Congratulations

Hi Lots of good news lately.  Firstly, Julie won a competition in 'Quilt Now!' Magazine called The Story of my quilt.  Her friend had had a lot of bunting at her wedding, which she gave away to guests afterwards.  Julie took quite a bit of it, unpicked it and made it into a quilt which she gave to her friend for her 30th birthday! 

Here they are with the quilt.  What a lovely story!  Julie won a day's workshop as her prize. After the workshop, she started gathering up the good scraps for Project Linus (as we do!) and Katy Jones, the editor of the magazine, offered to send some fabric for us to use. We took the fabric to use at a recent Project Linus sewing day at Hannah's Room in Ibstock.

Here are Lynda, Julie and Paula with Maria, Gail and Roxana's daughter Charlotte on the day.  We used the fabric donated to make five disappearing 9-patch quilt tops. Katy was so impressed that she's published our photos in 'Quilt Now!' Magazine issue 37!  Just form an orderly queue for signed copies! 

But even better, Liz entered a quilt started by Muriel, before her sad death last year, into the Fund raiser category at Malvern, and won first prize!  

Here she is in front of the quilt (which she obviously finished and quilted). 

And here she is with the trophy!  Well done Liz and Muriel!  The quilt will be raffled in aid of Friends of Saint Cross Hospital. 

Lynne Edwards

IOur May meeting was a long awaited treat.  Debbie booked Lynne Edwards about two years ago, and was over the moon about it!  We were pretty pleased as she is a fabulous lady.  She brought over 30 quilts to show us, as she said, she prefers to see lots of quilts rather than slides or waffle, and she thought we would too!  Quite right, Lynne!

Here she is with her new technique, cathedral window by machine.  She is famous for her sampler quilt books, but had lots of different things to show us, along with lots of tips and hints, plus a lively sense of humour.  She told us that we didn't in fact have UFOs, they were just quilts pending!  Sometimes, if you get stuck or fed up with a project, it's better to leave it, as the fabric you need to complete it might not have been printed yet!  What a sensible attitude!

The show and tell started with some of Lynne's designs from her sampler quilts books.  Here is Stephanie's and Bunty's.

And here is mine and Carole's.

And here is Pat's.  She decided to do all 25 blocks! Great colours!

Here is Jan's quilt which had been made from lots of bits and pieces.  It's beautiful, and I love the little appliqué in the centre.

This one was made by me for Project Linus from scraps.  I think the bright yellow background adds a bit of zing, and there are plenty of different patterns to encourage a game of I Spy! 

This is mine too.  The big circles are from a Kathy Doughty pattern and the small ones are Kansas Sunfloers.  I made them all by hand in the American way while on holidays.  I didn't initially have a plan for them, but I'm delighted that they all play so nicely together! 

This crocheted blanket is called Lily Pond.  A very apt title. 

Lots of beautiful star blocks in this quilt.  

This was made by June for a music loving grandson's upcoming birthday.  He doesn't know about it, so hope he doesn't read this blog!  He'll be thrilled to receive it, in any event. 

Carole. Ade this quilt from a jelly roll.  She was delighted that all the white fabric came from her stash, and when she'd finished, there was only a few scraps of the jelly roll left.  Got to use up that fabric! 

Di made this pretty quilt for Project Linus.  I love the asymmetrical borders. 

And last but not least are these lovely bags.  They are from the Sarah Fielke BOM this year, and the houses are blocks from the quilt and the bags are a bonus pattern.  Always lovely to see designs in different colour ways. 

Here is Lynne at the workshop on the following day.  She had lots of good advice and time saving tips to give. 

Here are all the students with the results of their labours.  Looks like they've all got that technique firmly unde their belts!