Thrift and Things

We like to consider ourselves a thrifty lot at The Room (by necessity rather than choice most of the time) but the title for the Queen of Thrift this week has gone to our gorgeous Tennille!

During the week Tennille picked up a working Janome MemoryCraft8000 at the St Arnaud Recycling Centre for $20. (For those of you who don't know, this machine is an older top-of-the-range machine that not only sews but also does embroidery. It has all the cool features like 'needle up', 'needle threader' 'tie off'.... I reckon it may even be able to do the dishes and cook dinner too if we found the right button...)

 Can had great fun exploring all the decorative stitches (Tennille, if your machine is missing check Can's place first...)

The Memory Craft in action as Tennille works on a library bag for one of her children.

Tennille is making the library bag out of the gorgeous butterfly material ...

The rest of us were also productive last night (once we stopped dribbling with envy) and Dot has finished her second quilt-top in record speed and set about basting it for quilting....

She is making it for her daughter, Jodie and the beautiful greys and blues look fantastic in the funky zig-zag pattern...

Dot is quilting it to further accentuate the zig-zags and no doubt our Queen of Speed will have this completed in no time at all...

Jen has begun the less speedy process of making a rag rug for her lounge room floor. She is plaiting coloured knits together and then sewing them in a spiral. It will be beautiful once it has finished...

We had a new face at The Room last night. Dorothy was involved in the Donald CWA which is currently in recess.  Dorothy brought along her knitting and a whole lifetime of knowledge and skills.

Dorothy saved Candece hours by showing her a neat trick to unpicking seams...
The recess of the local CWA is a sad thing for this community. The women of the CWA have such tremendous skills and knowledge, to say nothing of the huge amount of community work they do. You wonder how that gap will be filled... Still The Room was more than happy to fill the 'creative' space and we hope Dorothy enjoyed herself and will come along again.
When Can wasn't playing with Tennille's new machine, or revamping skirts, she was sorting fabric for her new project, a lunch tote....

This is her collection so far... (I think she only needs eight...)

Andrew was busy working on his felt monster. He is going to add a mouth, teeth, eyebrows and hair...

Yours Truly has finished quilting Ollie's Library Bag (and then found out they don't even need it until Term 2!) so it sits awaiting a couple of seams and a drawstring and I turned my attention to quilting the Playmat...

Having outlined the roads I am now stipple quilting the grass...

and will then work out how to quilt the paddocks.
Have a great week everyone and The Room once again extends a warm welcome to anyone in Donald who is at loose end on Friday nights and may want to enjoy some tea, laughter and the occasional project!

A New Committee and A New Year

Now that the lazy days of Summer Holidays are well and truly past, The Room has started back with a renewed enthusiasm and interest.  Last night was our AGM and after a delicious meal at the Jeffcott, old positions were abandoned and new Office Bearers were added. Our new Illustrious leader, Jen Birch rallied the troops into action and the girls completed a gorgeous quilt top as a group project.

2011 was a big year for The Room but we have been a bit lapse in updating our blog (Hopefully this will change as we now have a dedicated Blog girl) so for those of you who can't make it to The Room, here was 2011....

We moved....
We now have power and running water....
We displayed at the Ringwood Quilt Show....

We held a class in Foundation Piecing....

and Stained Glass Windows....

 Big Thankyou to Kerryn Stafford and Margaret Goddard for sharing their skills with us!
Many of our members made their first quilts....
Dot's first quilt for her daughter, Kay....

Can's first quilt for her daughter, Piper....

and Ros' magnificent Kaffe Fasset quilt (keep on quilting Ros!)...

 Yours Truly kept fiddling around with numerous projects....

and overall we enjoyed each other's company and kept developing our creative skills...
2012 promises to be another great year of projects, cups of tea and laughter!

Sewing Christmas Stockings

 

J & K Embroidery held a 'Decorated Stocking Competition' throughout December. The only conditions  were that the stocking had to be a certain size and decorated mostly with sewing.  The prizes were sewing machines so Fran and Jen each submitted their best effort in a valiant attempt to win a machine or two for the Room! Can you see all the sewing in the photos? There is quite a LOT of sewing on them!

Sadly the competition was extremely tough and we narrowly missed winning the coveted machines. However we are not deterred. Next year we'll have another go, but we'll know to line the insides too! ;)

Eli's Quilt

Made by many women, with love, to honour and remember baby Eli. Forever in our hearts. xx

Time flies when you’re having fun

And Friday nights are certainly fun. We arrive at ‘The Room’ on a Friday evening at 7ish, and only moments later it’s midnight. It’s called ‘flow’, I believe. That state where you are really enjoying something and become so caught up in it that time feels like it slips past more quickly.

Jodie, Candece, Karen and Dot, crafting and chatting, well maybe mostly chatting

Tennille and Tahlia, scrapbooking memories for family and friends

Shannon, Zoe and Candece sketching and chatting.

 What will you be bringing to Craft Night? 

NB: Cuppa and chat - strongly recommended. Projects are optional.

A Stand of One’s Own

Saturday was Show Day and the girls all got together to take shifts at our stand. This was a great opportunity to let women in the wider community see what we have been doing over the past couple of months of Friday Craft Night. We also took the opportunity to promote our ‘Dabble classes’. It was really satisfying to get lots of positive response and feedback on this day.

Quilts, bags, photography, sketching, paper mache, cushions, dolls, softies and more

 Jemima (and several of her outfits) were raffled, raising us a small amount to cover some of the costs of putting together 'The Room'. This modest fundraising has spurred us on and we are exploring several other fundraising possiblities. One of our goals is a sewing machine, another is some large, communal tables.

Beryl buys the first ticket in the Jemima Raffle

Just looking at the display, the combined efforts of our women, it’s clear to see much has been achieved. Projects have been completed!! A lovely thing about this space is being able to come along on a Friday, and have a chat and a cuppa whilst you continue your project AND if you want to you can leave it and return over the weekend and actually get MORE done. Such a luxury when compared to snatching and grabbing mere minutes here and there throughout the week, as the household, work and a family of sticky-fingered small people are juggled. 

Fran chats to Marg, from St Arnaud Quilts and Rhonda, who won several prizes in the Pavillion this year

 Schedule some 'Me time'. Put it on the calendar. Pop in and visit us on Friday Night. We'd love to see you!

Power’s Out But Energy Continues

‘The power’s being cut to this room next week-Is that going to be a problem?’

Rose, Shannon, Zoe, Candece (and Fran's back!) stitching and sketching

Nope. Not a problem, merely a challenge. Luckily us creative types enjoy a challenge.

Friday Night Craft continues, but if you do happen to have a spare lamp, lead, powerboard or candles, then please bring them along, as well as your project!