Raffle Quilt Sewing Day

The last two blocks for our raffle quilt were handed in.

Which meant another raffle quilt sewing day!

Chris, 

Lorraine,

and Marilyn ( who had to leave before I could get a photo) all sewed pieces of the top together.

Carol pressed seams and helped everyone with their sewing. 

Before too long this was on the design wall. 

Isn't it spectacular!!!

We're still on the hunt for the perfect border fabric. 

And when we find it it'll be time for another fun sewing day. 

The raffle quilt is coming together!

Imagine a sunlit room full of chatter, sounds of sewing machines humming, fabrics being displayed, discussions about colours and placements, decisions being made, calculations and measurements being checked and rechecked, rotary cutters rolling as they cut 100's of pieces, irons running hot and the exclamations of approval as blocks came together with the sashing and corner stones. 

That was our sewing day as the committee worked on the 2017 raffle quilt.  

Let's start at the beginning of the day. The last of the blocks were shared and they are beautiful!!!

It was great to get all of the blocks up on the design wall to see them all together. It's amazing how we all worked on them alone with our own fabrics but they look perfect as a group. There are lots of fun little details like fussy cutting and clever fabrics to look out for in these blocks.

We where there to sew so it was soon down to work and while some people cut pieces for the sashing and cornerstones others sewed them together and some took turns with the iron.

Sewing corners onto the blocks.

 As the day progressed the blocks began to transform..

Each round of pieces added new life.

And soon the overall quilt design emerged.

Woohoo!! Doesn't it look fabulous!!

 We all agreed that the navy fabric was the perfect choice.

We have scouts out and about looking for the perfect border fabric which will no doubt take it to a whole new level. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Help us name our raffle quilt.

At our recent committee meeting we had a show and tell of all our raffle quilt blocks so far. 

Of course I took photos to share with you. Some blocks you may have seen before but it's fun to see them all together. 

Don't they look great! There are still a few more blocks to come and then we'll have a sewing day to assemble them. We're looking forward to seeing them come together.

We still need a name for the quilt. One suggestion was Anne's Garden in honour of Anne Sommerlad who designed the pattern but we're open to suggestions. Here's the layout of the quilt although we'll using different colours. We've picked out a nice dark navy blue for the block surrounds, and creams to contrast.

So if you have any ideas simply let us know in the comments, or email us at springwoodquiltshow@hotmail.com.

Our raffle quilt is growing.

Chris's blocks are so fun and colourful. 

What a fun choice of fabric for the leaves in this one. 

Susie has a fun stack of fabrics to play with but she's still deciding which bias to use for her stems. She can't go wrong, they both look great.

And what a lovely sunny spot to sit and sew. 

Rachael has made hexagons of plums and purples...

for her bunches of grapes. 

So little by little, hexie by hexie and stitch by stitch our raffle quilt is growing. 

Hanazono -The 2009 Raffle quilt

We've got another flashback to a past raffle quilt to add to our Raffle Quilt page. We love this quilt and know you will too!!

Today we're showcasing Hanazono, the raffle quilt from 2009, the 4th Annual Springwood Community Quilt Show. This beautiful quilt was designed by Blue Mountains quilter Anne Sommerlad. Anne is a popular patchwork and quilting teacher and prolific pattern designer who uses a variety of techniques. This quilt alone combines applique, hexagons, some stitching and is a great opportunity for fussy cutting.

As you can see our raffle quilt was set with a beautiful blue floral border

and here is another version with a different border fabric.

By now you'll be wondering where the name Hanazono comes from. Hanazono is Japanese for "Temple Flowers", the ideal name for a quilt of flowers made with Japanese print fabrics. 

The beauty of this quilt is in the details of the 25 blocks, well chosen fabrics that bring the hexagons to life as flowers, a wonderful variety of blooms and shapes. 

Let's take a walk through the temple flowers and have a closer look. 

The blocks are set off perfectly with a bold floral to create a beautiful fabric garden.

Are you tempted to make this quilt? Here's the link straight to the Hanazono pattern on Anne's website.

Visit Anne's website Anne Sommerlad Designs for more information about classes or her to see all her amazing patterns, or pop over to Anne's facebook page.

Anne also has a stall at the Springwood show every year so you can see her beautiful quilts, buy patterns and say hello in person. 

To see more of the past Springwood Community Quilt Show's raffle quilts have a look at the Raffle Quilts page here.