Highfields Retreat

The Qld Covid gods were smiling the last weekend of August and we were able to have our Sunday Stitchers Highfields Retreat.

We had 14 people gathered and started sewing sometime Friday afternoon and went until Sunday night.

I had a few things planned and was able to achieve all of it.

First up was to make a collection of left over bits into a quilt top.  
This is the result of 2 main quilts I made many years ago (in  2011) - plus one more that is "just sitting".  I made that one in 2020.
It's not very big (30" x 42")
If I find something I can add to it I might do that - else I may keep it to finish off as a doll quilt for Miss Adorable Grand Daughter.

I had reserved Saturday for a "Volunteer Leave" day.  My employer gives us 2 days a year that we can do volunteer work - what better way for me to use a day of it than sewing??
This year I made placemats to give to Meals on Wheels - yes more than 7 hours of work and I'm very grateful to Norreen for finishing the bindings for me.

They carried over into Sunday as we made our Secret Project on Saturday afternoon.

Directions and instructions were kindly passed on by Marilyn.

This is mine (it looks a bit wishy-washy here - better in the next picture)

and this is the group of them - what a colourful bunch!

I had taken a bundle of blocks and fabric along as Helen had volunteered to turn it into a child's quilt - the SS group are donating quilts to a Domestic Violence Shelter and we thought this would be a good one for a child.   So I helped a bit with that - three rows had been joined - but this is mainly Helen's work.

I also did some hand stitching and some crochet to fill in a bit of time.

A really lovely fun weekend and we are all grateful that we were able to go.

Bushfire Blocks

I saw the call from Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild - asking for tree blocks - to make into quilts for victims of the recent bush fires.
Although Queensland where I live had some fires - quite a while back, and there was a lot of damage, the fires here didn't reach the epic proportions of those further south.  IN Brisbane we had a few smoky days.
It was such a sad story hearing about it all.   

So when WMQG said they needed blocks, I thought that was something I could do to help.
The response has been overwhelming - and a recent post says they have now received over 4000 blocks.   That is 200 quilts.  And the final posting date is 1st March.
The blocks have come from all over the world.
Very humbling.....

Anyway - back to the tale . . .
I grabbed one of the patterns from WMQG and make these a little while back.  

A few weeks ago, I received an email at work - suggesting that we could use our Volunteer Leave days to help organisations that were still working in relation to the bush fires.  We get two days a years and mostly, I have not used both days...for a number of reasons.

But I thought I would give this a try - so asked if making quilt blocks for quilts for fire victims etc . . .was allowable - "Yes, go for it, a great way to use your Volunteer day/s" 
So, today I sewed these blocks:

The foundation pieced trees created a bit of wastage, so I grabbed some of the leftovers and make a crazy patch piece of fabric and then hand drew a tree!!! 
(Well I know its simple...but I do not draw well)
It's a bit wonkier than planned...I had a mishap with the trunk - but it is going to a Modern Quilt Guild and I think I recovered it well enough.  Maybe if you zoom in  you will see some decorative stitches on the trunk!!!

All the blocks are over sized as requested by the Guild.

So, that was my Volunteer Leave day.... Maybe I can use the second one the same way....

I'm also working on some QAYG blocks to send away. 19 1/2 done - aiming for 35 - enough for one quilt.