Tuesday 26 November 2019

November meeting

The November meeting was an exciting one, because apart from our lovely speaker, Sue O'Riordan, we had our very popular fabric challenge!


Here is Sue with some of her fabulous ice dyed fabric.  Lots of people were interested in learning more about this technique.  Sue became particularly interested in dyeing when she embarked on a City and Guilds course.  She showed how her imagination was stimulated by doing an extended course in quilting.  Day classes are great fun, but don't often lead to more new things.  I'm not sure she convinced our members that C&G was for them, but you never know! 


It was a busy morning, with a sales table and three demos.  I showed reusable Christmas bags, Di an integral zip and Alison some lovely Christmas ornament ideas. 


Forty people took challenge kits and thirty five people brought entries!  Here are some in no particular order.


The brown was a bit challenging for some. 


But it goes well with yellow. 


And pink. 


Rail fence variation. 

Another March hare. 


Bright pinwheels and coffee and cream. 


A gorgeous scrap quilt and Hickory, dickory dock! 


Sorry this one is dark.  It's a dark pineapple! 


You can't go wrong with square blocks! 


Here is a small duck quilt, a cushion and a bag. 


We hung the quilts from skirt hangers on the tops of notice boards. 


Such a variety of ideas! 


What a clever idea to use a Dresden Plate as a clock! 


It was hard for me to get good photos of all of the quilts due to the width of the corridor. 


This woven effect is intriguing.

Two quilts using rectangles.


 A great log cabin quilt and another using a similar technique. 


And the winners?  Third prize went to Jacquie with this cog like design. 


Second prize to Jo, with this stained glass window idea. 


And first prize to Gaynor for this beautifully designed and balanced quilt. Well done to everyone who entered, and especially the winners! 
Happy Christmas and a healthy and productive New Year. See you in January! 




Friday 11 October 2019

September meeting


We had another very enjoyable and busy meeting in September.  


Caroline has kindly taken over the raffle from Hilary (big shoes to fill!) and started off with a fabric raffle.  Several people put their marker on various bundles of fat quarters, although I don't know whether they were lucky enough to take them home! 


Julie did a demo on how to use selvedges.  They look great as book covers, and certainly make my diary easier to find in my handbag. 

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Our trader was The Button Bank.  They brought a delicious selection of buttons at very reasonable prices, and some lovely novelty fat quarters.  If you missed them, search out their Facebook page. 


We had another of our popular fabric challenges.  Jacquie had bought two half yards of fabric plus a cot wadding for those who were willing to make something for the next meeting.  We will vote for the best ones in November and there will be prizes!  Previously, we have struggled to find recipients for the last few bundles, but this time we had no trouble.  I'm looking forward to the entries at the next meeting. 


 Our speaker was Sarah Humphreys.  She's actually the daughter of Hilary Jackson, who spoke to us earlier this year.  What a coincidence!  Her work ranged from traditional to modern, and she also gave us tips on how to use technology to develop our quilting.  Here she is in front of her entry for a competition themed 'English Royalty' where she chose the national treasures, Katherine Hamnett, Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant.  All queens of fashion.


Here we can see Carolyn who is ahead of the game.  She showed us how to make log cabin Santa decorations.  It's never too late to get ready for Christmas.  
See you at the November meeting. 


Saturday 14 September 2019

Catching up

I'm really sorry that I haven't been keeping the blog up to date, but here are the last two meetings.
In May we had the pleasure of the company of Diane Gaffney who brought lots of examples of 'Clothes for Ceremonies'.


 Here is Dianne, ready for her talk.

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 Here is Di, who is slim enough to model this fabulous outfit!  She looks so elegant!  Diane dressed several people up in outfits, showing us how they are worn, and allowing the audience to examine the details of the fabrics and the embellishments. 



This skirt was richly embroidered and appliquéd, and was a real masterpiece! 



Diane brought goodies for sale.  There was jewellery and lots of different fabrics. 



This picture is out of sequence, but shows people busy sewing, knitting or chatting before the talk. It's always a treat to see what everyone is up to! 


Then in July, our speaker had a family emergency and had to cancel at short notice.  Luckily our own Jacquie stepped into the breech and brought just a few of her quilts to show us.  We all love seeing quilts, so we were delighted!  She is one talented lady and kept us entertained with her chat. 


Here are the quilts before she started her talk!  Thank you so much for bailing us out so capably, Jacquie.  You are a star! 


Monday 18 March 2019

March Winds

It was a very breezy day for our recent meeting, but then, it was March!  There was a good turnout, as usual, and people were keen not only to meet our speaker, Linda Forey, but to bag some bargains from the table top sale. 


We never quite know what we will find in the hall when we arrive, and this time there was a raised area in the centre.  Since we had no demos this month, we decided to put some of the tables on this dias.  It attracted plenty of buyers.


There were also tables in the library, as usual, so lots to spend your money on.


Then, after lunch we welcomed our speaker, Linda Forey.  I first met Linda at a party at my brother's house, and my husband introduced us, 'This is Linda, and she's a quilter, and this is Lynda and she's a quilter!'  We had a lot in common to talk about!  Her work is much more accomplished then mine and she has won lots of prizes for her quilts, quite rightly. She was also an amusing and inspiring speaker, with plenty of quilts to show.


It's a shame the table is in front of this quilt, as it was stunning.


Linda's quilts ranged from the traditional to art.  Here is one with sand and sea. 


This masterpiece was all hand pieced over papers.  It was a travel project.  Fabulous!
Thank you for coming and sharing your work with us, Linda. 


Tuesday 29 January 2019

Hilary Jackson

January is our AGM month, but although it is necessary for insurance purposes and to make sure members get their chance to comment on the way the group is run, we don’t make it long or tedious.  Jacquie said that the hall fees were being raised, and although we have a healthy bank balance, the committee had decided to put the meeting fee up to £5.  This is the first increase in nineteen years, so is wholly justified.  Our charity for last year, theMyton Hospice, will receive a cheque for £400, and we have two charities for 2019, Rugby Alzheimer’s Support and Coventry and Warwickshire Mind. 






Our speaker was Hilary Jackson, and she was lovely.  She had brought plenty of quilts to show us, starting with some traditional ones, moving on to modern quilts and finally her art pieces.  Something for everyone!  Here she is with one of her modern quilts.  I love the green in it! 


She brought some of her recent pieces and displayed them for us all to enjoy.  At the left is her coal quilt, then three English trees and finally a quilt inspired by a recent visit to India.  She was an engaging and interesting speaker, and very generous at sharing her techniques.  Thank you, Hilary, for such a lovely day. 

Thursday 10 January 2019

November meeting

Just realised I didn't manage to put an account of our November meeting on the blog!  Still, better late than never!  
We had a lovely meeting, filled with inspiration. 


There was a bumper turnout, as people were keen to complete their UFO challenges! 


People always enjoy getting together to socialise and see what projects other people were engaged in. 


Our speaker was the lovely Nancy Adamek, from Lina Patchwork.  She specialises in supplying papers for English paper piecing, and had brought lots of her stock for people to browse or buy.  She had samples made from the various shapes, so you could get an idea of what kinds of things you could do with them.  


Her little Christmas project kits were gorgeous, and very popular. 
She showed lots of EPP quilts she had made, and it made for great eye candy and inspiration! 
The UFO Challenge show and tell was wonderful as usual, and a total of 34 people completed the challenge, and gave us all a treat. 


Here are the prizes, little preserve jars full of sewing goodies and topped with fancy beaded pins.  A real gift!  I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and a great New Year.