Monday, April 22, 2013

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild: QUILTED OMG

So, those hexagons I was sewing through December, January, and February?
Red hexies
Purple red hexies
One block down, at least six still to go!
Oranges
Hexies finished!

Well, they were for a group quilt being put together by the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, according to Tacha Bruecher's book Hexa-Go-Go, which was published last year.

The quilt is titled "Over The Rainbow" in the book:

Hexa go go

Guild President Penny Poppleton asked permission of Tacha to use the quilt design as one of our guild quilts for 2013 - not all participating members would have the book, although quite a few do - and Tacha gave her permission! (Thank you, Tacha!)

We made up kits using paper hexies donated by PaperPieces.com and sent them out to Guild members who were interested and willing. And Tacha herself offered to make a block for the quilt!

A bolt of Kona White was donated by the lovely people at Victorian Textiles (along with fabric for the backing) and once we had all the blocks back, two crazy days of 9-to-5 cutting and sewing ensued!

And here are the finished blocks (well, most of them) up on the design wall at Penny Poppleton's house:

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild: all in a day's work! (With @pennypoppleton, @onethousandlayers and Jill) what a #quilt it's gonna be!

Laying out:

Rainbow Connection

The slightly dizzying perspective is because it was taken from the top of the stairs at Greta's Handcraft Centre (Lindfield).

And then sashing, posting, and adding the borders! (I don't have a picture of this because it was done by Penny Poppleton (Guild President).

Finally, the quilting! Which was my job. A long one. Six hours' worth of free-motion quilting from setting up on the frame on the Avanti at Hobbysew Top Ryde, to quilting and quilting and quilting and quliting until it was DONE LIKE A DINNER!

I took a few photos during the quilting process...

"Baby, I'm ready to go!"

Sydmqg: quilting start

"Oh, we're halfway there!"

Sydmqg group quilt: quilt moar

And finishing it off...with a swirl! (Okay, a signature, but whatever!)

#Sydmqg group #quilt: we are finished baby!
It's supposed to say "Sydney Modern Guild" in case you can't read it.

And finally, as much of the quilt as we could display in the shop, given that it's a MAMMOTH size - 112", in all it's colourful, beautiful glory!

Sydmqg group quilt finished!

So very pretty, even unbound and unhung! (Great design, Tacha!)

A look at the back detail - we ended up with 50 blocks (no idea how that happened) and tucked one on the back instead.

Sydmqg group quilt and the back detail

It will be (should be) displayed at the Sydney Craft And Quilt Fair in June 2013. If you happen to be in town, come by and take a look!

Afterwards, it will be sold (we're still working out how) and the proceeds are to go to a shelter for women escaping untenable domestic situations. All the fabric was donated, as were the paper pieces, and even the Aurifil thread that was used to piece and quilt it all together was donated, so the only cost incurring is that of the time spent on the quilting machine.

Whew! So glad that's done. :)

6 comments:

  1. That is one of the most beautiful quilts ever. I do believe its beauty lies in the story behind it, coming together as community to support persons in need of protection.

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  2. WOW! It's a beautiful quilt!! Thanks for sharing with us and others.

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  3. Beautiful quilt! Love the design and the story. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Just amazing, so very beautiful!

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  5. What a beautiful quilt. Well Done. It should raise lots of interest & money for your chosen cause.

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