Sewing in schools

A few years ago, the group bid for some money from the Waitrose green token scheme, and used it to buy rotary cutters, boards, rulers and scissors plus fabric to do sewing sessions in local primary schools with Year 6 children.  This year, we offered the sessions to John Wycliffe Primary School, who were delighted to accept.  Lynda organised it and gathered a willing team to deliver the sessions.

The room was a little cramped, and it was difficult to get photos without identifying the young people.  This is Susan, patiently sharing her skills.

Rose is keen to encourage young people, and this isnt the first time she has been sewing in school.

 Chris said she had thoroughly enjoyed the first session.  It's delightful to see how much the children learn.

Gwyneth was super organised and brought a 'Blue Peter' for everyone, so they could show the youngsters what they were aiming for.  So thoughtful!

 Liz had a taxing afternoon.  Not only were both her sewers left handed, but since she's so tall, she couldn't get her knees under the table!  But she's up to any challenge and all went well.

Julie doesn't work on Thursdays, and kindly gives her one day off to help young people!  What a star!  We also had Maria as ironer (or 'flattening lady' as one young man named her!), Paula and Jane.  Many thanks to all of them. 

Here are a few of the completed cushions.  The children choose their own colour schemes, and they all look fabulous!  We have one more session next Thursday, and then the complete year group of forty one children will have made a cushion and some of them will have had their first sewing experience.  Let's hope it won't be their last!

Stuart Hillard

We were delighted to welcome Stuart Hillard as our May speaker.  He originally became famous on the first Great British Sewing Bee, and his career has been on an upward projectile ever since! 

He was a very amusing speaker, and kept us in fits of laughter.  He told us about his life in textiles, starting from learning to knit aged 3!  Then he showed many of his gorgeous quilts, some from his fabulous book '100 Scrap Quilts'.  I took my copy for him to autograph, and many members bought their own copy on the night.

Chris said that I never get my photo on the blog, (quite rightly, I'm always on the other side of the camera) so took a photo of me with Stuart. Such a great sport.

 

Stuart was staying over to teach his method of doing cathedral window by machine the next day.  This is his sample for the class.  The subtle colours give this design a very different look. 

 

Every one was very keen to examine his work at close hand after his talk.  

It was Di's birthday, and she had chosen to come to Piecemakers on the day and celebrate later.  That's dedication for you!  We bought some flowers for her and Stuart kindly presented them to her.

The show and tell started with this stunner, which Nik had made for Linus.  Perfect.
And she had also made this cute heart quilt too.  Thank you, Nik.

 

Here is a lovely quilt where the design had originally been made for the quilter's mother.  Unfortunately she passed away, and the maker gave the quilt away to her sister. Afterwards, she regretted it, so made herself a replacement.  Lovely.

Ann found this beautiful fabric remnant, and made this bag from it.  I love the way the curve of the flap echoes the design.

Paula made this golden quilt at a class.  She extended the design with the heart border as she wanted it bigger.  It's a shame you can't see the quilting as it's gorgeous.

This is a top I made from one of Stuart's patterns, called 'Tilt'.  I promised my son a housewarming quilt for his new flat, and this is the pattern he chose.

Di made this smart bag using a Sarah Fielke house pattern.  She was going to have more houses on the back, when she realised she could just quilt outlines of the houses on the back and save the extra houses for another bag!  Clever.

Here is a lovely play mat Di made from Aldi fabrics.  Some people get a bit sniffy about the well-priced fabrics which are sold in Aldi, but since they're 100% cotton, I can't see what the fuss is about.  We all like a bargain!

Di also made this quilt from a magasine pattern.  She thought it would be a great design to use up scraps.  Making the diamonds was easy, but she found the sashing and side triangles very complicated.  She's not planning to make that design again!

This quilt was 'just' made from Flowerfairy panels, or so the maker said.  I don't think there's any 'just' about it, as it's gorgeous!

Here is a stunning medallion quilt.

The next day, Stuart ran a workshop on his technique for making cathedral window by machine.  Lots of people were keen to along, and here are some of the finished articles.

Everyone was delighted with their progress - most people finished their cushion/runner in the day.

 Here is a better picture of the completed designs.

 If you missed Stuart's talk or would like to do a workshop with him, then he will be back in the area at Rocheberie Quilters next May, and we are currently arranging for him to teach another workshop.  Exciting times !

Mini workshop evening 2

At Piecemakers' meetings, we often have a speaker, but this time we had a series of mini workshops, plus several sales tables. 

It was lovely to see Brenda Lincoln, one of our founder members, selling her sister in law's stash in aid of her charity, Quilts For Injured Servicemen.  The sad thing was that her sister in law has passed away.  At least the proceeds of  her stash will benefit a very worthy cause. 

 

Nik always has some interesting bargains to tempt us.  I managed to resist this time!

 

Jacquie had lots of goodies, including some Accuquilt dies.  If I didn't already have those I would definitely have added those to my set.  Julie and Gill also had tables, and Chris brought her usual stall from 'Bloodwise'.  

 

The workshop tables were thoroughly enjoyed, although the organisers were disappointed that some of the people who had signed up didn't attend the meeting, and others didn't participate, just observed.  Ruth provided an opportunity to fuse scraps to make a vibrant piece of fabric.   

 

Chris's group did free motion machining, and Julie's used up selvedges.  

 

June's raffle was very suitable for spring, with fabric, chicks and nests. 

 

Show and tell was very varied.  

 

This quilt is a stunning use of rail fence and fourpatch blocks.  

 

This appliqued cushion is a first project.  Beautiful.

 

Here is a delicate baby quilt.

 

This whimsical tree is lots of fun.  I love the bright piano key border.  

This quilt has been quilted using rulers.  It's a fabulous technique beautifully done.

It was made 'quilt as you go' and here is the back!  The quilting shows up really well!

Maria has completed last year's Sarah Fielke BOM.  It's a lovely mixture of applique and piecing. Well done!

 

Di has started making contributions for the tombola at our exhibition.  It's a Book Bag. Can you see the books on a shelf?  Using selvedges for the book titles is so clever! 

 

Here is the next row of our Sew a Row quilt.  It is pinwheels.  They are all so different!

This photo is a bit random, but is of me handing over 123 wiggly bags to a nurse at Ward 27 of the Leicester Royal Infirmary.  The nurses were thrilled with the lovely fabrics which had been chosen for the bags.  Thank you to everyone who made some, and since this is an ongoing need, keep making more!

Here is an example of a quilt made using Accuquilt shapes.  It's very easy to cut these cute little dogs automatically, and they make a gorgeous quilt.

Here is a scrappy quilt with blues and turquoises.  Good blend of colours.

 

Ruth has cut all these stars by hand and has donated this to Linus.  thank you, Ruth.

 

I have been inspired by our sew a row challenge to make a Linus sew a row of my own.  I used various orphan blocks and I think it looks bright and cheerful.

This stunning quilt is made from squares.  Beautiful precision.

Chris was asked to make a memory quilt from men's shirts.  It was fortunate that this gentleman had such brightly coloured shirts, but it was also tricky, as he had so many brightly coloure shirts!  Chris has made a superb job of it!

 

Edith has finally completed this magnificent quilt.  All the daisies have been hand appliqued!  It's fabulous!

 

Here is another first project -  a cheeky little owl cushion.  I love his expression!