Sunday 29 June 2014

Inspiration

The June meeting was full of inspiration.  Jan Baker - a local textile artist - came along and described her artistic progress, from initial concept (which was old manuscripts) through a heritage seed collection to her final pieces which were screen printed and assembled into cushions and pictures.
here is jan with some of her work.

 
The images were taken from old botanical illustrations, and lettering. 

 
Jan also generously brought her sketch books to show her thought processes. 

 
As if this was not enough, she then showed inspirational images for our challenge of lines, squares, triangles and circles.  Lots of food for thought there!

 
June was in full summer mode with her raffle prizes.  Delicious ices - complete with flakes!  the raffle is always very popular, so it was kind of Paula to lend a hand.

 
We were also lucky enough to have a trader.  Eunice, from 'The Quarter Inch' in Market Harborough had lots to tempt us.  I was certainly tempted!  Thank you, Eunice. 

 
The show and tell started with a beauty.  Can you believe that this gorgeous (and huge) Dresden Plate has been made by Paula for a friend?  Neutrals were requested, and Paula has cleverly bound it in soft pink, to tie in with the flower centres.

 
Everyone very much enjoyed the recent workshop, and Ruth brought in her piece (in her hand) made on the day, and several other pieces which she made using these techniques and ideas.  She's holding up the photo which was inspiration for the quilt Debbie is showing.  Fabulous.

 
This is a work in progress.  I made these cowboys from a free pattern by Pam Rocco on 'Quilter's Newsletter' web extras.  If you fancy it, you can see it here.  There's even a cow included!

 
Paula spied this Paddington fabric and knew it would be an easy and popular make for Linus. 

 
She also made these two quilts, the left one from a panel she bought at Malvern (the wonderful quilting makes it look appliqued!) and the other one from Kisko.  Looking good.

 
Here is Muriel's quilt made from either a charm pack or jelly roll (sorry, I can't remember which!).  The orange setting triangles really focusses the design.

 
Ann has completed her challenge pieces!  She has used some Japanese fabrics to tie them together.  Stunning!

 
Lovely use of orphans and panels for this beauty.

 
Chris made this quilt for Linus and has had a really clever idea.  She was doing a puzzle with her grandson where you have to follow the line to see who gets the treasure, and suddenly thought what a great idea for a quilting design!  She has used different colours of thread from three corners, and the prize is some food in the shed at bottom right!  (She couldn't find any food images in her stash, so went with the shed idea instead!)  This quilt will become someone's prized possession!

 
And last, but not least, Debbie's puff quilt.  The photo doesn't do it justice, as it is super.  I saw it in progress, and had to say that the puffs looked rather like downy bosoms (!) but now they're joined together, they look perfect.  Here's to more!

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Round Robin

Unfortunately Di has been unable to send the Round Robin this month.  I have emailed as many people as possible, but in case you were missed out, here is the information.

1. We have arranged for PAT testing of electrical items to take place at the June meeting.  You can have your sewing machine(s), iron and extension leads tested for £1 per item.  Bring themalong to the meeting labelled with your name and they will be tested and ready to take home by the end of the session.

2.  Eunice from 'The Quarter Inch' in Harborough will be our trader, so make sure you bring your purse!

3. If you have any 'heart' items for the Quilters Guild tombola, don't forget to bring them along.

4. Debbie has 100 tickets for The Festival of Quilts at the NEC at the reduced price of £10 per ticket.  You can buy as many as you like - so long as you give her the money!

Lynda

Sunday 15 June 2014

May meeting

Unfortunately I missed the May meeting, where Pauline Barnes gave an interesting talk about threads and needles.  There were hardly any of her quilts (we quilters always like to see quilts!) as they were being exhibited elsewhere.  Shame.  Although Sian sent me lots of photos of the show and tell, life has got in the way, and I haven't managed to post them.  I've tried tonight, and either Blogger is messing me about or I need a technology update (either could be true!) so I'm sorry about that.
there were some lovely photos of wall hangings made at the April workshop with Pat Archibold.  Everyone had a great time and produced stunning work!

The workshop with Pauline was very stimulating.  It was about stitch techniques and possibilities, and the aim was to produce samples, rather then finished products.  Here is an example of using a decorative stitch and a variegated thread to make a solid block.

 
Here are different pintuck variations.

 
Some more pintucks and free motion stitches,

 
and here is a whole set of wonderful techniques!  Gorgeous!