Hi quilters, just popping in for a quick chat. Hope all’s well at your place. Things are pretty quiet for me this week, well at the moment anyway. I’m busy putting some quilts together in preparation for the launching of our Sunshine Linus group on the Sunshine Coast in early June.

I’m also preparing a little talk I’ll be giving to launch the council’s program titled “Saviour of the Lost Arts” which is all about crafters in the community sharing their unique crafting skills, by showing and teaching each other and most importantly our younger generations, the joys of creating something beautiful with our own hands, and thus prevent these crafts from being lost forever.

It’s a great initiative, particularly given that most under 30 year olds spend an awful lot of their leisure time surfing the web, or playing computer games. I personally think it is very important to expose young children, especially aged 7 through to 16 to the notion of spending leisure time creating with their own hands. Not just to patchwork and quilting but to any tactile craft that encourages invention, discovery and of course the creation of something truly unique. I really could ramble on here, but I’ll resist temptation. Perhaps I’ll write an article some day…..

Last Sunday I posted the promised article on the World’s Biggest Hexagon Quilt – which was launched at Gatton, Queensland, last week. I’ve included some photos, and am still waiting on more to be emailed to me, so I can share them with you. My DH took one look at the photos, and said “I told you quilters are crazy”!!.

Here’s the link to that article:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8971.asp

I’ve had a few patchwork and quilting requests via email in the past week and have posted them on the forum in the hope that some of our Bellaonline readers will be able to help. Pop over to the forum and check out the requested information.

Here’s the Link: http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=43

Onto my little pressies for you this week. Firstly I must apologise for the link I posted on cutting circles with a rotary cutter, which turned out to be a dead link. I should have checked that all the links were working – my apologies. I’ve surfed to find another link about cutting circles with a normal rotary cutter (you can get special circular cutters these days), but haven’t had any luck. But I’m still looking!!

So, I’ll give you a couple of extra gifts to make up for my boo boo last week. Enjoy!

http://bargelloneedlepoint.com/the-proper-way-to-cut-pearl-cotton-thread/
Not quilting I know, but a lot of us use embroidery threads and I thought this was very interesting.

http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2010/04/guest-tutorial-with-tea-rose-home.html Cute as a button and useful too!!

http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/04/reversible-40s-inspired-sun-cap-with.html Gorgeous reversible sun cap to make

http://www.fibergypsy.com/Charts_and_Other_Helpful_Resources/ great info on sizes and measurements for crafters.

http://threadstofabric.blogspot.com/ The Disappearing Nine Patch, love this one - great for Linus Quilts

I must away, have a few errands to run this morning, then my Sisters of Stitch group will be gathering this afternoon. All fun! Take care till next time, and keep those fingers busy and those minds full of great creative ideas.
Cheerio for now

Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

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