Philippa Naylor was our speaker, and I was very disappointed to miss her talk, and look at her lovely quilts. Jane and Jenny seem to be having a lovely chat with her though.
Here is some of her work - fabulous colours!
It was obviously worth a close examination!
The group quilt is now a top! Ruth, Paula and I have arranged and appliqued all the birds ready for a layering and quilting session.
Three lucky grandaughters had a quilt each. One is here and two, and three are yet to come!
Muriel made this quilt from a jelly roll - I love the cool colours!
This quilt was inspired by New Zealand - you could have guessed that!
Ann's Log Cabin quilt has lots of movement in the blocks.
This design is simple, but so effective.
I have more photos to show, but Blogger is messing me about (plus my husband has needed my help trimming the back of his hair!) and I have run out of time. I will put the rest of the photos on asap. Watch this space!
Muriel made this quilt from a jelly roll - I love the cool colours!
This quilt was inspired by New Zealand - you could have guessed that!Ann's Log Cabin quilt has lots of movement in the blocks.
This design is simple, but so effective.I have more photos to show, but Blogger is messing me about (plus my husband has needed my help trimming the back of his hair!) and I have run out of time. I will put the rest of the photos on asap. Watch this space!
This quilt looks like one made at a Ferret 'quilt in a day' workshop. What gorgeous bright colours!
This one was made from little pictures, and the off-set frames make it fun and quirky!
Another clever quilt from Muriel. These blocks have dark fabrics behind then which make them look 3D. Very effective.
Here is Ann peeping over the top of a charming scrappy Irish Chain quilt. I bet she's hand pieced and quilted this beauty!
And last but not least, Liz is holding a quilt she made for her son. She says it was quite taxing to draft, but the results are well worth the head scratching! Keep sewing and I'll hope to make the next meeting myself!
We just tackled some easy hearts, which provided a chance to practise points, both 'inny' and 'outy'. Look how well everyone did! Alison was a bit worried that her heart had a very narrow point (the green one on the bottom row) but she coped with it superbly!
Rebecca showed how to do Sashiko, and brought some of her beautiful work. People on this table were delighted with her easy style and knowledge - I can feel a day workshop coming on! Here is everyone with epuipment ready for the off.
And here they all are, hard at it.
Liz gave people a chance to try free machine quilting, and found herself challenged by the idiosyncracies of other people's machines. Rosemary and Paula, despite having identical machines, bought at the same time, found that only one foot pedal gave them the pace control they needed. Jane produced patterns which were more 'crown of thorns' than 'bunch of flowers' until she tried Liz's machine, which enabled her to make flowing designs! I think some people will be back at the sewing machine shop in the near future! 
People have obviously been busy in their gardens, as there were only a few items for show and tell. Stephanie had been making jelly roll quilts. This one is a snowball, in lovely freah, folksy colours.
This one is a rail fence variation, again with a lovely colour palette. Doesn't the border set it off well?
Liz brought this quilt which gaynor had made and Liz quilted, which will be on its way to Japan (via Malvern). Several members of the group are donating quilts for the earthquake victims in Japan. 
Ruth brought this Windmill quilt in autumnal colours. This is such a great design for using scraps and leftover strips.
Another scrappy one is this positive and negative design. I'm just trying to work out how she made it - it's not 9 patches, is it? Very effective at any rate.
Everyone had very much enjoyed the evening, and got a lot out of it, although the workshop leaders are looking forward to the next meeting, when they can sit back and relax!
Dawn brought lots of her quilts, from her very first one, through prize-winning Invisble Machine Applique ones, to her latest designs. Dawn is well known for her beautiful machine quilting (as well as the IMA) and she did not disappoint in this area. Her use of decorative threads and both machine and hand quilting was stunning. 
After the talk, lots of people rushed to have a closer look at her work or ask questions - she was so generous at sharing her expertise!
Show and tell was a little disappointing in quantity, although the quality was (as ever) excellent! I had organised a sewing morning with Botcheston WI a few weeks ago, at which they had made lots of Linus cot quilt blocks. I agreed to put them together into 3 quilts. The blocks are all the same, but by using diferent arrangements and different border colours, they look quite disimilar. This one is a diamond pattern, in yellow (or at least, it looks very yellow due to the yellow border). 
This one is a zig zag in pink. 
And finally barn raising, bound in blue. All gorgeous, in my opinion.
Jane had brought her very first quilt to show us. She made it for her grandaughter, from flower fairy panels, and it looks fabulous! 
Ruth had bought reproduction fabric at the V&A, and had used it to make this gorgeous bag. It was also very functional, with pockets and zipped compartments inside.
Now onto the Linus quilts. This one has been made from Australian fabrics, and the use of dark 'L' shapes behind the blocks makes it look 3-D. many thanks for donating this super quilt.
And look at the backing - a car play mat! This quilt will do double duty for some lucky young man! I hope there will be more sewing before the next meeting, so I can put plenty of show and tell photos next time. Happy sewing!
Lots of people had brought their sewing machines and cutting equipment, and were raring to go straight away.
This table seems to have a high ratio of helpers to machines.
Liz seems to be positively steaming along (unless she's having a power surge!)
To complete the evening, we had a trader from Rothwell, and there were few who managed to escape without being tempted to a little something (at very reasonable prices, I might add). 
Show and tell was kicked off by this beauty, made from blue hexagons by Ann. I love this slightly unusual lozenge arrangement.
Ann also brought this work in progress. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hexagons are just one inch wide and absolutely gorgeous! 
I had been wrestling with hexagons too, but they had been donated to Linus as a partly finished top. I squared it off and bordered it, and I think it's quite pretty. 
This is more my cup of tea though, made from blocks sewn at a 'Knit and Stitch' session in Lutterworth. I love the variety of fabrics and the bright colours.
Ann, Beverley and Doreen had been to the Viv Denscombe workshop, and proudly showed the fabulous book covers they made on the day. They were richly embellished.
Paula usually manages to bring a Linus quilt to meetings, and this one is her Rocheberie 'Butterfly' quilt. The arrangement is stunning!
Di has been diving into her scrap bag, having fun and creating something quirky yet useful for Linus. What fabulous colour choices.
Sh's obviously not letting the winter weather influence her colour choices, as witness in this weekend bag. She will certainly get plenty of use out of it now she's retired!
This quilt was a fitting finale to the meeting. Red and white are always stunning, but the beautiful star blocks and Irish Chain setting make this one extra special.