Quay Quilters

 New member Roz brought a quilt to show us. It's her version of the Rajah quilt which is lodged in the Australian National Museum in Canberra where it is rarely on display though it was sent here for the V&A exhibition some years ago. Quaker Elizabeth Fry worked with women prisoners and along with her ladies gathered materials and fabric along with a young instructor  for those being deported to Australia on the ship "Rajah" to learn the rudiments of sewing and patchwork. The Rajah quilt was the result.

Roz's impressive and meaningful version uses aboriginal designed fabric and includes quotes about aboriginal rights front and back.

Roz's quilt

Melinda at left retrieved this wedding quilt from her son. It was made some years ago and was soiled with use. Melinda has washed it and the quilt, all expertly hand pieced and quilted, has stood up well with a beautifully soft handle. I think it will be in our July Show.

Melinda's quilt

The Pat Man cometh

 

Gareth here came to test my machines arrayed on the spare room cupboards plus iron and extension lead. He was very taken by the quilts piled on the bed, this one destined to find a new home eventually but not immediately. However I couldn't resist his enthusiasm and wish to purchase this one so I gave in and he carried it off labelless and nameless. It will go on his reading chair and was only sold on condition he called it a quilt not a rug. Hopefully in its new environment it will alert more people to the presence of quilts and their appeal.

The back showing the Australian Bondoon fabric which was rotary fussy cut into four oatches to make the blocks.

On the bed

 

Carolyn Forster's BOM pattern quilt. It's called Cosmos after Dan Bennet's fabric line which largely features. Every few days I'm giving it a quarter turn so I see different blocks close up.

May doings 1

The 10th was our Chartham Hatch sewing day and here is Tracy with the top she made on her recent retreat, I love all the ginghams.

I was first there to set open up and this chap gave me a bit of a turn when I turned round.

His Majesty

Maggie made this lovely quilt in Liberty
Riviera cottons.

Tracy's, I think, as she has been
teaching DNP

Maggie,y lovely work made for her student daughter's flat mate

Meanwhile I was working on my Sweet Tea and Green Beans, applique block two,

 

Coronation

 

Craft sale

Best dressed?

Morris Men

In the hall

The Coronation weekend was very enjoyable and at times moving. We watched the ceremony on TV followed by a buffet lunch for two. Saturday was the concert and on Monday our residents and a neighbouring association celebrated by a tea. Lots of delicious cake plus a bric a brac and paperback sale to raise funds for four local charities. The Morris Dancers emerged from the pub to put on a good display and the almshouse rear garden was open, usually a secret enclosed space. There was a tour of our historic church while I went on a churchyard tour with two very knowledgeable parishioners partly looking at graves in including four war graves as well learning about others buried here whose stories involve an insight into the past.

Springtime Quilts

 First up I put Sunny on the bed. This was a quilt where I didn't have enough of a framing fabric so had to substitute and the result is all the better for it. 

Detail

It's another of my rotary fussy cut four patch quilts. This year I've added the Fish Quilt and Bondoon to the total.

I originally planned to use cross blocks as setting squares for Bondoon but they proved too overwhelming  so they are in a quilt all to themselves and I took various self indulgent photographs among the primroses in our back garden.

On a higher level on our Queen Beez day Maggie showed us her transformed mystery WIP now unrecognisably different from the original version.

And at Quay we saw Vanessa's latest which will go in our show.