Yvonne Brown

In September we were pleased to welcome Yvonne Brown for a return visit.  She had a new talk about her recent visit to New Zealand.  The first part was inspiring photos.  Lovely views of sand patterns, flowers, foliage, rocks, water, mountains and townscapes.  We were looking forward to seeing how she had used this inspiration in her work.  Well, apparently she only has 24 hours in her day like the rest of us, and hasn't had time to use the images!  She had plenty of other work to share with us, including some lovely pieces with flowers and see through panels. 

Here is Yvonne, with some of her work.  Unfortunately I couldn't go to the workshop, but I have heard good reports of what a lovely teacher she is, and how pleased people were with the pieces they produced.  

Here you can see the Celtic samples for the class.  Gorgeous. 

June couldn't make the meeting, but her lovely husband, Ed, came along in her stead with a selection of baked goods.  They all looked scrummy, but I didn't manage to take one home with me. 

The photo doesn't do justice to this quilt.  It had been donated to the Bloodwise Charity shop, and was instantly recognised by Chris as a Durham strippy quilt from the late 19th century.  It was all beautifully hand quilted with patterns of fans and ropes.  A real treat for us all. 

This beautiful quilt had been made by Hollie.  She used a jelly roll, and while it looks great to me, she said it hadn't turned out to give her as much satisfaction as she had thought it might.  Sometimes jelly rolls can be very coordinated, and while they are very satisfying, don't always have that zing.  Perhaps that was what she meant. 

Here is another of Hollie's quilts.  (She is a teacher, so has had chance to do some finishes over e summer)  a gorgeous set of colours.  

A hearts quilt in blue and yellow - always a good colour combination. 

The back of the quilt, with a very interesting and creative back!  Nothing like using it up! 

This is a purple quilt made by Liz and donated to Project Linus.  Super. 

This is Liz's quilt too.  It's a one patch quilt, and you can see the fabulous way the blocks extend into the border.  What is more difficult to see is the way the quilting has extended some of the blocks into the border by echoing their shape.  Beautiful.  

This is a heart quilt made by the Linus ladies at Knit and Stitch.  It's actually a big nine patch, and despite its many makers, went together very well. 

This is another quilt made by the Linus ladies.  It's a no strip nine patch, and for those people going to The Big Textile Show this weekend, we will be demonstrating the technique.  Looking good. 

This is my Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion.  It was a mystery quilt for 2014, and while I thoroughly enjoyed making it, I think it is my least favourite of Bonnie's designs.  It is very, very busy, although I tried to quilt it so that the Stars stood out.  Not sure if I succeeded! 

This is a stunning quilt with spirals and circles.  The central dahlia is fabulous, and the colour scheme is beautiful. 

This fiddle quilt is absolutely beautiful. The colours are so pretty and I love the inclusion of the knitted purse at the top right.  So clever. 

This quilt was made by Ann for a rented property, and has seen its best days.  It has now been retired and replaced by another of Ann's beautiful quilts.  

This is an old quilt, probably 1930s or 40s from the fabrics.  The hexagons have been assembled into lozenge shapes.  Fascinating. 

Here is another of Ann's beautiful quilts.  It is hexagons and half hexagons, made up as a kind of strippy.  She has donated this to Project Linus.  Thank you, Ann. 

Extra-curricular activity

Although there have been no meetings over the summer, Piecemakers members haven't been idle.  The committee have been busy organising the exhibition, and a few of us were invited to do some sewing with children at the Little Rainbows summer club.  We decided to make shopping bags, as these are easy yet rewarding to make. There were only four children there on the day we went, but everyone enjoyed the activity. 

Here I am helping one young lady, who was a big fan of pink.  Next to her is a young man who was making the bag for his mum.  Good idea. 

Here is Paula helping a young lady who had a great sense of colour.  A psychedelic panel with a royal blue border.  Perfect. 

Both Paula and are paying close attention to the work.  Don't want any spiked fingers!  Maria kindly came along to be the 'flattening lady'.  Indispensable. 

And here are the completed bags.  Fabulous.  There was some talk afterwards of us going later in the year to make some little zippy bags.  Apparently after we had gone, the group were very disappointed to learn that zippy bags weren't going to be tomorrow's project!  They had obviously got the sewing bug! 

Heather Jacks evening

In July we were thrilled to be able to welcome The Great British Sewing Bee winner 2014 Heather Jacks. She gave a very entertaining talk about her experiences during the television series, and gave us behind the scenes information.  She brought along several garments she had made, and shared the secrets of their inspiration and construction.  It was a lovely evening, with quite a few visitors joining us.  

Here is Heather (on the right) after her talk.  I didn't manage to get any shots of her work, as people were crowded round it! 

June had a fun summer raffle, with more sunbathers relaxing on towels. 

They look as if they're tanned enough to me! 

There was plenty of show and tell, given that the summer weather usually encourages people to spend more time in their gardens than at their sewing machines. 

Here is one of the quilts made at the Christine Porter workshop.  Great colour choices. 

He are the fruits of another workshop, this time with Colourisious. The centre piece is the intended one, with the other two made from the wiping up cloths!  How clever is that! 

This quilt is from yet another workshop!  It's the sample piece from a workshop on using the different feet on your machine.  This sounds to me like workshop we could have at Piecemakers - I for one would be interested in that. 

A fabulous baby quilt, so bright, colourful and educational. 

And here is the back! 

Japanese folded patchwork made by Ann for a guesthouse called Shepherd's Rest, and the little patterned squares actually have sheep on. Perfect. 

One of Chris's relatives said, 'if you ever have a spare quilt, I'd like one.'  Well, you can't let a request like that go by!  This fabulous design is by Keepsake Quilting, and will certainly delight. 

Another Japanese folded patchwork quilt.  Very different, but equally gorgeous. 

Jan made this bag from a pattern in one of the British patchwork magazines.  Looks very useful. 

Another Christine Porter quilt, this time in subtle colours.  Lovely. 

Piecemakers don't meet in August, so I hope everyone has a great summer, and finds time to finish their quilts from the exhibition, and carry on with their challenge items for our fifteenth anniversary in October. 

Bunting evening

In June we had an evening making cotton reel bunting for our upcoming exhibition.  This is a great way of using up scraps, and was great fun.

Here are some Blue Peters made by Di and myself.  We have decided to put short pieces of tape on each one, to make it easier to manage.  Then they can be assembled to any length. 

People here working together. 

People worked in pairs or groups. 

Beverley is obviously on quality control in this group!

Here is another example of Indians and Chiefs!  

Of course, lots of people (myself included!) come to Piecemakers to meet friends and chat!  It's always good to have a chance to put the world to rights, although Doreen is a multi-tasker, as she can talk and cut tape lengths at the same time! Thanks, Doreen. 

Show and tell never ceases to inspire.  It's hard to understand that some people are reluctant to come out to the front and show their work. We are always enthusiastic and complimentary about everything - after all, we know exactly how much work has been put into each piece.  The committee took the decision to have the show and tell in one pile, so people could leave their show and tell at the beginning of the meeting, and didn't have to pluck up their courage to stand up later in the meeting if they didn't want to.  That way, you could just acknowledge your work, or give a full speech about it! 

Here is a gorgeous Dresden plate made with 1930s fabrics, plus some pretty appliqué round the edge.  

This beauty is Liz's version of Bonnie Hunter's 'Easy Street'.  Nik challenged her to make it, but she says she would be reluctant to do another mystery quilt, as you don't know whether the fabrics you choose will be right.  She's not head over heels in love with this one, although I can't see why not, personally. It's fabulous. 

I love Bonnie's mysteries, and here is my version of 'Lazy Sunday'.  The only thing I don't like about Bonnie's designs is that they are always huge.  This one has just over half the blocks she suggests, and is still a decent size!  

This is one of Maria's which she made at a workshop using fabrics with large prints.  Close up, it looks even better.  She's going to bind it in the blue. 

Here are two baby quilts made by me from feathered star blocks.  The feathered stars were made for a workshop, and look fine once a couple of borders have bigged them up. 

And last but definitely not least, here is the quilt Gaynor has made for a wedding present.  The bride chose the colours, and initially, Gaynor wasn't impressed.  The tones are pretty similar.  However, as the blocks were assembled, she realised that it is stunning.  Good choices! 

We have also been doing more sewing in schools.  We bought the equipment a couple of years ago with some Waitrose money, so just needed a contribution towards the fabric,  Sherrier School in Lutterworth was our first stop, with 60 ten and eleven year olds taking part. 

Since two children share a sewing machine and an adult tutor, that meant finding thirty people in all - no mean feat!  A few tutors were provided by the school, but mainly by Piecemakers. 

You can see how engaged all the children are -as well as the adults! 

So a special thank you to Maria H, Julie, Gwyneth, Paula, Liz I, Liz D, Jane, Di, Emily and Madelaine for all your hard work.  The looks on the children's faces were reward enough! 

If you think this post is strangely familiar, but not, don't panic, as I had written and published this post a few weeks ago, then inadvertently deleted it! So this is actually 'Cotton reel bunting 2'!  

Christine Porter

This month we had the pleasure of a talk by Christine Porter.  She is well known in the patchwork world, having been editor of a patchwork magazine and author of several books.  She's particularly known for her interest in church tiles, and we were looking forward to seeing her work.  

Here is a sampler quilt from one of her books, 'Viva Venezia' which has patterns for all these designs inspired by tiles in Venice.  It was wonderful to be able to admire it close up.

One thing which was fascinating, was the way Christine used the tiles as inspiration for brightly coloured designs.  She had made several quilt series, where one was in the muted colours of the original tiles, then another, or others, were in bright colours, sometimes with value changes which made it very difficult to recognise the patterns were the same!  Wonderful. 

She brought lots of quilts, including her Sunbonnet Sue quilts!  We had a real visual feast!

Then came show and tell.  Chris had made this delightful quilt for the room her grandchildren use when they stay with her.  Lucky children.

Sorry this is on its side.  It's chickens! 

This beautiful foundation pieced quilt was made by Anne.  The colours are very subtle and warm.

Here is Emily's junk, made at a recent workshop. 

Here are three more.  I love Ann's slightly different take on the design. 

Gaynor had pieced this as a present, and Liz had quilted it in her usual superb fashion.  It still has to be bound and finished, but looks fabulous. 

Paula had great fun making this 'Don't Look Now' design.  She said it made her happy every time she worked on it.  I can see why, as it's delightful.

Liz had finished the little quilt she made from scraps.  It's so cute. 

Here's another 'Don't Look Now' design, made by the Linus ladies at Knit and Stitch.  We all made a few vehicles, and Ann put them together.  Great fun. 

This is another Mile a Minute quilt, made from scraps.  This time I restricted my palette to cream or white and pale. It's very delicate, but I think will make a nice baby quilt. 

Chris at the Leukaemia shop had had some damaged and rejected M&S pyjamas donated to her.  She kindly let us have some to make into Linus quilts.  This design is Disappearing 9 patch, and looks great.  The Linus ladies made the blocks, and Paula put them together. 

Here is another one, this time without pink!

And last but not least, a Linus quilt from Chris, using a novelty print very successfully.