Crazy Mary

Here is Crazy Mary, although she didn't seem all that Crazy to me.  She did talk rather quickly at times, but she seemed quite down to earth and sensible!  She brought some of her work, book covers and wall hangings, but it was her work in schools that she particularly wanted to share with us. 

She taught primary age children so was used to working with young people.  She started with sewing projects in her own school, and then has gradually moved on to taking requests from other schools, plus some adult classes.  Here is one hanging which was entered for the FOQ.  The children printed and sewed the blocks and Mary put them together.  She described the creative process and it was very interesting to see what her brief was from the school, and then view the finished item. 

Here are some of the winter designs for the Four Seasons Challenge.  Over 30 people signed up for this, so I hope we'll have more blocks or mini quilts in July for the spring design. 

And then to show and tell.  This is a first quilt!  I wish my first quilt was as good as this!  It was put together quilt-as-you-go at the last workshop.  I love how the yellow pops! 

This is my quilt.  The stars are from Stars in a Timewarp, a Barbara Blackman block of the week.  I obviously didn't get a year's worth of stars done, but 36 is a reasonable number.  The trailing flower border insides it off nicely. 

These jars blocks were made by the Barwell U3A Craft Group by hand for Project Linus.  They are really fun to do and make a cheery quilt. 

And here is my brown bag quilt.  I'm so grateful to everyone who worked on it, and I love it!  Thank you so much everyone! 

This is a fresh and pretty Linus quilt made by Vicki. 

And here's another with pink ballerinas on it.  You can't go wrong with pink ballerinas! 

Paula has friends who own a holiday home in Cornwall.  They are kind enough to let Paula stay there if they are away, so she decided to make a quilt for them as a gift.  They will be thrilled to receive it. 

Here is a very practical bag. 

And here are two clever boxes made at a workshop run by Di.  Emily doesn't look too impressed, but I like them! 

It was a shame that we had to cancel Mary's workshop on the Saturday, but we didn't have enough people to run it.  Maybe we can get her to come over another time.  Let's hope so 

A fabulous evening

Our March meeting wasn't quite as busy as the February one but the room was still buzzing.  We were all eager to hear Gilli Theokritoff's talk, as she had been originally booked for last year, but life had overwhelmed her, and she forgot to come!  

Here she is with her 'David' quilt.  A lovely lady and a masterpiece! 

She brought lots of quilts, which ranged from the 'that's a good idea' to 'wow!'  Lots of people were keen to get a closer look at her work.

The raffle was a bumper one, with fabric and cutting boards.  Unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky winners. 

Show and tell was a bumper one!  I think the winter weather has encouraged people to stay in the warm and sew.  This is one Sian made of her GCSE students' exam pieces.  Very colourful. 

This is a treasured old quilt from the 1950s.  It has all kinds of fabrics in it, old dresses, curtaining, the obligatory Crimplene and even wool pieces.  The wool has shrunk slightly, giving an interesting irregular look to it.  Not the most beautiful of quilts, but certainly one to treasure. 

Ar Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters in Rugby, they had a competition, to be decided by viewers' choice.  The three prizes were taken by Piecemakers' members.  This is Liz's quilt with a sea theme. 

This gorgeous butterfly quilt used up scraps, apparently.  What lovely scraps! 

Not a very good photo of this one, but it was very big.  It's the first prize winner at Rocheberie, made by Gaynor for her Golden wedding.  She says it was a bit like Topsy, and grew and grew! 

Here is Sue's fabulous 365 Challenge quilt.  The challenge was to make a block a day for a whole year!  I started it but didn't get past January!  

Here is one of my Mile a Minute quilts.  Bright and cheerful for Project Linus. 

This is mine too, the other prize winner at Rocheberie.  It was a BOM and I put all my blocks on point.  

Chris was asked by her grandson if she could 'knit' a Star Wars Lego quilt.  She could do that, and here it is.  Perfect. 

Here is Di's Rocheberie BOM quilt.  Her colours are so pretty. 

This is Jan's BOM.  I bet she used up some of her scraps on this! 

Jan also set herself an extra challenge.  Every time she chose one of the blocks and made enough of that block to make a small quilt.  Isn't that clever?  I love how different each quilt looks.  It's hard to pick out the original block. 

To help in identification, Jan pinned the block pattern to each quilt. 

They are all lovely.  Well done, Jan. 

Denise made this quilt for her daughter's wedding.  (The wedding was 18 months ago, but hey ho!) it's all silk, beautifully quilted and Denise says she never wants to work in silk again!  It was worth it though, to produce such a precious gift. 

This is one of the brown bag challenge quilts from last year.  The owner added another row of hearts and is thrilled with it.  Quite rightly. 

This quilt is for a very musical grandson.  I'm sure he will treasure it. 

This is a Linus quilt made from leftover ballet fabric.  Perfect for young dancers. 

By this time, Gill and Denise (who were holding up the quilts) had got serious arm ache, as you can imagine.  Denise was heard to mutter, isn't that it yet, and are people adding more when I'm not looking, but I was able to reassure her that there was only one more left. This one is a quilt as you go made at last month's Carolyn Forster workshop.  

And here is the last piece of show and tell, another brown bag quilt.  Again the owner was thrilled with it.  I would be too! 

2017 Challenge

Just to be clear, thus year we are challenging people to make 4 small quilts/blocks on the theme of the seasons.  These will be kept by you, to make into a wall hanging, placemats, small quilt or whatever you like.  We suggest fir each one a size of about A4 or if you like to work with squares, about 12.5". The idea is that they can be displayed at the exhibition in October.  The first challenge is Winter, and everyone taking part has had (or will receive if you haven't managed to sign up yet) an embellishment, which is snowflakes. 

Hope that makes sense. 

February Meeting

The first meeting of 2017 was certainly a popular one with the hall bursting at the seams.

Christmas is on the horizon!

In November we always have our Christmas meeting.  It usually involves a little sewing project and a try and taste buffet.  How suitable!

I forgot to take a photo of the buffet, but it was perfect.  Lots of different savoury and sweet delights, and very tempting!  

The sewing project was organised by Pam, and was a lovely surprise! 

We had to bring green and red 6" squares, and nobody knew what they were for. 

Everyone was up for this project, and had a good time. 

It was a gorgeous pointsettia brooch (you can see mine on the left of the picture) which will be very appropriate for the forthcoming celebrations.  Pam was very generous and provided all the yellow fabric for the centres - already cut into circles! - so thanks to her for that.  

June had done a great job with the raffle, and even had an extra mystery prize!  I didn't win anything, so don't know what any of them were, but everyone seemed very happy. 

Show and tell was quite busy.  It started with this gorgeous Scottie dog quilt.  The alternate squares are very intricate. 

A birthday gift for a brother who likes pirates, even at a mature age!  I'm sure he'll love it. 

Ruth has been making Linus quilts, all from the same pattern.  It's nine patch with a patterned square. Nice and bright. 

The same design with a plain square. 

The green fabric has footballs on it.  Super. 

Here is s two colour version of the same design. 

Here is another space quilt, looking good. 

This quilt started from a grandchild's request, and a grandparent's response of, 'tell me which one you'd like'.  It caused a lot of head scratching, but was well worth all the effort.  Fabulous. 

Here is Sian's 'Grand Illusion' quilt, made from a Bonnie Hunter mystery.  If you would like to use some of your scraps, a new mystery is starting over on www.quiltville.com on 23rd November and is based on a lavender field in Provence, and uses purples, lilacs, mauve, yellow, grass green and neutrals.  Have a look, but if you fancy it, only make half the blocks Bonnie suggests, as her quilts are huge! 

Here is a tree skirt made by Gaynor.  It's not quite finished, as she's waiting for instructions on how big to make the central hole. Apparently a previous one was too small, so was attacked with scissors - she'd like to avoid that happening again if possible. 

A finish for Gaynor of double Irish chain started at a retreat.  A good scrap buster. 

A beautiful Christmas table runner.  Red work looks even better in blue! 

Here is a Linus quilt ready to bring joy to a child. 

Here is Olive's quilt which won a 'Highly Commended' at the FOQ this year.  Quite right too. 

Ann knows someone who is expecting twins, so she is making these quilts for the new arrivals.  The twins are non-identical, but beyond that, nothing is known, so Ann wanted the quilts to be gender neutral.  

The Australian quilter Sarah Fielke has been running a Block of the Month this year, and the central portions are now completed.  This is Ann's. 

This is Maria's. 

This is Janet's. 

And although I didn't bring it to show and tell, for your interest, this is mine.  All looking so good, and all so different!  This design is still available to buy, or you can wait until next year when it will be published as a book.  Sarah is doing another BOM next year so check out her website if you think you might be interested. 

I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and I'll look forward to seeing you all again in February.