Woodend Retreat
| July 30, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under Retreats |
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Hello Everyone!
I’m Rebecca and I would like to organise a Craft Retreat forr the MMQG, at The Retreat in Woodend, a beautiful country town about 1 hour northwest of the city.
Abbe (a good friend) who has opened The Retreat has thought of everything – it is a fabulous place, with 5 bedrooms with 2 double beds each! Gorgeous kitchen, 2 living areas and one large and airy craft room for some serious sewing!
I was lucky enough to stay on the opening weekend, and want to help her get started.
She is running an opening special, it’s 20% off if you pay and stay before August 31st. (see blog post Copperpatch Giveaway)
Also if we book we get 10 entries into the giveaway to win another weekend for free, which I’m sure we could put to good use!
So anyway, just wanted to put it out there! 20% means it’s about $770, so $77 each if there’s 10 of us, and we have it from 9am Friday until 4pm Sunday. Even if we have a weekend later in the year, the cost is still amazingly good! $950 for 10 people for 3 full days. Fantastic!
If you are interested, visit the Forum, under General Quilting, visit ‘A Retreat’ and please let me know if and when you would like to join in. The quicker people reply, the quicker we can get this organised and have some fun!
Cheers
Rebecca
New venue for Sewing Days 2012
| July 30, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under General, SASDs |
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Due to the long awaited renovations at the Ashburton Library commencing in the last quarter of the year, our SASD venue for the October, November and December 2012 has been changed to the Camberwell Library meeting room.
The room has been refurbished recently and facilities are similar to those at Ashburton.
The Camberwell Centre is at 340 Camberwell Road, Camberwell.
The new Library and community meeting rooms will be located on the ground floor, and Council office space will occupy the first and second floors.
For details on how to get there, go to:
http://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/our-ci … ll-library.
or Google maps
Melway 59 J2 and it is close to the Burke Road and Riversdale Road trams.
This is also a potential venue for next year, however 2013 is still a work in progress.
We will give you an update as soon as more information is available.
Make a Block and make a difference!
| July 6, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under Charity Quilts |
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Charity Event for Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
One of GJ’s Discount Fabrics’ customers, Rebecca Wolske, is hoping to raise $2500 for her Conquer Cancer 200km Bike Challenge entry in October, to directly benefit the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s fundraising efforts.
In addition, Rebecca would also like to help the hospital by donating quilts and cuddle blankets to give to the children undergoing treatment at the centre.
How can the MMQG help?
We are sure you all have at least one spare piece of fabric in your stash that you could donate to Rebecca’s cause!
We challenge each of our members to make a minimum of one 10″ (either 10″ finished or 10.5″ unfinished) block any way you would like, patchwork, appliqué or hand embroidered, the design is entirely up to you.
The block(s) should be suitable for either boys or girls, and use fresh, modern colours and fabrics that the children would enjoy and would brighten their day. Make the block(s) as simple or complex as you like – remember there are no rules, other than they should be suitable for children.
You can either bring your completed block(s) to one of our Sit and Sew events in July, or sew them during the events.
If you cannot make it to either of our July events, you can still participate by sending your block(s) directly to :
GJ’s Discount Fabrics,
443 Lygon Street,
Brunswick 3057
Be sure to mark the back of the envelope :
“Rebecca Wolske’s Peter Mac event”
For anybody who is interested in donating backing fabric, the minimum size should be 1m x 1m
We understand that not everybody is in a position to make a cash donation to support Rebecca’s bike ride, but for anybody who wishes to do so, please log in to www.conquercancer.org.au and donate directly to Rebecca Wolske’s fund online.
Just imagine, if each of us donated $5 the MMQG members alone would be contributing more than $750 towards Peter Mac, the only public hospital in Australia solely dedicated to cancer!
If you have any questions, please email us at admin@melbournemodernquiltguild.com
Do you love beautiful fabric?
| June 22, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under Quilt Exhibitions, SASDs, Uncategorized |
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We are thrilled to be having a guest speaker for our SASD on Saturday 14th July @ Ashburton – Leslie Keating from Maze & Vale – fabric handprinted and handmade in Melbourne!
Leslie sells her own designs printed on beautiful fabric;
described as ‘muted tones, dramatic shades and natural fibres…beautifully organic’.
Simplicity and grace.
It will be a fun thing to listen to Leslie talk about how she started quilting, how she likes to piece her fabric and why she decided to start printing her own quilting fabrics, plus a little about how she designs new prints.
Leslie will be bringing three or four quilts (improvisational and from her own patterns) & some screens to show us as well as a whole stack of handprinted fabric for Us to buy.
Bring your cash (no cards), bring your enthusiasm and bring your most modern ‘quilting hat’ to put on.
Come and support our Melbourne designers!
Don’t forget that everyone can sign up with Eventbrite for the session on the first of the prior month to the specific date.
We have plenty of room at the moment!
Our Second Second Birthday!
| June 13, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under SASEs, Uncategorized |
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Celebrating our second Second Birthday at GJs on May 25th saw lots of colour and shape.
Glasses of bubbles and nibbles of cheese and cake, as well as pressies for everyone of a FQ of their choice (yay for fabric shopping!) you would have also seen Perle threads for Alissa’s creation,
Pixel squares for Lorraine’s ginormous quilt for her bed
More squares for Louise’s pretty postage stamp quilt
and Kristy’s colourful stars.
For more photos of other wonderful creations, click on the Flickr site in the middle of the web page.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join in with the birthday celebrations for this year-
for those who couldn’t make it, we drank our champers for you!
Don’t forget that if you see a new face at one of our meetings, say Hi!
Our First Second Birthday!
| May 23, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under Uncategorized |
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The first of the May birthday celebrations went off with a bang.
Our Birthday banner decorated the venue and we dined on two delicious cakes (New York Cheesecake and Flourless Jaffa cake for those who couldn’t make it), as well as delicious plates of food brought to share – Thankyou!
Everyone received some thread as a birthday gift and Alissa and Chris were the lucky winners of the door prizes.
Everyone had something new and interesting to show. Cherry has made great progress on her ‘Circle Games’ quilt, Louise had a lovely gift for a baby girl, Marg made a quillow for one of the grandchildren and we were blown away by Chris’s amazing hexagon quilt (1.5 inch hexies if I recall correctly!).
But the best pic of all was of the newest member of the Guild, Esther’s youngest daughter Lauren. How cute is she? check out our Flickr site for all the photos!
There will be more birthday celebrations at the SASE on Friday 25 May and places are still available. Look forward to seeing you there!
Via Flickr:
Happy Second Birthday!
June’s Ashburton SASD
| May 21, 2012 | Posted by Mary-Anne under Uncategorized |
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We’re very sorry to announce the need to cancel the June Sit and Sew Day at Ashburton which was to be held on Sunday, June 10th due to low registration numbers.
Understandably it’s the Queen’s Birthday long weekend and many members have alternate plans, including members of the committee so we do apologise for any disappointment this may cause. It does however provide an important reminder that events with very low numbers of registrations cannot run so we do encourage you to please support the Guild and come along to our Sit And Sew Days and Evenings. Also, we welcome a renewal of interest from Guild members who would like to become committee or sub-committee members to help us run these sewing events. Please email admin@melbournemodernquiltguild.com to let us know if and how you’d like to help out and don’t forget to include your contact details so we can get in touch.
The next SASD at Ashburton is still planned for Saturday, July 14th so don’t forget to register.
And lastly, registrations are still open for our next SASE on Friday, May 25th at G.J.’s in Brunswick which is our last Guild birthday celebration for this year with yummy nibbles, sparkling bubbles, presents, door prizes, great company and lots of sewing. It’s already shaping up to be a great night. Can’t wait to see you there!
Mystery Block Bee
| May 16, 2012 | Posted by Mary-Anne under Uncategorized |
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Are you ready for a bee? Well, here is the “Mystery Block Bee” which is sure to be a lot of fun!
This bee has been devised and will be run by our very own Sally, who can be contacted on sally@dewijn.net
This bee will commence in June and run through to November. This is how the Mystery Block Bee will work:
The bee will be limited to 12 participants. You will need to commit to making two blocks per month (one for each bee member allocated to that month). A special area will be set up in the forum for bee members to use to communicate, and each bee member is expected to post regular updates in this area as well as post progress photos either there, or on the MMQG Flickr site. For your allotted month, you will choose a block from the list of block choices that will be listed after the 20th May. You then cut your fabric into the required shapes for your design, ready to be sewn. Send these pre-cut pieces to other participating members of the bee with a note indicating the finished size of the block. Bee members then use the pre-cut fabric and the list of available block choices to work out what design your block is. Bee members will then sew your block and send it back to you. Clues can be posted on Flickr during the month to help work out the mystery block designs.
For example: Sally has chosen to do the following block:
Image courtesy of SewHappyGeek.co.uk where you can find many other block inspirations.
This block is made up of four rectangles and eight squares, therefore she will cut the following:
The group member will then receive the above pieces, and have to arrange them into the top block (much like a tangram).
ESSENTIAL BEE RULES
- If you would like to submit a favourite block design to go into the pool of block design choices, please send the design to Sally by 20th May.
- Post your fabric out by the first day of your allotted month.
- All block pieces are to be cut before posting out. There should be NO cutting needed by your bee-mates.
- Post your finished blocks on the MMQG Flickr page.
- Complete blocks should be posted promptly by the first day of the following month. If you run in to any problems making your block, please contact both the block owner and Sally – communication is key to a successful bee!
What we were up to last time….
| May 9, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under SASEs, Uncategorized |
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It was another good turnout at the April Sit and Sew Evening at GJs. We had three new members join us including Jennette as well as some folks that we haven’t seen for a while, such as Adele.
As usual, everyone has been busy. Rachel has been making hot water bottle covers, and Leslie had a quilt in toasty warm colours to show us. Sally was having a basting frenzy and Sarah is building quite a library of quilting books after being a lucky door prize winner for the second month running.
Looking forward to seeing you at our May birthday celebrations over the next few weeks.
Party Party Party!!
| April 20, 2012 | Posted by Bronwyn under Uncategorized |
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It’s MMQG’s second birthday in May
and we will be celebrating during both of our Sit and Sew Events – Ashburton on Saturday 12 May and GJ’s on Friday 25 May.
There will be presents, door prizes and delicious food at each so book now to secure your place.
If for any reason you can’t make it on the day/evening, please let the guild know using the contact details on the booking section of the MMQG website so that your spot can be made available to another member.
Ashburton Saturday 12 May 2012 from 10 am to 5pm
Let’s do lunch! We ask all attendees to bring along a savoury dish for a festive lunch and there will be birthday cake and soft drinks to finish. Make your specialty, have a go at that recipe that you’ve been dying to try or just buy something tasty if cooking isn’t your thing. (Please be aware of ’no-nuts’ people in group). There will be a present for everyone who attends plus the very popular door prizes of quilting book and a voucher from GJ’s.GJ’s Friday 25 May 2012 from 7.30 – 11pm
Supper is the theme here and we will have cheese and nibbles AND cake! Again, we will have a celebratory giveaway and door prizes at this event, plus a fabulous night of sewing at this great location.Cost
As from May, the cost of the evening at GJ’s will increase to $10, the same as for Ashburton. As explained in the recent newsletter, this is necessary to ensure that the proprietor’s costs are covered for keeping the venue open outside of normal trading hours.
In addition, we ask that attendees at both of the May events make a gold coin donation to contribute towards the celebratory activities.
We look forward to seeing you in May. Party frock optional!
