July23rd 2025
After our very short business meeting this evening Gill and Karen showed us how to make mini broaches. These were small miniature patchwork pieces, backed and stiffened to form enchanting pieces of simple jewelry. I hope everyone will wear theirs at the Festival of Quilts next weekend.
June 25th 2025
I was in awe of our speaker tonight Nadine Paver, a qualified Quilt Judge and also a tutor on the Quilters Guild of the British Isles Quilt Judging Course, Her depth of knowledge on this subject is amazing.
Nadine talked about the modules that form the content of the course which cover a range of subjects unrelated to quilting, but makes the course participants think outside the box in relation to design, form, colour etc. She also covered what qualities make a quilt outstanding and a prize winner, The slides she used to demonstrate her talk showed examples of past winning quilts and also ones that didn't win but illustrated what to look for in technique, quilting, design etc
Then, armed with what we had just learnt we were let loose to judge our own mini quilt show.
And our winner was :-
Nadine had even bought a small prize for the winner. She also generously spoke about every quilt that a member had bought along, and what had stood out for her on that particular piece of work.
I think we all learnt a lot that evening, and perhaps it will make us consider our design choices and how we do things when we are making our next works of art.
May 28th 2025
Tonight we spent an enjoyable evening with our guest tutor Gini from Dorset Buttons.
I first did this workshop with Gini at Festival of Quilts 2 years ago and enjoyed it so much that I asked the committee if we could put it on the program for White Rose Quilters
Gini bought kits for all the members and whilst we sat and sewed under her expert guidance, she regaled us with the history of handmade buttons and the story of how she got into making them. It was an engaging and fascinating history lesson.
March 26th 2025
Another very creative session. ARTY LITTLE LANDSCAPES with Nadine Paver.
The landscapes are the creations of Heather Chalkley who unfortunately has left the country moving to Scotland, so she asked Nadine to do the workshop for us.
The mini pictures are made from scraps of material held on to a 6" x 6" piece of pelmet vylene with bondaweb, and then stitched down.
This square is then cut into 4 pieces, each 3" square. Then look at your potential landscapes and further embellish them with drawn marks, rubber stamps, a bit of sparkle using glitter glue or foils and any other decoration that you think is needed.
Here are our results. Some are finished and some are works in progress.
FEBRUARY 26th 2025
This month was a huge success with members as we hosted a Show and Tell of everyone's work.
We asked them to bring in the first quilt that they made and also their latest piece of work.
Most members had either made a sampler quilt as their first quilt or patched something together with limited knowledge of patchwork or quilting techniques. Either way they must have enjoyed the experience enough to continue with the craft.
Here are a few examples from our talented members.
JANUARY 22nd 2025
Gill and Karen showed us how to up-cycle all our old scraps of material.
With just time and a till roll you can produce lots of new jelly rolls for use in future patchwork.
Simply stitch the material scraps onto the till roll using a stitch and flip method either in straight lines or at an angle. Each strips can then be trimmed and the paper torn away which is quick and easy to do as the paper is so thin. Press your new strips and use them in your patchwork.
Bear in mind that till rolls are only 2 and a 1/4 inches wide so you may want to add a little bit when sewing them and trim the down to 2 and a 1/2 inches if you are following a jelly roll pattern.
The finished results by our members on the night.
DECEMBER 18th 2024
Christmas Jollies took place at this meeting which was earlier in the month than our usual meetings.
The committee had planned an evening making either felt Gingerbread Persons or Snowmen. It was a hand sewing evening so everyone chatted away as they sewed.
Lis Tate bought examples of the finished articles and everyone made a start on their ornament but the evening proved to be too short and they will be finished at home.
Here are the examples Lis made:-
Here are the Works in Progress
We also had a Secret Santa, exchanging small gifts on a sewing theme. Also a festive selection of nibbles, including mince pies provided by the committee, were enjoyed alongside our usual teas and coffees. A good start to the festive season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
NOVEMBER 27th 2024
Tonight we were given an insight into the Foundation degree in Textiles Practice course run by Bradford School of Art.
The talk entitled 'Never too old to Learn' was given by one of our members Mary Whitehouse, who has just completed this challenging course. Not all about Patchwork and Quilting the 4 year course covered everything from 'mark making' with artists materials to making an article from recycled woolen cloth.
Mary bought along her workbooks and finished pieces for us to look through and applaud her hard work and tenacity for embarking on and finishing this learning feat.
She has certainly challenged us all to move beyond our comfort zone and try something new.
OCTOBER 23rd 2024
Another very good meeting making magic bags with Kate Smith.
Kate gave us the instructions for making these easy magic bags. Small draw string bags that have one ribbon for closing the bag and another ribbon for opening it again. Simple!
They can be both sewn by hand or machine. Most members chose to make them in Christmas fabrics so they can be used instead of wrapping paper at Christmas.
SEPTEMBER 25TH 2024
A very good meeting with Helen Barnes who gave us an informative talk on strippy quilts and the quilting patterns used in them.
During lockdown Helen used a bursary from the Quilters Guild to research the patterns used on British strippy quilts mostly made in the North East of England and Wales. She shared with us her research and workbooks where she had traced the patterns from several old quilts. She then redrew these onto fabric using traditional templates and quilted them in coloured threads.
The results are eye catching, giving a modern take on this traditional craft.
June 2024
This evening Kate Smith shared some of her knowledge of North Country Quilts with us, with a special emphasis on one from her own collection. As you would imagine, these quilts originate from the north of the country, specifically from the north-east of England. They are typically pieced strippy styles with the quilting contained within the strips. Generally, the front is pieced and the back is plain, but Kate’s one is unusually double sided, the strips being offset to avoid stitching bulk from the seams. There are recognised patterns synonymous with North Country Quilting such as feathers, fan and flowers which appear on Kate’s quilt.
Having researched its history, Kate’s discovered that her quilt had been commissioned for a young woman, Laura Bartlett, upon her marriage in 1932. Through family history sites, she was able to find out quite a lot about Laura and her family but sadly nothing yet about the actual quilter. Laura moved from Stanley, Co Durham, to the Exbury Estate, Hampshire where she lived out her life with her husband who became the Head Gardener.
March 2024
This evening we learned how to do Beth Helfter’s Accordion Sewn Scrappy Half Square Triangles (HST).
Lis led the session, firstly taking us through the most common methods of sewing HST and their pros & cons before going on to the accordion method. She talked us through choosing our fabric colours/shade, cutting and how to piece the triangles. Although initially it seemed tricky, once the first few triangles were sewn together, it was easy to do and quick! I’m looking forward to seeing some finished pieces at next month’s Show & Tell.
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| Using this method, no two squares are the same |
February 2024
TADCRAFTERS. tadcrafters.org.uk tadcrafters@outlook.com
It was fascinating to hear how the group evolved from making bunting following the devastating floods and resultant collapse of the town’s bridge in 2015/16 to the hugely successful group that operates today.
We were shown so many examples of their diverse work from hedgehog homes to feminine hygiene kits, jewellery and personal effects bags for St Leonard’s Hospice to beehives.
January 2024
This evening, Janice showed us how to make fabric chocolates from a pattern by Greta Fitchett, included in her book ‘Cakes and Candies’. We had a choice of dark, milk and white ‘chocolate’ with a variety of coloured silks and scrumptious beads to decorate them.
We had great fun ‘decorating’ our mini chocolates before taking them home to stuff and present in their paper cases. I’m looking forward to seeing the results in February’s show & tell.
September 2023
I lead the group tonight showing how to make a fabric Christmas Cracker. It all seemed to go remarkably well, with many ladies managing to complete their cracker. I think everyone seemed to enjoy the session.
July 2023
Tonight was our AGM. The Committee has served 5 years and can serve one more before they must retire. We are pleased to have some volunteers for next year who will join in with some of the Committee meetings this year so that they can hit the ground running when they take over in July 2024! Our finances are in good shape so that subs have not been increased for the coming year.
Members were able to sit & sew with their various projects for the rest of the session. Jill was layering up a quilt sandwich using the Sharon Schamber method which uses boards and hand basting, so demonstrated this. It generated a lot of discussion about the different methods of quilt layering and the various issues encountered. In fact lots of other topics cropped up and there was a wealth of information exchanged and gleaned from the assembled ladies. It was such an interesting and informative ‘off the cuff’ session. I certainly learned such a lot!
June 2023
We spent a fascinating evening with Gina Smith, one of our talented members, who talked to us about her textile art, how she creates it and what inspires her. She showed us slides of some of the photographs that had inspired particular artworks which she had created using textiles and threads. Gina uses textiles such as silk with overlays of transparent materials built up to provide depth and contrast. The stitching which is added gives further depth, perspective and texture and is in Gina’s words ‘simple stitching’! She is far too modest. I for one wish that I could stitch as simply as her! Her pieces from a distance look like painted artworks and capture the atmosphere of the photograph that inspired them. Look closer and the details of the textiles and stitching can be fully appreciated.
Her inspiration comes from the natural world in the UK, The Wolds, The Yorkshire Dales, Scotland and world wide from Japan, the deserts of Namibia to the coloured houses of Norway resulting in a rich, diverse range of artwork. As well as natural scenes, Gina has been influenced by churches and their magnificent interiors with arches and pillars.
I must also mention the lovely appliquéd quilts, created for her Grandchildren, which she brought along for us to look at.
Here are a few photos of her work.
May 2023
I was very sorry to miss Nicola Holme’s (Simply Stitch) demonstration using decorative stitches beyond the basic computer settings. The session was very well received and members learned a lot from her
April 2023
The wonderful Maggie Lloyd-Jones talked to us about how she came up with the idea for Quilts for Care Leavers (Q4CL) after meeting with Lemn Sissay MBE, himself a care leaver. He founded The Christmas Dinner in 2013 to provide a dinner for young people (16-25) who were leaving or had left the local authority care system and who would otherwise be alone on for Christmas.
Maggie was inspired to gift quilts to these young people after observing the pleasure and comfort her own grandchildren got from being curled up on the sofa with a quilt wrapped round them, like a ‘quilted hug’.
She offered quilts to various Christmas Dinner events in 2018 and this was hugely successful. Q4CL has grown since then with dedicated groups in Scotland and N Ireland. They are also branching out making hot water bottle covers and offering quilts at different events.
Q4CL try, wherever possible to keep donated quilts in the areas where they were made. The group accept completed blocks, quilt tops (which are then sandwiched & longarm quilted), whole quilts and fabric.
There is a web site https://q4cl.org.uk/
Also 2 Facebook pages, public https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsforCareLeavers
and private - q4cl makers - as I’m not a member I can’t post a link but if you search for this on FB you can join.
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| Hot water bottle covers & labels |
March 2023
Following on from her talk in September, Brigid talked us through how to do needle turned appliqué required for Baltimore Quilts. She explained & showed us how to choose fabrics, threads and needles. She also showed us patterns and how to stitch on the appliqué including the ‘sweeping’ method for perfect points. She is an inspiring and patient teacher.
Feb 2023
I missed this meeting as I had Covid but check out photos on Show & Tell. Sorry that there is no meeting review
January 2023
Sorry, I’m afraid I failed to write up the December meeting. There were a select few attending the Christmas party, the cold, icy weather put many off venturing out.
This evening, Janice & Ann guided us in creating one of three modern quilt blocks using patterns from The Quilters Guild: Tiger Tiger, Marbles & Garden in the Rain.
It was fun to try out something different and there was a a mix of the patterns tried out. The curves involved didn’t prove too difficult for the less experienced like myself. There was lots of help on hand from Janice, Ann & other members for those who needed it. We all made a good start and it was so interesting to see how the blocks looked with the various fabric choices. I’m afraid got so carried away cutting & sewing that I forgot to take any photos of what we were doing. Hopefully we will see some completed blocks in next month’s show & tell.
November 2022
Nadine Paver demonstrated how foundation piecing would enable us to get a very precise finish to our piecing. She had brought a pattern to make a small Christmas tree which we set to to make ourselves. Much fun was had trying to remember to work from the back How many will be at Show & Tell next month?
October 2022
Janice L gave us lots of ideas of what to do with jelly rolls or Bali pops - bringing along samples of baskets, bags, and other pieces, including a couple of quilt tops made by Kate. Janice showed how to make the puffed strips that incorporate wadding and suggested that it is better to make the strips to the required length rather than use a whole 42" strip and cut it to the lengths needed. Then members got stuck in with sewing their strips together - we're looking forward to seeing the finished products - watch this space.
September 2022
The committee have been busy and we have a new, exciting programme for the coming year.
Also, we send a warm welcome to all the new members who joined us at this September meeting.
The meeting began with a short AGM, and then with the business being out of the way, we were treated to an interesting talk by one of our members Brigid Ockelton.
Brigid has a large collection of old quilts but her passion is for Baltimore Album Quilts.
One of Brigid's quilts was displayed at our exhibition in May and sparked a lot of interest so it was good to be able to find out more about this genre of quilts.
Baltimore Album Quilts are unique in that they were only made in the short period between 1846 and 1854, in the port of Baltimore in Maryland, USA.
They are hand-turned applique quilts, or quilts made using the Broderie Perse technique, so quite time consuming to make. Thus, they were normally made as presentation gifts, or to commemorate special events and therefore not for everyday use.
Brigit talked us through some of the designs which have their basis in both Pennsylvania Dutch and English quilting traditions. The blocks range from quite simple Scherenschnitte (paper cutting) designs to complex and elegant floral wreaths, baskets, and cornucopia, but they can also incorporate animals and birds and patriotic symbolism.
Brigid was able to demonstrate how she had used the designs in her quilts which she had kindly brought along to show us.
Brigid is very knowledgeable on her subject and also very skilled. I am looking forward to the March 2023 meeting when she will be following up this talk and teaching the group how to do needle turn applique.
2021 - 2022
27th May 2022
It was great to welcome so many new faces to our group this evening. I really hope they all enjoyed the session, our last of the year, and come back to join us in September.
Tonight, Linda & I talked the group through making a Beach Hut appliqué mini quilt from a pattern by Lesley Price.
It was a first for Linda & I leading a session, despite that (!) everyone seemed to enjoy it and was able to get the background completed and make a start on the beach hut appliqué pieces.
27th April 2022
Tonight we had a wonderful talk by Carolyn Gibbs called Success with Stripes.
Personally I have always avoided using striped fabric in my quilts considering it difficult to achieve any sort of co-ordinating effect that is pleasing to the eye. After Carolyn's talk I may have to reconsider this.
Carolyn's knowledge on the subject of striped fabric is extensive and she even describes herself as a nerd on the subject. She guided us through all the different types of striped fabric that can be used and how this achieves a different effect in the quilt from being strikingly bold to blending in more to the background. How to use fabric for pattern pieces, backgrounds and borders. How to use striped fabric randomly in scrap quilts or how to fussy cut fabric so that stripes can be matched to create those stunning effects we all admire but don't think we will ever achieve in a million years.
Carolyn's talk was illustrated with many examples, including simple blocks, small quilts, bunting and Christmas card holders, as well as larger quilts. The fact that some of the pieces that she brought along were old quilts from her own collection was the icing on the cake.
Altogether a thoroughly entertaining and informative evening.
23rd March 2022
This evening Ann & Janice guided us through making a tweed broach to a Pat Archibald design.
23rd February 2022
Linda Harvey talked to us this evening -
'Inspiration is nothing without action'
She talked about her work, her methods, varied materials and what inspired and motivated her. We got to handle pieces and see larger items on screen.
After nearly two years of working alone in lockdowns and with limited social contact, her talk was truly inspirational.
Our members have been busy making trees for our Jubilee exhibition, here are some of them:-
26th January 2022
A new year - great to be meeting in person again.
At this meeting Janice
guided us through making a mini tree quilt from a Helen Howes pattern. (many thanks to Helen for allowing us to use her pattern) Although it looked simple, the pattern was a bit more difficult than expected!
guided us through making a mini tree quilt from a Helen Howes pattern. (many thanks to Helen for allowing us to use her pattern) Although it looked simple, the pattern was a bit more difficult than expected! We have decided, as a group, to make 70 tree mini quilts for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and hopefully display them in St Chads where we meet.
15th December 2021
We made the decision to cancel our Christmas meeting due to Covid. Better to be safe than sorry.
24th November 2021
This evening Brigid, one of our members, brought along some of her collection of vintage quilts & coverlets from early 1800's to the 1980s. The styles varied from early hexagons through strips and wholecloths, log cabin, applique, scrappy & crazy quilts, Welsh, North Country and Sanderson. It was fascinating to hear about how they were created, the similarities that pointed to the areas in which they were made, the types and sources of fabric used, the quilting methods and so much more. It was such an enjoyable and interesting evening. I attach a selection of photos.
27th October 2021
We were delighted to welcome Fran Brammer, Textile Artist and Tutor, who introduced us to Freehand Machine Embroidery. This was an inspiring and empowering session where Fran coached us through the basics moving on to producing our own Alium. It was a fun session and Fran was an inspiring and patient teacher. It's great to be back doing things together again.
22nd September 2021
It was really exciting to welcome back our members to the first 'live' meeting since February 2020. It was great to see everyone again and catch up. After
a brief AGM and re-election of the committee, we had a mega 'Show &
Tell' and although many members had already given away some of their
quilts and other makes, there was more than enough to show. What a variety of things there were - quilts, panels, bags ... Some members had finished their Block of the Month quilts with fantastic results. It's amazing how different they look when made up in different fabrics. It was a great evening and great to be back.
2020 - 2021 New Year
Wednesday 23rd September
This should have been our first meeting of the year. Due to the continuing Coronavirus restrictions however, we were unable to resume meetings at St Chad's. Undaunted, WRQ embraced the digital age and we had our first virtual meeting using 'Zoom'. After the usual hiccoughs with smiling faces & no voice or voice with no smiling face, we got going and 9 of us took part in our delayed AGM and thoroughly enjoyed catching up. We even managed a few 'Show & Tells".
We will continue meeting monthly on Zoom and look forward to seeing even more members at the next meeting on 28th October. See Programme of Events for upcoming dates.
New Programme 2019 - 2020
Wednesday February 19th
Tonight we welcomed Hazel Williams from Cotton Cocktails to give us her talk 'As seen on TV'.
Hazel gave us an insight into how she became a Quilting Teacher and set up her business, and then how she began to present on the HOCHANDA channel on television. It was interesting to hear anecdotes from someone with insider knowledge of how the show is produced.
Hazel also bought along many of her quilts which are examples of what she teaches at her studio, and also the kits she sells on the television shows. Her work uses very simple shapes to create pieces that are both stylish and modern.
Her sales table included lots of the kits and all kinds of notions and gadgets that are useful in patchwork and quilting. Lots of fat quarters of irresistible fabric to add to our stashes.
Altogether it was a very enjoyable way to spend a cold winters evening.
Thursday January 28th
Sit and Sew
Today we had a talk by Ann Johnson on sewing machine maintenance. Ann's knowledge about sewing machines is extensive having been a technician in a school's textile department for many years.
We all use our sewing machines without really thinking about their maintenance, until something goes wrong. Then we find the manual and read what we should have been doing on a regular basis all along.
However Ann gave us some other tips that you would not find in the manual, such as not leaving it in the car overnight if you are planning to take it to use at a workshop. Apparently the machine does not work at its best if it is cold so leaving it in the cold car means you may experience problems without knowing why.
She also talked to individual members about their particular machine and if they had experienced any problems whilst sewing. I'm sure everyone came away better informed about their own machine and that the tips Ann gave will help everyone in the future.
Tonight we welcomed Hazel Williams from Cotton Cocktails to give us her talk 'As seen on TV'.
Hazel gave us an insight into how she became a Quilting Teacher and set up her business, and then how she began to present on the HOCHANDA channel on television. It was interesting to hear anecdotes from someone with insider knowledge of how the show is produced.
Hazel also bought along many of her quilts which are examples of what she teaches at her studio, and also the kits she sells on the television shows. Her work uses very simple shapes to create pieces that are both stylish and modern.
Her sales table included lots of the kits and all kinds of notions and gadgets that are useful in patchwork and quilting. Lots of fat quarters of irresistible fabric to add to our stashes.
Altogether it was a very enjoyable way to spend a cold winters evening.
Thursday January 28th
Sit and Sew
Today we had a talk by Ann Johnson on sewing machine maintenance. Ann's knowledge about sewing machines is extensive having been a technician in a school's textile department for many years.
We all use our sewing machines without really thinking about their maintenance, until something goes wrong. Then we find the manual and read what we should have been doing on a regular basis all along.
However Ann gave us some other tips that you would not find in the manual, such as not leaving it in the car overnight if you are planning to take it to use at a workshop. Apparently the machine does not work at its best if it is cold so leaving it in the cold car means you may experience problems without knowing why.
She also talked to individual members about their particular machine and if they had experienced any problems whilst sewing. I'm sure everyone came away better informed about their own machine and that the tips Ann gave will help everyone in the future.
Meeting October 23rd
This was an evening meeting on the theme of Cathedral Window Patchwork with outside teacher and speaker Glenda Smith. Glenda bought along several examples to show us, including a beautiful christening robe she had made for her grand-daughter. She really is an expert on her subject and has contributed articles to several quilting magazines. Members also all had a chance to make a small pincushion based on Glenda's own method for constructing the basic patchwork square used in Cathedral Window. I found it a lot easier to do than some of the other techniques I have tried in the past.
As members did not have time to finish their pincushions at the meeting to allow me to photograph these, below are some pictures of the examples Glenda bought to show us.
Meeting September 19th
This was the first meeting of the Year. A few members turned up to see Janice our chairperson demonstrating hand turned floral applique. This is like marmite. You either love doing it, or hate it.
Janice does it beautifully.
AGM Meeting July 24th
The chairperson gave a review of the groups programme over the last year and also what is potentially on the programme for next year although some of it needs finalising. The treasurer gave a revue of the groups finances which appear quite healthy although it was agreed to increase subscriptions for the next year so that we cover the cost of the hall and also group membership of the Quilters Guild.
Members agreed to continue the format of having some Wednesday night meetings and also some Thursday afternoon meetings so that we have a longer period for sewing.
The group also agreed that the committee purchase a sizzix machine and some dies that members of the group can borrow for a small fee to cut out accurate patchwork pieces.
The group then broke up for refreshments and a natter.
Meeting June 26th
At this Wednesday night meeting we welcomed Dorothy Baird. Dorothy specialises in Red Work.
She gave us a short but very interesting talk about the history of Red Work. Did you know that the mundane backstitch was once called Kensington stitch and has associations with the Royal school of needlework.
Then we all began work on a small Christmas design that Dorothy had prepared for us. Dorothy is a good teacher and gave individual attention to members who had not done the technique before ensuring all the members present were comfortable and able to complete their sampler.
Being a hand sewing evening there was also a lot of chatter and laughter. A good night for members to get to know each other even if some of us had forgotten to put on our name badges.
These are samples of the small Christmas designs we made.
More of Dorothy's designs that were available for purchase
Meeting 30th May
At this meeting we explored curved piecing with Lis Tate
Lis brought along several samples of different types of curved pieced blocks and books on different techniques. Carol Nixon also brought a double wedding ring table runner. After members had looked at these, it was time to take the plunge and have a go ourselves.
Members had a choice of colour, as a selection of fabric had been accurately cut on a sizzix machine, into the pieces needed to make a drunkards path block. Lis demonstrated how to pin these and sew an accurate 1/4 inch seam on the machine, and everyone was away.
Most members agreed it was not as difficult as they had imagined, the hardest part being to choose the colours before they began sewing, and everyone managed at least one block.
Meeting April 24th
A good evening with members Liz Briggs and Myra Coleman demonstrating log cabin variations with the chance to sew along for those that wanted to.
They were also able to demonstrate a method of chain piecing the blocks which made it a quick and efficient method of producing a quilt.
Loved the strip pieced character of some of the blocks.
A new twist on an old favourite.
Meeting March 28th
The meeting was well attended with members bringing their own work or taking part in the workshop run by Gina Smith. This was a foundation piecing technique that produced a small block of a teacup.
The results were all very different depending on colour and fabric, as shown in the pictures below.
Meeting February 27th
As Pam Lobley was sadly unable to attend to lead the workshop previously planned for this evening we had a change in the programme. The committee brought forward the date for the group to examine one of the Quilters Guild's Travelling Trunks.
There was a variety of items in the trunk for us to look at, that incorporated a variety of different patchwork and quilting techniques. We were even allowed to handle them, provided we wore a pair of the white cotton gloves supplied with the trunk.
Alongside each item was a written description detailing what was known about that particular piece including the date it had been made, and the maker if that was known.
Some of the pieces had faded with time but others still had vibrant colours to the materials and were unfinished. This gave a chance to look at what had been used as batting or for the papers in the case of the English paper piecing items.
The members of the group interested in the history of the craft were able to show us how pieces had been dated according to the patterns on the fabric, and the different dyes used.
An interesting and informative meeting.
Brigit looking very demure in a quilted bonnet
Hexagon quilt
Members in their white gloves examining the old quilted pieces
Meeting January 24th
This was a Thursday Sit and Sew meeting.
During the meeting Liz Briggs gave a small presentation about Linus Quilts.
Linus Quilts are small quilts given as a comfort to children experiencing distress or trauma in their life. This could be caused by health problems or caused by displacement from their family home, or any other cause. The quilts are distributed to these children through the Linus Quilt charity which covers the whole of Great Britain but it is usually done on a local basis where the Linus Quilt representative in an area, collects quilts made by local people, and distributes them herself within her local area.
Liz had several quilts for us to see to give us ideas for making quilts if we wished to help, and she will also be willing to deliver them to our local representative from the Linus Quilt charity. I hope the group's members decide to support this very worthwhile cause.
Members also brought along their own projects to work on. We had a small Show and Tell and lots of chatter during the meeting.
Most members had remembered to wear their name badges, made in the previous meeting, which was good, as my memory for names is getting worse as I get older. Hope this continues.
December 19th Christmas Party
An enjoyable and festive end to 2018 was arranged by Pat and Gina.
There was a small hiccup at the beginning of the meeting before the caretaker arrived and the group was provided with enough chairs for everyone but then we got down to the serious business of the festivities provided which began with a small sewing project. Kits were provided for either a Christmas stocking or a festive tree hanging. These were done by hand so there was also much chatter as we decided on designs and compared progress. Results can be seen below.
As always we had far too much food at the faith supper. Members are very generous and it was delicious.
Having eaten more than we should it was time for Secret Santa. It is always difficult to find a small present that fulfils the criteria of being under £5 in value and associated with sewing but members took on the challenge and I'm sure everyone appreciated the thought and work that went into their gift.
So Merry Christmas and I am looking forward to our meetings in the New year.
November 29th
About 12 members came along today to Sit and Sew.
As the new committee would like to get to know all the members they have asked us to wear a name badge so today we began making some under the guidance of Gina Smith. Gina brought along a couple of designs as well as the pins for the back of the badges and everyone had a go. Some people already had their own design so the end results were quite varied.
One of our newer members was experiencing problems with her machine when free motion quilting so our resident expert Ann had a look at the machine and gave some advice which was very gratefully received. Thank you to Ann. That is one of the things that the afternoon Sit and Sew sessions were designed to do. Help and advise our newer members if they are experiencing a quilting problem.
We had a small show and tell as part of the meeting and again this generated new ideas for meetings. Everyone wants to make a table centre next year.
October 24th 2018
This was the first of our Wednesday evening meetings this year and we had a good turnout of members to hear a talk on "Old British Quilts"
We are lucky, to have a couple of people in the group, who collect quilts and one of them is Brigid Ockelton. On Wednesday she entertained us with a show of just part of her extensive collection and a talk focusing on the history of English Patchwork.
Brigid is keen to emphasise that early 18th century patchwork was done by well-to-do ladies with the leisure time to devote to their needlework. Thus their quilts are not randomly thrown together second hand scraps but, just as today, their quilts were planned and used specially purchased fabric.
This can be seen in the few photos I managed to take. Sorry they are not better pictures.
Brigid explaining about some of the quilts
The evening was both very informative and entertaining. Thank you Brigid for sharing both your knowledge and your quilts with us. And, as Brigid also does other talks using different quilts in her collection, I am hoping we can enjoy another evening with her, at a later date.
September 27th 2018
We started our quilting year with a new committee and a new format for our meetings.
Thursday afternoon will now become our Sit and Sew day.
Thursday September 27th was our first Sit and Sew meeting and seemed to flow very well with lots of chatter between members. About half the members were present and each brought their own project to work on. There was a variety of hand and machine work on the go and it was interesting to see what everyone was working on.
We also had a small Show and Tell which generated ideas for future workshops.
Janice Lawson very ably demonstrated how to bind a quilt in the method used by renowned quilter Philippa Naylor, which is written up in her book Quilting in the Limelight. This is a book which Janice says she refers to regularly, as it contains many other tips on the way she produces her stunning quilts.
It was a good start and I am looking forward to attending all the meetings planned for the rest of the year.
Programme 2017-2018
June 27th
This month was a demonstration of foundation piecing by myself, Lis Tate.
We decided to put this on the programme as although most of the group know how to do foundation piecing, like me, they dislike taking it off the paper afterwards. This is a fiddly and time consuming process, using a pair of tweezers to get rid of all the tiny scraps of paper stuck behind the stitching. I therefore demonstrated a slightly different method which uses freezer paper. In this method you do not stitch through the paper, but instead fold it out of the way along your marked lines and stitch next to the fold. There are several videos on line about this method that you can find using the google search engine.
The good thing about foundation piecing is the accuracy of the method and therefore I demonstrated a small star which has lots of points that need precise sewing.
This month was a demonstration of foundation piecing by myself, Lis Tate.
We decided to put this on the programme as although most of the group know how to do foundation piecing, like me, they dislike taking it off the paper afterwards. This is a fiddly and time consuming process, using a pair of tweezers to get rid of all the tiny scraps of paper stuck behind the stitching. I therefore demonstrated a slightly different method which uses freezer paper. In this method you do not stitch through the paper, but instead fold it out of the way along your marked lines and stitch next to the fold. There are several videos on line about this method that you can find using the google search engine.
The good thing about foundation piecing is the accuracy of the method and therefore I demonstrated a small star which has lots of points that need precise sewing.
I also took along several other examples of complex stars to illustrate the accuracy of this method.
These blocks were taken from Carol Doak's book 50 Paper Pieced Stars
Guess I will now have to make a few more and make a star quilt to use up my UFO,s
May 23rd
A change in the programme
As Kate will not be here in June to do her Fabric Weaving we moved it back a month to the May meeting.
Kate was as ever an excellent teacher with lots of examples to show us. Fabric Weaving can get quite complicated but we had a go at a simple cross weave using strips of contrasting fabric cut in wavy curves rather than a straight line.
The results were very different as you can see depending on the fabrics and the depth of the curves.
Another busy member
April 25th
This month Ann Johnson led the meeting and the theme was 'Wobbly Houses'
These are 'whacky' little pictures made in bright coloured cottons and embellished with embroidery and buttons or beads. They can be made into book covers, small cushions or just used as wall hangings.
Basically the funkier you cut out the pieces, from your previously bondawebbed material, to make your little picture the better. Usually you start with a few little hills on which to place your houses but then you can add doors and windows,trees shrubs and flowers and maybe the garden path or fence. Our instructions were to try and be adventurous and remember that hills do not have to be green!
The piece is placed onto a piece of wadding before it is embellished.The embroidery can be placed on the shapes and the background and is done in Perle or stranded embroidery thread, using any stitch you like.
The idea of the workshop was to have fun and I think we did.
Here are some of the examples.
March 28th
Happily the weather has improved and the blizzard that cancelled our February meeting is long gone.
This month we welcomed Sarah Humphries to talk to us about Modern Quilting. Sarah was the winner of the Modern Section at Festival of Quilts 2016 and she does some stunning machine quilting.
Sarah is also a funny and enthusiastic speaker who talked us through her quilting life. She bought along an extensive collection of the quilts she has made since her beginnings as a young quilter up to that amazing award winning quilt. As she admits there was a lot of orange coloured fabric, fruit and vegetable fabric and Halloween themed quilts, but you can also see her progression from the early hand made quilts up to her machine work today.
Sarah is also not precious about her work and we were able to get up close and examine her quilts, whilst she shared how she had done some of the techniques in them.
Altogether a very good evening spent amongst like minded people.
January 24th
This blog has kindly been written by Kate Smith as I felt I could not write a review of my own work.
Our year got off to a flying start with a talk from Lis Tate. Lis has been a member of the group since it started over 30 years ago and is our current Chair. More importantly she is a fantastic quilter and her recent work won her Best In Show (as well as the Best Wall Hanging and Best Piecing awards) at the 2017 Great Northern Quilt Show.
She shared with us her working methods - which start from a full size drawing of the piece on heavy cartridge paper. She then looks at all the angles to ensure they can be pieced and changes them if necessary. Next she makes a tracing on which she numbers all the different small pieces. This is then transferred in reverse to freezer paper before being cut out. Given that there may be hundreds of small templates this process can take some time! Each of the templates is then ironed to the reverse of her chosen fabric before being hand stitched together.
However, once sections are made and displayed on her design wall, she may feel the need to change the fabric to achieve the desired effect. If no suitable commercial fabric is available she will use dyes or fabric paint to achieve the right colour.
I'm not sure many of our members will be adopting her meticulous methods, but it was a fascinating talk and the resulting work speaks for itself.
December 20th
Christmas Festivities
The usual mix of good food and good company making it a very pleasant meeting
November 22nd 2017
A very interesting evening with Julia Caton and her story 'Finding Ruby.'
Julia's story told us about finding some quilt blocks in a small antique shop in a 'one horse' town in Texas, USA whilst on holiday. The blocks had each been signed with the name of the maker, one of whom was Ruby, and the date it was made.
At the time of purchasing the blocks Julia knew nothing of quilting and her talk was about how, when she returned to England, she made contact with a group of ladies who helped her put the blocks together to make a quilt, and how she researched the names on the quilt. Her research including a second trip to America led her to a small community of German immigrants to Texas. The ladies of this community had made the blocks between 1933 and 1936.
The small group of ladies who put the blocks together in England also made another quilt to commemorate their Yorkshire roots, and Julie bought both quilts along for us to see.
She also kindly bought along copies of the journal about this project detailing her trips to Texas, making the quilts and the research into the names. This journal had been made into a publication and sold to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Research.
As Julia had declined a fee we decided to donate the proceeds from our raffle to the Macmillan Charity.
Julia and her quilt
October 25th 2017
This month saw us being very productive and making wrap-a-round aprons with Myra
A very simple pattern for a practical piece of kit. The photos say it all.
Mine will be used so that I do not destroy another good T-shirt whilst I am being messy with fabric paints or dyes.
September 27th 2017
Beverley Usher brought along her collection of family quilts. These quilts were all made by her grandmother who must have spent all her spare time sewing. The quilts are mostly utilitarian not show stopping works of art but they are a unique collection of one woman's work. I have a few photographs which I will put on the blogg but beverley has a blog site if you wish know more about the collection. It is https://familyquiltcollection.blogspot.co.uk
June 28th
At tonight's meeting we had a look at everything to do with dying and colouring fabric that I and other members have tried.
It started with simple fabric crayons but covered transfer dyes, gel-plate printing, marbling, fabric paints and markers, sun printing including cyanotype printing, using fabric all purpose inks, and batik. I took along examples of pieces I have made over the years at workshops and at home and Kate and Kathleen brought examples of things they had done too.
It is not easy to do dying in the church hall with all the mess and water that is involved but I hope members found the evening interesting and will perhaps try something at home for themselves.
May 24th
Janet Bottomley was our speaker at tonight's meeting telling us all about 'American Feed Sack and Depression Era Quilts.'
Janet has a wonderful collection of memorabilia relating to this subject which she brought along for us to see and 'touch'. This was in addition to her talk and slideshow which set the scene, and gave us the basic facts about everyday quilts, made by American women during the depression, in the early part of this century.
It must have been a very hard life for these women, scrimping and saving every scrap of fabric, even the bags that animal feed, flour and sugar were packed in, and using these to make clothes and bedding. The fact that the manufacturers of these commodities began producing packaging that lent itself to this recycling process, shows just how many people were using it. Janet has a large number of these bags in her collection, showing the differing quality of the fabrics that they were made from as well as the popular patterns and prints of that era.
She also has a number of quilts. Not exquisite quilts made by well to do ladies, but basic well worn home quilts. Quilts with large stitches and off line patches and blocks, made I am sure with much love and ingenuity, as these women tried to make their homes less austere.
A very informative and interesting night on a subject that I have always wanted to learn more about.
Some of the feed sacks in Janet's collection
April 26th
A fun evening with local quilt teacher Heather Chalkley.
Tonight we made fabric postcards. Heather brought us her collection to look at, along with her amusing anecdotes of when and where they came from. Yes they can be sent through the post! She also brought along some made by children and this is definitely a workshop that would be ideal for young quilters or something to do to keep grandchildren amused.
We sewed our postcards by hand on the night, to save us all lugging our machines to the meeting, but it would be easy to run up a couple on the machine for a few friends.
Heather provided the kits of the printed postcard backs and the heavy duty vylene to make them stiff, plus a lot of pre-stamped greetings that could be ironed on. A very simple but effective technique. Think I will be making a few more.
March 22nd
This month we were trying the technique of Inlaid Patchwork.
The technique was demonstrated to members by Kate Smith, as she had done some samples during her City and Guilds course.
The patchwork is worked in felt or woollen material with a calico or cotton base layer. We used very simple designs as we only had the 2 hours of the meeting in which to sew. Simple designs can be cut freehand or on a template cutting machine.The cut pieces are inlaid like marquetry and sewn down to the base fabric with small hand stitches.
As you can see from the pins in the photos members were unable to finish their sampler in the meeting time, but I for one enjoyed adding another unusual patchwork skill to my repertoire.
February 22nd
As we have quite a few members who are not only new to the group but also to the craft of quilting this months topic was a quick introduction to some of the lesser well known techniques. Kate Smith taught Trapunto or stuffed quilting and I taught Shadow Quilting and Shadow trapunto. The more experienced members also had a go by experimenting with sheer materials, other than voile, and adding embellishment on their work with their quilting stitches.
It was a pleasant hand sewing evening, with members getting to know their sewing neighbours.
January 25th
A very industrious meeting with every one doing their bit for charity. We are making cot quilts for our local hospitals Special Care Baby Unit. These are small quilts that are folded and put on the top of the baby's incubator so that they feel protected from the lights and noise as if they are still in the womb. each baby takes their quilt with them as they progress through the unit and finally they can take it home with them.
We have some material donated by an ex-member Dorothy Winn for people to use. They are using some of their own material as well and choosing their own design. We hope to have at least 20 or more quilts by July which we can 'Show and Tell' at the last meeting before our summer break. I have already collected a few of them which I have photographed and added for you to see.
December Christmas Party
Happy Christmas Everyone.
Tonight we got in to the Festive Spirit with our Annual Christmas Do
Custom dictates that we have a Faith Supper and as always tonight's was very tasty.
Custom dictates we make a small Christmas Ornament and tonight we made stars with Kate Smith
Next Year I think we will make something that does not involve glue.
We also had our competition of a Christmas stocking filler and our Secret Santa. Well done to the winners. We will of course do it all again next year.
November 23rd
Tonight saw us making decorations with Liz Briggs and Myra Coleman.
The theme was birds and we used cotton fabricl bonded to pelmet stiffening.
After the sticky part we decorated the birds with glitter, feathers and other sparkly bling.
Sewing through the stiffening by hand was difficult and we all agreed using a machine would make it easier next time but the results were pretty.
A NEW PROGRAMME
October 26th
A night of hand sewing tonight.
Kate Smith introduced us to the joys (or otherwise) of needle turned applique in the form of a hawaiian patchwork block. These patterns are cut freehand from a square of folded fabric and can vary in complexity. I think mine was rather too intricate, or lets admit it, I just don't enjoy needle turned applique. Think it will become a UFO or else end up being machined.
I was impressed with both Kate's samples and the quilt that Dilys had made using this technique.
It was also interesting to see the variations in the samples that the members made during the evening meeting.
September 28th
Hazel Williams gave us an interesting talk entitled 'Gadgets and Gizmos'.
Demonstrating an assortment of tools she illustrated their use with examples of her own work. Hazel's work is simple but with her choice of fabric and her machine sewing skills she produces some stunning pieces. She herself admits to her aversion to hand sewing so all the tools were such that they can be used to machine sew to complete an item, although she did explain how it could be done by hand as well.
We had several new members and visitors at the talk but even the more experienced in the group had learnt something new and were able to admire the work hazel had brought along.
Hazel is busy setting up her new shop where she will also be teaching her classes so we are looking forward to being able to visit when it opens in October.
June 22nd
We had an enjoyable evening with fellow member Gina Smith who talked to us about the other beautiful work she creates when she is not quilting. Gina produces stunning pieces of embroidery and her talk entitled Travels with a Needle showcased this. Her work is varied and is based on her travels with her husband to different countries as well as Britain. She brought along several actual pieces of work for us to see as well as the slides which illustrated her talk. I particularly liked her work about abbeys and cathedrals which were made from layered pieces of sheer fabric decorated with hand embroidery, but her work on the Tanzanian forests was also inspiring, not to mention her Venice piece or the Yorkshire Dales. She is indeed a modest but very talented lady and we are lucky that she joins us at White Rose Quilters when she puts on her quilting hat.
May25th
A change to the programme. As their were no requests for specific demonstrations we held a
'TALKING QUILTS NIGHT'.
Everyone enjoyed hearing about each others journey and expressed the hope that we can repeat the evening sometime. I myself am sorry that I missed it and would love to have heard how everyone took their first steps into the quilting world.
April 27th
This months meeting was a huge SHOW AND TELL as we reviewed all the quilts and wall hanging for our exhibition in May. Sorry no photos as that would be spoiling it for all the visitors who will I hope attend the Exhibition at Kings Manor on the 14th May.
For those of you who are unable to attend I hope to add a page to the blog after the event, so that you can all see our members beautiful work.
March 23rd
The March meeting saw us making shopping bags demonstrated by one of our members Kate Jones.
Not very inspiring you may think but very useful when you are now charged for plastic bags at the large stores. You need to be able to drop a shopping bag inside your handbag so you will never be without one and that is just what this project allows you to do. The shopping bag can be scrunched up to fit inside the smaller pouch which forms part of the bigger bag meaning that it is never lost. Very clever and very useful.
February 24th
This month saw us making flowers with Bryony Downing. Bryony brought a selection of wonderful fabric flowers to demonstrate what could be achieved with this craft, some of which were very intricate as you can see.
Well done everyone!
January 27th 2016
The January meeting was my turn to introduce members to the techniques involved in making the disappearing pin wheel block. I first came across this block on the Missouri Star Quilting web site and was intrigued by the numerous possibilities there are when you divide up a pin wheel block and then piece it back together again in a different design.
If you haven't come across this web site before I recommend you take a look at it. There are hundreds of tutorial videos on it which are very informative and easy to follow.
The examples I used to illustrate the disappearing pin wheel were the quillow and the cushion pictured below.
Everyone worked very hard during the evening and most people produced a finished block in the time available. Below are some of the blocks which all look different because of the different fabric choices.
November 25th 2015
Kate Smith was the teacher for this evenings workshop. We were shown how to produce a cheat block that included doing the quilting at the same time as we sewed the patchwork block. It was quite an intricate process but Kate,s instructions were precise and easy to follow and she was on hand with expert advice for anyone who was having difficulties. Hopefully there will be some bright table runners produced for the festive season as nearly everyone seemed to have brought their Christmas fabrics along to use in the project.
We also had a good show of cushions at Show and Tell that were produced at the Brioni Greenberg workshop in October. Well done everyone.
And a member had finished their sew a row quilt.
October 28th 2015
This meeting was spent sharing ideas and making items that can be sold at our exhibition next year. May 2016 seems a long way off at the moment but we thought it was better to be prepared well in advance of this date, than be rushing at the last moment. With the charge for plastic carrier bags being introduced at supermarkets there were several ideas for different tote bags being shared, along with note book covers and mobile phone cases. Members exchanged patterns and spent time sewing which resulted in a pleasant and productive evening all round.
Come and join us next year at our exhibition, May 14th 2015 at Kings Manor in York, and see what we have produced.
September 23rd 2015
We had a interesting meeting on the 23rd when our speaker was Susan Hill. Susan is a volunteer at Beninbrough Hall, a National Trust property to the north of York and to commemorate the Canadian Royal Airforce being billeted at the hall during the 2nd world war, Susan has made a patchwork sampler quilt.
Each block in the quilt represents some aspect of the history of Beninbrough from the earliest owners who came over with the Norman invaders to the last owner who bequeathed it to the National Trust.
Susan told a compelling and humorous story about the property, its owners and inhabitants, which of course included the Royal Canadian Airforce, and each anecdote was illustrated by the relevant quilt block.
July 22nd
July was our AGM but how to liven up such a dull sounding meeting.
We got the business side of the meeting out of the way fairly briskly and then got down to the fun side.
We had tea and cakes and then a quiz that we didn't have time for at Christmas.
Now everyone knows quilters are also good bakers, so the cakes were of course delicious.
As for the quiz. Members said it was fairly hard, and I agree but it is difficult to set a quiz based on quilting questions that is suitable for members with all different levels of knowledge. The difficult questions had multiple choice answers which gave everyone half a chance, and it was all a bit of fun anyway.
I have not yet finalised the programme for next year but I will add it to the blogg as soon as I can.
Meanwhile enjoy your summer and I hope the weather improves so that you can get out and about to quilt festivals, quilt exhibitions and of course fabric shops.
June 24th
June found me teaching the group about the technique of Seminole Patchwork.
Seminole patchwork was used by the Seminole Indians of america to decorate their clothes and has always been a technique done by machine. Although at first it seems fiddly and slow I find that by chain piecing and getting a rhythm going whilst rotary cutting I can produce a strip in a couple of hours.
The book that I recommend to anyone wanting to find out more is - Basic Seminole Patchwork by Cheryl Greider Bradkin. It was first published in 1990 but is still available to purchase which is always a sign of a good book.
The only pictures I have are of my sample pieces but they illustrate the technique and I hope others in the group will produce something for show and tell.
May 27th
This month we changed the programme as everyone seemed to be getting on nicely with their
sew-a-row quilts without needing any help.
We decided to do something with miniatures as it was a subject we had not visited for a long while. The definition of a miniature quilt is not a that it is a specific small size, but that it is a scaled down version of a larger quilt pattern, such that when the miniature is photographed you are unaware of its small scale.
First we spent a lovely hour admiring the small quilts in the Quilters Guild handbag collection. There are some very talented ladies in that group.
Members examining the handbag collection more closely using the white cotton gloves provided
We also looked at Kate Smith's miniature quilts. Kate is a very talented member of our group who has been quilting for a long time.
There were also some books on miniatures that members could flip through to find out about the skills and techniques involved in this type of quilting.
Finally we had a go ourselves, trying some paper piecing using 1/4 inch hexagons. This was not as frustrating or fiddly as I had imagined it would be and I produced a half decent rosette of hexagons.
Now we will have to see if anyone in the group was inspired enough to take this further and produce their own little masterpiece.
April 25th
This month Moira McCulloch showed us how to make her sewing what-not. This was a delightful little caddy that fits inside your mug. Just the thing to take to a quilting workshop to hold all your sewing bits and pieces whilst also providing the mug for your favourite beverage.
It looks quite complicated but was in fact a doddle especially with Moira's excellent instruction.
Moira picked up the pattern whilst on holiday in America and we are very pleased she has shared it with us.
March 25th
Sorry no pictures this month as it was very much a "work in progress" meeting.
The last patterns for the sew a row quilt were distributed and the methods for completing the flying geese blocks, and the basket blocks were ably demonstrated by two of the members. I hope these will be ready for the Show and Tell in July.
Information regarding the exhibition which is planned for Saturday 14th May 2016, was passed on to members. The venue has been booked and it will be held in the Huntington Room, at Kings Manor in Exhibition Square, St Leonards Place, York. We are grateful to PenLife Associates for their kind sponsorship donation, which will help towards the cost of staging the exhibition.
As one of the members owes a lot to York Hospitals Special Care Baby Unit it was decided that, alongside the charity BLISS, which supports families when babies are born prematurely, these will be our two chosen charities. Money raised at the exhibition and proceeds from the charity quilt raffle will be split equally between them.
With this in mind, the material kindly donated by Cotton Cloth Sales as well as the foundation piecing pattern, were distributed to members so that a start could be made on the charity quilt.
The group discussed Pat Archibald's forthcoming teaching session in July and by mutual consent chose to do her Celtic Connections workshop. I am looking forward to this as Pat is an inspiring teacher and I have not done much foiling onto fabric before.
We had a productive meeting and a lot was decided, as well as some people, actually doing some sewing.
February 25th
Last night we made Kanzashi. For those of you that do not understand Japanese these are folded flowers that were originally used as hair ornaments, but we made them to be used as brooches. In Japan it takes a seven year apprenticeship to become skilled in this craft, but White Rose members only had 2 hours.
Nevertheless under the expert tuition of Katie Chaplin from Japan Crafts, www.japancrafts.co.uk
we all achieved a passable flower within that time.
It was a very easy meeting for everyone as Katie supplied all the materials and equipment including scissors, rulers and glue, plus the invaluable pack of baby wipes to stop fingers becoming too sticky.
The material used for the flower kits was beautiful Japanese printed cotton, and for those of us who couldn't resist them, Katie also brought a range of her supplies that we could purchase. Although I definitely do not need more material, I walked away with two "had to have" fat quarters to add to my stash.
The few photos that I took do not do justice to members efforts. I guess I was too busy making my own Kazashi and nattering to others. All in all, a great "craft and chat" evening.
An original Japanse Kazashi used as a demonstration piece
Members busy sticking as Katie demonstrates
Examples and materials needed to make a Kanzashi
2 Finished flowers minus button centres
January 28th
Another wonderful meeting with another great speaker!
We are very fortunate that award winning quilter Philippa Naylor lives just down the road from York, in Beverley, and so was happy to attend our midweek evening meeting. Using PowerPoint to illustrate her talk, Philippa gave us an amusing, anecdotal, account of the path that led her to become the skillful and artistic needlewoman, that we admire today.
Her early years were influenced by her two grandmothers, who gave her her love of crafts especially needlework. She built up her skills, both at school and college, before landing her dream job in lingerie design. Whilst working abroad making evening and wedding dresses, she reluctantly took a quilting class, but this intrigued her enough, that she travelled to America to pursue this new craft. It was whilst there that she had her eurika moment, saw the artistic possibilities of the craft, and like the rest of us she was hooked. The only difference being, that Philippa's work is in a class of its own.
However Philippa is quite happy to share her techniques. There are no short cuts in creating the quality of the work she produces. Each sharp point and perfect circle is only achieved through the painstaking accuracy of her working methods. She must spend hours just weaving in all those loose ends of machine quilting thread, to finish a piece of work.
She also brought along several quilts for us to admire.
My photos certainly don't do them justice, but show the members admiring the quilts at close quarters.
So thank you Philippa for an entertaining and instructional evening. And since I now have a signed copy of your new book, Applique Mastery, perhaps I too can start making award winning quilts.
Well, perhaps in my dreams.
November 26th
What a great meeting!!
Our speaker was Brioni Greenberg and she was enthusiastic and inspiring but down to earth and unassuming.
What a lot she has crammed into her as yet short quilting career, being an author of two Quilting books, and co-founder of the on-line magazine Fat Quarterly.
And her Quilts!! So Many, and the colours were to die for. And she said, she has more in her wardrobe at home.
Brioni works both by hand and on the machine. Her hand work is done over papers, often while she commutes to work on the train. She said it is a good way to get a table to herself as the other passengers think she is strange when she gets out her work. Some of her quilts have been quilted by a professional long arm machinist which enhances her designs but others she has done herself as her skill in this area is improving. However she said designing and piecing, especially hand piecing, are what she loves most.
Luckily we did not think her strange at all and were privileged that she allowed us to see and handle the quilts she brought with her.
A SELECTION OF THE QUILTS BRIONI GREENBERG BROUGHT TO SHOW US.
October 22nd
This meeting saw us doing our bit for the charity DAYS FOR GIRLS International. This charity runs a feminine hygiene program for 'Every Girl Everywhere Period'
Tonight was spent sewing some of the flannel liners and brightly coloured cotton bags, which are 2 items in the kits, which are sent out to help girls in the third world manage their 'off days'. The kits allow them to continue with their normal daily routine on these days and to attend school, instead of being confined indoors.
We brought bright pink and purple flannel to make the liners and everyone contributed the cotton to make the bags.
Members took some of the cut out flannel home to finish the liners and they will be collected in at the November meeting and sent off to America where the charity is based.
I think all the members can give themselves a congratulatory pat on the back and feel proud of their efforts in helping this worth while cause.
September 24th
WELCOME BACK!!!!
After our Summer break it was great to welcome back some familiar faces along with 2 new members. We were able to see the projects people had completed over the summer and discuss the plans for the stitching year ahead. At this meeting our chairwoman was absent, as she was still holidaying, but we were able to make a start on the new group project.
The 3 techniques demonstrated this month were Delectable Mountains, Foundation Pieced Trees and Log Cabin
Delectable Mountains
Foundation Pieced Trees
Log Cabin
The variety of colours and effects achieved by the members using these simple techniques will produce some dramatically different quilts and I look forward to updating the blog as the various quilts take shape.
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July 23rd
July was our AGM meeting which might have been rather dull so to liven it up we invited the Cotton Cloth Man from Newgate market along with all his goodies. We also invited visitors and friends to join us for tea and cakes, a raffle and to spend money to expand their stash.
Members bought in their finished objects, using the fat quarters of material we distributed at Christmas, for our challenge. We had a good variety of objects and these were voted for by those attending by putting coins in pots and we had a worthy winner who made a lovely bag. I say a worthy winner as the material distributed was not particularly inspiring but had been donated so was free, and Kate Jones was the only member who had requested more of it to make her winning bag.
Here are the photos of he objects for the challenge. We had to use chairs to display some of them as all the tables were covered in fabric for sale.
As well as all that we also had a fabulous unveiling of some wall hangings that were displayed at the Loch Lomond Quilt show earlier this year. They were part of the Chinese Whispers Challenge. This was where a photo was sent to the first member of the group who chose elements of it to makes her wall hanging, took a photo of their finished result and sent that photo to the second person who did the same thing and so on. There was no talking to each other about your piece of work and only the frst person saw the original photo.There were 12 people in our group called Eboracum, all with associations with the York quilting scene. The whole thing was coordinated by Kate Smith, one of our members, with each person having 6 weeks to make their contribution. The wall hangings were diverse and inspirational and it was interesting to see how they all linked together. Alongside their wall hanging each person had also written 100 words describing what elements from the previous piece of work they had chosen as their inspiration and their feelings about the challenge. A good idea for other groups to copy!
Finally we had the boring part about finances and a review of the year. We unveiled next years programme and discussed the possibility of an exhibition in 2016.
Keep in touch via the blogg or come and join us to see what we have to offer.
June 25th Felting Joan Chambers
This months meeting was quite physical as members banged with rolling pins and wooden spoons and thrashed rolled up tea towels on the work top by the kitchen. This was all part of making felt with an ex-member Joan Chambers who traveled from her new home in Cumbria to be our speaker for the evening.
Joan is now an avid felt maker and brought lots of examples of her work to show what can be produced with this craft medium . She also gave a small interesting talk about the craft including its history, before we were let lose on her wool stash, which came in varied, vibrant, rainbow colours.
With water and a drop of washing up liquid we dampened the shredded and layered wool before wrapping it in a bamboo table mat and rolling it to create our felted pieces. Lots of old towels kept everything else dry whilst we worked. Then there was lots of banging and rolling to complete the process and make sure the piece shrank and held together. Good physical activity if you are ever feeling stressed. Finally the pieces were rinsed to get rid of the soap and dunked in a white vinegar solution to set the dyes.
The final results can be seen in the photo below, and I hope we see some finished articles incorporating the felt at future "show and tell" sessions.
May 28th Portable Ironing Mat and Carrier Kate Smith
This months project for the meeting was an ironing mat and carrier. Not beautiful or that exciting but extremely practical. How else would you transport an iron to a workshop, use it whilst you were there and then transport it home whilst still hot.
The carrier is made from any silver ironing board cover, cut down to size, backed and wadded before being quilted in the right places where the folds will form. It is then bound along the edge to incorporate the carrying handles and the elastic fastenings. Lastly 2 buttons are sewn on and hey presto its done.
Here are this months photos.
Members working hard on their iron carriers during the meeting but still finding time for a chat.
The finished article. This is the one I made and photographed later at home.
The iron sitting snugly in the folded carrier for transportation purposes.
The iron carrier unfolded so that it can be used as an ironing surface.
April 23rd Depression Lace with Barbara Cox
I have always enjoyed hand stitching and so this evening was a real joy for me. Barbara showed us how to stitch depression lace onto gingham fabric and create beautiful embroidery that looks just like lace. The finished article looks complex and technical but in reality it was so easy with Barbara's excellent tuition. Everyone seemed to enjoy the exercise and because we were all sitting together their was a lot of lively chatter. Always a sign of a good and enjoyable meeting.
The lace has various names Snowflake Embroidery, Depression or Gingham Lace, and also the unusual name of Chicken Scratch Embroidery. If you 'google' the last name their is a good website from the University of Kentucky about this technique. It is worked in embroidery thread on a gingham or squared material. The number of strands of thread you use depends on the size of your squares, the bigger the squares the more strands you use to get the visual impact.
I have included some photographs of Barbara's examples as none of the members work was finished in the time available.
March 26th Alison Bramley Frazzled and Dazzled
Well Alison certainly dazzled me with her work, and her work load would certainly frazzle me, especially when she says that she works into the night to achieve deadlines for entries to quilt shows. Alison brought along what she said was only some of her work but it seemed like the product of a lifetimes work to me. There was a great deal to look at and the wow factor was incredible each time she produced a new piece from her pile. Her work is produced in silk using raw edged applique but it is her unique designs and the variety of her subject matter that impressed. If you want to know more visit her web site at :-
www.ajbsilkquilts.co.uk
The above photos may go somewhere towards showing the treat we had at the last meeting but they are only taken on my phone so do not do real justice to Alison's work.
As you can see we had a good turn out for the talk with a number of visitors attending. I hope they enjoyed themselves. The group always welcomes any visitors to the meetings, so do come and join us sometime.
February 26th Heather Audin - Behind the Scenes at the Quilt Museum
Heather gave us a very interesting talk about the quilt museum alongside a power point presentation. It was interesting to hear about all the tasks that are necessary to running the museum including conservation of the old quilts and putting on the exhibitions. Heather is very knowledgeable about Britain's quilting heritage and this is obvious in her talk. I learnt about how a quilt is dated from the materials used in it and the patterns and dyes in the material, as well as how the quilts are stored at the museum to protect them from the atmosphere and light. Heather has recently Written a small booklet, Patchwork and Quilting in Britain, published by Shire Publications and I recommend adding it to your library if you are interested in the history of patchwork and quilting.
As part of the show and tell at the February meeting everyone brought in their finished bags started in January. Some members had even made two bags. There was quite a display as you can see.
January 22nd Sadie's Bag
January's meeting seemed very quiet although most of the members were present. I think this was due to everyone being so industrious and working on their own at their sewing machines. Myra and Ann did a sterling job of explaining the instructions for making what is known as Sadie's bag. This is a little gem of a pattern for making a small tote type bag to put your packed lunch in, but I have also seen it used for makeup and toiletries or to stow away all the stuff that is essential for looking after a small baby.
Here are some photos of the finished bags brought by Ann and Myra
As you can see the outer of the bag is made up of 2 different fabrics and the neat thing about this is that it can be cut out from 2 co-ordinating fat quarters.
No one had time at the meeting to finish their bag but from the variety of fabrics that were being used I can tell they will be fantastic and I hope to see some of them at next months Show and Tell.
Here are photos of some of the works in progress and the members beavering away on the night.
December 18th Christmas Party
Well a week earlier than our usual monthly meeting saw the group getting together for the Christmas Party. The Christmas Challenge, a quiz, secret Santa and a new craft were all on the agenda, along with a good selection of party food provided by the members. Unfortunately our chairwoman wasn't able to make it to the meeting but other members stepped up to the plate and succeeded in making it a very entertaining evening.
The Christmas challenge had been issued at the October meeting with members receiving a goody bag of bits and bobs which included various pieces of fabric, buttons, ribbons and other embellishments. members were allowed to add to the bag of goodies as much as they liked, but the aim was to use as much of the "present" bag to produce a piece for the challenge based on Christmas.
The winner of the challenge is decided through an anonymous vote, using coins (usually coppers), and it is the number of coins not the value of the denomination that decides the winner. This years winner can be seen in the first picture, a beautiful Christmas tree. The runner up was the Christmas pennant banner which covered the front of both tables, and is seen on both pictures.
The craft for the evening saw members making paper baskets from wrapping paper, weaving two parts together to make a heart shaped basket. The end result was very effective, and not as easy as it looked but very entertaining and a good skill to learn. We look forward to seeing interpretations of this in fabric later in the year. Those who completed their baskets received sweeties to put in it (well it was Christmas).
Finally the Christmas quiz had a hat theme, with members trying to match pictures of hats to their respective owners from history and fiction. There were 40 pictures of hats to match with owners, and 3 teams won resulting in a tie-break. "what were top hats originally made from?"
November Meeting
We had a really good meeting in November thanks to our guest speaker Nel Whatmore.
Nel is a fine artist who among other things now designs a range of cotton prints for a company called Free Spirit which as I now know comes under the umbrella of the Coats company.
Nel's talk covered how she started out as a teenager drawing murals for her bedroom walls and took in her journey through art school and her later development into a thriving artistic business with the help of the Princes Trust. We all marvelled at the examples she had brought with her to illustrate her skill in her favourite medium chalk pastels and were entertained by her account of her years struggling to establish herself as an artist.
She also demonstrated the stages it takes to turn one of her paintings into a computer graphic that can be used by the company to produce her fantastic print ranges. It takes a lot of hard work to produce a range of 8 prints in several colour ways.
Nel also brought books, cards and fat quarters to sell, which were eagerly snapped up by the members and guests present.
October Meeting
I hope all the members enjoyed the October meeting as much as I did. Liz Briggs did a really good job of showing everyone how to make the little caddies.
These were only 2 inch ones so it was easy to make within the meeting time, but she also gave instructions for enlarging the pattern to make a bigger container.
Because it was a hand sewing project everyone seemed to chat to each other whilst they were sewing, rather than just sitting at their own sewing machine. Perhaps we should do more projects like this or even organise an old fashioned "quilting bee".
All the members managed to finish their caddy and as they were all in different coloured material it created a good display that I could photograph at the end of the meeting.
Members also exchanged their "goody bags" for the Christmas Challenge. Each bag had a combination of 6 to 8 different items including material and embellishments. It was interesting to see the different combinations of items that members had put into their bags. Everyone seems to have been quite generous and adventurous in their choices. I now hope this will encourage the members to be just as innovative when it comes to designing and making their item for the challenge. The deadline is the Christmas Meeting on December 18th. So get sewing everyone. You only have 7 weeks to create your masterpiece.
September MeetingI had such a fun time teaching the folded patchwork techniques that I forgot to take any photographs at the meeting. Therefore these are photographs of the samples that I made for the workshop.
Most of the members were able to make samples of both the windmill and the folded flower.They are both designs found in the book Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat.
Fabric folding can be fiddly and frustrating but it is easier if you have well starched crisp fabric which holds the creases whilst you are doing the folding.
The results however can be stunning. I have added a photo of a bag that I made to demonstrate using the technique when sewing a real item.
I hope members enjoyed playing with this technique in calico and that they too will use it in their future work.
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