moment. We are a working group so most of the work happens on a Saturday afternoon. That’s all I have time for now as I have to finish 150 things for the bags.

Beaded car

Most of us have a couple of beads from past projects lying around.  Not sure what to do with these?  Check out this article in the Denver Post and get the creative juices flowing.  Not sure what the men in our lives would say about this but it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission.

Photo courtesy of The Denver Post

Read the full post and see more pictures by clicking HERE.

Binding Tutorial

Many seasoned quilters still struggle with the dear old binding on a quilt and when I found this pictorial from Quilt 'n Queen I just knew I had to share it.

With these lovely explanations it just doesn't get any easier.  Take a look and fear bindings no longer.  To see the step by step instructions, click HERE.

Have a heart free pattern

Another link from blogging friend Chris.  What would I have done without her?

This free pattern is from Piece o' cake designs and can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

Quilt History

I make quilts to use them or to comply with the rules of a competition and hardly ever researches the history of a technique or quilt but I know many quilters would like to know all about the where, when and how and especially for you I found THIS website that discusses some historical questions.

You can also take a look at the Tristan Quilt apparently the oldest quilt in the Western Word.

To see this and read about it, click HERE.

Cupid's Arrow Heart Pouch

We can all do with a little pouch especially in the car to keep the change for the car watch or the beggar at the traffic light and when I saw this little cutie I thought it would be perfect for that.

Find the full tutorial on the Schlosser Designs blog by clicking HERE

Zig Zag quilt tutorial

Fellow quilter and group leader of the Rotary Cutters, Wilna, sent me this link to make a Zig Zag quilt without piecing any triangles.

You can find this tutorial by clicking HERE.

The Color Sense Game

Good morning from a crisp winters morning in the Free State.  Instead of getting dressed and ready for the day I sat by my computer playing the Color Sense Game and I've been quite impressed with the results.  Would you too like to play this and find out which colors suits you and your decorating style best?

Click HERE to start playing this game.

Quilt sleeve

Making a hanging sleeve for any of my quilts only comes to play when I plan to enter a quilt into a competition and yes, for those you will have to abide by the rules of the organizers but what about your other quilts?  I have had a couple of times where I wanted to hang an older quilt just to find out I never bothered to add a sleeve.

Karin brought this way of making a sleeve under my attention and for all future quilts this would be the way my quilts will get sleeves.

To see the full and VERY EASY instructions to make these, click HERE

What goes around - free quilt pattern

I often wonder what one will be able to come up with if you challenge yourself to only use ONE shape to make a quilt.  Then take it a little further and use this shape in a traditional, innovative and art quilt.  Unfortunately I don't have time to make everything I think about but one can dream hey?

P & B textiles offer this lovely pattern using only circles or part thereof designed by Alison Tudor to us for free.

To download your PDF pattern, click HERE.

Fair warning

Seeing that it is weekend I thought to get our members going on the challenge for the third term.  This meeting hosted by the Rotary Cutters and Rosebuddies will be held on 16 August 2012.

The challenge for this meeting is the little 'Welkom' quilt pattern you received as part of your entrance fee when you attended the National Quilt Day in March 2012.

Now let's see if we can beat the entries for the previous challenge.

Fabric postcard workshop

Guild member, Elsie van der Bijl, would like as many of our members to participate in a fabric postcard exhibition she would like to have for our National Quilt Festival in 2013.

These postcards have to either represent our theme, Kaleidoscope or our logo, the Windmill.

If you would like to attend a workshop to learn how to make these little beauties please contact Elsie as she is planning a demonstration to teach these.  As soon as she has enough people interested she will inform you of the date of the demonstration.  You can contact Elsie on 076 966 7351.

Let's see how many of these we can have on display!

Reaching out

It is very important for our guild to be involved with outreach programs and this year Iessie went to the Bloem Show management and asked if they would sponsor entrance tickets for 5 girls from a local Satellite home.

Iessie then asked members of our guild to add financially by giving these girls a little spending money and received approximately R100 per child.  The girls were very impressed with the quilts on display and will in future be taken to the CUT twice a month to be taught by volunteers from our guild to sew and cut in preparation of our National Quilt Festival in 2013.

Non quilting achievements by quilters

Iessie was so kind to take photos of other handmade items submitted for the Bloem Show by fellow members of our guild.  Thanks for these Iessie and to the participants - where the heck do you find time?

Calista von Wielich (our youngest member) entered this doll in the Hobbies category.

A doily made by Estie Maartens

Ceramic mosaic by Petro van der Merwe

Annelize Naude claimed a couple of winning prizes with her teddy bears

Amanda Palvie's stunning entry for embroidery

Linda Landman and her winners in the weave and spin category

To any other member of our guild who have entered but whose photo does not appear here, we dearly apologize.  With the crowds pushing from behind it is not always possible to stop and stare for as long as one would like to and it is highly likely that someone might have been overlooked.

Second quarterly guild meeting

On Thursday, 3 May we held our second quarterly guild meeting and as usual it was something to look forward to.

The challenge for this term was Inchies/Twinchies and these were all absolutely stunning.

The viewer's choice for this challenge however went to Alta Stemmet with this beautiful creation and to think she made it for a friend's birthday.  I would take it back immediately!

With the Bloem Show still in full swing we had little eye candy in the form of quilts but those who did bring a quilt for Show and Tell did not disappoint.

Here the viewer's choice went to Linda Landman with her Kaleidoscope.

Then Elsa Schoeman had the exhausting task to keep smiling and congratulate all the winners of the Bloem Show and hand them their prizes.  All the winners and the categories entered can be found in our quarterly newsletter on pages 32 and 33 (printed version).

The group who won the prize for the most quilts entered was the Needles and Pins and here Marianne and Nelia accepted the trophy on behalf of their group.  Don't you think this is simply the cutest quilting trophy ever?