Mary Mayne

We had been looking forward to hearing Mary Mayne talk about her quilts last year, but unfortunately her daughter was ill, and she had to cancel. We were pleased to hear that her daughter is now much better, and that the talk was well worth waiting for.

Mary is a quilter very much to our tastes. She is a traditional quilter, with self-taught beginnings and an excellent sense of humour.



Here she is, with a huge pile of quilts behind her. She started patchwork by making hexagons over papers (a common introduction to the craft), but when she came to join them together, found they were actually octagons, and wouldn't tessellate at all! She quickly moved on to machine piecing, and has never looked back.

Here is a quilt which she made from a pattern she bought in America. The original pattern was for a very large quilt and Mary scaled it down (with the designer's permission) to make it more manageable.

This small quilt was inspired when she had to move her son's trainers from the middle of the floor - why do they all do this?- and discovered the lovely pattern on the sole. She used the trainers as a stamp to print on fabric, and took pictures which were the basis for the centre design. Many people have seen (and made) this fabulous Christmas quilt, which Mary designed. It's a mixture of patchwork (Ohio stars and log cabin blocks) and applique (snowmen, angels, reindeer etc), with borders of trees and stars. It's great fun to make, and Mary can supply the pattern on application.Here is the quilt many people were keen to see, as it was the basis for one of the quilts Mary was to be teaching at the workshop the next day. It was inspired by the Australian Rainforest.

After Mary had finished her talk, people were very keen to see the quilts close to, and admire them in greater detail.

Others had their minds set on taking home a bargain from either the Project Linus Rummage table or this sales table where the donations go towards our charity of the Air Ambulance.

After a lovely cup of coffee it was time for the show and tell. Sylvia showed the quilt she has made for her grandaughter Sian. It's a masterpiece of scraps!

Andrea had brought this gorgeous stack-and-whack quilt, and I heard several people round me say, 'I've always wanted to do a stack-and-whack quilt myself!' It would have been interesting to see the original fabric.

Bunty must have been meticulous in her piecing to complete this sizzling interlocked chain quilt. It practically shimmers!

Beverley is expecting two grandchildren very shortly, and has obviously had to make them both a welcome quilt. This one with teddies on it must have been great fun to make.

Sue likes to be ready early for Christmas. This was a mystery quilt which she started last year, but didn't get finished in time for the festive season. Never mind, that's the beauty of Christmas, it comes round every December without fail!

Carolyn had taken some pink Linus blocks, and alternated them with some lovely blocks with dogs on them. This will delight a dog-loving little girl. There were several other small quilts donated to Project Linus for the neo-natal unit. Thank you to everyone.

Jane Davies - textile artist

On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have Jane Davies as our speaker. She was pleased to come, as she only lives in Rugby, so it was very local for her! Here she is in full flow.

Jane is a textile artist and talked to us about "Fantastic Fabrics - Textiles from Many Lands". She started by showing some slides (just the right number!) of some fabulous examples of textiles from around the world, China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was lovely to see people wearing beautifully decorated textiles, obviously some of them everyday wear, as was evident by one little Chinese girl's rather grubby embroidered blouse!

She had brought along examples of embroidered, pieced and appliqued fabrics for us to drool over and to inspire us. The workmanship in these pieces was awe-inspiring, and the colours fabulous.

Then Jane showed us some pieces of her own which her interest in ethnic textiles had inspired. A pieced fabric can be easily enhanced by decorative stitching, embroidery or applique.

Jane had a sales table as well with lots of very tempting goodies. This attracted lots of attention, so much so that I couldn't get a photo of the wares!

However, I couldn't resist temptation myself (well, it's calorie free!) and bought two 'Mini Adventure Kits', one for myself (the green of course) and the other for a friend. Can't wait to get started!

I found her talk not only interesting but really inspiring - she's not just an embroiderer and she made us realise that some embellishment - beading, embroidery etc, can really add another dimension and interest to your patchwork.

It was disappointing at show and tell to only see three of the curved flying geese panels which had been made at Pat Deacon's workshop, but no doubt the others will appear in due course.

Vicky and Ann had made these table runners at a class at Quorn Country Crafts in Loughborough. The varying colour schemes make the pattern look quite different.

Gaynor showed her calendar quilt, made from a pattern in 'Quiltmaker'. Mine is still in my UFO box, but I love the way she has outlined each block with navy to unify the quilt. Perhaps that would work for me.

Paula made this beautiful cushion at a class with Sandie Lush.

These lively chickens, which are a Mary Mayne pattern, lead us nicely into next month's speaker, which will be Mary herself!

Curved flying geese workshop

On Thursday 15 happy people gathered at the hall for a day workshop with Pat Deacon. Pat had already wowed us with her fabulous quilts and we were ready to find out how she managed to piece such complicated geometric shapes and sweeping curves and still have a quilt which hangs flat at the end of it all! (I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done some fancy piecing, only to end up with one of Madonna's bra cups, instead of the quilt block I had been expecting!)

Here is Pat, all ready to start us off. She was an excellent teacher, breaking all the work down into easily achievable steps and being very encouraging and inspirational all day.

She started us off with a mini workshop on foundation piecing curved shapes. We each drew a small teardrop shape and used her fantastic no-fail freezer paper foundation method for making it in fabric. That was the easy bit!

Next we had to draw our own patterns onto freezer paper (a choice of an easy one and a harder one), cut them into parts and then piece them.

Pat gave us some useful workshop advice. No matter what fabric you take to a workshop, the person sitting next to you has much nicer colours than you, and is producing better work. But remember, she is also thinking the same about you! It certainly is interesting looking at people's colour choices - all of which were fabulous.

Here is June proudly showing her first pieced goose, and her choice of fabrics - black and white! This is going to be stunning, especially if she follows her plan of adding a few red accents.

The first few geese were a bit tricky, but everyone persevered (although several people were glad they had brought their unpickers!) and gradually it all became much easier.

And then, as we became more confident, mistakes crept in. Jill was not the only person to carefully sew another goose, flip, press and then cut it right off! Some people thought it might make a design feature, but no, after a good laugh, off it came.

By the time four o'clock came, we were all well on the way to finishing our pieces.

Pat showed us a way of putting the parts together using 'invisible' tape, which certainly eliminates the distortion which pins can sometimes introduce.

The only question now is, will they actually sew together to make a flat block, or will it be another pop star's undergarment?

Group quilt revealed!

After all our hard work designing the blocks for the group quilt, Andrea has put in even more hard work in assembling the blocks. They look fabulous, and the free quilted border she has added (which unfortunately you can't see in the photo!) is first rate! I'm sure this is a winner, but in any event we have had great fun making it.

You may notice the posh stand which the quilt is hanging on. It is actually a photographic stand, but is so light, stores well and collapses easily that we decided to buy two for the group. This will make displaying quilts so much easier at meetings.

This month's meeting was very informal and enjoyable. Apart from the group quilt's unveiling, we had Jeanne and Vicky from Chaos Traders to tempt us with their merchandise and to stimulate us with two demos.

Jeanne was demonstrating an easy way to make accurate prairie points, for the edge or embellishment of a quilt. She had plenty of paper so people could practise.

Vicky was demonstrating Thangles, a way of making accurate half square triangles. They are foundation pieced, but mean you never have to trim a half square triangle again, as they are all perfectly formed! The downside is that each packet has only one size, but you can't have everything!

Their stall attracted a lot of attention, and I don't think anyone went home without something gorgeous tucked away in their bag, whether it was fabric, threads, needles, rulers or one of a myriad of other quilting 'essentials'.

Lots of people were tempted by the fabric (myself included), while Ruth was happy to be snapped looking for needles. Incidentally, where do needles go? I buy packets and packets, but rarely throw one away!

Sharon was perusing the excellent selection of rulers and templates. I wonder if she actually purchased anything?

This time I made sure I got photos of the show and tell. This was an example of holiday photos printed onto fabric and made into a beautiful wall hanging. What a special way to remember a holiday.Carolyn had made this attractive quilt which was made from a very simple four patch block. I have made a note of this pattern for future reference.

Jane made yet another Mile a Minute variation, with alternate white and coloured rounds. It looks fresh and vibrant. I never cease to be amazed at the versatility of this block.

Stephanie showed this lovely flower quilt in some of her trademark colours.

It's a shame this photo is a bit blurred, but you can get the general idea of this gorgeous quilt which Bunty made at a workshop with Jenny Almond. I think it's the fabulous red fabric she choose which really makes this quilt zing.

Mary Mayne workshop

Mary Mayne has sent some images of the kinds of things people will be making with her when she holds her workshop in June.
There will be a variation of the beautiful snow scene which several people in the group have already made, called spring. If anyone feels adventurous, they could make Rainforest, which is the same basic technique, but obviously more exotic!
If you want to book a place on this workshop, please speak to any member of the committee.

Group quilt evening

Bunty and Andrea were waiting with some trepidation to see how many people had managed to complete their blocks for the group quilt which will be displayed at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in August. 25 people had taken kits (which would make a lovely 5x5 block quilt) so they were hoping for 25 blocks back - or at the least 24, no less! They need not have worried, all the blocks bar one returned (and that one is promised asap) and they were magnificent!

Every one was individual, with applique, beads, sequins, embroidery, embellishments, buttons and lots of other clever ideas too. It was easy to identify each season, even if you couldn't spot the labels, as eveyone had worked so hard at interpreting their theme. Now Bunty and Andrea have the difficult job of putting them together. They haven't exactly decided how to do this, and there will be a lot of playing, rearranging and auditioning of sashing fabrics to be done before they make a final decision.

They have decided to put them together using 'quilt as you go'. This is a great method for those not confident enough to machine quilt a whole quilt, as each section is quilted individually and then the blocks are joined together afterwards, making the whole process much simpler - especially if it's Bunty and Andrea who are doing it!

Andrea gave a demonstration for those who didn't know the technique, or those like me, who had forgotten how to do it!

There were two more demonstrations. Jill showed how to do trapunto, a method which stuffs extra wadding into certain areas, to give them an extra defined look. Why did it look so easy when she showed us how to do it?

Sharon showed easy crazy pieceing. She used a piece of fabric as a foundation, and sewed the scraps onto the backing. What a clever idea! It makes the whole block easy to handle, and ensures that it lies flat when completed. She brought some beautifully embellished examples for all to drool over.

A very popular feature of this meeting was the sales table (or tables). This photo shows one of the tables after the mass had descended! There were lots of goodies for all - fabric, books, patterns, kits, gadgets, bags, bowls, notebooks and for those who could really smell a bargain, I had brought a rummage box of bits and bobs, hoping to get donations for Project Linus.

Paula, Jill and I were so busy with the sales table that I completely forgot to take any photos of the show and tell (which was fantastic as usual and included all the beautiful boxes and stunning Tiny Treasures). When we came to count up the money, and then had taken off 10% for our charity, the Air Ambulance, we found that we didn't have enough money to pay everyone, never mind have anything over for the charity! Back to the drawing board, and much scratching of heads, as we recalculated all the sales labels. Hooray! We found a mistake. We owed Bunty another £1, which made the situation even worse! We were beginning to despair, and Paula even took her shoes and socks off to help with the mathematics, when we discovered a £20 note which had managed to hide itself under the chair. Phew, the relief was palpable! That meant that everyone got their money, and we made 17.60 for the charity. The Project Linus box made £10. 35, so everyone, buyers and sellers, went home happy!

Tiny Treasures Workshop

On National Quilting Day, March 15th, what better thing to do than spend the day with friends learning new quilting and embroidery techniques? Jenny Rolfe led a workshop with 16 participants making 'Tiny Treasures'. These were exquisite little embroidered and embellished panels which could be used to make book covers, boxes, cards or just enjoyed in their own right.

Here is Jenny cutting some wire for June to use to decorate her work.

Bunty and Andrea looked very serious, but it was the strain of trying to dodge the camera rather than any problems which the workshop posed them which has resulted in such worried faces!

Jill looks a bit happier - maybe it's because she has chosen such beautiful, rich colours for her design.

Paula is very sociable (and tidy - look at her lovely uncluttered workspace!)

Beverley was having a little trouble with her machine. I thought we were pretty good friends, so was a bit surprised when she managed to get the end of her shuttle to shoot me on the cheek. Good shot, Bev! Sylvia had chosen the other design (ie. not the one nearly everyone else was doing). What a surprise, as she is not known for her independent mind!

Stephanie takes a moment to ponder the next step.

Ann and Sue are struggling a bit with invisible thread. It's nearly impossible to see!

Merleen is another one doing the alternative shape - another free thinker! Both she and Doreen are engrossed in the task.

Sharon and Eunice were concentrating so hard, they didn't even realise I was taking their photo!

Everyone was really enjoying the workshop, and fully absorbed in the task. Most people had arrived at the embellishing stage (the best bit!) well before 3 o'clock, so we look forward to seeing the fruits of their labours at the next meeting.