June meeting

We were all very excited about the June meeting, as many of us had already seen the tentmakers of Cairo at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC last year, and were keen to hear more.  Barbara Chainey did not disappoint as she was extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic and amusing - all attributes of the perfect speaker! 

 Here she is with one of her favourite blue 'quilts'.  (As she explained, the tentmakers don't actually make quilts, as they are not wadded, but look very much like quilts to the untrained eye!)   

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed her talk, and the wonderful eye candy, and as you can see, there was much interest in examining the work during the break.  The designs and colour choices were very interesting.

Since the meeting was in the queen's jubilee month, we had bubbly and cake to celebrate.  Thanks to Di for organising that so well.

Just a reminder that the group is now selling wadding.  The Hobbs 80/20 (80% cotton and 20% poly, the best of both worlds and my personal favourite) is 90" wide and sells for £6 a yard, and the polyester wadding (a very nice quality for children's quilts) is 120" wide and £5 a yard.  If you can leave a comment on the blog or let Ruth or I know, we can cut it ready for you.  Otherwise, it's no problem to cut it on the night.  Gaynor and Di were on the ball last week!

June was in the jubilee spirit with the raffle prizes.  They looked so attractive, and her track record suggests that they will all be things quilters would be pleased to win - no cheese knives or football calendars here!

I was first with the show and tell, and showed my latest Flutterwheels scrap challenge of Granny Squares.  Those of us old enough will remember crocheted granny squares from the 60s, and this is the quilted example.   It wa sgreat fun to make, and I love the result.

Alison had also been using scraps to make a Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Bargello quilt.  She has controlled her design to make it extra gorgeous.    

Rebecca had made and quilted this fabulous block but was unsure what to do with it.  She didn't want to make any more and was looking for (constructive) suggestions.  I think it would make a great centre for a medallion quilt.  Add a few borders and it would be stunning.  If all else fails she could donate it to Project Linus.  Hint, hint.

Here is anothe WIP of Rebecca's.  This Lone Star is beautiful, but she has made it all from flannels, and is looking for a source of more bright flannels.  If you can help her, leave a comment.  She can only find pastels.

Here is Ruth's Jacob's Ladder quilt.  This is the pattern for the beginners' workshop in the autumn.  It's made of four patches and half square triangles, so is pretty straightforward to make.  there are still places on the workshop if anyone is interested.

And the final show and tell is a Project Linus donation from Jan.  She had bought a quantity of ice cream fabric, and this is the last of it in a rail fence design.  Looks great to me. 

We were lucky enough to secure Barbara for a workshop, so look out for photos of that to follow.

May meeting

This month we were delighted to welcome the very talented Gwenfai Rees Griffiths.  Despite assuring us that she was just a farmer's wife and mother of three, we easily sussed her out!  Her award-winning quilts rather gave her away! 

Her inovative designs and use of bright colours quite took our breath away.  We can hold our own though, and showed our skills during show and tell.

Betty is modestly showing her chenille bag.  A beautiful design.

Here is my Barbara Brackman Civil War quilt.  It was a 'block a week' series last year and kept me pretty busy.  I'm amazed I kept up with it, although I called a halt at 48 different blocks!

This is a Linus quilt I had great fun making from a design on the website www.15minutesplay.com  I used leftover blocks and components for the border.

The recent challenge for the members of Flutterwheels has been the Rebecca Collins Lucky Dip quilt.  Everyone started with shared fabrics, and then made blocks with one large half square triangle and five small ones. From left to right you can see Liz's, Stephanie's and Bunty's.  Amazing that they are made from the same components!

And here is mine.  Interesting too that Liz and I chose the same grey-green fabric to use as a border!

Bunty thoughtfully brought her Country Sampler to show.  This was designed by Gwenfai and serialised in Patchwork and Quilting magazine a few years ago.  It's stunning!

This applique quilt is fabulous!  The colours are unusual and complement the design perfectly.

This quilt is a fund-raiser for a prostate cancer charity and made from men's ties!  The designs run from frogs to snowmen and golfers to computers.  Apparently the fabric with purple condoms on it was not included - I can't imagine why, as I would have thought it was perfect!

Jan made this snowball and nine-patch quilt for her grandson.  It's very striking.

Liz made this charming Linus quilt from an old duvet cover!  She only added the dark blue border, using the duvet fabric for backing and binding too!  Very clever.

Ruth had bought some farmyard fabric and made some Linus quilts

and some incubator quilts.  So generous.

She had also visited 15minutesplay and made some star blocks like mine!  Her colour choices are a bit more subtle though!  Thanks to all who brought show and tell, and see you next time!

April meeting

Oh dear.  It's nearly time for the next meeting and I haven't even posted about the last one!  And it's not as if it was a forgettable meeting either, which would have given me a (possible) excuse!  We were lucky enough to have Helen Spence as our speaker and she kept us all enthralled by her Tricks with Triangles!  We all learned something new, whether beginners or experienced quilters, and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Something which added to the enjoyment was our trader.  Lots of eye candy, and few people were able to resist a fat quarter or charm pack to add to their stash. 

 Show and tell was kicked off by myself.  I have taken a challenge to finish a quilt a month, and this one is March's finish.  It's a Mile a Minute, and since it's bordered in pink and quilted with a floral motif in pink thread, I've called it '100 pink flowers'.  It's destined for my cousin's grandaughter when she's 18, later on this year. 

 This quilt should have a close up photo with it.  It's a crazy quilt, and has beautiful embroidery and embellishment on it.  It was a group effort, and absolutely stunning.

 Ann was given some striped fabric, and she decided to cut triangles out of it and make these hexagons with them.  The quilt is all hand pieced and hand quilted.  I can't believe she's donated such a beauty to Project Linus - but delighted she has!

 Another hexagon quilt, with a palette of smokey blues and browny yellows.  Lovely.

A cute quilt with appliqued rabbits.  A gift for a lucky child.

 Another child's quilt with a nautical theme. I bet that was fun to make.

 Last month Jane showed how to do a technique which is half piecing and half applique, called Piece-lique, which is ideal for curved shapes.  She inspired one of her group to make this beautiful quilt, with all these perfect circles. 

 Gaynor used a collection of feature fabrics she brought from a trip Down Under to make this quilt.  It's a very clever arrangement, and showcases the fabrics superbly.

 Doreen made a little top from squares, but doesn't like quilting.  Liz kindly took it away and quilted it for her, and then Doreen gave it to Linus!  Thanks you two!

  Here is another Linus quilt.  It's a string quilt with blocks made by members of Chesterfield Townswomen's Guild and members of Lutterworth Knit and Stitch.  Paula put them all together in this barn-raising design.  It's a wonderful result from a bag of bits! 

Well done all those who brought show and tell, and I'll try and be a bit quicker at posting after the next meeting!

We're all human!

We were all looking forward to the March meeting and hearing all about quilts and the Underground Railroad, but when it got to 7.30 and our speaker, Janice Cook, hadn't arrived, we began to get a little concerned. Although Walcote Memorial Hall is notoriously difficult to find, Ruth was sure she had given clear directions. Eventually Ruth rang to check, only to find that Janice had written the booking onto the wrong page in her diary, and was all set to come the next day!  It's always heartening to find that it's not just me who does that kind of thing!  So Ruth has rebooked Janice for 2013 and we had an evening of show and tell, and then some lovely social time.  Quilty chat - we all love it!

Sarah brought her 'Highly Commended' quilt from the Bletchly exhibition for us all to admire.  It's gorgeous!  (The back is really interesting too.  For some reason, the photo has ended up at the bottom of this post.  Sorry, Sarah!)

This is the lovely Lynne Edwards sampler quilt which Muriel made as a Flutterwheels challenge.  The group challenged themselves to make different blocks from Lynne's book, and then assembled them using 'quilt as you go'.  Muriel enjoyed (most of) the blocks, but wasn't impressed with the assembly method.

Here are some more Flutterwheels quilts.  This year's challenge is to make scrappy quilts, and we started with Bonnie Hunter's scrappy bargello.  Everyone loved making this quilt, and were surprised at the super results.  If you like this quilt, the instructions are on Bonnie's website, Quiltville.

Paula is indefatiguable in her support for Project Linus, and she has a great way with colour.  These pinwheels blocks were orphans (they aren't actually as wishy washy as they look here!) and she decided to zing them up with some bright orange.  They have certainly been zinged!

Here is another Linus quilt from Paula.  This one was a set of little panels, beautifully sashed.  Thanks Paula.

Jan is another big supporter of Project Linus.  She did a workshop on maling cushions with a group of ladies, and had bought lots of panels to make the job easier.  These were left over, and have made this lovely cot quilt,

and this lovely cot quilt.  Thanks Jan.

Doreen went to a fabric bowl making workshop, and has made this gorgeous bowl out of silk waste.  The photo hasn't done it justice, as the colours and the silk really make it glow.

She was also inspired by Jenny Rolfe to make this little rectangualr bag decorated with buttons.  Very effective.

She is also a Linus lady, and had made this colourful top.  She loves piecing and binding quilts, but not layering and quilting, so Liz kindly took this away to finish.  What teamwork!

And here is a knitted log cabin!  Doreen said it was very easy and described the method, which sounded far from easy to me!  Maybe it was something you had to do, rather than listen to.

Gaynor had made some curved chenille at the recent workshop, and used the sample to make a bag.  Beautiful colours!

More Linus quilts, this time from Sue.  It's a pity I didn't get a photo of the backing, as it was umbrellas - very suitable for a Noah's Ark quilt! Thanks, Sue.

And here, to end with, is the back of Sarah's quilt.  What fabulous quilting!

If you have anything you have completed, please bring it to show, as we never criticise and love to see others' work.  Looking forward to even more inspiration next month!