First indoor meeting!

 In September, we held our first indoor meeting and it was a huge success!  Everyone who came 29 people) felt very safe, and what is more to the point, had a great time. 

People enjoyed getting together, and lots of people had a go at the EPP diamonds project. 

Hexagons are a common EPP project, but diamonds were new to lots of us.  

One of Lynda’s lockdown projects was to use the diamonds to make a quilt, but most people were happy to make a small mat! 

Show and tell was excellent, and it was clear that some people had used lockdown to finish off UFOs - way to go! Here is one of the Piecemakers strippy quilts put together in an imaginative way. 

Great use of drunkards path blocks. 

Some four season churn dash blocks from a Mary Mayne workshop. 

This is a Cowslip designs pattern, but the maker got a bit ‘daisied out’ so did her own thing in the border. 

Vicky made this fabulous quilt for her grandson.  Shows what happens when you give a young person the chance to choose their own pattern! 

Here is another ‘Hope Stars’ quilt.  I love the batik border. 

Another BOM quilt, with a dark background.  Stunning. 

One member was so disappointed not to do Jenny Raiments ‘Scrappy, sappy do’ workshop, that she bought the pattern and made it herself!  

A great use of toning fabrics. 

Another BOM, this time in a 9-patch arrangement.  

Here is another Piecemakers strippy quilt, our of the drawer and finished! 

This is a beautifully balanced medallion quilt.  I love the yellow and blue. 

Gaynor has been working on the EPP apple care quilt for quite a while, and was both delighted and relieved to finally finish it! 

This quilt is a surprisingly simple design which looks fabulous due to fabric selection.

 And last but not least, a reminder that Christmas comes round every year, and it’s never too soon to get ready!  

Our next meeting will be the AGM and 21st birthday party, complete with games and cake!  See you there! 

Latest news

 I don’t have any photos about the August meeting of Piecemakers, because I couldn’t go due to a family meet up.  It looks like that applied to quite a few people, as only a handful of people made it on the day!  This is a clear message that things are starting to open up, and people are more and more willing to meet up, if the situation is safe.  

So, September will see our first indoor meeting of 2021!  The committee are keen to make everything as safe as possible, with social distancing, and mask wearing for those who would like it.  You can come for the social, or there will be an opportunity to try something new, English Paper Piecing diamonds, to make a small mat or coaster.  

You will need to bring two strips of fabric 20” x 2.5” in contrasting colours, your usual sewing kit including some matching thread. The EPP papers will be provided for you. 

You can make either the star or propeller design, both of which make useful mats or decorations for bags etc. Don’t forget your mug, as the refreshments will be available as usual. See you there! 

July meeting

 So far we have been very lucky with the weather for our outdoor meetings as it was yet another hot and sunny day.  We straggled in a line along the hedge where there was shade! 

Julie had brought batiks to sell and I brought my rummage box, or at least, a selection of items from it.  Thank you for your donations to Project Linus. 

Some members are part of another group which is making group pictures.  The idea is that each member chooses a picture, cuts it into six strips (one for each member) and each one must be made in fabric.  At the next meeting the participants bring back their strips and the person who chose the picture gets to join the strips and keep the result.  

Caroline chose the ‘Blue Painting’ by Kandinsky, and this is the result. 

Practically identical!  She’s going to use it to make a backpack. Paula chose a painting of puffins.  I don’t have a copy of the original, but here is the finished item. 

Stunning!  Paula has also finished her BOM quilt. She used lots of colours. 

Caroline also finished a Dresden plate UFO. 

Her colours are fabulous, and her borders and sashing perfect!  It’s going to be a present. 

 

Gaynor has put her apple core quilt together.  It’s been an on going project over papers, and has some very old fabric in it, apparently. 

Strings with white strips. 

Mile a minute bars. 

                                                                            Scrappy pineapple. 

Scrappy strings. 

String waves. 

Scrappy courthouse steps. 

I spent much of this years lockdown beavering through my scrap drawers.  From two drawers full of scraps and strings, I got it down to a quarter of a drawer!  (Unfortunately that quarter of a drawer has been mating, because there’s more in there now, but at least I have some good ideas of how to tame it again! 

It was lovely to have a catch up and see some familiar faces again.  See you again in August! 

June meeting

 I know it was my fault for not attending the June meeting, but I’m quite confused.  I thought the meeting was in the Walcote Memorial Hall grounds, with members of the group in attendance, but everyone is wearing disguises (hats, fancy clothes and dark glasses) and I can’t work out who they are, plus the setting looks more like some Classical Greek monument than the hall!  

See what I mean?!  No, on second look, it’s the skateboard ramp, and no doubt that’s a stunning Bargello made by Gaynor.  Apparently there were about sixteen people there, and everyone seems to have brought plenty of show and tell, so sit back and enjoy! Firstly the committee were delighted to see several completed ‘HopeStars’ quilts.  This was our lockdown 2 BOM, and if you missed out, the instructions are still on this blog. 

They are all so different, and it’s great to see different layouts.  Chris’s blue one is part of this set, even though she fell in love with part one of the BOM and made more blocks the same! 

Here is a set of quilts which look like they’ve been made by the same person (I’m guessing it was Ann S, the queen of EPP!) Several beautiful EPP quilts and some scrappy ones too.  Gorgeous. 

Is this ‘Long Time Gone’ by Jen Kingwell?  Jens quilts are always great fun to do, but quite taxing.  Great use of colour. 

This one is definitely Lynne’s Patchwork of the Crosses’ by Lucy Boston.  I wish I could get a closer look at all that fabulous work. 

Two sew a rows looking good.  See, they get finished eventually! 

More amazing quilts.  The light really enhances the colours! 

Just to show there were also mini quilts, cushions and bags, keeping everyone busy!  

I’m disappointed I couldn’t be there, but glad that so many people were able to get together.  Many thanks to Julie for taking the photos. The next meeting will also be outdoors, and I hope to see everyone then. 

‘Hope Stars’ final blocks

Things on Boris's 'roadmap' seem to be progressing fairly well, and we are very hopeful that we can all meet up soon.  Although we should be able to meet up outside this month, the committee decided to wait until June for our first meeting of 2021.  Please come along at 2 pm on June 16th, bringing a chair and your show and tell.  I will bring the Linus rummage box, so bring cash, as I don't have a card machine!   

The committee have thoroughly enjoyed designing the blocks for our ‘Hope Stars’ BOM, and I hope other members have too.  Here are the last two blocks and another possible layout.  Looking forward to seeing the results at future meetings.

Hope Stars BOM part 5

 Pam has been having some problems with Mailchimp, so I thought I’d go ahead and post group information and part 5 of our BOM here.  

The committee hope everyone is keeping well, and that we are gradually getting our vaccinations.  We thought it would be nice to meet up again outside, as we did last summer. There is plenty of room in the hall grounds, so have booked June 16th, July 21st and August 18th at 2pm.  Bring your own chair, some handwork and show and tell, but there will be no refreshments and no toilets. By September we are hoping we will be able to meet up indoors, and will have a project evening on September 15th at 7.30 as usual.  October 20th will be our AGM and 21st birthday party, and we have Pat Archibald as speaker on November 17th followed by a workshop the following day November 18th. There will be more details about this in due course. In the meantime we hope you are enjoying our BOM. 

Here is another layout.  I wondered if some people had had enough or felt their gardens calling, so suggest this layout using the first five sets.  If you’re still keen to go on, there will be a stunning on-point layout to look forward to in the final part, at the beginning of May. 

Hope Stars BOM 5

 I have heard of quite a few people who are doing this BOM and can’t wait to see the results.  Some people are doing quilt as you go, some are bordering their blocks, some are making more than one version (like me!) and some are repeating favourite blocks.  Her are this month’s blocks and another layout possibility. 

The Martha Washington block is a traditional one, named after the US president George Washington’s wife.  Martha was a quilter, and at least two of her quilts survive in American museums, although neither of them feature this block, which was published in 1926.  Martha grew up on a tobacco plantation in Virginia and brought 80 slaves to her marriage with George in 1756.  Some of these slaves accompanied her when George became president and the couple moved to Philadelphia, the then capital. The law in Virginia was that any slaves brought to the city could claim freedom after six months.  The Washington’s rotated their slaves at five monthly intervals to avoid this.  An incident which we find shocking is the fact that she gave a slave, Oney Judge, to her granddaughter as a wedding present in 1796. Oney didn’t want to go back to Virginia, and actually refused to go, much to Martha’s annoyance, and ran away!  Like the rest of us, historical figures are a product of their times.