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.

Box Day

On Saturday 23rd February, we held one of our popular workshops. Seventeen people gathered to make a beautiful box under Di's excellent tutelage. Di is an excellent teacher, well-organised, methodical, encouraging and patient. Here she is checking that all is well.

We are lucky that the hall at Walcote has plenty of room for all to have the space to work comfortably yet companionably.

All the participants worked really hard all day, as you can see, to try and get their boxes finished. The drying time of the glue was a major irritation. Why does it take so long, even when you have used the whole contents of your peg bag to hold the fabric layers together and help it along?


The variety of fabrics which people choose for their projects is always interesting, and if Freud were there, he would have a field day, identifying characters and the inner workings of the mind. Some people chose beautiful fabric with sewing items on (a safe and suitable choice), some fabrics which were chosen for their colours (the arty choice), floral fabrics (the feminine choice), a stunning black and white fabric (the discerning choice) and some fabric with tea bags on it (the divergent thinker's choice!).



You can see how many pegs were needed to hold the layers together while they dried.


Here, Paula concentrates on the task in hand while Jenny has a break and a natter.
Di shows how the finished box base will look when it has been assembled. Unfortunately none of the boxes were actually completed on the day, despite all the hard work. However, the participants assured Di that they will complete them all for show and tell at the next meeting. We'll look out for them all.

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!