September and vintage quilts

What a fabulous evening we had when Jane Cobbett came and brought not only her delightful son James, but also part of her wonderful collection of vintage quilts!  Here Jane and James are displaying a gorgeous Victorian crazy quilt.  It was beautifully embroidered. 

 

Some of the quilts were quite utilitarian, but still fascinating.

 Double wedding ring - always a favourite.

 

 Here is Sunbonnet Sue - love her or hate her! - either appliqued or in redwork.

And finally a Dresden Plate quilt in 1930s colours.  Charming.

There was a lot of excitement over the new Block of the Month quilt designed by Andrea.  Bunty was in charge of the organisation (and who better?) and gave out the instructions to people individually.  I'm waiting with anticipation to see some of the finished blocks next month!

 Now to show and tell.  The wet summer has certainly had an influence on people's output!  Paula was first with this lovely quilt which was made from Linus orphan blocks.  I bet the donors of these blocks are kicking themselves when they see how lovely they look now!

The Linus ladies have been rather taken with working with strings, and here is Paula's excellent use of blue strings.  Gorgeous.

Paula can work her magic with anything which comes her way!  Here's a pack of charm squares converted into a cute cot quilt for Project Linus. 

 
How can simple 9-patches look so good?  The white makes them look crisp yet gentle.

 And these 9-patches on point look completely different and quite jaunty!

 And lastly, here is Paula's version of the Rocheberie Mystery Quilt.  The colours are stunning, and although it is all straight seams, can you see the circles?  A super design!

 

Ruth had been busy too, and had hand quilted this lovely cushion.

 

 

She had organised a workshop with Yvonne Brown which included lots of burning and layering, based on medieval tiles, and had made up her samples into this fabulous quilt.  The colours are wonderful and very in keeping with the theme.

 

 

Ann and Doreen had both been to the same workshop, but had been more content to leave their samples as testament to a fabulous journey.  Fair play.

 

Sarah is a talented quilter who has won commendations for her quilts in national competitions.  This was a way of using up scraps - but with talent!  Amazing!

This is the quilt which was commended at Bletchley - and quite right too.

Gaynor had been to a summer school and made several lovely quilts.  This one was made from different sized strips, and was an interesting slant on Chinese Coins.  What fun.

Here's another use of strips called tenements (I think).  It looks really effective.

 
Here is a quilt which has been several years in the making.  Gaynor made all the teddy blocks a few years ago, and then they languished in the cupboard (we all have blocks like this!)  Then recently she realised that her granddaughter would be too old for teddies if she didn't get a move on, so the piano keys border was added and this is the result!  I'm sure the recipient will be thrilled!

Di was asked to make this Rennie Mackintosh rose for a friend.  I'm sure they'll be delighted.

She recommends buying backing fabric from IKEA (from the children's department) as it is 100% cotton, very reasonably priced and bright and cheerful!

This is the front of the quilt - simple, but very effective.

Another child's quilt from DI is this alphabet quilt.  She has bordered the letters with bright colours to make a vibrant and cheery educational aid come comforter!  Double purpose!

 More IKEA fabric on the back - gorgeous.

 

This super bag was made for a friend who loves sea horses.  This doesn't make any sense unless you could see the fabrics and embellishments, but believe me, it's gorgeous and completely appropriate. 

 

Rebecca had spent her time very profitably by working these lovely Sashiko fish on this top.

 

On the back were these lilies and dragonflies.  Rebecca particularly liked the dragonflies until she realised that their meaning in Japanese culture is 'dutiful daughter'!  None of us want to be lumbered with that!  (Although of course we'll do our level best!)

 

Next month's meeting will be the next block of the BOM, the AGM and mini-workshops.  You can't miss it!

 

Stop Press: is anyone going to the Quilter's Guild AGM in Nottingham, as Ruth would be interested in car-sharing.  Leave a comment if you are interested.

Stop press

Just a quick note to say that the proposed trip to the Quilt Museum in York has had to be cancelled.  We need a lot of people to fill a coach, and even Ruth's usual technique of press-ganging people at bus stops hasn't resulted in enough bums on seats!  Thank you to Ruth for the work she has already put in, and to Paula for organising refunds.

Charity quilt evening

Since I was away sunning myself in foreign parts, Paula took charge of the meeting.  (Looks as though she was a little stressed by it all, or is it the difficult decision of which fabrics to buy from the trader which is worrying her?!)  The task was to make four-patches from 5" dark and light squares, and the pair with the most completed blocks would win a prize!  I hoped there was enough fabric, as I'd practically given myself RSI cutting 5" squares!



Nik very kindly offered to take the photos, and I think she ought to do this for every meeting, as while people duck out of the way when they see me getting my camera out, not only did she get people staying in shot, but waving!  Liz looks happy here, while Muriel has her attention on the task in hand.

 Here are some more happy quilters!  Not everyone wanted to take the challenge, which is fine, so long as they had a good evening.

 Gaynor and Di are steaming ahead - I seem to remember that Di was one of the winners last year! 

Another previous winner here is Ann, but she doesn't appear to have Vicky as a partner this time.  Gill and Di don't seem to be worried about their chances of winning this time, though!

More people too busy to wave.  Jill and Jan on the sewing machines.

 I hope Rebecca wasn't on her own.  She's in full flow.

 I mixed the light fabrics up a bit, including not only whites and creams, but pink, pale blue and lilac.  Well, so long as there's a contrast, it doesn't have to be a neutral!  I hope everyone coped with this. 

 Di and Gaynor have been persuaded to pause and smile.  I really envy Nik her persuasive talents!

 Here is Rebecca's partner (and Mum) Judy, with rotary cutter at hand!

 Dorothy was so keen to be friendly and keep working that she waved the iron!  A formidable lady!

 Some people used the evening to socialise or do their own thing.  There is no meeting mext month, so a catch-up with friends was in order!

 Here is the trader cutting fabric.  I understand they had a profitable and pleasant evening.

June had surpassed herself with the raffle this time.  She always chooses such lovely prizes, but this month had persuaded her husband to make these 'ice cream cones' and filled them with fabric!  What a perfect idea for a summer treat!

Not much show and tell, although quality is always preferable to quantity!  Di brought this beautiful little doll quilt, which is typical of her high standards.

And the winner?  Apparently there were two winning teams, Rebecca's and Dorothy's, each making 115 four patches!  But I'm certain that everyone who came along got themselves a fun evening, and the ultimate winners will be the  needy children who will get beautiful quilts from Project Linus which they can keep for ever!  Thank you particularly to Paula and Nik, and all the sewers.  Have a good summer, and we'll meet again in September.

Barbara Chainey workshop

We were very lucky to secure Barbara's talents for an applique workshop.  It wasn't particularly well attended - perhaps people were in awe of the fabulous work she had shown at her talk?  They needn't have worried, as she was a great teacher, and a lot of fun.  Here she is at the start of the day, giving instructions.

Once people got to work, she started to strip off - although didn't manage to rival Jennie Rayment!  You can see Gill and Di were hard at it by this time.

Ruth and Jan studied the instructions carefully, while behind them is an array of fabulous work.

By this time, Gill and Di were feeling relaxed, having made a good start on their design.

Barbara was unfailing in sharing her expertise. 

Di shows the fruits of her labours.  The first lotus blossom looks stunning.

Needle turn applique is slow work, but well worth learning, and we'll look forward to seeing the completed panels at the July meeting!

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!