Our wonderful Lots of Dots quilt top!!

When Chris Jurd unfolded the finished Lots of Dots quilt top everyone in the room said "Wow!!"

It's wonderful to see how great all the compasses look together. Considering everyone worked with their own colour and fabric choices the blocks are perfect en masse. It's been a great group quilt to make with each person being able to choose a block they want to sew and then when it's time to assemble them there's no seams to match up. Plus it's just one of those magic patterns that always looks spectacular.

The top is now with Susie Anderson of Leura Quilting. She'll add a whole other layer of beauty with her stitches that will transform the top into a quilt! Not long to wait now until we can show off our finished 2016 raffle quilt.

In the meantime there are other decisions to be addressed, tasks to be allocated and progress to be made. Here's an action shot of the committee hard at work as they make their way through the the list of topics on the meeting's agenda. You can tell it's a quilter's meeting with the quilted table cloth. 

Of course we needed cake to keep our energy up. Vicki made a banana cake with chocolate and coconut icing.  It was so delicious it was gone before I thought to take a photo!! But I did get a photo of the pretty serviette/napkins, almost too pretty to use!

Raffle Quilts - Why do we start working on them so early?

Sometimes people are surprised to hear that work is well underway on next year's raffle quilt. After all the show isn't until next April. It's true that as soon as one show finishes we start on the raffle quilt for the following year's show but we do have some good reasons for starting so early.

I'm sure most quilters will understand that sometimes quilts take longer than planned so it's good to have extra time up your sleeve, just in case it's needed. Even though the quilt show committee all pitch in to make the raffle quilt we tend to choose designs that take a lot of work.  

The quilt needs to be finished for publicity and promotional reasons. Magazines are planning their editions often 6 months ahead and so we need the quilt ready for photos for their publications. We also need photos for our promotional material, posters, bookmarks and fliers. 

The sooner the quilt is finished the sooner it can start it's tour of quilt shops. The raffle quilt does a tour of different quilt shops. It's a wonderful ambassador for the show as it entices people to buy raffle tickets and is a good reminder for people to put the 4th weekend in April in their diaries as the weekend of the quilt show.

It's great to have a task crossed off the list. With the raffle quilt finished the committee can concentrate on the other jobs and decisions that arise in the months leading up to the show. And it does get very busy! Organising a quilt show takes a years worth of work, but it's all so worth it. I"m sure you'll agree that seeing a big hall full of amazing quilts is a wonderful thing!!

So how about you, have you started your show quilts for next year? Or are you planning to show a couple of old favourites? 

Raffle quilt progress - The background fabric!!

Over the last few posts we've been showing you the wonderful Lots of Dots compass blocks as they've been made. If you thought they've looked good then wait till you see them on the background fabric...

Words like "Wow","Amazing" and "Hooley Dooley!!" came to mind when I saw the blocks on the background. I'm sure you'll agree that the dark inky colour makes the compass circles snap, crackle and pop like fireworks at a festival.

The tone on tone blue circles and swirls in the fabric show up better in this photo. They echo the circles and dot theme perfectly and create a sense of movement.

3 cheers to the industrious committee members who helped hand sew all the compass blocks to the background. It's not a quick task but a rewarding one and great for having time to appreciate the creative thought and work that has gone into each block.

 Next it's off to Suzie Anderson to add her magic with her longarm quilting. This quilt just keeps getting better and better!!