April meeting

After all the hard work at the last meeting, it was lovely to sit back and listen to a speaker, especially one so down to earth and amusing as Dawn Cameron-Dick! She had some beautiful stories about many of her quilts, and her tales of her family were at times hilarious, and at times touching.

Dawn brought lots of her quilts, from her very first one, through prize-winning Invisble Machine Applique ones, to her latest designs. Dawn is well known for her beautiful machine quilting (as well as the IMA) and she did not disappoint in this area. Her use of decorative threads and both machine and hand quilting was stunning.

After the talk, lots of people rushed to have a closer look at her work or ask questions - she was so generous at sharing her expertise!

Show and tell was a little disappointing in quantity, although the quality was (as ever) excellent! I had organised a sewing morning with Botcheston WI a few weeks ago, at which they had made lots of Linus cot quilt blocks. I agreed to put them together into 3 quilts. The blocks are all the same, but by using diferent arrangements and different border colours, they look quite disimilar. This one is a diamond pattern, in yellow (or at least, it looks very yellow due to the yellow border). This one is a zig zag in pink. And finally barn raising, bound in blue. All gorgeous, in my opinion.

Jane had brought her very first quilt to show us. She made it for her grandaughter, from flower fairy panels, and it looks fabulous!

She also brought her secoind quilt, a sampler quilt made at the Bramble Patch. Such beautiful blocks and colour choices!


Paula, Chris, Bunty and Stephanie brought, brought the miniature quilts they made at the Sarah Hadfield workshop. The workmanship in these little gems is worth closer examination.

Ruth had bought reproduction fabric at the V&A, and had used it to make this gorgeous bag. It was also very functional, with pockets and zipped compartments inside.Now onto the Linus quilts. This one has been made from Australian fabrics, and the use of dark 'L' shapes behind the blocks makes it look 3-D. many thanks for donating this super quilt.

Stephanie had kindly taken all these windmill blocks from a 'Knit and Stitch' session and made them up. The border adds some extra pizzazz! And look at the backing - a car play mat! This quilt will do double duty for some lucky young man! I hope there will be more sewing before the next meeting, so I can put plenty of show and tell photos next time. Happy sewing!