Sewing time

Our August meeting was a sit and sew, a new venture for Piecemakers.  August can be a tricky month for groups, as its prime holiday season, and usually leads to poor attendance figures.  Although quite a few people were obviously away, there were plenty of members to make for a very enjoyable evening.  

June had gone with a pink theme for her raffle prizes, and Paula, while supporting June, wasn't letting the grass grow under her feet (quilting wise) and had brought a project to keep her out of mischief!  

Here you can see the prizes, with the theme of 'tickled pink'!  Perfect. 

People sat round tables, either sewing or chatting.  Jan and Nik seem to be doing neither! 

There's a confab going on here, with Julie and Caroline putting blocks together. 

Another advice session.  Well, four heads are always better than one!  This is one of the benefits of getting together with other quilters - you can always get guidance and opinion from like minded friends. 

 Lots of hexagons being joined together here.  

Chris had brought some items from the Bloodwise shop which might be interesting for us.  Thank you Chris. 

Show and tell started with this gorgeous cushion. 

Here is. Work in progress.  Looking good. 

Jan made two Linus quilts.  Thank you very much Jan! 

This is a scrappy pineapple quilt I made.  It's a good use of scraps. 

This one is mine too.  A baby quilt using the chicken block from 'Today's Quilter'. 

And finally my Bonnie Hunter's 'On Ringo Lake' her 2017 mystery quilt.  I made it half size, as Bonnie's quilts are always huge. 

Next month we will have a talk on the Silk Road by Terashina Roberts.  See you there! 

A hot evening

The weather here has been very hot, leading to lethargy and a tendency to flop in the shade of the garden with a cool drink, but Piecemakers members are made of strong stuff, and don't let a little heatwave get in the way of quilting enjoyment!  Plenty of people turned out to see Deborah O'Hare speak about using scraps. 

Here she is with a few of her pieces.  Most of them were small and exquisite, but she had some 'proper' quilts too! 

She had a lovely bunting quilt and other improv quilts in great colour combinations.  

June has family problems so wasn't able to come and run the raffle.  Luckily Paula stepped into the breech and had a selection of cool and tasty ice creams on offer!  Shame I didn't win one. 

Jan had been busy making Linus quilts.  She's so creative and talented.  This one is bright and cheerful! 

This one is lovely too. 

This one has a gorgeous vintage feel and will be very snugly. 

I made a Linus quilt too.  The chickens were made by people at Knit and Stitch from a pattern in Today's Quilter.  I love them! 

This doggy quilt was made by Chris for a dog!  She used the Accuquilt cutter to cut out the dogs.  Don't they look cute? 

This quilt was made to order.  The maker was given a few fat quarters and asked to make a blue quilt.  This is a fabulous way of making a few fabrics go a long way!  Beautiful! 

This is Maria's 'Happy Days' from a Sarah Fielke BOM from 2016.  It's beautifully pieced and completely hand quilted.  A masterpiece.  

Di bought this fabric printed with London scenes, and has used it to make two cushions and a bag.  She has just a small piece of the fabric left and plans to make a little pouch with that!  Way to go, Di! 

Ten years ago Beverley howled how to make these quilted hexagons.  Paula started making them, and has just finished putting them together in this unique jacket.  She'll certainly turn some heads wearing this! 

Linus evening

As the Leicester coordinator for Project Linus, I'm always delighted to organise a sewing evening.  I try to find a simple yet effective technique which people may not have tried before, and I think I succeeded this time! 

We made strippy snowball blocks (an idea taken from Styart Hillard's recent book '100 scrap quilts').  Strips are joined together and then cut into a 10.5" square.  Corners are added using a stitch and flip technique, and that's all there is to it!  

This table had blue strips, and we're aiming for something like the 'Blue Peter hanging from the notice board. 

This group also had blue strips, and worked very hard. 

This is the pink table.  You can see that the corners were alternately bright pink and white, forming a pinwheel where the blocks meet. Stuart had sashed his blocks, but I liked the pinwheels to stand alone. 

Last table had red, grey and black.  This colour combination is great for an older child. 

At the same time, there was a table top sale. Lots of bargains to be had here! 

Of course, the whole evening was a great chance for socialising and catching up with the latest gossip! 

It was lovely to see June up and about, albeit quite slowly! 

The raffle was pin striped fabric and pins!  Great fun! 

Here are the evenings results.  I reckon sixteen blocks are enough for a Linus quilt, and this group are only two short!  The black and white pinwheels will really add pizzazz! 

The pink group managed enough blocks for a quilt. Looking good! 

The two blue groups made enough blocks for one and a half quilts.  There were plenty of strips left over, so we'll finish both soon. 

Show and tell started with my rainbow quilt. This is another good use of scraps. 

Another one of my Linus quilts, this time using small scraps! 

This is a Mile A Minute quilt with added hearts.  I think the hearts add a whimsical touch. 

Here are some of the quilts made at the recent Pat Archibald workshop.  Don't they look fabulous!

And here is another quilt made at Textend's Pat Archibald workshop.  What beautiful colours! 

Paula has been using the Accuquilt cutter to make some cute Linus quilts. Here are lions. 

Here are cars, big and small. 

And here are giraffes with other animals.  These will certainly be appreciated by their future owners. 

Chris had also been making Linus quilts.  Sorry this is a bit fuzzy. 

This one is Chris's too, made from leftovers from a quilt she made for her grandson.  Such a clever arrangement of different elements which all work so well together! 

I would like to say a big thank you to all those who helped made the evening such a success.  I hope everyone enjoyed the evening, and look forward to putting the blocks together! 

Pat Archibald

The meeting was not on our usual third Thursday, as we had heard that another local group was planning a workshop with the talented Pat, who lives in Edinburgh, and we grabbed the opportunity to book her while she was in the area.  This meant we could share Pat's travel costs and make it much more accessible for us. 

Here she is with one of her quilts.  Her talk was about how to use travel as an inspiration for your work, and while her main presentation was by PowerPoint, she had brought the quilts with her, so we could see and enjoy them in actuality.m

Her use of colour was inspiring, as was her sharing the process of designing her quilts, from initial idea, through drawings, paint and fabric choices.  Fascinating. 

June was able to come and stay for the speaker, and her raffle theme was The Village Green.  A very appropriate subject for this time of year.  The prizes were green fabric, floral fabric and toning thread.  

Shoes and tell started with Linus quilts.  Jan is a master of using up scraps, and this one is bright and cheerful. 

This is another of Jan's, linked by the brown crosses. 

Di had been very busy making some gorgeous prem baby quilts.  Here is a blue one and a green and yellow one, both with the cute teddy motif in the middle. 

Here are two pink ones.  I can't decide which one I like the most! 

Edith is making a blue quilt, and found she had quite a bit left over.  How kind of her to make the excess fabric into this classic blue and cream Linus quilt!  You can't go wrong with blue and cream.

Chris has made this dog quilt for a dog!  She cut the dogs using an Accuquilt cutter and was delighted at how quickly it came together.  Let's hope the recipient appreciates it! 

This is Di's king sized quilt for a relative.  The blocks are log cabin, arranged in the barn raising design. Stunning! 

This is a first quilt!  (I wish my first quilt looked like this!) It's for a very lucky grandchild.  Great colours. 

This tour de force was made by Hazel.  It's called Heirloom, and it certainly deserves to be one.  The border is a flock of butterflies, which sets the design off beautifully. 

This quilt is an example of what we will be making at the next meeting in June. It's a Stuart Hillard design, and great for using up scraps.  We'll be using donated fabric to make blocks like this for Project Linus.  If you want to take part, bring a sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat and ruler (if you have a square ruler more than 10.5" it would be useful) between two people and get ready to sew!