Many Thanks Again Delys.

 Yesterday a large parcel arrived again from Delys R. in Western Australia and it was stacked full of goodies to donate. Delys has been very busy making QAYG blocks again and sent 30 for males and 35 for females.

 Last night I put together the QAYG male blocks by adding 5 more that I had on hand as I wanted to make a larger quilt for a male patient at Peter Mac . Having these blocks donated gifts me hours of time to get more quilts finished for donation, so a very big thank you Delys.

 Delys also sent these lovely pieces of fabric and 4 knitted beanies .

There were also fabric strips included which can be used for bags or quilts.
Thank you so much for your continued support of my quilt projects,  Delys. You really have made a difference to the needy.
Hugs , Jan Mac 

UFO Monday - 28th UFO Finish.

 I'm loving getting some more UFOs finished and this is the 28th for the year. I actually had to deconstruct it first and then remake it. This quilt started as 2 very small coverlets which were donated to AQA Gift Quilt Program . They were too small to be useful so I took the blocks apart and then re-stitched them, using alternate plain cream blocks.

I then had to make another 4 nine patch blocks to make it large enough and I found enough 2 inch squares in my stash. Now it's large enough for a donation quilt and will be donated to Peter Mac.
     The temptation to start something new is growing so I put together a couple of QAYG quilts last week and another today, but I will keep working on more UFOs for the rest of the year too. They are all being donated so Peter Mac will benefit too.
Wow- 28 for the year!! Very happy with that.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Weekly Catch Up.

 A couple of child free days meant more finishes this week. My love affair with QAYG blocks continues with 2 finished quilts from these donated QAYG blocks.

 I love how the use of different colored fabric to join the blocks helps to make each one unique.

 This was another donated top which I finally quilted this week.

 This cot quilt was another one I quilted for AQA.

 The iSpy quilt top was another made by AQA members and will go to a child in foster care.

I must have been rushing to take the last photo, hence the thumb. Lol. This was another top I quilted for AQA. I quilt 100 a year for the Gift Quilt Program for AQA and it's a pleasure to see so many different fabrics while I'm quilting.
  That makes 6 quilts finished this week so it's been a very productive week. I need a couple more finishes and then I will drop the quilts off to Peter Mac.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Vic Quilter's Spring Gathering - Alexandra.

 Now that I have rejoined Vic Quilters and I don't have the social interaction of going to work, I'm making a conscious effort to got to more quilter's gatherings. I was so pleased that I made the drive of an hour and a half to Alexandra which is a lovely little town set amongst rolling green hills. It was a beautiful spring day and Alexandra Quilters had gone to so much trouble to make our visit special.

 The hall was decorated with hanging quilts , the tables had beautifully embroidered tablecloths and lovely flowers were in evidence everywhere. We were even spoilt with a goody bag of items made by their members.

 We were entertained by two guest speakers, Maree St Clair Quilts  and Jen Kingwell of Amitie Textiles. Maree shared some of her fabulous antique quilts from the 1930s and we were fortunate to be able to see their detail up close . Jen shared her fabulous modern quilts and they were good choices for speakers as their styles are very different.

 Beautiful hand quilting was seen on this 1930s beauty.

 Mariya Waters has designed and made this incredible quilt which will be the raffle quilt for Vic Quilters in the coming year.  Tickets will be available at AQC in April. Wouldn't you love to win this treasure.

 There was also this fabulous award winning Insanity quilt on display.

The quilting was fabulous and it was wonderful to see it up close. Asking who the quilter was, and finding that she was in attendance, I introduced myself and found that, as I  suspected , she is a member of my Facebook Insanity Quilt group. It was lovely to meet Marlene and take some photos.
   It was a lovely day catching up with old acquaintances and making new connections, while some shopping at the pop up shops also occurred .what couod be better - talking quilts with like-minded people and shopping for new patterns and templates to try.
   It's back to the swwing machine today after a rejuvenating day in the country.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Feast.

 As I tidy my sewing room I'm uncovering more and more UFOs so I can see that I will be working on UFOs for some time. Some are mine and some have been donated. Tye first one was an online hexie stitch-along and I only made 2 blocks. The first has been finished as a cot quilt and I'm adding borders to make this a lap quilt to donate. I keep getting distracted while I'm looking for border fabrics and I find others which are easier to finish.

 This set of blocks was from 2 tiny quilts that I deconstructed as they were too small for use. They had similar fabrics so I'm piecing them with alternate cream squares and it will make one larger quilt.

 I found this donated Log Cabin kit amongst the UFOs and thought it would make a great leader/ender project but when I unpacked it I found all if the light pieces for thd blocks were pre-cut but there were only 3 strips of dark fabric and no borders. The donor probably hadn't cut the dark strips and added it back to her stash. I've started piecing one block and will look for suitable dark fabric in my stash so I can finish the top. There are supposed to be 70 blocks using 1 and 1/2 inch strips and there are 8 blocks already made by the donor. It will be a lovely quilt for a male patient at Peter Mac when it's finished .

 I also found these blocks and pieces which need to be finished and I will look for mire fabric which will co-ordinate with them so I can make a larger quilt to donate.

These UFOs should keep me busy for a while, in between quilting more donated tops so I will try to make the most of my time and I have finished 6 already this week so I will have some photos to share at the weekend.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Many Thanks Marg H, Jennie J, and Lyn B.

 Marg H. from Melbourne is one of my blog readers as well as being an expert knitter. She has very generously made and donated these items and she also enlisted the help
of her friends Jenny J. and Lyn B. to make more items  to go to the Peter Mac auxiliary shop and beanies for New Guinea.
     Marg has been on a mission with her knitting needles and has made all of these baby items in the past couple of months. These will all go to Peter Mac for sale in their auxillary shop and will help to raise much needed funds.

These lovely beanies were made by Marg's friend, Jennie J. and will be going to the New Guinea highlands for the children. Access to warm garments is very limited there and the photos of the children wearing beanies from our last shipment were inspirational and I have another shipment nearly ready to go.

Another of Marg's lovely friends, Lyn B. donated the lovely hand made Christmas decorations and items for sale by Peter Mac auxiliary shop too.

 Marg also donated 8 rolls of batting which is a wonderful gift and will be used very quickly for more donation quilts.

Three large spools of thread and some decorative buttons completed the large number of donations and all are very gratefully received for my ongoing quilt and humanitarian projects.
  A simple thank you doesn't seem enough for such generous donations of your time, skills, wool and sewing supplies ladies, but they will make such a difference to so many lives. Many thanks to you all for your generosity and support.
     Yesterday was a childfree day so the sewing machine was working hard and I have more finishes to share soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Monday.

 Now that I have restarted working on my La Passion quilt I'm really enjoying it and have fallen in love with the design again. I've worked on it most evenings for the last couple of weeks and have joined the circle piece and a diamond to the main piece.

 Joining these segments to the main piece involves making lots of small hexie flowers and stitching the pale blue background hexies to join the segments. There doesn't seem to be much progress each night but overall the main piece is growing.

 Today AQA celebrated it's 40th anniversary and we had a morning tea to celebrate. I was too busy to take photos but I did win a jelly roll for a raffle prize, which was very generous of the Committee.

Of course it will be made into a gift quilt and donated but I will enjoy trying out a new pattern. I bought this jelly roll pattern book recently so I plan to select one and put a top together . As I'm busy finishing up UFOs I have only made 2 new quilts this year, and they were for new babies in the family, so I will allow myself to enjoy making a new quilt but I have to make sure that I finish it and then get back to my UFOs so I don't get distracted by new projects.
   I have several quilts pinned and ready to go so hopefully tomorrow will be a big day of quilting. I'm sure I can create a little bit of time even if the boys are here during the week.
Hugs, Jan Mac