Search Results for: quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland – almost there

October 19, 2011 By 5 Comments

Well with the builder and his crew arriving next Monday at 7.30am to start pulling down walls – I have to wind up quilts for Queensland. And quickly.

quilts for qld total tally

I thought it would be fun to empty the boxes and see them all piled up……impressive! Piled 3 deep and as high as I could pile them. On towels of course to keep them lovely and clean.

in afternoon sun

and it looks so much prettier than the boxes. Now these are just the finished quilts. I also have 2 boxes of quilt backings, quilt tops and a few odd blocks. I have decided to send these to up to a quilter to distribute to restash quilters and local quilting groups.

the finished quilts
the 6 boxes of completed quilts are going up to 2 different quilters, Sue and Carol, who have contacts for distribution. And after all of that, do you know what I didn’t do? Well I didn’t count them. Derrrrr. I will count them before they head off this friday.
love this quilt label
I know there are still quilts to come so I have a big empty box waiting for them so please don’t stress if you’re reading this post and have a quilt for me. I will still be sending another box up late in November.

helping mummy!
And more blog posts to come, this was certainly a big project and it isn’t over yet!
Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

finishing off Quilts for Queensland

September 19, 2011 By 10 Comments
Well I’m almost there. In the last 48 hours I managed to finish 8 quilts and have another 4 to finish off today. To keep them easy and manageable we’ve been doing the fun and modern ones backed with polar fleece or matching flanalette (why can I never spell that word??????).
more quilts for queensland
So far I have 8 large boxes of completed quilts (thank you thank you thank you) and have a few more to collect from my helpers, a couple to quilt myself and send to a long arm quilter and then we are done! I have set a deadline of getting the 8 boxes out of my house by the first week of October and can’t wait. But before that I’m going to photograph all of the quilts before they head off……..so watch this space
P.S if you have a finished quilt or blocks to send me please drop me an email to retromummy@hotmail.com for my address. I know a couple of you have probably emailed me so if you don’t mind dropping me another one and I’ll email you back straight away!
Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland day debrief

August 21, 2011 By 24 Comments
A lot of fun happens when ladies get together for a day…………of craft! You can sit next to someone new and find something to talk about and a new friend is made. There was lots of talking, lots of sewing, lots of quilting and a bit of eating. I arrived with boxes of blocks and by the end of the day we had made 23 quilts, more quilt tops and are well on our way to finishing them up!
start of the day
Such a huge achievment. I had a serious case of the pre-craft day nerves in the morning and retro daddy said to me as he was leaving me at the centre ‘aren’t you worried?’
me ‘about what?’
him ‘that only 2 people are here’.
me ‘no, they’ll come’.
him ‘ok then’….. he also told me to tell the ladies that it’s not about making works of art but getting them done. Wise words from someone who wants the boxes out of our house. And we had 19 ladies join us today (yes 19!!!!!) and we powered through those quilt blocks, baby. Such a great feeling and achievment to come home with 2 boxes of completed quilts.

more of our day
It was such a fun day and we’ll definitely have to bring our machines along for a craft day again soon. I could have kept going for a couple more hours but before long the big gold multivan was out the front of the community centre to bring me home.

busy busy!

And I can’t say thank you enough to my lovely ladies today – and oh boy don’t I wish I took all your names and email addresses and blogs but here goes- Lisa, Lisa Lewis, Nicole H., Jan-Maree who I think I called Di during the day, Sheridan (thanks for the polar fleece!), Sonia, Stacey, Nicole and her mum, Jenny, Bron aka Maxabella, Pat, Sabeena (thanks for the baby cuddles), Jenny, Marisa (did I spell it right?), Hilary, Anne, Denyse (thanks for the cupcakes) and Celia. Couldn’t have done it without you lovely ladies.  Thank you! And if I’ve left you off or made a mistake then tell me – today went like a blur and I’m sure I’ve made a mistake! In fact I guarantee it.

Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland day this Sunday!

August 15, 2011 By 6 Comments
Just a friendly reminder that this Sunday is our Quilts for Queensland day! That’s this sunday, 21st August from 9am to 5pm at North Balgowlah Community Centre. I’ve booked the room and will have coffee, tea and lots of sweeties to keep us going. I’d love it if you bought a plate of something nice to share. You’ll also need your machine and sewing supplies as we’ll be making quilt tops, joining those quilt tops to polar fleece/flannelette/suitable backings, quilting small quilts, binding and getting as many quilts made as we can.
quilts for qld mosaic 1
I have 5 boxes, yes that’s right, 5 boxes of quilt tops and blocks to work on! I have about 10 helpers so far but desperately we need more hands. Even if you can only spare a few hours we’d love to have you with us.
There is plenty of parking and if you have any questions just ask in the comments and I’ll get back to you here! We’d love to see you and hope you can help us finish off this project and get these blocks turned into quilts.
Thank you and spread the word!
Corrie
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Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland day!

July 28, 2011 By 12 Comments
OK well hasn’t this post been long overdue! Righto! So a few weeks month ago I opened all parcels and sorted them. It was quite a job. We now have a grand total of 8 boxes. Woohoo. How can I say thank you! 3 boxes are of completed quilts and 5 are of blocks and quilt tops. Uh oh. That is one big job. And did I mention that quilts and blocks came from as far as Portugal, Spokane (thank you to a lovely group of quilters there who sent me a big box), Singapore, Europe, England, New Zealand and every state of Australia. Talk about coming from far and wide.  
quilts for qld
So shortly I will be sending completed quilts up to two lovely ladies in Queensland who have contacts to distribute the quilts in flood affected areas. The remaining 5 boxes will come with me to a quilting day I am going to run in Sydney on Sunday 21st August. The first priority of the day will be to assemble quilt tops. It will be all hands on deck and this is a job suitable for beginner sewers too so don’t be scared of coming because you don’t quilt. If you can sew a straight line then we need you. Did I mention it’s 5 boxes!
So we’ll devote the morning to laying out the blocks and making quilt tops. I have decided to make the kids quilts and a few of the bright and colourful quilts backed with polar fleece or flannelette backs and tie them so we can get as many finished as possible.That will be our afternoon job as well as quilting smaller quilts on machines using batting. If you have polar fleece, minky, flannelette, quilt batting, backing fabrics lying around please bring them with you. We need them.
quilts for qld mosaic 1
all images from our flickr group here
I have loads of extension cords and power boards so if you have a machine bring it. Don’t sew? We still need some people to sort the blocks to make quilt tops, pin together and tie with cotton thread. It’s going to be a fun day and think of how many lovely ladies you are going to meet! If you’re interested in the quilting day email me for full address and details. If you are in Sydney or nearby and can help with quilting but can’t make it drop me a line as I have quite a lot of quilt tops we won’t get through on the day.
When: 9am – 5pm Sunday 21st August
Where: North Balgowlah (plenty of free parking)
What to bring: plate of food to share, sewing machine, sewing supplies, suitable backing fabrics

If you’ve wondered what happened to Quilts for Queensland I hope this answered your questions but if you have a question just ask! It’s been one big job but I hope the end of our quilting day will see most of our work done. 

Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

more quilts for queensland

March 8, 2011 By 14 Comments
I’d love to share with you how the collection for Quilts for Queensland is going but I’ll spare you the rather unattractive pile of parcels and shopping bags full of quilts and blocks. What is required is a day to sort, match up, bundle up ready made quilts and distribute some of the quilt tops to the nice ladies who have offered to quilt them. I will do this at the end of March so there is still time to get your blocks, quilt tops and quilts in (and you’ve been emailing to ask me) so keep ’em coming.
My creation
And I received a beautiful email from a lady called Sue during the week. Sue knows people affected by the floods and is going to deliver some quilts for us and take photos for me to share here. I couldn’t think of anything nicer. To be able to share in the joy of the giving and receiving. And particularly as Sue’s very best friend lost everything in the floods. And she is a quilter. Can you imagine? I just can’t.

My creation

1. Quilt for Queensland, 2. Queensland Back, 3. Queensland – Top, 4. Quilts for Queensland – Stacked Coins #2, 5. Happy Cars Quilt, 6. Quilts for Queensland Quilt #2, 7. Quilts for Queensland Quilt #1, 8. Quilt For Queensland, 9. 12.5 inch quilt block for Quilts for Queensland

If you are in the same position and know where to deliver quilts please drop me an email. So of course a big thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. I really do have a mountain of parcels still to open so if you’re wondering whether I’ve received it……….I’ll get back to you. And don’t forget to check out the gorgeous things on the flickr page…I’m pretty sure there are plenty of these still to be opened in my sewing room but I’ll get there. Soon. Remember my new motto. I’ll get there……..eventually. I hope to share mosaics with you each week so we can all ohh and ahhh together.

Filed Under: queensland floods, quilting, quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland

February 6, 2011 By 21 Comments
Keira starting school, Elodie in hospital, orders coming in, a house to run, my mum having some really bad days and not getting to see her………..it’s been a crazy week around here and one that I’d like to say goodbye to tonight. Actually, can we just start 2011 all over again. And while we’re at it can I just have a whinge about my children’s behaviour at church today – oh my goodness! I’m going to blame it on the heat as it was just crazy and retro daddy spent most of it in the heat at the playground with the twins and I practically gave myself RSI fanning Elodie with the newsletter to keep her cool.

one week's mail

Morning tea afterwards was fraught with more crying over cordial that had to be in the right cup and removing the licorice icing on the cake and then deciding they didn’t want cake. Oh my, we dragged them away and went to the shops for some sushi and groceries only to hear that the power was off in our suburb. So we took our time and enjoyed the air-conditioning and ‘bought’ ourselves some better behaviour for a while.

working my way through
relax! these are the opened parcels which are safely stored in plastic in  a box for safe keeping!

And despite the crazy week I have had the parcels kept piling up on my doorstep. Now where were we with Quilts for Queensland………I am loving everything that has been sent in and yes I have a few more parcels to open. Thank you beautiful people who have been sending these in, they are just gorgeous.
beautiful
one of the gorgeous quilt tops sent in by ballarat patchwork
A lovely reader asked am I still doing the project? Absolutely! Nothing like a good distraction and now with the damage from Cycle Yasi we might have to send a few up further north too. I do have a lot of blocks coming in and quilt tops and I’ll be taking a few of you up on the offer of quilting them for me!
gorgeous
Just lovely! Who wouldn’t feel special receiving this quilt by the lovely helen
I’m going to keep showing you more beautiful quilts, tops and blocks this week. If you still haven’t heard from me then give me a couple of days to catch up on my emails before dropping me an email and be sure to put Quilts for Queensland in the subject so I can read and search for it easily. I still owe a few of you emails and my inbox went from full to crazy overflowing when I lost 3 days of my week with littlest princess in hospital but I will get there…..
Filed Under: quilt for queensland, quilting

quilts for queensland on flickr

January 18, 2011 By 13 Comments
Wow, thank you everyone for a great response to Quilts for Queensland. I’ve had emails from europe, the states, new zealand, england and all over Australia. I am still working through all of the emails and comments and adding them to my spreadsheet (remember I was an accountant in my former life) so I don’t miss anyone off – when I’m done I’ll send out an email with a few things. We’ve also had a few offers from long arm quilters too (thank you, thank you) so if you have a quilt top you’d like to donate we’ll gladly accept it and if you have some backing fabric to go with it…..even better! And will you look at Joy’s block…..I love it! I love pinwheels!

QFQLD: Quilt block 1
amazing quilt block by joy
And then I had a brainwave while I was on the treadmill yesterday…..a flickr group! Then I was thinking how lovely would it be to have photos of people holding up their quilt block or quilt and I’ll make a huge mosaic of all of the happy quilters. A way of showing all of the hands and love that went into the quilts…..and what if I turned that into a postcard to go with the quilt………..at this point I had to stop my brain thinking as I could keep going and going getting more extravagent with what I was going to do…………………but at least it did make my time exercising go faster!

 first quilts in
nothing beats a nice pile of folded quilts!
And you might need to pop a kleenex or two in with your quilts and blocks because I was a bit overcome when 3 quilts arrived on my doorstep this morning. Thank you to these lovely ladies – Lisa Oliver and Judy Newman who popped these in the post to me. The colours and quilts are just beautiful. You’ve set a high standard for the rest of us with these babies. I’ll be photographing them all beautifully and adding them to our flickr group too!

nice mail on my doorstep
these are just perfect!

Don’t forget you can join in at any time, there are no strict rules or cut off dates for lovely people to join in and hopefully tonight I’ll finish my spreadsheet and get an email out………..so if you haven’t already emailed me or left a comment with your email address just drop me a quick email to corrie_sebire@hotmail.com  and I’ll add you to my spreadsheet!

outfit change
this is her serious, ‘I’m looking at you’ face!

And if you’re waiting for an email from me please just hang on a little longer, I’ll get there – there are only so many crackers and snackies I can give to keep my little ones happy plus I am Elodie’s cuddle machine and can’t keep her waiting too long!
Filed Under: quilting, quilts for queensland

Quilts for Queensland

January 13, 2011 By 86 Comments
Ok it seems that I now have some sewers and quilters looking to make quilt blocks and quilts so let’s get this show on the road. Nothing says we care about you more than a handmade quilt. Something to cuddle and snuggle under, to brighten a bare house as lives and homes are rebuilt and just make you feel oh so very special. So here is what I’m thinking for our quilts……
nicey jane quilt top
1. make and send me 12 1/2 inch square blocks (so that we have a finished block size of 12 inch once we’ve pieced them together) for girls, boys and adults. These blocks could be scrappy log cabins, traditional quilt blocks, hand pieced, appliqued………….whatever you choose! Make 1 or make 10 it’s also up to you. If you need some inspiration look what lovely things I found here and blogs are another source of inspiration.
girly quilt
2. make lap quilts….I find these easy to whip up and they are the perfect size for babies, little ones and to throw over a couch or bed. I’d ask that you finish the quilt and attach a lovely quilt label from  you with some sweet words of hope and encouragement.
quilt for grandma
one of my lap quilts that was made for my grandma betty
Logistics? I am happy to receive all quilt blocks and sort them out here. What I will do is have a quilting bee or two here putting them together AND if we get more blocks than I can possibly handle then I’ll ask for some lovely quilters out there to help me out and I’ll post everything out to you.
amy butler love
lap quilt of 1 charm square pack with a border
Donating the quilts? I’m going to ask my gorgeous Queensland friends to help me with this bit and see what is going on in their community, school or church and the best way to get these quilts out to people who really need them. Retro daddy flies up to Brisbane each week so he’ll be my quilt mule which will save us on postage! Yay retro daddy and he doesn’t even know that bit yet!
What about auctioning quilts? If you have a quilt now that you want to auction to raise money then please visit Toni’s blog where you can find more info with all proceeds going to the Premier’s Appeal. If you would prefer to make a quilt and auction it off at a later date (because quilts do take time to make) then we could do this! Just let me know if this is what you want to do and thanks Bianca for the suggestion.
Phew, ok so where do you sign up. Leave me a comment here with your email address or email it to me (corrie_sebire@hotmail.com). We’ll make a list of whose in so we can share our progress on our blogs and we can email more details. I’ll also give you a button to put on your blog (when I make one). You don’t need to have a blog…..just a big heart! That’s all! Have I missed anything? Let me know……………
Filed Under: queensland floods, quilting, quilts for queensland
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