December was Christmas Party Season and we had our usual faith supper which was very tasty.

We also made stars with Kate Smith. Baby wipes are for more than babies when gluing and sticking are involved.

Our Competition A Christmas Stocking Filler brought forth an assortment of entries and well done to the worthy winners.

And I hope everyone got something exciting for their Secret Santa. 

Merry Christmas

January

At the January meeting on the 25th of the month we will be making small Quilts for donating to York Hospital Special Care Baby Unit. 

Please bring everything you need including your sewing machine to begin to make a small quilt, approx 18 to 24 inches in dimension. We have some donations of material that you can use or you can supply your own. I know you can spare some from your stash. 

In the mean time.... 

Happy New Year

The November meeting had us making bird decorations with Liz and Myra.
Sewing the pelmet stiffening by hand proved hard work but the finished results were pretty. Luckily Myra had brought along some glue and glitter to go with our assortment of feathers, beads and other bling.

The next meeting is our Christmas Meeting.

A faith supper, Secret Santa, Kates star decoration, and the Christmas competition, a christmas stocking filler, should give a festive feel to the evening

Wednesday 26th October saw us picking up our finest hand sewing needles to do needle turned applique in the form of hawaiian patchwork with Kate Smith. This is something you either find very difficult or you love. Personally I love the finished article, and Kate's samples were wonderful, but find the technique difficult to master. However I enjoyed our evening and it is certainly easier to chat when you are not sat at your machine.
We have had several new members join us this year and I hope they were able to get to know the other members whilst they enjoyed their stitching.

Next month we will be making a small Christmas Decoration.
You will need small contrasting pieces of material, some bondaweb, some beads, crystals, small buttons or other embellishment, a small piece of ribbon for making a hanger for your decoration, and some embroidery thread. Plus your hand sewing kit, and card to make a template. You will also need a small piece of pelmet vilene but this will be provided for those who have do not have it as part of their own sewing supplies.
Do come and join us for the evening if you are in the area.

White Rose Quilters met again after the summer recess on 28th September and we had the pleasure of welcoming some new members and also some visitors  for the evening talk.
At our first meeting of the new programme we had invited Hazel Williams to speak to us on the subject of 'Gadgets and Gizmos'.  (see meetings review)
Hazel also brought along her shop so that we could indulge our passion for acquiring more beautiful material, even though we all have enough to last us a lifetime. She had also bought along most of the gadgets that she had demonstrated. So an ideal time to pick up that something that you knew having seen it, you just had to have it, as it would make your life so much easier.
We had a good night including a raffle and 'Show and Tell' as some members had been quite busy over the summer.
At the next meeting on October 26th we will be making a small piece of Hawaiian quilting so members will need to bring along 2 contrasting pieces of material, both slightly larger than they want their finished piece to be,  also some paper scissors and your hand sewing kit with thread to match your fabric.

Our last meeting was our Annual General Meeting.
Rather boring really but our accounts are in good order which means that we can invite some speakers for next year.
The committee has agreed to stay on for another term of office and after our meeting I have put together the programme for next year which I will now post onto the blog.

We have tried to put together a varied programme of speakers and mini workshops which we hope the membership will enjoy.

Anyone wishing to join us next year, the first meeting is Wednesday 28th September at 7-30pm at
St Chads Church Hall Campleshon Road, York. YO23 1 PE

The last meeting saw fellow White Rose Member Gina Smith talking to us about her work as a talented embroiderer. Her patchwork is always inspiring for her use of colour but her embroidery is stunning. She brought along several framed pieces of her work and also illustrated her talk with slides so that we were able to enjoy all aspects of her varied portfolio of work.
It always surprises me what talent we have hidden in our small membership and Gina is truly a star. Thank you for agreeing to talk to us and you are inspirational despite your modesty.

Next month July is the AGM but we will also be rummaging through the material that ex-member Dorothy Winn has donated and rotary cutting some of it into usable squares that can be used to make small quilts that we can donate to York SCBU.

Unfortunately I missed our last meeting as we were on holiday but Myra has reported that everyone enjoyed the 'Talking Quilts' Evening.

Members brought along one of their quilts that had a special personal significance for  them. They talked about their quilting journey and the relevance of the piece of work they had chosen to bring along. It was a very successful format and one which I hope we can repeat another time. A good evening for our two visitors who I hope will have enjoyed it enough to join us again soon.

We have now given the proceeds from the May exhibition to our two chosen charities. Myself, Emma and her two children went along to York Hospital Special Care Baby Unit to present the cheque. Arthur seemed non too impressed to be back on the unit where he spent his first two months of life, but I hope the money we raised will help others in similar circumstances.

Next meeting Gina Smith will be giving us a talk about her work. As well as being a member of White Rose Quilters Gina is also an embroiderer and textile artist and a member of the Group
Diverse Threads. I am sure it will be an interesting evening.

Our Exhibition on the 14th May at Kings Manor in York was a great success and we managed to raise more than £1000 for our charities York SCBU and Bliss.

Please have a look at the exhibition page to see more photographs.

The next meeting will be led by Myra ans Liz as Kate and myself are on holiday. (Think both of us thought we needed a rest after organising the exhibition.) As no one asked for any specific demonstrations as was posted on the programme for May, they have decided to do a 'Talking Quilts' Evening. Each member will bring along a quilt that means something to them. It may be their first quilt or one that was made to commemorate a significant occasion or event or any other reason. They will tell the story behind the quilt to the other members. Sounds like it will be a fun evening, and I am sorry that I will miss it but I hope to hear all about it when I get back from holiday.

I hope I can persuade either Liz or Myra to pen a few words that I can put on the blog to tell you how it went.

There are no photos from the April meeting as you will need to come along to our exhibition to appreciate the big Show and Tell that took place at our meeting that night.

Everyone brought along their pieces of work that they will be displaying at our exhibition and I was astounded by the diversity and workmanship that we, as a small quilting group, can produce. I am sure it will look even better when it is displayed properly in the Huntington Room at Kings Manor.

I also took the charity quilt into the hospital on Wednesday and sold raffle tickets in the foyer. That was interesting as all the junior doctors were picketing the hospital entrance but there still seemed to be enough people around for us to sell quite a lot of tickets.

The next event is the big one

The Exhibition of White Rose Quilters Work.

Date 14th May 2016     11-00am to 4-00pm

Venue   Huntington Room, Kings Manor, Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EP

I hope to see lots of you there.

March saw us making bags with Kate Jones. These were shopping totes which could be scrunched up and hidden inside an intregal pouch in the shape of a fruit. Very useful to drop in your hand bag so you are never without a shopping bag now that you are charged for bags by the large shopping chains.

For last months meeting our invited tutor was Bryony Downing. Bryony demonstrated how to make fabric flowers and brought along a bunch to show us what could be achieved.

We made some of the simpler ones during the evening and everyone achieved a good result. There was quite a bit of chatter throughout the evening as we were working on a hand project.  A pleasant change from machining.

Next month Kate Jones will be showing us how to make a shopping bag that can be shrunk in size to fit into your handbag. A very useful thing to have now that we have to pay for plastic carrier bags. I may make more than one and put them in all my handbags so that I never leave home without one.

The January meeting was well attended and saw us exploring the Disappearing Pin Wheel Block.

This block came to my attention on the Missouri Star web pages and I thought it fascinating that so many designs could be made from the pin wheel block if it is cut into a nine patch. Hence it was put into the groups programme for everyone to try. I have made a quillow and a cushion using the technique and these will be 2 of the prizes in our May raffle.

Next month we are making flowers with Bryony Downing and as I was remiss and failed to get a list of requirements before the January meeting, I am including them on the blogg, and sending them out to members on email.
Hope everyone finds the list but we will take provide some extra circles of material in case anyone is left out.

January 2016

Happy New Year to all Quilters.

A catch up on the end of 2015 saw us with a workshop on a 'quilt as you go block' taught by Kate Smith at our November meeting and our annual Christmas Bash in December.

The 'quilt as you go block' involved a lot of ironing and sewing close to the edge but produced an effective diamond pattern if you were careful. The pattern was originally produced by Pat Lumsdale as part of a 'cheat block' lap quilt and can be found on her  website.

Our Christmas get-together is all about sharing food and conversation which we may not be able to do quite as much of at our other meetings when we are busy sewing. We usually include a small project as part of the evening and this year we made small Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of a drum with added beaded trimming. Very festive, I think you will agree.

So to 2016. This will be busy year for us as we prepare for our exhibition on the 14th May, to take place at Kings Manor, Exhibition Square, York. Please put this date in your diaries and come along and support us as all our proceeds go to charity.

May I wish you all the best for 2016 and Happy Quilting.