Jennie Rayment

We were indeed fortunate to secure Jennie as our February speaker, as not only is she an inspiration with her wealth of ideas for adding texture to quilts, she's also a hilarious speaker and very much a character. She has a reputation for being a bit racey, and those who had heard this, were not disappointed!

Here she is, in a pose chosen by herself. In this country she is called the 'Calico Queen' after her fondness for using creamy calico to showcase her folds and tucks, but in the USA she goes by the name of the 'Muslin Mistress': I wonder which describes her best?!

Here is her Sudoku Quilt, where nine different textural techniques are used in place of the nine different numbers usually to be found on sudoku puzzles. Jennie kept us both amused (Beverley said she hadn't laughed so much for ages!) and entertained, while also managing to find time to demonstrate her Dazzling Fandangos (no, that's not another name for nipple tassels, although she showed those as well!) in French, no less. Ooh, la la!

She was going to be a difficult act to follow, but the show and tell was up to the usual standard (al

though strangely lacking in quantity this month).

Several people had been to Jenny Almond's drunkard's path workshop, and showed their finished items. It's always interesting to see how different people make up the same pattern.

Ruth had been given a bag of scraps from the Bramble Patch to send to the charity shop for rags. She was amazed to find large pieces of fabric in the bag, including enough fabric to make half a cot quilt, make the centre of this Linus quilt and a piece of black binding already joined and folded which was long enough to bind the quilt too! Obviously some people have a different idea of what constitutes a scrap!Nik's husband had surprised her by announcing that they would be going to a christening in a couple of week's time, but she still found time to make this lovely cot quilt as a present. Lucky baby!

Ann caused some merriment by producing this beautiful hexagon quilt. Much to Jennie's embarassment, she had earlier made a comment about 'boring hexagon' quilts, which Ann quoted back to her, but no offence had been meant or taken, and Jennie was fulsome in her praise of this stunning quilt. Since show and tell was unusually short, this gave the committee chance to start to prepare the room for Jennie's workshop tomorrow - of which more later!

January meeting

I can't believe it's nearly time for the February meeting, and I haven't managed to write about the January events! It's not because it wasn't interesting or enjoyable, it's just that life got in the way! (I imagine you know what I mean.)

Jenny Almond was our speaker, and although she has been our speaker before (once memorably helping us out when another speaker let us down at the last minute for no good reason!) she is always a joy. She is so down to earth and unassuming, yet her work is beautiful and varied.

Here she is, no doubt sharing a clever tip with Beth. She brought lots of quilts to share with us, mainly traditional, of the kind where you think to yourself, 'I could make that,' leaving us all feeling inspired and confident, rather than daunted. Her talk was amusing and gave us all a good laugh. Thanks, Jenny.

Show and Tell was excellent, as ever. It started, appropriately, with a couple of quilts which had been made at one of Jenny's workshops.

Bunty made hers in Christmas colours, as she thought the stars were suitable for Christmas, but didn't mean the quilt had to be put away after the festive season, but could be used all winter. Good idea.It's hard to believe that Andrea used the same pattern, but her colour choices have brought out completely different areas of the design, and making the stars really hard to find!Eileen and Jenny made these stained glass 'windows' in a Gail Lawther workshop, and again, they have turned out very differently. Chris and Muriel have been stripping at the Bramble Patch. No, not that kind of stripping, just using strips (Jelly Rolls, actually) to make quilts. This quilt of Chris's is a log cabin, arranged in a straight furrows set.

Ann prefers to hand piece and hand quilt, and here is her latest quilt, which she has kindly donated to Project Linus. It's simple but very effective, and beautifully quilted.

Here is some more hand work, a fabulous sampler of different applique blocks. The bright colours looked vibrant in actuality.

You may be interested to know that 29 people are taking part in this year's group quilt, and I look forward to seeing their first blocks completed at the next meeting.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had as good a Christmas and New Year as I did and that you're all ready to get back into the normal routine again! This is just a reminder that the next meeting is on 21st January, and the speaker is the well-known local quilter, Jenny Almond. Jenny is a traditional quilter who is very down to earth, and has a lovely natural style, as well as being an excellent teacher.

Members need to bring two things with them. First is their membership fee of £15 (cheques made payable to 'Piecemakers Quilters' please) in an envelope with your name, address, phone number and email on the front.This will make it easier for fees to be counted and receipted, and also allow Stephanie to update contact details. Secondly, your own mug.

This will mean that you get a larger cuppa, and mean that the refreshment ladies won't have to spend ages gathering cups and washing up.

Apart from Jenny's talk, there will be an opportunity to collect a kit for the first part of the group quilt and sign up for the 2009 workshops.

See you there!

Christmas meeting

Although we haven't got to the end of November yet, Christmas will be upon us before we can say, 'tree skirt'! So it was good to have the opportunity to get together and get some nspiration for Christmas presents, makes and goodies.

There is no shortage of talent in Piecemakers, and we had six different demonstrations of things which could be made for Christmas.

June showed how to make little Christmas tree decorations from circles of scrap fabric - a perfect project for in front of the television on a cold night.

Carolyn and Lena showed how to make her gorgeous little children's bags with little pockets for Crayola crayons on the front. Not only an appealing present, but one with the ability to keep a child busy colouring too.

Di showed how to make gorgeous necklaces from a tube of silk or organza and a few beads. I can see these being made to match every outfit over the party season! Gaynor was busy making lovely little Christmas decorations with a circle of fabric and some beads. Ingenious.

Muriel and Chris showed how to make coasters for under wine glasses from a few charm squares. These would take minutes to make, and would make an ideal last minute present.

And I demonstrated my reuseable Christmas gift bags. People did come and look at my demo - honest! I didn't sit there alone all evening!

Ann brought a stall full of lovely handmade items for sale. She's a very creative lady and has lots of items for stocking-fillers.

Of course, lots of people took the opportunity to catch up with the gossip and quiting news,

and then to tuck into the delicious refreshments which had been made by the committee. Thank you ladies.

The committee were in generous mood, as there was a free raffle, with lots of intriguingly wrapped parcels! Sharon is having great difficulty deciding which one to choose!

Then to show and tell.
Nik had made this stunning quilt from blocks made by the memebrs of Flutterwheels. It's a pity I haven't worked out how to get closeups of my photos, as the quilting on this is beautiful.

Muriel and Chris have joined the Bramble Patch's strip club - no, not that kind of stripping, but using the very popular jelly rolls!

There are lots of possibilties for using these precut strips.


Muriel has been very busy 'finishing off' and had finished this lovely Magic Tile quilt for her daughter. What a masterstroke using purple as sashing!

Some organised people had brought things they have made for Christmas. Eileen showed this clever Christmas table mat with Father Christmas and his reindeer flying all round the edge.

Sue made everyone laugh when she explained that this clever little tree decoration had been realy difficult to make, and had taken her ages. To add insult to injury, she had found the pattern in 'Patchwork and Quilting' on the children's page!

Let me take this opportunity to wish every one a very happy Christmas and a healthy and quiltful New Year!

AGM

AGM's aren't usually the most popular or enjoyable of meetings, but this one managed to be both! The attendance was good (except for Di, who was off enjoying herself elsewhere!) and as usual everyone seemed to have a good time.

The actual business of the meeting was fairly uneventful. Membership is good, funds are good and both meetings and workshops are popular and enjoyed. There were a couple of comments about the provision of half memberships (created because several members live on canal barges and are only in the area for the winter months) and refunds on workshops (only available in exceptional circumstances) which have been noted by the committee for further discussion. Since Di has stepped down as chair, there is a vacancy, which will be filled in the short-term by members of the committee taking it in turns to chair and organise a meeting each. Gill chaired this meeting very effectively. (She would make an excellent chair, hint, hint!) Some little thankyou gifts were given to Bunty and Andrea for organising the Group Quilt, and myself for keeping the blog. (It really is easy and if anyone wants to know how to set one up for photos of grandchildren or family contact etc I'm happy to show them.)

Then to the real events of the meeting. There was a reappearance of the ever-popular sales table. Elaine had had a rush of spring fever and had cleared out lots of fabric she knew she'd never use. Lots of people knew they would use it! Then there was the usual mixture of patterns, books, wool, and other goodies to buy.

There were three demo tables. Sharon showed how to make individual buttons from Fimo. Special buttons are really hard to find and very pricey, so this was a great idea.

Paula showed how to do hand quilting. She marks her fabric with watercolour pencils, which give a clear line, but wash right out.

I showed how to layer quilts the no-crawl way (from an original idea by Sharon Schamber) which people found very clever. It's one of those ideas which are so obvious, you can't work out why you haven't thought it up yourself! I have layered double quilts like this, so it works for any size of quilt.

There was also plenty of chance to catch up with the latest gossip or quilting idea over a cup of tea.Christmas is coming, and in show and tell, both Carolyn and Paula showed Christmas items they have made.

It's never too early to get thinking about the Festive Season!

Ruth had made this little prem quilt for Linus, along with a larger one in the same fabric. Thanks Ruth.Andrea showed this stunning row quilt which had apparently been languishing in her UFO box for quite a while. It seems she went off the colours while she was making it! They look stunning to me, but then, I always like a bit of lime green in a quilt!

At the end of the show and tell, Sylivia presented Bunty and Andrea with a thankyou from all the group for their hard work with the group quilt. She had been delegated to buy two bunches of flowrs, but ever practical, had decided that flowers are very short-lived, while a plant can go on for ever (well, not in this house, but I'm sure these plants will have a long life!) She bought a jasmine plant for each, with the thoughts that it could give pleasure indoors during the winter, and then move outdoors in the summer months. What a great idea!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh evening

I had been looking forward to hearing this talk by Dora Mack for months, and it all went a bit pear-shaped (for me; I think everyone else had a good time). I arrived at the hall, having realised I was making the teas with only enough time to call at the corner shop for milk and biscuits, to find that I had left the tea box in my garage! Poor Beverley had kindly given me a lift, and so had to take me home to fetch the essentials of the meeting! This meant that we were late back to the hall and Dora was in full flow when we crept in and took our seats.
That was when I realised that I had also forgotten to bring my camera, which means no photos in this post. What a shame. Dorahad brought some lovely books, pamphlets and images to illustrate her fascinating talk, and I was not only unable to photograph them, but also to look at them, as I was busy making teas and coffees! Here is a Google image of the famous Rennie Mackintosh rose as a consolation.



I was lucky that Stephanie took pity on me in the kitchen, and kept the kettles boiling. It would have been a disaster to have had no refreshments!
Then, when all was under control, and caffine had been dispensed, Di dropped her bombshell. She has decided for personal reasons to step down from the chair with immediate effect. We were all so disappointed that nobody stood up to give a vote of thanks or anything. It was perhaps as well, as everyone was feeling a bit emotional, and it could have ended in tears. I would like to say a big thankyou to Di for her work over the last three years as chair, for all her hard work, unfailing good humour and encouragement to us all. All we need now, is for someone to step forward to fill this empty position on our comittee.
As ever, show and tell was inspirational, with a good number of Linus quilts happily scooped up by me. I promise to take my camera to the next meeting, so watch out!

Highly commended!

Yesterday I went to the Festival of Quilts at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, which is where our quilt 'A Forest of Seasons' was exhibited. I know it must be very difficult to hang so many different quilts and make them all look wonderful, but we were disappointed last year that our 'Cosmic Wonders' quilt didn't seem to be looking its best. So this year I was delighted to see that the quilt was hung prominently on a corner under a spotlight. It looked great!

Then, to my amazement, I noticed a little label on the side, saying 'Highly Commended'! Apparently (according to Mary Mayne, who is one of the judges) they only award a first, second and third in each category, and reserve the highly commended awards for when it has been really close! It was enough to see our quilt at such a huge exhibition, displayed so well, but the icing on the cake was the award.

Here are Andrea, Gaynor, Bunty and Di in front of the masterpiece, looking like the cats that have just got the cream (well, all except Andrea, who seems to be still in a state of shock, quite understandably!)
The quilt was attracting a lot of attention, and lots of people got out their cameras to take a photo of it. The idiosyncrasies of each block fascinated many, and people enjoyed pointing out the birds, animals, catkins, flowers and clever use of buttons, lace and other embellishments. One lady said to her friend, 'Oh, another tree quilt. Well, it's certainly nicer than the other one,' which must be a sort of back-handed compliment!

Although the workmanship and creativity displayed in each and every block is wonderful, I must say that the way that Andrea and Bunty assembled those blocks is outstanding. The way that they have been put together so cleverly, to unite the individual trees, but also to create space between them so that each can be appreciated, is superb. I'm sure that was a major factor in the quilt's overall success.

The quilting is beautiful, and compliments the blocks beautifully. I especially liked the way that the trailing leaf border has the names of the different seasons along the top and bottom borders,

and the names of the participants along the sides. The quilt will be 'raffled' amongst the participants at the next meeting, and I think the winner (and I hope it's me!) will be delighted to take this beauty home. Well done everyone - it's a stunner!