Beginners' workshop

The beginners'workshop I lead last Saturday was lovely! Eight people came along (I know there were more people interested, but the date clashed with other things) and they were all very hardworking. We made the components for a quilt from 'Nickel Quilts' by Charlene Speth and Pat Spode, and it was a hard slog. First there was the cutting,

then there was the deciding on colour combinations,

then there was the sewing of a quarter inch seam,

not to mention the times when you forgot what you were doing and had to have a little prompt!


Then there was the puzzling, at why, when you had cut and sewn accurately, the blocks don't fit together. Poor Rosemary discovered that her needle was in the zigzag rather than straight sewing position, and she had been inadvertantly been sewing seams which were three eighths rather than a quarter! I blame the teacher, who should have checked everyone's sewing machine first off! Sorry, Rosemary.

Everyone made some beautiful fabric choices. There was the sophisticated, pastel pink and soft green,

the dynamic, in browns and oranges,

the carefully considered, with green for the fields and blues and browns for the mountains,

the co-ordinated, in pinks and burgundies,

the reproduction, in pinks, browns and creams,

and the scrappy, in 'I need to use up these fabrics'!

I'm sorry, I didn't manage to get a photo of Rosemary or Paula's finished blocks. I can assure you they were gorgeous - especially Paula's, who has created her own wonderful variation on the pattern. We are planning to have another session to learn about layering up, quilting and binding, so look out for details of this!

Margaret Shah

Despite the poor weather (wind and heavy rain showers) lots of people were keen to get back into routine by attending the September meeting, hear Margaret Shah and most importantly, see her fabulous quilts. Margaret proved to be a very amusing speaker, and was also very honest. She actually confessed to using a black marker pen to disguise the missewn edges of Bondaweb (oh, come on, we've all done it!) She was exactly the kind of speaker we in Piecemakers like best, and her quilts were something else altogether!

Here she is, with a few of her quilts in front of her. She mainly uses silk for her piecing, with the majority of her fabric coming from silk ties which she buys from charity shops. She started piecing over papers, and fussy cuts the fabric to make intricate, tesellating shapes, reminiscent of the kaleidoscopes we all had as children.

Once she had finished speaking, everyone was eager to examine her work more closely. It certainly repaid close scrutiny!

This yellowy quilt made me think of Victorian fireplace tiles. Since the fabrics were all silk, the colours were glorious and jewel-like.

Show and tell wasn't quite up to this standard, but still inspiring. Gwyneth had designed and made this charming quilt for a friend's expected first grandchild. A sampler quilt with a difference.

Di had made this lovely banner as an accompaniment to the story of the creation. Apparently, children today don't know their Bible stories (or fairy tales and nursery rhymes, I'll add!) and Di is part of a group of volunteers going round to schools to remedy this sorry state of affairs. Lots of the shapes are attached by Velcro, so the story can be interactive. What a clever idea.

Gaynor had been to a summer school and come back with lots of lovely things. This mini-quilt was made in some of the V&A fabrics, and while I think it's gorgeous, she thinks it's too busy.

This simple design was made from leftover jelly roll strips. Simple but effective!

One day they were asked to bring a panel or piece of scenis fabric, and then had to design a black frame for it. Gaynor says this is the scene she wishes she could see out of her window!

Her last item was a bag. It was a useful size and she had enjoyed embellishing it with buttons from her collection.

Elaine had also made a bag, hers in batik fabrics. The black always makes batiks sing.

Bags are obviously very popular, as Tilly had brought hers too! This one was also in rectangles, and embellished suitably.Tilly had also made this lovely seaside inspired landscape. She had even added a real pearl caught in a net! Paula has had a busy summer finishing quilts for Project Linus. First this cute cot quilt with cheerful ducks on it. Then she managed to get a couple of panels in a sale.

This one is Dresden Plate, and looks fresh and pretty.This one is Double Wedding Ring, another traditional design. Paula's final quilt had been made from orphan stack and whack blocks, put together with a stunning centrepiece.

The last quilt in the show is another Linus, beautifully made and machine embroidered. A perfect cot quilt for a baby. many thanks for your hard work and imagination, ladies.

Next month will be the AGM and 10th anniversary celebrations. To contribute to the party atmosphere, members are invited to make a cup cake (for inspiration seee below)

or a birthday card. After being admired, the items will be ditributed tombola style, as a momento of the evening. Make sure you have a go, and let your imagination run riot!

July meeting

I was really sorry to miss this meeting, but luckily Di managed to take some photos of Ferret and her quilts. Apparently, Ferret was like 'a breath of fresh air' as she was so down to earth and full of common sense. My kind of quilter!

Here she is, displaying one of her fabulous quilts (with others in the background!) Don't worry if you think your eyes need testing since the photos look a bit blurred, because the photos are a little fuzzy. Di obviously hasn't got an anti-shake device on her camera! Never mind, at least it gives an idea of the goodies which were on show. (Also, it means that Ferret doesn't have to worry. When Di asked her permission to photo her quilts and put them on the blog, she asked whether it was possible to click on the photos and enlarge them. Di was able to reassure her that I'm not clever enough to have worked out how to do that yet! Ferret was pleased, as apparently some Japanese quilters have been finding her designs on the net, enlarging them and stealing her patterns! I can hardly believe that quilters would stoop so low! Still it's reassuring that not only can you not enlarge these photos, but the details are also fuzzy! Sleep easy, Ferret!)

This is Ferret's latest quilt - absolutely fabulous, and well worth a close scrutiny!

The group quilt is looking splendid, and was presented to the Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance as a fund-raiser. Can you spot your blocks?

Doreen is not only talented, but prolific. Here is a beautiful wall hanging which reminds me of a sunset. (I'd like to see it unfuzzy some time!)

Sue had made her Jennie Rayment tucked and twiddled pieces into lovely cushions.

Elaine showed this bag which has lots of useful pockets.

Last year's theme at Flutterwheels was curves, and Stephanie has made up these striking red, black and white curves into this sophistciated Linus quilt. Thank you Stephanie.

The year before last's theme at Flutterwheels was stars, and Bunty has made an excellent job of assembling these gorgeous Mariner's Compass blocks into a fabulous quilt. The orange background really sets the compasses off to perfection!

Gaynor had made this lovely poppies wall hanging. The blue border sets it off well.

This quilt, made by Liz, was from a pattern in MacCall's Quilting magazine. Liz had seen it and fallen in love with it, and knew it would be perfect for her Dad. It's turned out perfectly, and I'm sure he'll treasure it.

No more meetings now until September, so I wish everyone a good summer, and look forward to the show and tell in the autumn!

Beginners' workshop

On Saturday September 18th Lynda Hill will be leading a beginners' workshop. This is for complete beginners, although those with some knowledge will be very welcome. It will be at the Village Hall, Walcote from 10-4. Here is the pattern we will be making.

It is called 'Mount Hood' and is from 'Nickel Quilts' by Pat Speth and Charlene Spode.
We will cover all the basic skills, such as rotary cutting, seam allowances, pressing, chain piecing, thread savers, making four-patches, half square triangles, flying geese and hourglass blocks.

You will need to bring your sewing machine (so long as it sews a straight stitch it will be fine) with a quarter inch foot or a small piece of masking tape, scissors, pins, a soft pencil, thread which is either neutral (grey, tan, lilac, khaki) or to tone in with your colour choices, rotary cutter, ruler and mat (if you have them) and a mug.

You will need fabrics which are dark and light, and the more different fabrics the better! The smallest piece must be at least 5” square.

For a lap quilt (61”x68”), you will need 6 fat quarters of different light fabric (a total of 1.5 metres) and 6 fat quarters (a total of 1.5 metres) of different dark fabric plus fabric for borders, backing and binding.

For a small double (75”x99.5”), you will need 12 fat quarters of different light fabric (a total of 3 metres) and 12 fat quarters (a total of 3 metres) of different dark fabric plus fabric for borders, binding and backing.

To choose your fabrics, I suggest you think of a theme, eg a season - spring (creams, yellows, purples and pinks), summer (green, cream, red, yellow), autumn (gold, brown, red, green) or winter (blue, grey, white, red). This quilt would work well in monochrome, shades of blue, green or red or Christmas colours of red and green. Or, of course, you can just bring a mixture of fabrics which you like.

If you have not booked on this class and would like to join it, there are spaces left. Just leave a comment on this blog and I will add you to the list. For members it costs £10 and for non-members £12. This includes tea and coffee all day! Bargain!

Susie Corke

We were very pleased to welcome Susie Corke, and see her quilts, as she is a traditional quilter, like most of us. Her quilts were all beautiful, and she shared tips on how to achieve accuracy - such as 'measure your borders carefully, and then the quilt will hang flat' - which were very useful.

Here she is in front of her prize winning Sunburst quilt, which was designed, pieced and hand quilted by her. Since the shape is an oval, all the rays are different shapes, and had to be cut individually! It was worth it for such a fabulous result.

She was very generous in allowing people to examine her work after the talk, and give advice.

I particularly liked this triangles quilt, which, with its blue background, looked very 19th century. It was supposed to be a sugar quilt. The blue was blue wrappers for sugar cones, and the top row of every set of triangles was white, to represent the white doily on the edge of the shelf. Lovely.

This quilt is a miniature - hard to believe as the stitching and machine quilting are meticulous.

I think people have been working hard in their gardens lately (or holidaying!) as there were only a few quilts for show and tell. Never mind, what we lacked in quantity, we made up in quality.

Here is one section of the group quilt, all quilted and ready to be joined together.

And here is the rest of the section! It's a 7x7 block arrangement, so is rather large. We'll be putting it together on Wednesday 23rd, and it will be presented to the Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance for them to use in fund raising.

While I was on my feet, I showed this Linus quilt which had been made from blocks donated by Rocheberie Quilters' members. They recently had a games day, where each person was invited to make a 25 patch to use in a bingo game. After the game, people could either take their block home or donate it to charity. Most people donated their blocks, which were divided between Linus and Rose's Alzheimer charity. I divided my blocks into three groups. Ones which were less than the required size of 12.5", brights and pretties. Here are the brights.

And here are the pretties, waiting to be layered and quilted. The smaller blocks have been added to the Linus Orphan box, ready for another project.

I also showed this Linus quilt, made from blocks sewn by Y9 Textiles students at a local school. For more information about this quilt, click here.

Gaynor proudly showed this lovely jacket, made from scraps of flannel - very cosy!

And, it's fully reversable! How clever is that!

Doreen showed this lovely table runner. She loved the subtle greens, but felt it lacked something (don't ask me why!) She's pointing to some painted spirals which echo the fabric design, and add a unifying touch.

Ruth had been busy making a Linus quilt - how sunny and cheery is that!

She had also been busy making maple leaves to take as a present to a relative in Canada, no less! What a fabulous gift!