Ho, Ho, Ho! Secret Santa here!

Well, as we've all been good this year, Secret Santa called at last night's meeting and brought handmade crackers. 

Here are a few of the postcards received too. 

We also had a quiz (many thanks to Katie for arranging), two rounds of multi-choice questions on sewing and Christmas - and it wasn't that easy. Well done to quiz winner Sara for getting thirty-something out of forty correct answers.

Our meetings wouldn't be the same without cake and a huge 'thank you' to our star baker Sarah.  Last night's chocolate sponge was especially festive with 'star' shaped sprinkles. 

Happy Christmas one and all!

Coach Trip

Today we went on a coach trip to the Lady Sew & Sew warehouse in Henley-on-Thames. I think it's fair to say the visit exceeded most, if not all, expectations. 

After a 2 hour journey we arrived earlier than expected and were greeted with tea/coffee/biscuits and a place to leave our coats & bags. This was followed by a short briefing of what to expect once in the warehouse.

Before tucking into our packed lunches, we we treated to a 30 minute talk about Bosal products and their use in bag making, shown lots of examples and given a few tips.

After lunch we were treated to 'supermarket sweep' where a member of staff selects a number of products from the warehouse to talk about and show visitors. The staff take it in turns to do this and each one selects different items to talk about.  We were shown new wool products and patterns, some sewing kits, advent calendars, books and items that might be suitable for Christmas gifts.

Prior to leaving, Vanessa talked to us for about one hour about waddings, and showed us examples of the waddings stocked. 

The talks/demos etc are optional and can be tweaked to suit the visiting group; we were happy go go with the flow and the suggestions made by the staff.

Otherwise it was all shopping time in the wool shop and the fabric shop. Having settled out bills, we left at 3pm and enjoyed another good run home. Everyone came home with at least one carrier of goodies and a few projects added to their UFOs.

We were made very welcome by knowledgeable and friendly staff. This is a trip very much recommended if you have the opportunity and one we're likely to repeat for those unable to join us this time.

And more Christmas

Yesterday, the group had a sales table at a local church Christmas Fayre, and very well it went too.

The stall looked great with a huge variety of hand crafted goodies, some very Christmassy others not, and something for everyone and all pockets.

The group had already agreed to split the takings between Macmillan and Little Dresses for Africa, two of the threes charities* the group supports. 

* The group also supports Project Linus, and 11 quilts will be off the Basildon Hospital in time for Christmas.

A big thankyou to everyone involved; the makers, the donors, those who 'man' the stall, those who buy, and all the supporters.

Christmas Appliqué with Wendy

With two tables of 'bits' - die cutters, templates, ribbons, felt shapes and much more - to choose from, there results of today's appliqué workshop with Wendy:

I wonder how many will be complete for Christmas 2019? Or will they start the 2020 UFO list?

Felt animals

Many thanks to Sara or organising tonight's mini tutorial and showing us how to make these. I should have photographed them alongside a coin so you get an idea of scale - they are small, ideal for brooches, tree decorations, ornaments etc.

Next month's mini tutorial is called 'a little book of pockets'.

Show & Tell - October 2019

I remembered to take a few photos this time.

Heather and Elizabeth have been making hot iron caddies at their Monday evening P&Q class.

Shirley's been on a workshop with Mary McIntosh and playing with bleach and decolourant.

Lesley's finished a quilt, a kit she bought in USA quite a few year ago!

Karen's made a quilt using fabric her husband bought home from one of his business trips.

Vivienne's sudoko quilt.

Tina and Pat have made an early start on the Christmas projects.

 

A lovely Japanese rice bag by Alison.

And last but, by no means least, otter by Katie.

Print & Stitch

Led by group member Wendy, seven of us spent the day printing and stitching.

Using a selection of Indian print blocks and fabric paints, we printed up a range of fabrics and left them to dry whilst we enjoyed our packed lunches.

After lunch, Wendy explained her technique and we all set to. Lessons in French knots and other hand stitches were available upon request!

All the pieces are still very much work-in-progress and it will be some time before they are considered finished pieces. Here are the photos. 

We hope to run another of these workshops in 2020.

Busy, busy, busy!

The group has been fairly busy since April. We've been on a retreat, tried our hand at folk art painting, recapped on the technique of QAYG sashing, made postcards for a postcard swap with Strutt Stitchers/Worksworth Quilters of Derbyshire and had fun with the RSPB Mini Quilt Challenge (organised by The Little House of Patchwork).

RSPB Mini Quilt Challenge - here are a few of the entries completed so far.

Postcard Swap - 26 people took part. The theme was 'summer' and the posting window July 1-5.

We've received some lovely cards too.

Fingers crossed all the cards arrived safely.

Retreat - 18 people attended this year and there was a bumper haul of projects completed over the Friday-Sunday break.

Folk Art Painting - always open to trying something a bit different. We used thick card for the tutorial;  I wonder who will be the first to try an interpretation on fabric?

Meet the mice

The hand sewing projects are going down a treat. Just  a couple of hours at last night's meeting to complete this little mouse designed by two of our group members.

What did we do in February and March?

Well, February saw Katrina O'Neill visit us with her new travelling fabric showroom. At our second meeting in February Heather and Elizabeth led a mini tutorial on faux chenille. Faux chenille takes a long time to prepare, cut, stitch and decorate so it'll be some time before we see any finished pieces.


With Easter looking, Lesley and Eileen taught us how to make Easter bunnies at our last meeting in March. A hand sewing project that we all enjoyed, not least because because hand sewing is so much more sociable than machine sewing. Everyone had a good natter! I wonder how many eggs didn't make it into the bunnies' tummies?

We're looking forward to a visit by Daisy May Quilting in April for a talk about long arm quilting and, of course, their pop-up shop.

Felt Flowers

This is what we’ve been making this evening. So much fun and very addictive. Thanks to Sue for leading the session.