Toowoomba to Brisbane

Yesterday on the very wet drive to Brisbane Bev took me to a quilt shop in Gatton - Sew Creative ......and this shop certainly stands by its name and is sew creative beyond all! To start with I was shown this beautiful hand appliquéd Dresden plate quilt. Rose has used many fabrics from the William Morris inspired collections from Jason and myself and she has been sew creative with her use of fabric (and the sections missing in the corners will be happening soon).........

Then I was told about an incredible project that is now coming to a close. Gail decided to attempt to make the world's biggest hexagon quilt and started the project 3 years ago. Hexagons came from all around the world and were pieced together to make one whopping quilt! These are images taken from the story board and you can see in the photo below how long the original quilt was (and how heavy!!) and then an image of the entire length draped around the town.......(and for those overseas reading this - 108.8 metres is over 118 yards, and 146.7 kgs is a whopping 321 pounds!)

It must have been hard cutting into all the work, but when you find out that well over 100 quilts were made from this whopper it brings tears to your eyes. One quilt in particular made me tear up - it was given to a little boy who had lost his Mum in the floods of two years ago. Below is the latest quilt about to be sent to someone who is very unwell.........I am sure this quilt will bring much comfort.........

There was a beginners class in progress as we arrived and there were cheers all round as two of the girls had just completed their very first block! Sadly some girls didn't make it to class because of road blocks with the flooding but hopefully they will be back at it soon. Now this next bit has me in awe! This is a small town in the Lockyer Valley, a place that was devastated with the floods of 2 years ago (and they certainly don't need to be going through this all again). Anyway the net tells me that the population of the Lockyer Valley and surrounds is about 37,000 and this little shop in this little town manages to get seven children every day of the week sewing in their children's sewing classes!! What a feat and if that isn't "sew creative" I don't know what is. The ages range from five years to teens and they start with a stitch sampler and then move on to making a needle-case and pencil case. This is a small sample of some projects in progress.........

Thankyou Bev for taking me there and congratulations to Gail, Jennifferr and Janelle for not only serving the community but also for creating quilters of the future!