Monday 30th April

Lots and lots of ‘news’ and ‘show and tell’ this month so I’ve decided to post the blog in instalments to highlight some of the amazing items made by our ladies at Sunshine Linus Inc.

The lovely autumn weather……. (yes, it’s cooling down at last on the Sunshine Coast) enticed 80 ladies to attend this month’s meeting and as usual the hall was a ‘hive’ of activity.

Lisa had made a collection of activity bags containing all sorts of ‘goodies’. These bags are donated to local Police Stations for children of domestic violence situations. There has been a request for donations of items to fill the bags.

The distribution table was filled with a range of ‘sensory items’ this month that included ‘touchy feely’ quilts, ‘sensory’ cubes and rice ‘fiddle’ bags.

These two ‘touchy feely’ table cloths made by Wendy and Rosemary will be donated to Tantula Rise Aged Care Facility at Alexandra Headland. They are a big hit with the residents.

A big thankyou to all the ladies who make these wonderful creations.

Our guest speaker this month was Kathy from the Kidney Support Foundation. She thanked the Linus members for the 160 quilts that were distributed to patients at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and to children at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.

Three of the ‘strippy’ quilts started on Action Day were returned for donation. Karen created this very colourful quilt using alternating horizontal and vertical blocks.

 

Dawn added cubes to her quilt to create a 3D effect.

Glorianne added borders and colourful butterflies to her quilt to create impact.

Lyn also donated a colourful ‘strippy’ quilt made from Aboriginal fabrics she had collected from the ‘freebie’ table. The quilting included motifs of Australian animals. The back included pictures from the fabrics used on the front.

Orrawin showed two intricate quilts. The first was one she called ‘Many Trips Around the World’. The second, her ‘pride and joy’ was a pattern called ‘Bento Box’.

Our President Susan Hoy showed the first stages of a Blockenspiel made by Val. Val has invented a technique to machine stitch the blockenspiel in one piece before adding the foam cubes and sewing the remaining sides together!

Barbara constructed a fabric ‘flexagon’ she found while cleaning out the storeroom!

Gabrielle showed a set of clothing protectors she made to be donated to the residents at the Carramar Aged Care Facility.

Joy showed a striking red, white and blue quilt with stars on point. She also managed to piece together a second quilt using fabric she had left over from a previous quilt.

Daphne has been very busy making children’s quilts. She showed five quilts that would delight any child. The quilts contained blocks with aeroplanes, soldiers, ballerinas, fairies and tigers.

Show and tell finished with Claire showing one of the ‘silly sacks’ she makes for the students at Currumundi Special School. The bags are made from lycra with a velcro opening at the front. The children love stepping inside the bags to contort their bodies to make all sorts of crazy shapes with the sacks.

That concludes part one of the April blog. Make sure you keep an eye out for the next instalment!

Sharing The Sunshine On Anzac Day 25th April

Our President Susan Hoy spent a peaceful Anzac Day making children's tote bags. She embroidered the panels last year when caring for her mum but has just made up the bags now. She said, "It makes me feel very grateful that Sunshine Linus can bring a little Sunshine to others."

Action Day: April 16th 2018

Our 'Strippy' Action Day this month saw 33 ladies try their hand at making some strip-quilts using the many fabric strips Kaye had cut and provided for the occasion.

The session began with Kaye sharing some hints and techniques to create these 'strippy' master-pieces.

Barbara showed an assortment of amazing quilts where she had used strips of fabric and different techniques to create a variety of designs.

Once everyone had decided on their design the hum of sewing machines vibrated around the room.

Some of the ladies offered to sort and find strips for the quilters who set about sewing and cutting their blocks.

Thelma had a surprise find as she grabbed the opportunity to sort and tidy the storage cupboard.

The Action Day also gave members the opportunity to chat and laugh together, catch up with long-time friends or make some new ones.

At the end of the session the quilters had made a very good start on their strip-quilts and most of the strips Kaye had provided were now serving a much better purpose!

Some finished blocks by Chris, Dawn and Judith,

...and one funky, completed quilt-top made by Pauline.

Now we look forward to all of these wonderful strip quilts being finished and arriving at our monthly meeting! No pressure ladies!

March 26th 2018

Our third meeting for the year was a busy one with the AGM and introduction of the new committee members and our new President Sue Hoy.
Show and Tell began with Orrawin displaying an intricately pieced 'Pineapple Quilt' made from very small strips of fabric......her comment was, "it's not that difficult, you should try it!" A second offering from Orrawin was another quilt suitable for a man called 'Everything but the kitchen sink' in which she had incorporated a varied collection of fabrics and orphan blocks from the freebie table. Both quilts had pieced backings.

Lyn showed a fun children's quilt created from freebie blocks. She had ingeniously added a 'noughts and crosses' game to the back.

The Quirky Quilters from Caboolture provided a generous donation with a number of colourful pieced quilts.

Judie had fun perfecting her quilting skills by finishing a number of bright and modern quilts donated by Jan from Chinchilla....

and three more traditional strip quilts.

Anne and Glorianne have been busy creating some very cute applique quilts for children. Anne's quilts included a Japanese themed quilt using a pattern collected from the freebie table, and a bright 'Rockets and Aliens' quilt with a pieced backing made from wedge shapes. Glorianne showed a colourful quilt made with the quilt-as-you-go technique called 'Hound Dog'. It came complete with a friend in the form of a soft toy 'hound'.

Barbara showed a reversible aeroplane themed quilt suitable for a boy. She has pieced a number of jungle prints to create a bright, fun backing.

Dorothy has been extremely busy creating  a number of pieced children's quilts using both blocks and braid from the freebie table.

In her final quilt Dorothy used the pages from a cloth book called 'Can You Find?' She added borders that looked like headlights to create a fun vehicle themed quilt suitable for a boy.

Cynthia concluded the Show and Tell by displaying a very funky 'touchy-feely' cushion made and donated by Linda.

 We look forward to more wonderful contributions at our next meeting on Monday 30th April. Don't forget to add the Strippy Action Day on 16th April to your diaries!