Friday 22nd February 2008

At our February meeting we were lucky enough to have a talk by Jenny Rolfe. She is a member of the Midlands group of five quilters, TextileARTS, which was set up in order to exhibit their work. While still thinking of herself as a quilter, she is currently working with fabrics, which may be dyed or painted to give them a contemporary feel, but always with dense machine stitching.


She started the evening by showing us a selection of gorgeous quilts, many of which she was generous enough to pass round for us to inspect more closely. Her work is meticulous, beautifully quilted and embellished. Most of her quilts were designed to be wall-hangings, and we recognised several which we had seen in national exhibitions or in patchwork magazines.

Some people felt the need to admire her work very closely! It was certainly very inspirational.

After her talk, Jenny set up her machine and gave a tutorial on machine embroidery. She made it seem very easy! I think it's one of those skills which has a certain mystique about it, but actually demands lots of practice. There is no secret about how to machine quilt or embroider, just the willingness to put in the hours of stitching and practising which are required.

Since Jenny is running a workshop for us on 15th March, she had brought along some samples of the kinds of things could be achieved on that day for all to admire.

Gill had had a bout of spring-cleaning fever, and had had a clear out of quilting books and magazines. This attracted a lot of attention from those deluding themselves that they needed more quilting patterns and tips! There was also a rummage bag of fabric for those poor souls who have no supplies at home. Quilters are always happy to adopt stray pieces of material which will 'definitely come in' one day!

Bunty and Andrea unveiled their ideas for a group quilt to be displayed at the NEC in August. Twenty five people have agreed to make a block for this, on the theme of The Seasons. Each block will have a foundation pieced background and a Bondawebbed tree and then each participant will have free rein to embellish their block in any way they desire, in order to depict their designated season. All blocks must be returned by the next meeting to give Bunty and Andrea time to join them together for the exhibition.

The evening ended with 'Show and Tell'. Here is Bunty's stunning 'Stack and Whack' quilt.

Gaynor showed her lovely 'Card Trick Variation' quilt which has turned out so big that she had had to unpick and modify it to make it fit her bed!

Lynda thanked all those who had bought the 'Green Book' as it had raised £140 for Macmillan. She also reminded us that National Quilting day is on March 15th, so get your needles ready!

Scrap quilts explained.

To start the year off with lots of inspiration, we were lucky enough to hear a talk by Margaret Torrance entitled 'Scrap Quilts'. Margaret is a well-known local quilter, and until recently had a shop in Leicester, where many of us used to go for fabric, advice and inspiration. Her talk showed many different ways of using scraps, from simple four and nine-patches, to snowballs, pineapples and snail's trail. She also gave us tips along the way, such as making sure that every quilt had plenty of dark, medium and light fabrics in it, that yellows must be used with caution and that putting scraps in a carrier bag and shaking them about is a sure way of getting a good mix of fabrics and colours in every block.

Here are some of her quilts, handily draped over a table tennis table! The beautiful courthouse steps is actually made from animal prints. You can also see another courthouse steps quilt with a scrappy piano keys border, a cot quilt in pastel colours made from nine-patches on point and some pineapple quilts on the table. Margaret was very generous in letting people examine and touch her quilts. That's often the best part of the evening, when you can see the quilts close up.

I don't know what has made Ann laugh so much, but I'm guessing it's something Stephanie has said, rather than one of Margaret's hilarious quilts!

It was also good to be able to chat to Margaret (on the left) after her talk, ask questions and clarify a few things, or just catch up with her news and family gossip.

Jenny Rolfe came and brought some examples of the kinds of things which will be produced in her 'Tiny Works of Art' class on 15th March. It is always a change for quilters to work in a small scale and make something which can be completed in a day. Quilts are usually a bit more time-consuming than that! This class is now full, although names can be put on a waiting list.

It was wonderful to see so many people had turned out in the cold and dark to hear Margaret's talk, and lovely to have quite a few visitors as well. I got so excited when I heard there were over 50 people in the hall, that I couldn't keep the camera still! Either that, or Beth and Chris were serving more than just coffee!

The evening finished, as usual, with show and tell. Quilters always like to see others' work, whether it is extravagant or simple. We were all beginners once, and remember clearly how proud we once were (and still are) of quilts which we now would regard as pretty basic. Paula showed some Linus 'Dancing Gingerbread Men' quilts she had made from scraps.

Quilters are very generous people and often use their fabric and time to make quilts for others less fortunate than themselves. This quilt is for one of the many babies born in prison. It is no fault of theirs that they end up in that harsh environment and sadly they have to leave their mothers behind when they are 18 months old, and either go to relatives or into care until their mum's release. Hopefully their quilt will act as a momento of their mother until they are reunited.
Our next meeting will be when Jenny Rolfe will demonstrate machine quilting. Unfortunately it won't be possible for everyone to have a go, but if you are very keen to take advantage of jenny's advice, you can put yur sewing machine in the car, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Either way, it will be an interesting and informative evening.

Christmas Extravaganza!

Our November meeting was a chance to see some ideas for Christmas decorations and presents. We had six different demonstrations, free refreshments - including my first mince pie of the season!- a free raffle and of course, lots of show and tell.

Paula showed some lovely little Christmas stockings, which could be used as tree or room decorations or even hold small gifts. A string of these along a mantlepiece would look very traditional!

June had made these cute Father Christmas serviette holders. These were easy to make and would enhance any festive table.

Stephanie demonstrated a Christmas angel which had been featured in 'Patchwork and Quilting' magazine. It's much better to see something than just try and work it out for yourself with the instructions. Stephanie gave lots of tips on how to adapt the method so it was even simpler, and didn't need such hard to find components.

Lynda showed her Easy Advent Calendar. There was some skepticism when she said there was time to make it before December 1st, but after seeing the method, most people agreed it was indeed very easy and very quick!

Di showed how to make those gorgeous Christmas trees made of triangles. They look fiddly, but so delicate and attractive when complete. They give an ideal opportunity to use up all those beads and sequins which seemed so necessary when bought, but somehow lurk at the bottom of your work box unused.Gill gave patterns for some lovely foundation-pieced Christmas motifs, which could be used for cards, labels, bags, table mats or even together in a mini-quilt. Many people fight shy of foundation piecing as it seems so complicated ( not to say ridiculous - putting your fabric on the back where you can't see it and then sewing it to a piece of paper!) but the accuracy it brings and the chance to sew very complex shapes makes it a firm favourite for many projects.

Once they had visited all the demo tables and had refreshments, some people took the opportunity to chat (and sew the binding of their show and tell!)

Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to talk to friends old and new, and wish all a happy Christmas and a healthy new year!

Workshops for 2008

We are busy organising our calendar for next year and have alreay firmed up three workshops.

The first one is on Saturday 23rd February and will be a 'Hexagon Box Day' run by Di Alderman. This will be an ideal opportunity to make something lovely for yourself or a present for someone else.


On Saturday 15th March Jenny Rolfe wiil show us how to make 'Tiny Works of Art'. This will be a stimulating and creative day, playing with fabric, thread and embellishments.

We were all very impressed with the talk by Pat Deacon in September, and are delighted that she will come and show us how to make her 'Curved Flying Geese' on Thursday 24th April. (All those who work on Thursdays will have to see if you can take a day's holiday!)

In the pipeline is a day looking at old quilts, guided by a member of the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles. This will hopefully be in May and will be an opportunity to look in detail at old and antique quilts brought along by local quilters.
Here is a quilt which was brought along to our exhibition by a local lady who was hoping to have it repaired. Unfortunately it is in a very poor state, but we have undertaken to find out as much as we can about the quilt for her. Any information gratefully recieved!

October's Linus Evening (and AGM)

October is the month when we hold our annual AGM - a necessary part of any group's calendar, but not one we intended to protract!

The highlights of the evening were the Treasurer's report - delivered in Stephanie's absence - and Chairman's report. The group's funds were shown to be in a very healthy state, and have allowed us to buy some ironing boards, irons and extension leads for future use. We will be able to book some well-known (and thus expensive!) speakers for next year. Di gave a round-up of the year, and it was amazing to hear what we had packed in, from a visit to see some of Birmingham's old quilts to our own exhibition. Our workshops had been very popular, and we are already planning some for next year. Andrea and Bunty gave a report on the exhibition, which was a great success. We had 120 visitors over the weekend, and have more than covered our costs as well as giving a lot of people (including ourselves) a lot of pleasure. The Visitors' Choice labels were won by Andrea for 'Country Sampler' and Bunty for 'Back to the Henhouse'. This aspect of the show proved very popular, with 38 out of the 73 quilts being chosen as someone's personal favourite.

Di agreed to stay on in the chair, and Andrea, Bunty, Gill and Paula also agreed to continue as committee members. Lynda had decided that after 7 years on the committee, it was time to let others with fresh ideas take her place. The committee gave her a beautiful bunch of yellow roses and some gift vouchers as a thankyou for all her hard work.

Next, sewing machines were fetched and the Linus boxes were raided for kits of blocks , wadding and backing. Margot decided to put some gingerbread men blocks together, sashing them with yellow.

Chris helped with the arrangement and pressing of the blocks.

Jackie and Eileen won the prize for the fastest team, managing not only to complete a top, but wad and tack it ready for quilting too!

Elaine was doing a bit of un-sewing (some blocks that had been sewn together incorrectly at another time) and Di was giving her some moral support.

Ruth had become intrigued by the Mile a Minute block, and had chosen pretty pink, purple and blue fabrics to have a go at this technique. Lots of people were interested in watching her progress, and she had soon assembled a large team of cutters, pressers and general advisers to help her!

On the night we completed two tops (Jackie and Eileen's and Margaret put together a t-shirt top as well) and started several others, which will be completed for the next meeting. Those people who hadn't brought their machines were able to help the sewers and have a look at some of the possible simple quilts which can be made for this worthy cause.

Exhibition success!

This weekend has been our exhibition and it was a great success.

The committee had several meetings to plan it and have thrashed out such weighty matters as where to put the refreshment tables, who has got the white gloves, who can make an 'A' board and how much to charge for teas and coffees! Seriously, the planning beforehand made the whole setting up of the exhibition, not exactly stress-free, but well organised. Unfortunately, we couldn't set up until 9pm on the Friday night before the event, so people were hard at work till midnight, erecting quilt stands and hoisting quilts, then back at 9am the next morning to add the last few quilts, put the finishing touches to the sales table and add to the other displays. Luckily, we had plenty of helpers, and all was ready for the chairman of Harborough District Council to cut the ribbon and declare the exhibition open at 11 o'clock, bang on schedule!

Here is the banner in place, to welcome people to the hall (and reassure them that they were in the right place, as some had difficulty finding the hall, despite our 'A' board on the main road, and lots of other signs.)

Lots of visitors came to look at the quilts (and have a natter).

We even had some male visitors - I think they really came for the cake!

I hope that lady isn't touching the quilts, as there were plenty of notices to warn, and white gloves in case you felt the need!

At the back of the hall we had a display of cushions, bags, Christmas decorations and small wall-hangings, in fact, all the things which were left over!

Quillows from the recent quillow workshop were much admired, and we were kept busy showing how to fold them away and get them out again. Challenging stuff!

There was a lot of interest in the sales table, as quilters never visit an exhibition without taking their cheque books - just in case!

Final stop for most people was the refreshments room, where teas, coffees, squash and a wide selection of home-made cakes were available. (I was amazed to find that my cake sold out on Saturday! It's usually still hanging around at the end, and then I have to bring it home - and eat it myself!)

By 4pm on Sunday we had had over 120 visitors, all of whom enjoyed their visit. There were many positive comments in the Visitors' Book, and we look forward to welcoming more quilting enthusiasts next time.

Exhibition excitement!

We are getting ready for our exhibition on Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th October from 11-4 in the Walcote Memorial Hall, and trying hard to get everything right! We have had exhibitions before, but they have mainly been as part of Artsfeast - a celebration of the arts in Lutterworth during its annual Feast Week in August. There were lots of advantages of being part of a larger event (not least the fact that we had free publicity and no venue charges) but there were disadvantages too. St Mary's Church is a spectacular setting for quilts, but it was very difficult to hang quilts safely. Also the timing of Feast Week (in the middle of August) meant that people were often away on holiday, making manning the exhibition problematic.

So, we have decided to go it alone! We have hired the hall for the weekend and will be hanging quilts on Friday night. Although I haven't seen all the quilts, I know from show-and-tell that visitors are in for a treat! There will be a sales table - so make sure you bring your purse - and refreshments (including home-made cakes).


Here is a glimpse of some of the items I am gathering together to take with me on Friday. Looking forward to a great weekend!