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.